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I do try my best to frame my action scenes and setpeices in the frame of actions and reactions: a-b-a-b-a-b, repeat until end.
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# ? Jan 30, 2015 22:45 |
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# ? May 30, 2024 12:07 |
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i refuse to read about the epic backstory of a thing until i actually care about said thing
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# ? Jan 30, 2015 22:53 |
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Think of a character, and what they want, and why they can't get it, and how they respond to that conflict. You will notice that "look at Wikipedia and copy/paste hunting or photography mechanics" is nowhere in that formula.
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# ? Jan 31, 2015 23:01 |
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Benny the Snake posted:I do try my best to frame my action scenes and setpeices in the frame of actions and reactions: a-b-a-b-a-b, repeat until end. No matter how well action and reaction flow together, action scenes and "set pieces" are meaningless without a story, and a story means characters and desires and struggle. Seriously, read books, pay attention, and see how they work.
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# ? Feb 1, 2015 07:55 |
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Benny the Snake posted:I look like I obviously don't know what I'm talking about. Any tips on how to mitigate that? the problem is you obviously don't know what you're talking about. stop trying to shove facts into a story, and write situations and emotions you know.
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# ? Feb 1, 2015 07:59 |
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RedTonic posted:Generally when people say an action scene is good, I think it means that they can actually follow what's happening (more or less). They're able to imagine it. Less about dynamics, more about clarity. That's strictly anecdotal, since I'm not psychic, and comes from my own experiences in giving/receiving critique on action scenes. This is true, and I think it mostly comes down to setting! As in, making sure the reader can see where the action is taking place.
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# ? Feb 3, 2015 06:57 |
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Can somebody suggest a good action scene? While the advice here is good, I'd like to see a few examples so I can see where I'm loving up.
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# ? Feb 3, 2015 20:46 |
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Screaming Idiot posted:Can somebody suggest a good action scene? While the advice here is good, I'd like to see a few examples so I can see where I'm loving up. Robert E. Howard is really good at writing fast paced and dynamic prose. Pretty much any collection of his stories will have numerous examples of action scenes - both of the man vs man and the man vs nature variety - infinitely better than anything contemporary pulp fictions writers can produce. Howard's a very pulpy writer but 80 years after his death I don't think he's been surpassed when it comes to over the top action. Its like If Friedrich Nietzsche became a dime store novelist instead of a crzy shut in / philosopher. If you want an example of how to make your writing viscerally exciting I don't think you could do better.
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# ? Feb 3, 2015 21:36 |
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Screaming Idiot posted:Can somebody suggest a good action scene? While the advice here is good, I'd like to see a few examples so I can see where I'm loving up. I got bored of his novels after a while, but RA Salvatore writes (or used to at least) pretty good fight scenes.
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# ? Feb 3, 2015 22:12 |
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I'm really partial to Iain Banks'. They tend to be brief, too, and always happen in an interesting space.
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# ? Feb 3, 2015 22:33 |
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Helsing posted:Robert E. Howard is really good at writing fast paced and dynamic prose. Pretty much any collection of his stories will have numerous examples of action scenes - both of the man vs man and the man vs nature variety - infinitely better than anything contemporary pulp fictions writers can produce. But what about MATTHEW REILLY!!!!! Evil neo-Nazis are chasing our heroes down a river in helicopters and boats posted:Doogie ducked under the dashboard. "drat choppers!" he yelled. "Let's see how you like this!"
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# ? Feb 3, 2015 22:50 |
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e.e. 'doc' smith has that beat!!!quote:Space was full of darting, flashing, madly warring ships. The three Black superdreadnoughts leaped forward as one. Their massed batteries of beams, precisely synchronized and aimed, lashed out at the nearest Patrol super heavy, the Boise. Under the vicious power of that beautifully-timed thrust that warship’s first, second, and third screens, her very wall-shield, flared through the spectrum and into the black. Her Chief Pilot, however, was fast—very fast—and he had a fraction of a second in which to work. Thus, practically in the instant of her wall-shield’s failure, she went free; and while she was holed badly and put out of action, she was not blown out of space. In fact, it was learned later that she lost only forty men.
