TECH: Make A Scene #17: Action Scenes

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original posting 17 August 2008

Chapter 17: Action Scenes

(continuing our series from Make A Scene by Jordan Rosenfeld)

Hollywood has taught us to think of action as larger-than-life last-minute escapades. However, small personal actions still count. Action scenes rely on some kind of physical movement in a space or context of the writer's creation, with a sense of time passing. Readers feel as if they are participating in action when:

1. Events unfold in real time, so that the reader feels as if they are participating in the events
2. The pace is rapid, and there is some kind of physical movement
3. The protagonist makes quick decisions or reactions, depending on instinct more than intellect
4. Unexpected consequences raise the dramatic tension

Act first, think later. When the protagonist is caught by surprise, forcing reactions. That's what action scenes are all about. They feel fast and intense. Usually the action is unexpected or surprising. They match well with suspense scenes, epiphanies or contemplative scenes. Readers do sometimes skim through them, so don't expect slow detailed reading. Just like the protagonist, the reader wants to find out what happens, so they aren't going to read slowly and carefully.

Opening action scenes. Most of the scene will be unfolding or exploding action. Even if you want to start slow, think about getting to the action soon.

In medias res - start in the middle of the action -- is a standard recommendation, and works well. Readers have to keep reading to figure out what is going on. Make sure that the reader can follow the essential action, that they know what is going on even if they don't know why or how it will be resolved.

Open with foreshadowing. Small actions or narrative summary that hints at the coming action are sometimes useful. Keep it short, keep the hints subtle, and let the action take over as soon as possible. Be very careful not to make the action an anti-climax by removing the surprise or sizzle.

Character development and plot in the action scene? Action is one way to show the true nature of characters. Every scene needs to involve characters in interaction, reaction, and change, but action scenes force the character to actually walk the talk, acting out their true beliefs. Don't forget that characters can make mistakes, especially in action. Push your characters to discover unexpected facets of themselves through actions. Make sure that the actions are serious, that they can't be undone, so that the character has to face the consequences.

Ending the action scenes. There are lots of ways to end the action. No matter how you do it, though, make sure that the action has changed the protagonist, and that there are consequences that the protagonist will have to deal with. Most of the endings slow down the pace and offer a chance for reflection, increase the tension and suspense so that the reader has to keep going, or end with a bang, a revelation that changes the characters and the plot.

Slow it down. A little bit of exposition or reflection, quietly slowing down the pace, and often ending in a foreshadowing image.

The cliffhanger or suspense ending. Don't stop, run the action right out to the edge and leave the reader turning the pages for the next step. Just delay the conclusion of the action.

A revelation that changes everything. At the very end of the scene, reveal the consequences of the action to the reader and the protagonist. One trick here is that the revelation often is an emotional high point -- action scenes often do not have much emotional impact, but the revelation can change to.

And Rosenfeld's checklist for action scenes:

1. Is the focus of the protagonist on reaction, instinct instead of thought?
2. Is there physical movement that conveys a sense of time?
3. Is there less reflective or emotional content -- keep punching!
4. Does the action change the protagonist and the plot?
5. Do the actions produce consequences for future scenes?

Coming up, we have flashback, epiphany, climactic, and final scenes. But for right now, let's set Rosenfeld aside and consider your very own action scene.

First, of course, you might want to take an action scene apart. Admittedly, we all know them from movies and TV, but dig one out of a novel, and see how it works. How did they start it? How do they keep the action moving and realistic? And how did they end it?

Second, think about writing an action scene of your very own. Where would an action scene make more sense than dialogue? Are you going for the high action of the movies and television or for somewhat smaller tramping around the campsite, rafting down the river, or doing something else that doesn't involve car chases, explosions, and other special effects? How do you start the scene, how do you keep it realistic, and how do you finish it? I still remember reading someone's little battle scene and asking them to walk through the action, because I couldn't figure out how the characters were positioned. We ended up talking about doing a paper chart and actually having the characters move across the chart -- and discovered that at least one character was indeed popping from place to place in a rather incredible way. I won't say that the scene was great after we reworked it, but at least people looked the right direction and so forth.

You might take some simple actions -- getting in the car and turning it on, getting a cup of coffee or tea, buying a newspaper -- and write those scenes up as practice. It can be surprisingly difficult to get the character into the right position, get the keys out of his pocket, and actually turn on the engine. Then consider showing us that the character is happy, upset, or otherwise trying to deal with emotions in the middle of the action.

I think action scenes often are considered pretty simple. But selecting the right parts of the actions to suit your story, and providing enough details without going overboard or without simply sliding over the action, is more difficult than it may appear. Action scenes are some of the bread-and-butter basics for writers, and you might as well practice writing them. You need to be able to convincingly convey that these characters are doing something right now.

So, write!

(or should that be plots, characters, actions! Write that scene?)

The writer's job is to help readers see what's happening now in the center ring -- of your story.

