  Action/Adventure
This week: Just Like Creating a Horrible Wound Edited by: Legerdemain  
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This newsletter doesn't really cover action/adventure specifically, but the details of creating a story in general. My daughter and her boyfriend started a business doing horror and special effect makeup. They've done a couple of movies and during October, did a LOT of horror makeup for Halloween parties and Fright Night amusements. One man wanted to be a minotaur and went to their house early on Halloween morning to get his makeup done for a huge office party/competition.
While I was looking at some still photos of all their creations, I started to think about the creative process involved in morphing a human into something else. Obviously...you need a plan. A plan as to what you want the person to look like when you're finished and then plot the steps needed to get there. A plan is like an outline, you need to have some idea of where your story is going. Then break down the sections of your story arc into steps needed to reach your goal.
For horror makeup, you need to create special effects like cuts and bleeding. Of course...lots of bleeding. So the treatment starts with building the edges of the cut (introducing your characters), then coloring the wound (building the scene), and then finalizing the look with makeup and realistic paint and blood (plot and story arc). During each step, more of the story becomes realistic to the reader. Then when it is all put together, it comes to life in a story.
Next time you have a story idea, think about turning it into a big bloody cut. 
This month's question: What steps do you take to create your story?
Answer below  Editors love feedback! 
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Excerpt: “He hated tea and would never have afternoon tea with me.”
“Who was that?”
“Oh, he was quite the looker, that man was. I saw him before my sister did. He was across the room dancing with another girl. She was a loose one that girl.”
“Did you dance with him?”
“Of course! He danced with Anna, then stopped right in front of me and asked me to dance. We were meant for each other. I knew it the moment he took me in his arms.”
“You married him?”
“Yes, eventually.”
Excerpt: Kath and Amy heard many ghost stories of the Bell Witch Cave growing up in Brentwood, Tennessee. Now old enough to go there themselves, they packed up Kath’s Volkswagen Jetta and took off for a weekend of fun.
A few miles down the road, Kath asked Amy, “Do you remember why the Bell Witch picked on the John Bell family?”
“Well, she thought Mr. Bell cheated her. Kate,…” Amy paused, trying to remember her last name.
“Batts. Remember, she purchased a slave from Mr. Bell and then accused him of overcharging her. Can you imagine that she even dated him!”
Excerpt: A harlequin. A silent woman clad in a checkerboard suit with white and black powder covering her face and a crazed smile that graced her black lips. She stayed silent as she performs for a crowd of nobles. Flipping and twirling in the air and walking on her hands along the tiled floor as they ate and drank profusely. Their drunken jeers and laughter at her acrobatic tricks and her strange contortions of her body are the only words of encouragement she received. As their laughter grew louder and louder, she began to trip over her own two hands as she walked on her frail appendages. Her thin wrist gave out from under her and her body fell forward and she landed with a bang on the hard checkerboard floor.
Excerpt: The blare of the horn in front of me and the thunderous roar of the train shook the ground. It barreled down the tracks bearing down upon my fragile frame. The thought of the scattered pieces of my body when the EMT’s found me drifted through my mind’s eye. I shuddered at the grisly idea.
Instinct kicked in and I began to writhe against my restraint. My eyes grew larger as the light in the distance consumed the darkness between us. I prayed briefly that some miracle would occur and the train would grind to a halt. But in my heart, I knew like a man walking the final hallway into the death chamber.
My mind pushed to the last half hour and Tessa pulling the utility door closed with a click. The echo in the narrow passage just as haunting in my memory as it was in reality. Tessa with her fiery short-cropped hair, whimsical grin and tantalizing way of seduction, pulled me in. For a brief moment, I touched heaven on Earth. Her lips pressed against mine in unbridled passion.
Excerpt: As I sauntered down the trail, I paused to take a moment and glance around at my surroundings. The trees lined the pebbled path with vibrant hues of red, orange, and gold. I inhaled a deep breathe and released it slowly. The wind fused with my breath as it tousled the loose debris through the air, as if to join in my sigh for simpler times. A chill set in the air, and I stopped to pull my sweater out of my bag. As I layed my bag on the ground to unzip it, I lost my footing and collapsed, my hands positioned infront of me to break my fall just in time. I stood up and brushed myself off a bit, gave myself a quick once over to see if I had any cuts that needed tending to, and then attempted once again to grab my sweater. As I put it on, I muttered to myself... "Idiot!"