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# ? Feb 3, 2015 23:28 |
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Thanks, these are all really good. I noticed that a lot of great action scenes really on short, staccato statements -- a sort of machinegun rhythm. How do all of you feel about onomatopoeia? I think it's cheesy shorthand for actual description, but Matthew Reilly seemed to use it well enough.
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# ? Feb 4, 2015 00:41 |
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Wait, uh, I'm pretty sure we're posting hilariously bad action scenes that you should not seek to emulate.
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# ? Feb 4, 2015 00:43 |
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Really? That's a relief, considering I didn't want to seem ungrateful for someone's reply. And yeah, onomatopoeia makes me roll my eyes. Does anyone use it well?
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# ? Feb 4, 2015 00:46 |
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Screaming Idiot posted:Thanks, these are all really good. I noticed that a lot of great action scenes really on short, staccato statements -- a sort of machinegun rhythm. jeez dude
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# ? Feb 4, 2015 01:00 |
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Forgot how bad Matthew Reilly is. Thanks Obama.
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# ? Feb 4, 2015 01:09 |
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quote:"Eat that, you Nazi bastards," [Doogie] said softly.
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# ? Feb 4, 2015 01:11 |
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Followup:a synopsis of Matthew Reilly's first novel posted:The story focuses on Dr. Stephen Swain, a radiologist, who manages to fight off two gang members despite having no combat experience. While at home, Swain and his daughter Holly are teleported into the New York City Library. A mysterious alien named Selexin explains that Swain has been chosen to represent humans in a contest called the Presidian. The rules are simple: seven different intelligent beings are teleported into a place such as the Library, and must fight to the death. The last being standing must then find the teleporter that will take them out of the labyrinth. However, an animal called the Karanadon will also be in the labyrinth. The Karanadon was teleported into the Labyrinth a day before the contestants and has already killed Ryan, a security guard at the library. Swain has been chosen to represent Earth because of his natural fighting abilities, as demonstrated in the gang fight.
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# ? Feb 4, 2015 01:18 |
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I kind of want to read that for all the wrong reasons.
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# ? Feb 4, 2015 01:21 |
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Man I get in gang fights all the time and I just get arrested.
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# ? Feb 4, 2015 01:21 |
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I like that when surveying earth for the perfect fighter, they didn't pick some combat vet or Icelandic powerlifter, they picked a doctor who was one time good at fighting gangs as a gang fighter. It shows that Matthew Reilly is not afraid to break from convention. quote:Having survived, the group tries to regroup in the lobby, but see Bellos and another contestant, called the Konda. Just as the Konda is about to kill Bellos, hunting animals called hoodayas, or hoods, attack and kill the Konda.
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# ? Feb 4, 2015 01:27 |
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Screaming Idiot posted:Really? That's a relief, considering I didn't want to seem ungrateful for someone's reply. I think almost all of my stories contain their fair share of piffs and thwacks and shinks and baps and etc. Onomatopoeia is great when it's applied thoughtfully. I also like to combine the sounds with typically spacial adjectives. Like 'narrow' is one of my most favorite ways to describe a sharp, cutting sound. to be continued
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# ? Feb 4, 2015 01:32 |
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The best way to write stories is to imagine them taking place in a perpetual Don Martin strip.
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# ? Feb 4, 2015 01:40 |
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zing
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# ? Feb 4, 2015 01:52 |
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SurreptitiousMuffin posted:Followup: earthmen are op
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# ? Feb 4, 2015 01:53 |
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But it's balanced by how easy earth girls are
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# ? Feb 4, 2015 01:54 |
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Screaming Idiot posted:And yeah, onomatopoeia makes me roll my eyes. i like to think they make little shlupping noises as they revolve
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# ? Feb 4, 2015 02:24 |
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They actually make a series of horrible dry clicks followed by a high-pitched buzz that makes babies and dogs cry.
