 Action/Adventure: November 15, 2006 Issue [#1382] |
  Action/Adventure
This week: Edited by: John~Ashen  
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Action/Adventure! It comes in many forms, not just books and movies. However people get their thrills, in this genre it's our job to bring more excitement into their lives through writing. In this newsletter, I think upon the question, "Why go adventuring?" Enjoy 
“Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.”
~ Andre Gide
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Why Adventure?
Why go adventuring? We like to read stories about people wandering around and getting into adventures, but why did they travel in the first place? What made adventurers leave the comfort of their homes and traipse toward the unknown? How dare they?
Guess 1: "The grass is always greener." For the jealous mind, anything looks better than what you have right in front of you. Dreamers and fools might make the logical conclusion that life anywhere else must be better than in the old hometown. The practical problem is, anywhere you go, there's always somewhere else with comparable grass. This is a convenient fact for story writing, as our adventurers will always want more action from life. How many kingdoms did Conan pass up the chance to rule?
Guess 2: Defying expectations. For the bored and rebellious, doing what you're expected or told to do is the worst thing imaginable. Parents have a way of planning out their children's lives without consulting them first. The pampered prince might dally as a street rat since he doesn't want to be a king someday. Alvin might leave town to pursue smithing instead of taking over his father's milling business. Your hero might not know what he wants, except that he doesn't want an ordinary life.
Guess 3: Fate demands it. This is my favorite excuse for someone to have an adventure. The main character wants a regular life, but things just keep happening to dash that boring destiny. By wits and determination, the hero fights for a semblance of normality. Meanwhile, the tale itself is special. There is no happiness or relief to be found until the adventurer accepts the fact that some people are just bound for greatness.
Errantry?
errant - Wandering; deviating from an appointed course, or from a direct path; roving.
When we hear "errantry" we think of the term "knight-errant" as first introduced in the story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The term mainly derives from the Old French meaning "to journey" but it also somewhat incorporates the English "to err" meaning. Thus, the "to deviate from an appointed course" result suggests both travel and error. Sounds like a good recipe for adventure to me. 
knight-errant - A wandering knight; a knight who traveled in search of adventures, for the purpose of exhibiting military skill, prowess, and generosity.
But why were knights errant in the first place? Because King Arthur gave these idle young men something to do. He suggested noble purposes for their lives, instead of leaving them to lounge about the countryside getting into trouble. Thus they wandered around seeking adventure, which they saw as the opportunity to prove their virtue.
Half my story is written when I make the determination of why my hero deviated from his life's probable path. Were his parents killed? Did he chase after a girl? Did he see his future in a dream and get scared of it? Does he think his true parents were gypsies? Is he investigating a legend he heard told?
 Synonyms for errant : wandering, roaming, roving, nomadic, meandering, gadding, on a walkabout, peregrine, ranging, gallivanting, on a pilgrimage, vagabondish, "walking the earth" (you know, like Cain in Kung Fu  ) |
Some meandering tales I found:
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The Critic  comments: Well I guess you know Mr. Ashen your newsletters are well written, informative, and entertaining... BUT... your latest Action/Adventure Newletter just proved to me I watch too many movies purely for entertainment purposes... you on the other hand used your movie watching to enhance another well written wonderful newsletter... gezzzzzzzzzzz
Response: On the contrary! After I watch my movies purely for entertainment, I scrounge to find any alternative, critically acceptable reason for having spent the last 2 hours staring at a picture I've already seen a half dozen times!
werden shares: I like anti-heroes. I get really tired of the hero who seems to do everything right. I am familiar with almost all the examples you mentioned. One of my favorite anti-heroes is Thomas Covenant. In the beginning 2 books of the series he was a complete and total anti-hero. He only grew up in the third one.
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