Excerpt: Of all the booths at Barktoberfest, they stopped at the most boring one. What was taking his people so long? Clothing, momma, really? Let’s go check out the toy booth! Mojito pulled at the end of his leash.
“Be patient, Mojito. We need to find just the right costume for my little super hero. Tonight is Halloween and I want you to dress up, too.”
They were at a big dog party in the park. That meant that Mojito got to go for a ride in the car AND he got to play in the park. It was a gorgeous fall day, a perfect day for Barktoberfest. The sky was that special shade of bright blue that only happens in autumn, the sun was warm and there was a cool breeze. There would be lots of dogs and people here celebrating a doggie Halloween.
Barktoberfest featured booths selling toys, treats, and dog accessories of all kinds. Mojito could smell the hot dogs cooking. Yum! They must be selling people food, too. It was enough to make a canine super hero drool.
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This month's question: What steps do you take to create your story?
Answer below Editors love feedback!
Last month's question: As a reader, do you register the word said while reading? As a writer, do you avoid flowery dialog tags?
concrete_angel replied: I definitely try to avoid flowery tags, though I'm not immune to using them. Ideally, dialogue should convey the feelings the writer wants without the need for a tag. However, sometimes it's more difficult. If it's important to the atmosphere of the scene, the occasional descriptive tag is okay, but I prefer to avoid tags altogether. Just like if a writer uses an overabundance of flowery words, I do notice "said" if it's used after every single line of dialogue. Mixing up the tags with descriptions of actions or no tags at all can help everything read more smoothly, I think.
Jeff  answered: The dialogue tags I use depend on the effect I'm trying to get across. If I just want the conversation to move along and focus on the dialogue, I'll use "said" tags. But if I want a line specifically delivered with a particular flair, I'll use a more descriptive tag. I prefer using a combination of both, so that the few times I do want to go for flair, it stands out. 
Shadowstalker-- Covid free  sent: When I read, I do notice the word said. sometimes it can actually distract me from the story if I literally see He said... She said...He said. When I write, I try to denote who is talking in the exposition/description sections, and put my dialogue completely separate. so instead of something like:
He looked at her and said, "Beautiful weather."
I might write it something like this:
The two watched the clear skies in silence. Slowly he turned his head to look at her, a smile playing on his lips as he spoke.
"Beautiful weather."
Obviously that's condensed, but I hope you get the idea.
Shanachie  responded: I actually do register the word "said" because I'm always looking to see what other writers use (and I read a story once where an author consistently misspelled "said"--never did figure out if it was on purpose). I do use flowery words, but I think that's a product of my learning--I was taught not to use "said, said, said" but to use "questioned, asked, told," etc in place. I do find myself throwing in "snarked, shouted, yelled", ect too. I've never had anyone tell me to just use said though. (In feedback.)
Quick-Quill  submits: Yes, if "said " is over used. also if the "flowery" tages are in every line it bugs me. I'm in agreement with you. One note. If the conversation is back and forth with each line being the other person, no tags are needed. If one person comment extends to longer than one sentence, then insert a tag. (my guideine) The best place to hone those skills is the Dialogue Only contest. It really is a game changer. I had a story published that is dialogue only. It didn't win the contest, but it was published outside WDc.
Odessa Molinari tells: I mix and match. If I want to strengthen what is being said I might use an alternative. If it is a long passage of dialogue I don't always use a tag for every line of dialogue; you have already determined the two speakers.
wolf knight admits: I don't often notice the word said when reading a story. There are times when I will but Those are few and far between. As for when writing. I do use flowery dialog tags from time to time but I found rather quickly that using them to much will jam up the gears of the story. Not just for the reader but for the write. you become to worried about what to replace said with and you lose sight of what the story was supposed to be about. So now I just put the tag that feels right.
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Action/Adventure: November 12, 2014 Issue [#6661]
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