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# ? Feb 4, 2015 04:06 |
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This Thread with Screaming Idiot trailing behind posted:
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# ? Feb 4, 2015 04:21 |
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Watch Justified. See how all the suspense scenes are mostly them talking, then like five seconds of action at most. Learn from it.
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# ? Feb 4, 2015 10:25 |
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If you want to see a stupid amount of odomotopia in action, check out some L. E. Modesitt, Jr. I typically refer to the entire Recluse series as "Those sound effect books." Also italics and ellipses. The Magic of Recluce by L. E. Modesitt posted:"Lerris! Young...man,...get...yourself...back...here...now!" UGH, I forgot how much I hate this guy. Constant use of titles or descriptions (especially of hair and eye color instead of names for MAJOR NAMED characters. FOR NO REASON. Not to mention confusingly unattributed dialogue. The Magic Engineer by L. E. Modesitt posted:The smith shakes his head. "Go on. Let me finish. I'll send Kadara for you when it's time." Plus he wrote my absolute least favorite book ever. With the biggest Mary Sue of them all. So much better than everyone else that society decides he should be allowed to rape women to reproduce--though of course the women like it and it is an honor to be chosen. UGH. http://www.amazon.com/The-Forever-Hero-Distant-Twilight/dp/0312868383 (Also i don't feel remotely bad for that spoiler, sorry.) Dr. Kloctopussy fucked around with this message at 01:25 on Feb 5, 2015 |
# ? Feb 5, 2015 01:21 |
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I have found my new motivational tool, and it is the lovely, published-and-moneymaking prose of others. Thank you thread.
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# ? Feb 5, 2015 09:41 |
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Megazver posted:Watch Justified. See how all the suspense scenes are mostly them talking, then like five seconds of action at most. Learn from it. One of the best shows on television. Last episode was loving masterful. I learned something from this season: Sam Elliott actually has a mouth. This whole time I thought it was just a words-hole under a magnificent mustache.
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# ? Feb 5, 2015 15:55 |
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Megazver posted:Watch Justified. See how all the suspense scenes are mostly them talking, then like five seconds of action at most. Learn from it. Justified is the best. Best dialogue on TV. Ironically I haven't much cared for Elmore Leonard's novels.
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# ? Feb 10, 2015 18:02 |
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RedTonic posted:I'm toxxing myself to have the second draft of this 102k mess done by March 31st as well. A normal person should be able to edit in that time, right? Ugh, this means I've got two threads. I am being super good. Finished my initial pass, cleaned up names that I changed halfway through the story, put some scenes in a more sensible order, and identified areas in need of more polishing/actual transitions. "Super" here is obviously relative. I'm kinda at that stage where I don't even want to look at this mess, but the rest of me just wants to get the novel done and out there.
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# ? Feb 10, 2015 18:18 |
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A couple weeks ago I got a bunch of advice. I wanted to let you know that as of today I have finished a brand new outline. This is looking like a big rewrite - a step beyond just a revision - and everything is looking good. I'm starting a seasonal job tomorrow so I don't know how much I'll write in the next couple of months. Thanks a bunch for posting the link to the save the cat spreadsheet. That helped a lot and I also found this: http://jamigold.com/for-writers/worksheets-for-writers/ with other worksheets. While I was creating my new outline, I used the Larry Brook's Story Engineering worksheet.
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# ? Feb 11, 2015 05:35 |
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Just starting to dig out my 50k NaNo draft and it's pretty daunting. Somehow it seems that there's hardly anything in these 50k word, even though it has a beginning middle and end. But at the same time I don't want to just cram stuff in and make it fell too dense. It has 5 acts structurally so really it should be manageable to get into shape. Theoretically anyway...
