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mary rosenblum
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Hello, all!
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mary rosenblum
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This is our After Hours Forum,
with me, Mary Rosenblum, your web editor. I've published seven novels and
more than 60 short stories and will do my best to answer any questions you
have. If you're new here, remember that you need to click on the 'Ask a
Question' button or the 'word bubble' next to the red question mark at the top
of the screen in order to ask a question. Your regular 'send' bar won't
reach me! Or you can use /ask and type your question into the regular send
bar if that works better for you..
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mary rosenblum
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I have reset my watch so many
times as I traveled across time zones this past weekend...
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mary rosenblum
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that it turned up five minutes
slow!
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mary rosenblum
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Ooops.
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mary rosenblum
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I hope you all had a great
week and a nice holiday, those of you in the states
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shoutjoy
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so what is the topic tonight?
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mary rosenblum
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It's on writing strong action
scenes, shout.
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mary rosenblum
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For those of you who might not
have signed up for the e updates, if you do, you'll get an email notice of
the Forum topics, as well as guest appearances...
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mary rosenblum
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and my 'every other week'
email update.
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mary rosenblum
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That includes sales by website
folk and new articles posted on the website.
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shoutjoy
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I am working on a story about my
dad what caused his death, hunting trip, crossing lake, bad storm, missing,
lake freezes over, continue search in spring. it's true!
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mary rosenblum
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That kind of personal
narrative really sells well, shout. Good luck with it.
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barbg
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Do shorter sentences make the
action more suspenseful?
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mary rosenblum
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They do, barb.
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mary rosenblum
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Shorter sentences are used to
tighten the pacing and make the action seem more hurried and less
leisurely.
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mary rosenblum
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But they need to be used for
fairly short periods of time, or you will 'desensitize' your reader and the
story will have a choppy unpleasant feel.
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mary rosenblum
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It's not enough to simply take
a boring scene and chop all the sentences into short pieces!
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mary rosenblum
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There are a number of things
that make an action scene SEEM like an action scene.
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mary rosenblum
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Believe me, I've read plenty
of fight scenes that made me yawn and nod off.
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mary rosenblum
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That is NOT the effect you
intend, believe me!
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smeagol
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Mary, what tips can you offer to
someone who really doesn't do "battle scenes" well, but is
working on a fantasy novel where there are, alas, several battle scenes?
I'm re-reading LOTR, but I find some of the battle scenes in there to run
on too long and get a bit boring :-(
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mary rosenblum
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First of all, a general
caveat.
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mary rosenblum
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Do NOT use JRR as a template
for how to write well.
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mary rosenblum
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He is a phenomenon.
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mary rosenblum
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But many of the techniques he
used generally are poor choices for compelling fiction. Yes, he pulled off
a masterwork...
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mary rosenblum
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but if you can't do as well or
better than he did...don't copy him!
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mary rosenblum
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In many respects, he is one of
those exceptions that prove the rule.
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mary rosenblum
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He did many things that are
VERY hard to make work. And he made them work. But will YOU make them work?
Maybe. Maybe not. There are easier ways to accomplish your goals, most of
the time.
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mary rosenblum
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As to writing good battle
scenes...battle scenes vary widely. Do you need a cinematic scene where we
watch the entire battle of Gettysburg from a distance?
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mary rosenblum
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Or do you want to see that
battle from the field, from the POV of a soldier?
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mary rosenblum
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This is our After Hours Forum,
with me, Mary Rosenblum, your web editor. I've published seven novels and
more than 60 short stories and will do my best to answer any questions you
have. If you're new here, remember that you need to click on the 'Ask a
Question' button or the 'word bubble' next to the red question mark at the
top of the screen in order to ask a question. Your regular 'send' bar won't
reach me! Or you can use /ask and type your question into the regular send
bar if that works better for you..
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roe
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so what is the best way to write
an action scene
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mary rosenblum
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Well, there are many ways, but
the overall rule is ...big shock here, brace yourselves... mimic reality.
