 Action/Adventure: November 16, 2005 Issue [#711] |
  Action/Adventure
This week: Edited by: W.D.Wilcox  
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I grew up on Adventure stories. I remember as a child being whisked away to some incredibly awesome new place every time I opened a book. Where would the world be today without adventure stories to help us escape the doldrums of our ordinary lives? |
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Writing Action
Action is a necessary part to any adventure, regardless of the genre, but writing an action sequence can be tricky. Short choppy sentences work best, but you have to be descriptive too. You can’t just say, “The hero punched the scoundrel in the face.” The reader wants to know how he did it—they want to see the action. Whether you’re watching Arnold tear it up as the Terminator, or Indiana Jones hanging from the front of a car, those action sequences were written so that the director of the movie knew what he was going to film. So, how do they do it?
The best way to learn anything is by emulating somebody that is proficient and successful. Let’s take a look at how the professionals do it, shall we.
Bond automatically slammed the brakes full on and braced all his sinews against the wheel to correct the inevitable sharp slew to the left, but he only kept control for a split second. As the rubber was flayed from his off-side wheels and the rims for an instant tore up the tarmac, the heavy car whirled across the road in a tearing dry skid, slammed the left bank with a crash that knocked Bond out of the driving seat on to the floor, and then, facing back up the road, it reared slowly up, its front wheels spinning and its great headlights searching the sky. For a split second, resting on the petrol tank, it seemed to paw at the heavens like a giant praying-mantis. Then slowly it toppled over backwards and fell with a splintering crash of coachwork and glass.
--CASINO ROYALE by Ian Fleming
The first thing you notice is that these are not short sentences. As a matter of fact, the one in the middle is extremely long. But notice the use of the words: “in a split second”, and “for an instant”; they work like short choppy sentences to make you feel as if everything is happening in a blink of an eye. Notice too, the words: slammed/ braced/ flayed/ tore up/ whirled/ tearing/ knocked/ reared/ toppled. These strong action verbs make you see the action as you read. Also, look at the adjectives used. I loved these two lines: “its great headlights searching the sky”, and “it seemed to paw at the heavens like a giant praying-mantis”.
In the Horror genre, action sequences fill you with dread.
He pulled back suddenly, trying to pull her up, but the thing moved with oily speed and tangled itself in her hair like a webbing of thick black glue and when he pulled her up she was already screaming and she was heavy with it; it came out of the water in a twisting, gruesome membrane that rolled with flaring nuclear colors—scarlet-vermilion, flaring emerald, sullen ocher.
It flowed down over LaVern’s face in a tide, obliterating it.
Her feet kicked and drummed. The thing twisted and moved where her face had been. Blood ran down her neck in streams. Screaming, Randy ran at her, put his foot against her hip, and shoved. She went flopping and tumbling over the side, her legs like alabaster in the moonlight.
—THE RAFT by Stephen King
Here, Mister King uses short choppy phrases and sentences to establish the action, but it is his descriptive use of colors that generate the real action and horror: “moved with oily speed”, “thick black glue”, “flaring nuclear colors—scarlet-vermilion, flaring emerald, sullen ocher”, “her legs like alabaster in the moonlight”.
Pick your own favorite author and analyze the techniques they use in their action sequences. Be creative, descriptive, and above all, make the scene play-out like a movie in the readers mind.
Until next time,
billwilcox
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Action Stories
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Feedback
Vivian 
Submitted Comment:
Bill, I'm not sure why more people don't put Action/Adventure as a first choice of genre, but I know that usually I write mystery and then action/adventure since the action/adventure comes as a side effect of the mystery.
schipperke
Submitted Comment:
Bill: Can you think of a bestseller that truly ONLY action and adventure? Or do you think most stories are more than one genre? ( I do, for the most part)SchipSure Schip! There’s Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn/ War of the Worlds/ Treasure Island/ Swiss Family Robinson to name a few
vivacious 
Submitted Comment:
Thanks for pointing out the lack of action/adventure stories, and for reminding us that many stories can be defined as such. Oddly enough, when I placed my blurb for my NaNo novel a few days ago, I decided to define it as Action/Adventure first, SciFi second!
nomlet
Submitted Comment:
Nothing like a good Action/Adventure ride to keep the writer interested as well as that fickle reader.
scribbler 
Submitted Comment:
I completly agree, where is the action!
scarlett_o_h
Submitted Comment:
Interesting Newsletter. You made me realise I hardly ever choose Action/Adventure as a genre for my stories. Maybe it's because it's not quite as clear cut as 'Horror,' or 'Romance,' etc. I'll certainly bear it in mind next time I post a story and hopefully your Newsletters will help to define the genre.
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