Today, please use your annotated story handouts ("He Swung and He Missed" & "To Build a Fire") to take the timed pop-quiz. Since this is open note, you only have 10 minutes to complete your task. Answer as concisely and specifically as possible. Remember: textual evidence is a good way to prove you know what you're writing about...!
If you finish before others, please turn in your test and begin reading the next two stories for homework--or write in your journal.
After our quiz, please be prepared to discuss archetype (the material from last class' post) and to engage in some writing exercises in your journal. Somewhere in period 4, we will return to the lab to continue revising (or completing our homework!)
Advice about action/adventure stories:
To be clear: action is anything that happens. It does NOT have to be life-threatening, but it is often important. It can be a problem that needs to be solved, it can be dialogue, it can be description, it can be a reaction to other characters. Even the slowest moving plots have
some action. Characters move from page to page. What is important then, is making sure that the action you are writing about is
interesting.
Daily and routine activities, in general, do not interest a reader. Being detailed isn't the same as being interesting. Remember that your reader is likely to be in the mood to read (otherwise, why would they have picked up your story or book?) And writing for the page is not the same as watching a television program or film. An explosion in a book is likely to be boring--on film, a car chase is exciting. A blood spatter is not scary on the page. Film and fiction are two different mediums. Know what your chosen form is for! Each literary genre has its strengths.
Readers usually want a few easy things: to be entertained, to while away a few hours, to engage the brain (we'll call that thinking)--or to feel connected with humanity as a general whole. Outside of high school, only people interested in reading do it for pleasure. That's good news for us writers!
If you can remember to write for your reader, then you'll probably be a good writer.
But how do we do this?
Here's a few tips:
Character is developed by action. It is part of the process of
characterization: what a character does, what a character says, what a character thinks, or how a character is described--help develop a character. Backstory is only needed to clarify or embellish. It is hardly needed in action fiction, although it can be found in tightly written paragraphs or sentences. You don't have to lump it all together at the beginning of the story like a tasteless, healthy dish. Get to the dessert! Often backstory is used to create suspense or as a bridge to another action sequence. As a writer, you need to know your character--but once you know him/her, most of that information can be removed to move a story along.
Write your story in scenes. Think of your story as a play or film where there are clearly defined scenes happening. Write scene to scene, not as if you are wandering around in the dark. Inexperienced writers (and when we write a first draft) don't know what scenes they want to include. They can't tell an important scene from a boring one. Cut to the chase, as the saying goes. If you know your ending and it's exciting--write this first. Then add scenes before or after as you think is necessary to tell a good story. You do NOT have to write a story in linear fashion, moving from chronological plot point to plot point. You DO have to include the important scenes--the ones that don't add anything to your story (or are repeated or too similar to other scenes--cut!)
Setting is important, but only if it assists the action of the story. Setting can be symbolic or create tone or provide conflict or a mood for the story. You need it, but once it's there, you have to use it as a set for your scene.
Don't Avoid Action! One of the biggest weakness of young or inexperienced writers is that we tend to avoid action and shy away from
conflict (person vs. person, person vs. self, person vs. society, person vs. nature, etc.). The worst of this is that your protagonist only reacts and never acts in the story. But often the opening of the story is too full of backstory or pages of inaction as the writer designs his/her character. All this stuff should be cut from a short story after the first draft. Novels have a little longer expiration date in this regard, but action should not be put off too far. By the end of the first chapter--something interesting better be happening! The shorter the fiction, the more this is essential. A short story of 3-5 pages (the typical length of a student story) better open with something important happening.
Don't waste your reader's time! Remember: books are in competition with other forms of entertainment: including video games--so a book or short story has to offer the reader the promise of being worth the read.
A recipe for an opening: A compelling opening can be done by introducing an unusual character, introducing a problem, using shocking or surprising dialogue, describing an eye-catching setting, or a myriad of other ways. What's important is the
promise. You need to promise to show your reader that you have a good yarn to spin for them, a compelling story, something that they will remember because it will be important for them to remember! Your character(s) need(s) to be recognizable, interesting, involved and someone to root for when problems come calling--which should happen on page one.
Something has to happen in every story! This something should distract your reader from their daily problems, the real world, and make them feel or think. At least for a few hours.
Action can be divided into parts/types:
Major events: life changing events or problems that challenge the protagonist, taking them into new paths or develops their characters in a major way.
Minor events: obstacles, annoyances, problems that can either be put off until a later scene (they don't need to be dealt with immediately), or dealt with later. These scenes help connect major plot events and give a continuity to your story. They can also develop minor characters or plots.
Common actions: Gestures, physical details, everyday actions within a scene.
TIPS: Do not fill your story with only one type of event. Spending too long on common actions bores a reader. Spending time only on major actions becomes too far-fetched and unbelievable. You need to strike a happy medium.
Major events are best found at the beginning of the story—when a character is faced with something unusual or something happens to break daily routine. This is called the
Inciting Incident. And there's a reason I've mentioned this before. It should force your protagonist into action! It is also better to have your character make CHOICES. Decisions help keep a story fresh and believable. They help define your character(s). Avoid the temptation of having your protagonist become a victim--someone who only reacts to his/her environment. People like this can be pitied, but no one wants to read about them.
After the inciting incident, you can slow down a bit and throw in that description or backstory paragraph if you need to. But don't put off the next problem or a minor event too long! To help you frame your story, give your protagonist a time limit. This is sometimes called a TIME LOCK. It helps build tension in a story. In fact, minor events help introduce conflict, build character, and create tension while you set up your next major event. Each scene you write should have at least one of these, if not a major event. To complicate a situation add a "whoops", an "Uh Oh!", or "When suddenly..." to the scene. The more problems you throw at your protagonist, the greater the stake, the more intense the situation, the more action-filled and longer the story may have to be.
And lastly, a golden rule: Jump over the boring bits. If a scene is not exciting, cut it.
Here's a bit of advice from other authors:
In the lab: Please work on:
A. Your revision (due next class!)
B. Your journal (due next class!)
C. Your blog (due next class!)
D. Your homework
E. Write
HOMEWORK: Please read the two short stories: "The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell & "How To Tell A Real War Story" by Tim O'Brien. Annotate these two stories and apply what we've learned today about action fiction. Be able to identify adventure/action archetypes in these stories or speculate why the writer included or excluded certain scenes.