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twhorn
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As with JRR, who seems to have
invented his own genre, it would seem better to stay with the general rules
unless you can do the same thing?
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mary rosenblum
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Yes, twhorn. Remember that
there are many writers who do things that every writing book will tell you
NOT to do and make them work.
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mary rosenblum
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BUT...that does not mean YOU
will make them work. So just because Hemingway did it that way, will YOUR
work be as strong if you write like him?
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gail
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I'm writing an action-adventure
story in limited third person. But, this POV is giving me grief in the
action scenes. Could I use the Cinematic POV during those scenes or would
it destroy the deeper charactization I'm striving to develop?
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mary rosenblum
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No, Gail it won't.
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mary rosenblum
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Cinematic...writing as if you
are a camera lense...is often the best way to preserve characterization in
that type of scene.
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mary rosenblum
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Hang on a minute and let me
post smeagol's question here because they bear on each other...
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smeagol
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BUT, what if you've never been
in a "battle," then how do you mimic reality well if it is
outside of your field of experience?
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mary rosenblum
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These two questions are
connected. Why does cinematic preserve characterization and how can you
mimic reality if you've never seen a battle.
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mary rosenblum
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The reality you mimic, and the
one that cinematic can help preserve...is the lense of POV.
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mary rosenblum
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As to a real battle...very few
of your readers have seen a battle other than on the screen either,
smeagol.
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mary rosenblum
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If you are writing military
fiction, then yeah, you'd better start reading books on tactics because
that will be important.
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mary rosenblum
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If you are writing a battle
scene as knights or elves or what have you clash...
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mary rosenblum
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battles are pretty chaotic. If
your POV is not telling the troops what to do, then all you need to convey
to the reader is the sense of the battle.
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mary rosenblum
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If your POV IS the general or
king or military commander, than you do need to read books on military
tactics of the era you're writing about.
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mary rosenblum
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BUT...the reality you mimic,
as I said, is the POV lense.
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mary rosenblum
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And this is what can ruin a
battle scene if you stick to your POV character.
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shoutjoy
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POV?
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mary rosenblum
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Point of View character,
shout. The person through whose eyes and ears we learn the story.
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mary rosenblum
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In third person, we are seeing
through out character's eyes and hearing with his or her ears.
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mary rosenblum
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In first, our POV is telling
us what is going on.
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mary rosenblum
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So you need to think about
what is going on in your character's mind.
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mary rosenblum
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The scene I see all too often
is the one where the POV character, while busily fighting for his life,
notices the budding oak leaves overhead...
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mary rosenblum
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hears the trill of a bird,
notices how they are trampling the grass....
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mary rosenblum
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Now I used to fence. We
weren't even using sharp weapons, but let me tell you that when I was
facing an opponent with a sword, an elephant could have been refereeing and
it would have taken me awhile to notice it!
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mary rosenblum
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If I was facing a REAL sword
that could slice a chunk out of my liver, you BET I'd overlook that
elephant, never mind the oak leaves and squashed grass!
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mary rosenblum
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The details not only ruin the
characterization...yeah, SURE he was thinking about his girlfriend....
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mary rosenblum
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but they also slow down the
sense of life and death action. In real life, we shut out those details in
a time of life and death reaction.
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mary rosenblum
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We are BUZZED with adrenalin. When
your character behaves as if she is out on a Sunday stroll, our picky hind
-brain knows that she is not fighing for her life no matter how many times
the author insists she is.
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smeagol
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In the Fantasy/Sci-Fi world, who
does battle/action scenes well? Any authors you can suggest for a sample?
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mary rosenblum
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Actually, it's too bad
galatyne isn't here.
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mary rosenblum
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I think he's more of an expert
on good fantasy battle scenes than I am. Drop into one of the casual chats
and ask him. :-)
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mary rosenblum
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But any of the well respected
Fantasy writers do pretty decent battle scenes.
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shoutjoy
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I like Terry Brook's Shanara
series, good action scenes
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mary rosenblum
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He's good. Zelazny, Bradley,
lots of others.
