Action Adventure Story Project

Your job TODAY is to add on scenes for your action sequence (our last writing exercise--see post below for details...)

1. Use your dangerous situation and action sequence as a scene in your overall short story. 
2. Choose to place this situation in the beginning, middle, or end of your story's narrative.
3. Use the action/adventure archetypes and build and write a short story of at least 3 pages or more in length. Note the deadline so you don't bite off more than you can chew...

Archetypes (choose 1 or a combination of the following):

• The Quest
• The Adventure
• The Chase
• The Escape
• The Rescue
• Survival

Styles (choose 1 or a combination of the following):

• The Robinsonade
• The picturesque
• War & combat/military
• Character-based
• Sports
• Westerns, sci-fi, fantasy, horror, suspense, mystery, humor, or romance

Remember to use ACTION VERBS (see handout) to electrify your prose. Pay very close attention to these action verbs in your writing.

Try these tactics:

• Short sentences speed up the action of an action sequence. Try it.
• Long sentences move more slowly, and provide more detail. Use it to slow your pace--as if the scene were filmed in slow motion.
• It's okay (and a good idea) to get into the mind of your protagonist while the scene is going on. What is the character thinking while the action is occurring. Note that sometimes it is possible for people to act without thinking. Moving into the mind of a character makes it clear to the reader whose perspective is important in a story. It also can be used to develop character through characterization or to create suspense by delaying the outcome of an action.
• Cross cut scenes to create suspense if you have more than one character involved in the action sequence. 
• If there's dialogue, keep it to the point. Short and sweet.
• Remember you should use your setting to help create tension and conflict in an action sequence. Setting is location, time, place, and weather--but also props: furniture, cars rushing by on a busy street, a rainstorm, a holiday shopping mob, a rattlesnake, etc.
• You may find it helpful to write your story in scenes. Use index cards or your journal to jot down ideas--situations in a particular setting with a particular set of characters...then add a complication. Your action sequence can happen in the beginning, middle, or end of your planned plot.

A draft is due at the end of class today. This draft should include your action sequence from last class's exercise, any writing or text you write/create today, and a brief list of scenes you plan to write (these do not have to be written yet...I should know, however, where your story is going...!) The final first draft for this project will be due by Friday, April 29.

HOMEWORK: Read and study the short stories:
"The Scandal in Bohemia" by Arthur Conan Doyle
"The Ransom of Red Chief" by O. Henry
"The Monkey's Paw"
"Nightmare at 20,000 Feet"
"He Swung and He Missed"
"To Build a Fire"
"The Most Dangerous Game"
"How to Tell a True War Story"
"The Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge"
"The Notorious Jumping Frog Contest"
"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty"

To help you study, jot down the premises of these stories, the basic plot elements, setting, and characters in your journal. It is easier to study for tests after taking notes on the subject matter. The test will occur Wednesday, April 27.