WOW: I've looked at the web from both sides now

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original posting 22 August 2008

and found some links and links and links :-)

Okay, this is just some scattered links that I want to keep track of. Do a search for science fiction, fantasy, etc. and plot, cliche, whatnot, and you might stumble over:

Assorted generators:

http://nine.frenchboys.net/index.php
http://www.warpcoresf.co.uk/fantasyplot.php

Lists of Plots

http://www.complang.tuwien.ac.at/alex/Handbooks/WWWPlots/genre.html
The Big List of RPG Plots http://www.io.com/~sjohn/plots.htm

Bad Ideas and The Plot That Wouldn't Die and Well-Worn Ideas

http://www.sfwa.org/writing/turkeycity.html
http://www.seetuscany.com/writd/notdie.htm
http://www.strangehorizons.com/guidelines/fiction-common-horror.shtml
http://www.strangehorizons.com/guidelines/fiction-common.shtml

SF Cliches http://www.cthreepo.com/cliche/
Fantasy Cliches http://www.amethyst-angel.com/cliche.html
Horror http://www.darkhart.com/blog/?p=1
Romance Cliches http://www.writing-world.com/romance/cliches.shtml

The Well Tempered Plot Device http://news.ansible.co.uk/plotdev.html
Evil Overlord List http://www.eviloverlord.com/lists/overlord.html

Lots of fun to look over. So what links have you seen recently that were useful to your writing voyage?

Huh? Oh, I missed TV Tropes? Here -- http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Tropes

TECH: Make A Scene #18: Flashback Scenes

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original posting 24 August 2008

Make a Scene Chapter 18: Flashback Scenes

Walking through Make a Scene by Jordan Rosenfeld, we've been looking at part three, various scene types. The first scene, suspense scenes, dramatic scenes, contemplative scenes, dialogue scenes, action scenes -- and now it's time for the flashback scenes. Remembering the past . . .

Every narrative has a backstory -- the background history, facts, and so forth that push your characters along. It's all the stuff that happened before the current story. Growing up, past encounters, whatever happened before the first moment of the current story, that's your backstory. And when you dive back into it, that's a flashback.

Flashback scenes are just regular scenes, with setting, action, characters, plot, dramatic tension, cliffhangers, and whatever other bits and pieces you like in your scenes, but set in the past. They should:

• focus on action, information, and character interactions
• don't overdo the setting and sensory details, keep the pace rapid
• illustrate or explain something in the front story, usually a plot or character point
• help the reader understand the protagonist

Don't overdo flashbacks. They are a disruption in the flow of the story. Keep them short and sweet.

Transition into the past. Introducing the time setting is a tricky part of a flashback. A few words of transition and sometimes some verb tense can help. "A few days after they moved in, ..." can start a flashback about the current house. "He had spoken..." instead of "He spoke..." Or you can use a specific date or incident. Make sure the reader knows what the present date is, then clearly indicate the past date. Sometimes have the narrator tell the reader that we're re-creating the past. Or use remembrances. You can also sometimes use the trigger -- a smell, a phrase, or something else that reminds the character of their past. This also helps you get back out of the flashback into the present.

Using flashbacks. Keep them tightly focused on the information that's needed for the current story. Flashbacks often illustrate something that happened in the past which led directly to the present plot point. They can also create suspense, introducing tidbits from the events of the past to build up tension in the front story. There's usually a tension between the bits of the past and the current story in this case. You can also use flashbacks to help make a character deeper and to introduce dead characters. Absent characters can still affect the current story, and using a flashback to show their influence is one way to get around their current inactivity.

Ending the flashback. You need to transition back to the present, either returning the reader to be same point with a flashback started, or giving them a push into the current present. Since many flashbacks are very short, you don't want to the transition to be long, but be careful not to lose the reader. Make it clear that we've returned from the past to the front story.

Rosenfeld's checklist for flashback scenes:

1. Does the flashback provide action, information, and character interaction?
2. Does information in the flashback tie into the front story?
3. Use the flashback likely to confuse the reader about where they are in the front story?
4. Does the past told in the flashback directly affect the plot in the front story?
5. Do elements of the past in the flashback create suspense in the present?
6. Does the flashback deepen the reader's understanding of a character?

Flashbacks are kind of interesting. You may remember the advice of the King to the White Rabbit in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll? "Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop." This simple linear flow gets interrupted by flashbacks. Classical theater also indicated that there should be unity of place, time, and action. One setting, one day of time, and one sweep of action. Anything before that should be recounted by the actors -- a flashback in dialogue, but not in setting or action. And we still prefer that stories start at the beginning and sweep along in a reasonably continuous flow to the end, although we'll accept the fade-out/fade-in and other transitions especially if they help the story move along. But those hops back in time . . . well, if we have to, we'll put up with them, but don't do it too much.

Incidentally, I found that this was one of the key differences between TV mysteries and samurai dramas here in Japan for me as a learner. The mysteries would often have talking heads discuss something that happened yesterday, and if I got lost in the chatter, then I had no idea what had happened. The samurai dramas, though, would say something like, "Yesterday I was at the bar . . . " and pop - we'd have a live flashback scene showing just what happened at the bar. Much easier for someone who was struggling with the language to understand.

So - your assignment? Okay, how about looking at your story, and finding some point of character backstory that really needs to be explained. And then put together the flashback to show it to us. Maybe it's their anger, maybe it's the gentle way they treat children, or whatever, but give us a short flashback to show us why they act that way. Make sure that the transition into it is clear, that the essential point is made, and that we get led back to the front story.

Now where were we? Oh, yes, once upon a time . . . and it happened just that way!
Write?