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Printed from https://writing.com/main/newsletters/action/archives/id/5504-Predictable-Outcomes.html
Action/Adventure: February 05, 2013 Issue [#5504]

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Action/Adventure


 This week: Predictable Outcomes
  Edited by: Leger~ Author IconMail Icon
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Table of Contents

1. About this Newsletter
2. A Word from our Sponsor
3. Letter from the Editor
4. Editor's Picks
5. A Word from Writing.Com
6. Ask & Answer
7. Removal instructions

About This Newsletter

The purpose of this newsletter is to help the Writing.com author hone their craft and improve their skills. Along with that I would like to inform, advocate, and create new, fresh ideas for the author. Write to me if you have an idea you would like presented.

This week's Action / Adventure Editor
Leger~ Author Icon


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Letter from the editor

Predictable Outcomes


The Big Game is over and now all the bets are being paid to the lucky ones who chose the right winner. Whether it is legal or not, the Super Bowl is purported to generate $90 million in betting. Whether you're into the complexity of the game or not, that's a huge number. And there's guaranteed losers. Since humans are part of the factor involved in the game, can there be a predictable outcome?

When we write, we might have our character overcome insurmountable odds and come out a champion. Even if everything before that moment indicates a loss, we can give our character the desire to overcome the obstacle. It's one of the things I enjoy reading in a story, the twist that gives the character a step over what I thought would be a losing proposition. I'm not writing about sheer force of will, I know that happens in real life, often in dire situations. I'm writing about the clever twist, the karmatic influence, the wing-it fortune. The thing that requires every star and planet to align to make it work. If you don't complicate it, make it too far-fetched, and write from the heart, the result can be enchanting.

You sometimes read about those heroes in the newspaper. Like the people who helped save the passengers on US Airways Flight 1549, the plane that crashed into the Hudson River in New York. Every moment of that flight and crash lined up like birds on a wire. How the ferry captains, who generally sail a never-ending loop of monotonous routes, suddenly break routine in an emergency and pluck passengers from water and wing. If you think about it, had that appeared in a story, your doubt-meter would have started pinging. Yet there was the truth, recorded by a hundred video cameras, and bound in history.

So the next time your story starts to spin towards the fantastical, go with it, see where it takes you.

This month's question: Do you allow your writing to take on the incredible or do you steer your characters into an outline?


Editor's Picks

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Short Shots: Official WDC Contest Open in new Window. (ASR)
Use the photo to inspire your creativity. Write a short story and win big prizes!
#1221635 by Writing.Com Support Author IconMail Icon

Excerpt: The task is simple: get inspired by the photograph above and write a short story using this inspiration!

 Invalid Item Open in new Window.
This item number is not valid.
#1900471 by Not Available.

Excerpt: A fantastic resource for all writers, especially fantasy writers. Filled with links to on site and off site articles and tools to help any writer. Maintained by the CSFS but open for every single WDC member!

 RealityShift.net Open in new Window. (18+)
One day, you get an e-mail about an interesting web service you didn't sign up for.
#1914670 by D-MentedOne Author IconMail Icon

Excerpt: Thank you for your application for the Closed Beta of our new web service. We would like to congratulate you on having been chosen to participate in this phase of testing. As such, all fees that will be applied to this service in the future have been waived for your use. Remember to submit any issues to our e-mail at <support@realityshift.net>. Please be aware that this service has safety measures in place that will prevent the use of the service upon itself. As this is still a work in progress, be aware that feature may still be added before full release. Above all, make sure to have fun!

 From a perfectly good airplane Open in new Window. (18+)
I think everyone should jump out of an airplane at least once in their life.
#1812714 by Tlx Author IconMail Icon

Excerpt: I had thought about it for years, jumping out of a perfectly good airplane, but it was one of those things that was really easy to put back on the shelf of ideas for someday in the future. But like any reoccurring and nagging idea, it kept coming back around and I knew it was something that I just had to do.

 Invalid Item Open in new Window.
This item number is not valid.
#1915956 by Not Available.

Excerpt: And she dreamt of birds, the most gorgeous birds in cages falling from the sky in a mid spring afternoon when the clouds heaped up like friendly mountains. All colours: finches, parakeets, lovebirds, larger parrots.

 There's a Catch Open in new Window. (18+)
She might be able to escape...
#1916850 by elizjohn Author IconMail Icon

Excerpt: Hours had passed, or maybe minutes, maybe days, she didn’t know. But when the door opened and she heard him step in, she immediately wet herself.

 Invalid Item Open in new Window.
This item number is not valid.
#1794336 by Not Available.

Excerpt: Almost talking to herself, she muttered softly. “I want more than being a cow. There must be more to life than what we have here. More than what Mother has; food, sleep, and popping a calf every year. Being judged like some common stock. I really do not want to be a cow to one of these ... these … what can we call them, as I would insult a pig, to call our local gentry, pigs.”

 Invalid Item Open in new Window.
This item number is not valid.
#1917318 by Not Available.

Excerpt: When I was eleven, Sophie and Aldous Andrews, old Angus’ boyhood friend, had mysteriously disappeared.

 
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Ask & Answer

This month's question: Do you allow your writing to take on the incredible or do you steer your characters into an outline?

Last month's question: Do you like using animals in your stories?


A*Monaing*Faith Author Icon answered: I love animals! Talking or non talking alike, they add a fresh perspective and element to any story. Lynsay Sands does a great job of using loyal companion dogs in a few of her Argeneau Immortal Vamp series. Two of them (a German Shepard and lab puppy) even get to meet at the end of one book! So cute *Pthb*

Emily Author Icon said: Animals! Of course! *Bigsmile* Here is the dog of one of my characters. He is also my muse *Blush* "Invalid ItemOpen in new Window.
Cute picture!

NaNoNette Author Icon comments: What an interesting question. I've always thought of myself as not using animals in my stories, but now that I think about it, I've used quite a few to show my character's emotions, put them in danger, or for comedy relief. Your angle, to use animals as pets for my characters adds an angle that I didn't think of, but may explore in the future. Good idea!

percy goodfellow Author Icon replied: I use animals without consciously realizing it.

BIG BAD WOLF is Howling Author Icon asks: Do animal-like people count? *Bigsmile*

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