If you've ever been on set, the standard call is, "quiet on the set, roll camera, and action."
One of my favorite 'action' films is Scaramouche with Stewart Granger. The sword play is to die for. Here for your viewing pleasure is the trailer for the 1952 movie: Movie Trailer
I bring the movie to your notice to point out how complex action can be. Still, it drives the story along. Perhaps because I am visual as well as auditory, I find writing action scenes quite fun. Of course fifty plus years on stage, with many a choreographed dance and fight scenes, it is easy to see them in my mind. It probably helped that I briefly studied Karate in college and Fencing once I moved to Colorado.
So, you want to add action to your story. Some may want to add a fight scene, or love scene. Below are some simple 'action' scenes.
From Louis L'Amour's "Trouble Shooter"
"Then from out of the distance came a long shout, then a shot. Suddenly there were other shots, and then toward him, from far off, came a horseman!
With incredible speed, he came on, heat waves making the image waiver and shift. He was lashing a foam flecked horse, riding as if the demons of hell were after him – and maybe they were!"
"She twisted her hands behind her; but all the knots held good!
She writhed her hands till her fingers were wet with sweat or blood!
They stretched and strained in the darkness, and the hours crawled by
like years
Till, now on the stroke of midnight,
Cold, on the stroke of midnight,
The tip of one finger touched it! The trigger at least was hers!"
In both cased, the scene is written so you the reader are watching yet in the scene, feeling the tension, waiting for what happens next.
So how to add realistic action?
1. Make sure the action is necessary, that it moves the story forward.
2. Use the action to add depth to the characters
3. Each time you have an action scene, make sure you're not just repeating the standard, punch, block, punch scenario.
4. Sometimes less is more. Give the highlights of the action. If you give the step by step, it can get a bit boring to you and the reader.
5. As in 'The Princess Bride' and 'Scaramouche'. the action is accompanied by dialogue. Watch action in movies. See how the really good ones get it right.
6. Remember, the conflict/action is about feelings, heightened emotions. Use them to create a real scene your reader will relate to.
7. When in doubt about a scene, act it out if you can.
Below are some 'action' scenes to 'study'. *smile*
https://youtu.be/rYIYIpAo66Y
https://youtu.be/WDlZ_SXx5gA
And the 'funny' action scene
https://youtu.be/jfDyTUiL8xs
Doris Gardner-McCraw -
So how to add realistic action?
1. Make sure the action is necessary, that it moves the story forward.
2. Use the action to add depth to the characters
3. Each time you have an action scene, make sure you're not just repeating the standard, punch, block, punch scenario.
4. Sometimes less is more. Give the highlights of the action. If you give the step by step, it can get a bit boring to you and the reader.
5. As in 'The Princess Bride' and 'Scaramouche'. the action is accompanied by dialogue. Watch action in movies. See how the really good ones get it right.
6. Remember, the conflict/action is about feelings, heightened emotions. Use them to create a real scene your reader will relate to.
7. When in doubt about a scene, act it out if you can.
Below are some 'action' scenes to 'study'. *smile*
https://youtu.be/rYIYIpAo66Y
https://youtu.be/WDlZ_SXx5gA
And the 'funny' action scene
https://youtu.be/jfDyTUiL8xs
Doris Gardner-McCraw -
also writing as Angela Raines
Author, Speaker, Historian-specializing in
Colorado and Women's History
Photo and Poem: Click Here
Author, Speaker, Historian-specializing in
Colorado and Women's History
For a list of Angela Raines Books: Here
Photo and Poem: Click Here
Angela Raines FaceBook: Click Here
