TECH: Nanowrimo Notes #24: Lights, Camera, . . .

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Walking through the Action

We're coming down to the final days of Nanowrimo, but there's still some odds and ends that might help you keep your story smooth and your word count up. So let's take a look at action scenes -- fisticuffs and other blazing actions. How do you put them together -- especially keeping the bits and pieces going the right way at the right time -- and what do you put in them?

I couldn't find a reference for it offhand, but I seem to remember in the sports and physical fitness fields that there is a saying or a approach to basically starts with thinking it through -- visualizing the steps or the actions before actually doing them. I do know that there are various people pointing out that if you plan to hit a hole-in-one or some other specific target, visualizing and focusing on exactly that makes it much more likely that you will do it.

Anyway, the key here is that as writers, we need to think through the exact actions. Not just, "he stepped forward" but "he stepped forward with his right foot, his right arm rising at the same time, his fingers curled" or something precise like that. I still remember reading one description of a protagonist running across a field -- but the various actions and conflicts along the way seemed to have the right and left descriptions mixed up, so at times, my mental picture ended up twisting madly to get him facing the next direction. I ended up commenting on that, and the writer and I walked his protagonist across a sheet of paper, step-by-step, with each of the incidents marked on it. Then he rewrote the piece -- and it was exciting action!

So take the time to walk your characters through the actions. Figure out if they need to swing their legs up as they jump, or whatever, to make it work out. You may even have to get up and try out some things -- just be careful not to hurt yourself :-)

So once you know all of the steps of the action, what do you include in your write up? There's a number of possibilities. For example, you might consider sportscasts of various kinds. Even the live real-time broadcast usually picks out a few things, highlighting specific parts of the action. And as for the various summaries, they pick out the really exciting parts. They don't show minute after minute of the football team going back to the huddle, getting set, slowly slogging their way forward. No, they pick out the key block, the quarterback falling back, and the long pass . . . into the hands of the receiver, who scores?

Or take a cue from the TV shows and movies. One approach to action scenes is to do it with quick flashes and cuts, a shot here, some light and dark there, and something flashing past - and we're done. Almost impressionistic, and very very fast. Another approach is the slow motion close-up details version of an action scene. As the action starts, everything slows down. The camera focuses tightly on each and every detail of the action. As a writer, you can do either one of these. You can pull back and let the action occur in a flashing tumble, or you can go in and give all the little detailed steps. The thing to think about is how it fits your story. Also how does the point of view character -- first-person narrator or third person limited POV character -- experience the action? Is he or she a policeman, military, or other trained observer who is going to notice lots of detail? Or he or she an average bloke who probably won't get it all right, and will miss some of it in the shock of realizing that it's really happening?

As with most things, I think I'd suggest starting out with a list of possible details -- what could you show about the action -- and then pick a selected set -- two or three -- that really suit your story. Something that helps with characterization and plot, will be exciting and interesting to the readers, and that isn't the way everyone else does it. Imagine that cliche car chase -- how could you show us that in a whole new light? Tell it from the POV of the kidnapped character in the trunk of the car? Or how about . . . Anyway, pick your details. Make them effective -- one's that make the readers lean forward, trying to help the characters.

Another twist that is sometimes used is to skip the action. This is especially useful for the third time that a similar action occurs. Instead of walking through yet another encounter with the bully, skip to the next scene, with the character trying to see through eyelids that are puffy. Now the reader isn't quite sure what happened, and the characters can fill in -- through dialogue and such -- the backstory. Build up to it, perhaps with the character preparing, and . . . skip ahead! Don't do this too often, since many readers really enjoy those action scenes, but as a change of pace, this can work quite well.

We've already lightly touched on the notion of changing the point of view. This can sometimes be very helpful with action that is difficult for the reader -- instead of immersing them in the action, give them some distance by having this scene viewed by a news reporter, someone who isn't up-close-and-personal with the action. Even switching from third person limited either to a cinematic view or even to an omniscient point of view can help give the reader a little bit of extra distance from the action. This might be particularly useful for violent action or other kinds that the reader may have difficulty with.

So really two pieces of advice. First, take the time and figure out the details of the action scene. Make a little map, get up and move through the actions, maybe even have action figures (okay, pieces of paper with names on them) that you step through the action. Make sure you know how the action will unfold. Second, then, decide how you are going to portray that action to the reader -- deliberately vague and flashy, slow-motion, which details, real-time or skip-and-recall, and what point of view? Plenty of choices.

And for nanowrimo, you may even want to play the alternatives game -- write it up more than one way, with the plan to select and revise later. After all, it's a whole lot easier to decide which alternative you like when you've got them already written out. And for nanowrimo, extra words are not a problem.

tink
(about 1,100 words)
dreaming of turkeys and pies and other Thanksgiving delights?