 Action/Adventure: December 28, 2005 Issue [#791] |
  Action/Adventure
This week: Edited by: Puditat  
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Life without action is static, and by necessity, it would therefore be dead. Action writing takes the normal and shares it for all to live vicriously.
Adventure is the spice: the exciting, adrenalin-pumping, thrill that makes one feel so alive. Everyone has an adventuresome spirit. Maybe dreams of excavating some long-lost treasure, visiting a new country, or trying a new flavour of potato chip.  Some of us prefer our adventures to come between the pages of a book, and many of us like to write that adventure.
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Believability
Elements of action and adventure are present in practically every story. It is the component which provides movement to a plot, a framework for the characters to unveil their burgeoning love, conquer the ogre and save the forest, or to share the merriment of the occasion. Both action and adventure are an intrinsic part of life, even as you sit here reading this newsletter.
But when we specifically write action and adventure prose, or poetry, we are looking for that experience which takes the reader into a new life. Showing them something to leave them breathless and set their pulses racing as their eyes tumble and cross trying to read the scene as its pace races along. I know...I've read scenes in books where the pace has a life of its own and carries you along for the ride. The reading is an adventure just in itself. And that is the way I think it should be - taking the reader on a slice of life outside their experience while allowing them to still relate to the events on some level.
The 'problem' for the writer is that both the action and adventure components need to be believeablle. This does not mean we cannot have superhuman powers being demonstrated, but that the base story, setting, and characterisation must support the choice to use superhuman powers.
The amount you can get away with, without breaking through this aspect of believeability will vary according to what other genre you are writing in. A comedy might deliberately use the art of exaggeration to provide the laugh. However this would not work so well in a romance, unless it is a romantic comedy.
There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to how much is too hard to swallow. I have not even mentioned fantasy or science fiction, which allow for an even greater use of the 'out there' believeability factor. Still, the action/adventure elements must be appropriate to match the other factors. If not, a reader can quickly be put off by the extraordinary powers of your character(s) to always get into the most extreme life-ending positions, and getting out of them without an eyelash lost, every time.
Action and adventure is so versatile, crossing genres with ease and aplomb. Just be careful to match it to the story, enhancing the plot without sacrificing the reader's intelligent reasoning.
Thanks for reading,
Puditat
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Kiwi!
A great contribution to the Action/Adventure newsletter, thank you. My momma always said, "it's the small things that give meaning to life." It's true that we can glean Life's most precious moments if we pay attention to just what goes on around us and how we feel about them.
billwilcox
Thanks, Bill.  Your Mom gave wise advice. I appreciate you sharing it.
I like a day with less action! Here is a good action day: get up, eat, watch tv, sleep! 
schipperke
 I'm sure we all like those from time to time...hands up who gets one.
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