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# ? Feb 12, 2015 02:01 |
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PoshAlligator posted:Just starting to dig out my 50k NaNo draft and it's pretty daunting. Post a link, posh. I'd like to read it. E: actually a thread where people post their nanos for praise/derision would be cool I will make one tomorrow
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# ? Feb 12, 2015 08:40 |
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# ? May 30, 2024 12:07 |
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Hay Guyz. Posting here is a big step for me, but I've decided I want to write fiction. Some background: I've been writing, and published, for literally decades, but all in non-fiction. I've written how-to books for MacMillan press/SAMS/IDG, mostly dealing with Photoshop and web programming technologies. While I've only had 'lead author' on 5-6 books, I've also edited at least a dozen more in the same technology genre, and contributed chapters to dozens more. If you read a Microsoft FrontPage book in the 90s, it was probably me ghost-writing it. I've had at least 500 bylines as a freelance news/entertainment/opinion writer for various publications, mostly independent weeklies. These included interviews (I interviewed Radiohead!), record reviews, movie reviews, stale news pieces, hot news pieces, retrospectives, editorials, topic features and so on. In a bizarre turn I was Chief Editor of a short-lived glossy magazine in SE Asia based on DJ culture, we published monthly with over 100 pages. Strangely, these were never my 'job'. I'd always had unrelated full time employment, mostly in the IT field, for this entire period. In the last 5 years or so, I haven't written anything. Not personal, not non-fiction, not 'work'. Tons of corporate communications, masterfully crafted. Sadly, my posting on these forums probably represents my largest corpus of work in that time. This changed just over a month ago when, instead of a Christmas bonus, my boss gave me a three month (weekly) gift of sessions with a 'life coach' that had helped him in the past. My initial scepticism was palpable, but actually it's been very rewarding and very fun. During the 'diagnostic' phase I was asked 'what do you really want to do?' Given the candour and relaxed nature of the sessions the first thing out of my mouth was 'I want to write more. I want to write again.' She took this seriously, and started (among many other things; it's not just about the writing) giving me writing exercises, mostly of a spontaneous nature. These are generally single topic, short ideas that are meant to be churned out quickly. For example in the middle of the day I might get an email saying 'tell me a story about a dolphin'. And the expectation is that I'd spend 10 minutes writing something about a dolphin (my version was about a mine-hunting dolphin that decides to gently caress around with his human handlers). No planning, no research, bam 10 minutes you're done. At first kind of jarring, I found these exercises loving fun. It was so liberating; if I introduced an idea I could simply abandon it instead of explaining and footnoting like in the technical writing world. Who trained the dolphin? Who gives it orders? Who cares? I've really enjoyed this whole thing, and now have about 20 spontaneous pieces under my belt. When I was doing tech books I was comforted by the restraints, if that makes sense. You wrote an outline, it was approved, and then you delivered 25-30 chapters within that framework, usually in about 3-6 months depending on the budget and popularity of the software (we had to get the Photoshop books in crazy fast; I was writing a chapter a day for a while there). But these exercises have made me realize that writing can actually be fun and not a way to make beer money. You are probably all rolling your eyes at this, but the real verve and brio I felt while writing these little pieces was frankly, pretty awesome. Every form of writing I've attempted before this came with requisite restraints, be they 'it's an interview', 'it's a news article', 'it's a sports piece', 'it's a radio ad', etc etc, and I found myself really enjoying the freedom of just barfing words onto a page. So I want to build on this. I'm not afraid of the work; I've written thousands of words in a day, while working a full time job. I've written literal thousand page books in 3 months (they're called 'Platinum Editions'). But those words didn't mean anything and I'm kind of daunted by the jump into fiction. That said my analytical, non-fiction brain has prepared some questions for you guys (this thread which, I've been following off and on since its inception). They are: - Anyone made a similar jump? Advice? Anecdotes? - Advice on avoiding passive voice problems. Note my use of articles, adverbs, and commas in this post. I have a real problem with passive voice. Also note all the parenthetics. - Good resources on dialogue: I've branched out in the exercises recently trying to make them dialogue only. I've realized I am Not Good at it. It feels like cheating because you can write reams of 'He Said She Said' and not actually communicate anything. I apologize in advance if this post is banal or breaks the rules in some way. I've only recently identified this as something I want to do, so I really haven't put in the time that some of you long time posters here have.
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# ? Feb 12, 2015 10:14 |