EXERCISE: A fragment for your writing?

[mbarker]

Original Posting March 3, 2017

This morning, walking in to work, something dropped this line into my brain:

Under the morning sun, burning through the fog, it was just a rusty bench on a beach where a prince sat, staring out at the waves, his flippers curled underneath him.

There you go! Feel free to use, abuse, or even transform this line, and tell us about this prince and his flippers. Merman? Someone looking for that littlest mermaid? Well, you think about it, and then...
WRITE!
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TECH: Creating Action Scenes That Move (Moldy Oldie Time!)

[mbarker]

Original Posting March 5, 2017

Writer's Digest October 1995 on pages 35-37, and page 60, have an article by William H. Lovejoy with the title "Creating Action Scenes That Move." The subtitle is "The two worst things that can happen in action scenes are for the events to be unbelievable or to have the action come to a screeching halt. Before your hero takes a step, learn the techniques to keep the action moving."

That sounds exciting, doesn't it? William starts off with two heroes – well, a hero and heroine. The hard-boiled detective is in a fistfight. But, with one punch he knocks out his opponent, and readers just don't believe it. On the other hand, our tired heroine is running through the dark forest, and runs, and runs, and the reader just get bored. So what happened? Well, here are the tips from William.

Get Real. Unless you're writing science fiction and fantasy, you need to obey real physical constraints. Hand-to-hand personal confrontations usually are short. Make sure you remember the physical capabilities of your character. Even the greatest hero, probably gets hurt a little bit. Deal realistically with weapons. Most of us need research.

Get their hearts pumping. Words and pace make speed. Keep it moving. Paragraphs, sentences, words get shorter. Make it faster. Simple words. Read it aloud, and make sure the pace and rate go faster and faster and faster…

Make them talk. Dialogue! You can inject uncertainty, keep the readers aware of what's happening, and dialogue is just more interesting. It needs to sound right.

Use some restraint. You want unusual, one-of-a-kind action scenes. Don't just repeat things. No gratuitous violence, all right. There has to be a reason for an action scene that's violent. "The purpose of the scene must be clear – to evoke a response and readers, to move the plot along, to reveal character traits, or whatever."

Prepare the reader, research the weapons, and pump up the pace! Avoid unbelievable or boring, and make your readers happy!

There we go. An action scene! Let's see. Sports, war, avoiding the runaway sheep, even chopping and dicing vegetables for dinner, there's plenty of action to go around. So if you want to practice, pick your action, lay in a couple or three characters, and... ring the bell, and may the best pepper steak win!

Go ahead. Write my day.
tink

EXERCISE: Tell Me About My Father

[mbarker]

Original Posting March 9, 2017

On March 11, 2011, the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami changed quite a few lives forever. One of those was a four-year-old boy whose father died that day. He does not remember his father. He has grown up with his mother, and an older man who has taken several of the quasi-orphans in that area under his wing. But... whenever the boy meets someone who knew his father, he has one simple request.

"Tell me about my father."

So, imagine that you are one of those people he asks. What do you tell him? Feel free to ponder what his father was really like versus what you are going to tell this youngster who is looking up at you, trustingly. His mother stands nearby, watching you, a bit anxiously. What do you say?

Write that scene. And the dialogue.
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