This week on the Story Works Round Table, Alida and Robert talk all things action. What are action scenes and what you need to do to make your reader sit up and pay attention! We cover everything from choreographing your fight to multiple team action scenes, from slowing down the action to avoiding repetition, from enacting the action yourself to making the reader sweat with anticipation.
VIDEO
SHOW NOTES
What is an action scene? And how should you go about building one? Why is it so important to choreograph your action? And how can you use your narrator to bring clarity? Don’t forget about your senses, using anticipation, and making sure that reader feels what you are trying to convey.
What we talked about:
What is an action scene? (0:28)
Is an action scene like an action movie? (1:08)
How should you start planning an action scene? (2:08)
After you know where it fits, and what the stakes are, then how do you choreograph your action? (5:17)
How can slowing down help with clarity of your action? (7:25)
How to use your narrator and the characters senses to add depth to the scene. (11:10)
How can reader anticipation increase empathy? (14:05)
How can you craft the scene to make the reader feel what you want them to? (15:28)
Do not overdo your action scene! (17:15)
What about action scenes with several moving parts? (21:11)
Don’t forget that your action scenes must mean something. (23:11)
How should you vary your action? (25:57)
Tip: physical action can help write action scenes. (26:37)
LINKS
Get Alida’s Writing Tips here.
Want more about these topics? Check out:
60 second tip: Fight Scenes
Flash Tip: Slowing Down Action for Effects
60 second tip: Pacing & Action Scenes
SWRT 11: Pacing
Have thoughts, questions, other examples? Join the conversation at the Story Works Writers Facebook group.
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About Your Hosts
Alida Winternheimer is the author of The Skoghall Mystery Series, A Stone’s Throw, and The Story Works Guide to Writing FictionSeries. She further pursues her fervor for all things story as a writing coach and developmental editor. She lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with her Golden Retriever, Seva the Wonder Dog. She camps, bikes, and kayaks in her free time. Unless it’s winter, in which case she drinks chai by the fire. You can find more at www.wordessential.com/about.
Kathryn Arnold writes fantasy and anything else that sparks her creativity from her home in Kingston, Washington. She currently earns her living as an insurance underwriting assistant, where she also creates marketing and web copy. When not writing, she plays (and teaches) piano and keyboard in a band (or two), and is working on starting a ministry team with her husband. You can find Kathryn at www.skyfirewords.com.
Robert Scanlon was born in Australia, but whisked off to England when only a baby. After many years complaining about the weather, he did the sensible thing and moved back to Australia. Despite a career in the music industry, followed by decades teaching public speaking, Robert is an introvert who adores reading. Robert grew up on a diet of sci-fi masters, eventually discovering he had read the library’s entire science fiction section. Now he has to write his own. Robert is the author of Constellation, book one of the Blood Empire space opera series. Find out more at www.RobertScanlon.com