 Action/Adventure: January 29, 2020 Issue [#9995] |
This week: Diversely Boring Edited by: Cinn  
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5. A Word from Writing.Com
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Long time no newsletter!  This is my penultimate Action/Adventure newsletter as a regular editor. I'm sliding over to Noticing Newbies for a change of pace, but I promise to be back from time to time. Gotta revisit the old stomping grounds!
Anyway, I might as well bring back an old standard for my newsletters. I love poetry... so here is a quote that relates to today's topic. I firmly believe that reading poetry can help any sort of writer-- word choice, concise writing, flow. These can be important in fiction as well.
And I didn't see that now you were here on the page
writing poems too: poems silken with blue, fortified
with a metaphor passing through. But I knew this speaker
was you and knew there was so much about you that could reach
around the metaphor to a personal etymology [...]
~Excerpt from "I Didn't See It" by Prageeta Sharma
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As usual when deciding on a newsletter topic, I found myself thinking about irksome things I've noticed in books and movies. They're always helpful for "what not to do" articles. Sometimes, they do not always require solving (luckily for me). Being mindful during revisions could be enough.
Where I've Seen It
So what's been itching at me lately? You have two or more characters working together to overcome the conflict in your story. Each one is very different from another on paper. The most obvious examples:
Fantasy Adventure Quest - A magical creature, a miniature dragon, a fierce huntress, and the reluctant "chosen one" hero all undertake a quest, and each one's skills are necessary to reach the end (where the hero finishes it because it has to be him for some reason).
Action Heist - A mastermind, whose only skill may or may not be cleverness, assembles a motley crew... electronics specialist, safe cracker, hacker, con man, cat burglar, etc, and each one's skills are necessary to reach the end (where the anti-hero is ripped off, rips off the others, or dies).
The outcome(s) and obvious cliches aren't my issue. There's a time and place for cliches, and action/adventure tends to make good use of them. If you spend less time setting up and explaining (because, let's face it, everyone has read or watched these before), you can spend more time developing other, unique areas of the story. Fine.
What I've Seen
The issue I've run into over and over? The characters are different as night and day... couldn't clash more. So much obvious conflict between them. But they all have the same voice. That's right, they all sound 100% like the same person to the point where, if you ignore the names or read a transcription without name tags, there is no telling them apart.
How to (Maybe) Avoid/Correct It
So this meandering newletter is just a reminder: Voice is more important than character sheets. You can relay all the background information in the world about your characters, but they will still feel homogeneous without unique voices. In fact, I tend to appreciate it when stories introduce someone through actions and dialogue alone, letting me deduce who they are simply from what they do and how they say things.
Example: Someone in a heist story looks up from her computer long enough to roll her eyes and tell the group's bruiser, "Plugging it in is more effective than hitting it." What job does she probably have?
Now, what if she popped her head up from her keyboard just long enough to say, "Excuse me. Sorry to interrupt, but the lights aren't on. Maybe it's not plugged in?" before ducking behind her screen. Or say, "Hey Godzilla! Stop pounding on it before you break it!" before marching over to set it up herself. Action, but more importantly... voice. So, now you can be on the look out and keep picky readers from groaning. 
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#2169408 by Not Available. |
| | | Swan Song (E)
On the eve of his hopeful step toward the big time, a small town talent runs into trouble.
#2210931 by Con  |
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How do you create unique voices for each character?  Who/what do you model your characters after?
 
Here are some interesting responses for my last TWO newsletters: [#8345] "Freeze! Action & Image Prompts" and [#8401] "Art of Querying: How to Hook an Agent"
A great, informative newsletter, Cinn. Thank you!
Thank you, too, for promoting my poem. I really appreciate it, love!
From Sally
You're welcome, love! 
This story (" A Short Ride" ) was written based on a picture of a girl riding a bike dressed for work. Do you think I hit the mark?
From Quick-Quill 
I feel like there was some pun intended there, given the story. I'll open that question to all of the readers.
Visual prompts are the easiest for me to work with also. And yes, I have been able to write "action" just from a single still. Whether it is about the people who are central to the shot or just a shot of nature on a given day, the picture helps flesh out the background and imagination supplies the action. I guess there really is truth to the old saw, "a picture is worth a thousand words".
From Sand Castles Shopgirl 739 
I guess those old sayings have to come from someplace. I tend to agree with you. Thanks for writing in! 
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