 Action/Adventure: April 13, 2022 Issue [#11313] |
This week: Memories Edited by: Leger~  
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This week's Action / Adventure Editor
Leger~
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Memories
Character memories can be just like your own. A character isn't going to remember every minute detail about their past. Think of memory like a painted clapboard house. Recent memory is like fresh paint, gleaming in every detail and fresh in the memory. Every nook, cranny and even the gingerbread detail is remembered exactly. But as the memory/house ages, the paint begins to deteriorate, the paint cracks - not so fresh and vibrant as before. Small details are fuzzy and difficult to remember. "Was it April or May?"
Then time passes and larger chips fall to the ground. Most memory is retained but small parts are missing. Perhaps it might be the unpleasant moment in an otherwise happy experience. Like a drop of wine on a party dress, you now remember the lovely restaurant, the engaging conversation, but not the stain. A friend might pick up the chip and remind your character. "Oh, I remember that yellow dress, a shame that stain never came out."
Perhaps the only thing retained is a bad experience, like a fire. The clapboard house carries the obvious scar that everyone remembers. No one looks at the house any longer, only seeing the blackened mark on the abandoned building. The happy connection is broken and lost. The previous memories were erased in one horrific moment. "Tsk, the Lee family, I wonder where they moved?"
More time passes and only bits of the old paint remains. The weathered clapboard house is bleached nearly white from the sun, standing tall against the elements. These are the fond memories - memories of things we remember from our childhood, no longer clear and beautiful, but looked at with respect for the ageless beauty it has become. Memories of swinging on the old tire swing with our bestest friend in first grade. Our first kiss. The moment our child is born. "You were so pink and screamed like a banshee! I fell in love with you right then."
Character memory should work the same. A character couldn't tell every detail of something that happened decades ago. Some things are lost, and best forgotten.
Write on!
This month's question: How do you introduce character memories?
What is your advice for using them in our writing?
Answer below  Editors love feedback! 
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Excerpt: The robot looked like a dustpan with seven wheels on the bottom, three on either side and one on the back; four arms, two that had scoops on the ends and two with pincers; and a small square control box extending from a metal neck above the "handle" of the dustbin-shaped body. The square control box had lenses on all four sides and the top. The top lens was covered with a mesh cap.
Excerpt: “Don’t you ever get tired of the crushing weight of expectation?” The rainbow asked, showing a remarkable level of philosophical eloquence given the five empty boilermaker glasses lined up on the bar in front of his chair. “I mean, everyone just expects us to be so damned positive all the time.”
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Excerpt: “Let’s get out of here!” whispered Fallon Horton.
“We just got here!” her friend Ruth Boswell protested.
“We could go somewhere else, like Totally Vintage. They wouldn’t be caught dead there.”
Excerpt: I sprint through the midnight-deserted streets, garish signs flickering overhead in an epileptic seizure of neon colors. Under the steady drizzle, oil slicks have risen to carpet the asphalt in similar hues, threatening my footing. Is that the slap of heavy footfalls still chasing me or just the frantic thudding of my panicked heart? I can’t tell over my rasping gasps.
Excerpt: Milo Pol gave the knot a final yank and grunted as he stood up from his knees to stare down at the little girl.
He was huge. His dark eyes came down from the ceiling. They were so dark it would take both a brown and a black to get them right, and maybe not even the brown, maybe just the black, like totally smooshed to get them even close to the color they really were.
"I warned you, didn't I, Abigail?" he asked.
His eyes didn’t move. He didn’t move. Nothing moved. Sound stopped.
Excerpt: RR: Tell us about yourself. Who...is...LeeLoo?
LL: (Through slits of yellow-green fire, the kitten glares across the space between our two chairs.) I...I’m a cat, you see, so any personification is on you. My hobbies include chasing the red dot, scratching on the screen of open windows for birds outside, and waiting until you put more food in my bowl.
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This month's question: How do you introduce character memories?
What is your advice for using them in our writing?
Answer below Editors love feedback!
Last month's question: Have you tried writing scripts? Tell us about your experience.
WriterAngel  : I've written a few comic scripts. The toughest thing for me was to remember all the details that had to be communicated to the artist. The artist wasn't a native English speaker and didn't want to read a fully realized story, which would have been my preferred method of communicating what I had in mind, so I setup a spreadsheet, numbering each panel. I made a column for each relevant detail. Was it day or night? What was the setting for the panel? Which characters were present? Which were speaking? What was each character doing?
When I first agreed to do it, I thought it was just a matter of writing the dialog for the little bubbles. It turned out that that was only a fraction of what needed to be communicated about the story. I have the spreadsheet template in Google sheets. If anyone would like to use it for a project of their own, just message me. :)
s  : I was lucky enough in the mid-00s to be approached by a local horror comic book producer to turn some short stories into comics (3-6 pages). I had to first learn about the 9-panel structure the comic used, then how to write and set up a draft so an illustrator could work with it; less is more from me, including guidelines not dictates as to what the images should be. Then the illustrator came to me to say things didn't work and we worked together to make the changes he felt it needed. Then we had to work with the editor/owner who wanted a couple more changes. It was not quick - neither of us were used to this - but it was fun. It is a different form of writing scripts.
I've written plays and film scripts, and I have to say the comic scripts are more fun to do, especially if you and illustrator are on the same wavelength.
bryanmchunter: Yes, I have written a script for the pilot episode of Toddlerhood, "The New Girl". As of yet, this script has not been sold to a professional animation studio.
Scifiwizard Retired :
wrote a musical script to go with my novel, Timmy. It is called Orphans on Broadway. I included stage directions, prop suggestions and, of course, dialog with the name of each character as they spoke. However, I am not a music writer by any stretch of the imagination. The songs I wrote are more like poetry, I' afraid.  Still, I was pleased how it turned out. Both can be found in my portfolio if anyone is interested.
Jtpete 1986  : When I taught in a small school, I was the Theatre Director. At first, I purchased the plays. After two years and two plays and two musicals, I decided I would write the script for the upcoming play. It took a while as the cast grew from the original 10 students to 15. It was a success and the audience loved it. After that, I wrote all the other plays. I left the musicals to the professionals. I can't carry a tune if you handed it to me.
Starling : The closest I have come to writing scripts is a 500-word contest I entered, where you could only use dialogue. It was interesting.
With a script, you have to put in definite movement, with no shades of different actions. I don't think I would like that. I like to leave a little leeway for the reader to see the scene with some of their own reference points.
Bilal Latif : Yep, I've written comic book scripts and screenplays. They're very different beasts, but I would definitely recommend that every curious writer try out each form. You'll definitely improve your structure, and you might enjoy it 
elephantsealer : I would like to learn how to write scripts...
Osirantinous  : Not entirely sure if this counts as a script, but I've written two plays. One when I was about 12 (I still have it , and I think I wrote it and cast my friends because waaaaaaaay back then I even participated in acting!) and one a couple of years later (er, still have that too). They're very funny reads now (yes, I keep old stuff!!!)
My friends would have read the earlier one, since I cast them, but the other was just me (with a really cool drawn cover page  ). Fortunately for the world - I don't do plays/scripts anymore!
proverbsgal : I did in theatre class; it was enjoyable. One was a parody, one a drama, and one a who dun it. 10/10 recommend trying it out 😉
The Puppet Master : I write the scripts to my puppet shows.
Elfin Dragon-finally published : I haven't tried writing scripts before but I absolutely LOVE them in anime graphic novels. The artwork is phenominal. And I love the variety of storylines; many of which have been put to either TV and/or movie screens.
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