 Action/Adventure: November 29, 2006 Issue [#1405] |
  Action/Adventure
This week: Edited by: Melissa is fashionably late!  
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action (n)
Pronunciation: 'ak-sh&n:
6 a (1) : an engagement between troops or ships (2) : combat in war <gallantry in action> b (1) : an event or series of events forming a literary composition (2) : the unfolding of the events of a drama or work of fiction : PLOT (3) : the movement of incidents in a plot c : the combination of circumstances that constitute the subject matter of a painting or sculpture
adventure (n)
Pronunciation: &d-'ven-ch&r:
1 a : an undertaking usually involving danger and unknown risks b : the encountering of risks <the spirit of adventure>
2 : an exciting or remarkable experience <an adventure in exotic dining>
Hello! I'm your guest editor for this week's Action/Adventure newsletter! Hop on the bus and we'll take our journey through spicing up the mundane. |
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When you think of the Action/Adventure genre, I'm sure your mind automatically jumps to images of Indiana Jones dodging rolling boulders in the Temple of Doom or Rambo, firing a machine gun in the jungle. I doubt that the first thing that comes to mind is a ball bouncing against concrete, a feather floating through the air, or a ripple shimmering through a puddle. Most of those events seem pretty mundane, although they don't have to be boring just because they're ordinary.
Taking something ordinary and making it extraordinary, in fact, makes a story stand out even more. You don't have to let on to your reader that your event is mundane, and often using abstractions is a great way to add to the suspense. In the end, giving an unexpected twist by revealing your item or mundane occurance will really add a shock value that your readers will appreciate.
The best way that I've seen mundane events recorded with a lot of interesting action is through flash fiction, though you can work something like this into your short stories and even novels. The nice thing about flash fiction is that there are fewer words and thus requires the writer to really use each word to its fullest advantage.
Try writing a flash fiction story of 1000 words or less off of some of the following mundane prompts:
 peeling a banana
turning on a light
brushing your teeth
boiling water
sharpening a pencil
tying your shoes
starting your car
a leaf falling from a tree
taking a photograph
hitting snooze on the alarm clock
The idea is to make it seem as action-oriented as possible, though this is not necessary as long as it gets you writing! Once you get your stories written, I'd love to see them. Submit them to this newsletter or email them directly to me. I'll be sure to take a look and tell you what I think, and offer a merit badge or awardicon to the best 1000-word-or-less Action/Adventure story one of you has to offer.
Just make sure you've written it for one of my prompts! I'd love to read your older items, but they won't qualify for the merit badge or awardicon. If you want to be considered, have your item communicated to me by December 13th!
Thanks for listening to me!  I hope you enjoyed having me as your guest editor! |
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SueBear asks, "I've read some flash fiction that seemed to be more of a scene from a book rather than it's own story. Is that normal or just not written as well as it should be?"
Flash fiction should be a complete story that contains between 1,000 - 2,000 words, though sometimes prompts call for less than that. There's nothing wrong with it feeling like it is part of a whole. Flash fiction scenes have worked their way into many stories that I have read and make for an interesting change of pace.
~WhoMe???~  asks, "In action/adventure stories, is it better to tell in first person or as an observer?"
It depends on which gives you the best voice possible. I tend to write stories from the third person perspective, but I find that I'm better able to convey something effectively when describing it as though I'm watching it. Others do well at conveying things as though they're happening to them by writing in the first person. You'll find that most popular action/adventure novels are written in the third-person voice, though. It doesn't mean that you can't write however you feel most comfortable, just make sure that your reader can feel the tension, can experience the emotions, and can see things how you want them to be seen.
Well, that concludes my guest addition of the Action/Adventure newsletter! I hope that you enjoyed! |
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