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t green
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try Dennis McKiernan for
fantasy. The Iron Tower trilogy or the Silver Call duology
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joanc
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What about writing about a crime
scene.
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mary rosenblum
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Hi, joan. Well a crime scene
is a more low-key type of action...no swords...
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mary rosenblum
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but as a mystery writer, I can
tell you that those scenes need to be charged with tension and the action
needs to be dramatic...
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mary rosenblum
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Again, here you mimic reality.
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mary rosenblum
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Too many novice writers tend
to pull back and describe all strong action scenes cinematically.
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mary rosenblum
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Now I just got done saying
that this is often the right choice and it can be.
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mary rosenblum
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If you need your reader to see
all the details in a large landscape, then cinematic is probably your best
bet...BUT...
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mary rosenblum
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at a crime scene, whether we
are dealing with the violence of a murder or the taut action of the
detective after the fact...
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mary rosenblum
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you get much better reader
reaction if the reader is IN the scene rather than OUTSIDE it.
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mary rosenblum
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To do that, you put that
reader firmly into your POV character's perspective. If your POV is in a
fight, we see the situation through his eyes.
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mary rosenblum
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All perceptions are filtered
through his or her awareness. The language is very spare, very terse,
almost choppy.
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mary rosenblum
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Things are happening fast,
that rhythm tells us; bang, bang, bang.
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mary rosenblum
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Remember...when you are
stressed, you don't notice a lot of trivial detail so don' t put them in.
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mary rosenblum
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In a fight, your POV is
watching for the next attack, looking for an opening, not thinking
coherently at all, more than likely, just acting and reacting.
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smeagol
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To write good "evil"
or "evil characters" it is helpful to understand the dynamics of
power, what should a writer know or understand to write realistic battle
scenes?
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mary rosenblum
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There are many levels of
'battle scene' smeagol. You may need to know what motivates the serf who
had no real choice about going to war for the Duke..
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mary rosenblum
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and is out there with a blunt
sword and a belly full of terror.
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mary rosenblum
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Or through the king who is
thinking in terms of future political alliances and not burning the mill
that will be very useful to grind grain from the captured land.
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mary rosenblum
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Again...depends on your POV
character as to what you need to know and think about.
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gail
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How should I handle moving from
my character's POV to the Cinematic -- with a typical scene break?
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mary rosenblum
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That's the way I usually do
it, gail. Use a scene break, the put your camera eye up in the sky and
start describing the battle.
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mary rosenblum
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At the end, do another scene
break and drop us back into your POV character. I try to end my cinematic
view at the place where my POV just happens to be.
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red 1
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I finally made a forum... in
combat we call that tunnel vision. You get completely focused on specific
points on the battlefield and don't pay attention to what's going on around
you. The more rank and experienceyou have, the more you tend to be aware of
larger parts of the battlefield.
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mary rosenblum
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That's exactly right, red 1!
That serf only knows or cares about the guy in front of him with the pike.
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mary rosenblum
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The Duke is worrying about
whether the archers in the woods will stop the attack on the flank...
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mary rosenblum
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In a one-on-one fight, again,
you have tunnel vision.
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mary rosenblum
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You really don't pay any
attention to anything but that opponent.
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mary rosenblum
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If you do...you won't be in
the fight long! LOL
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mary rosenblum
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This is our After Hours Forum,
with me, Mary Rosenblum, your web editor. I've published seven novels and
more than 60 short stories and will do my best to answer any questions you
have. If you're new here, remember that you need to click on the 'Ask a
Question' button or the 'word bubble' next to the red question mark at the top
of the screen in order to ask a question. Your regular 'send' bar won't
reach me! Or you can use /ask and type your question into the regular send
bar if that works better for you..
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gail
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Great life experience --
fencing. Especially for a SF&F writer! :)
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mary rosenblum
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Actually, if you are ever
going to write sword fights, I highly recommend that you sign up at your
local Y for a six week fencing class.
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mary rosenblum
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You'll have a lot more
hands-on knowledge of edged weapons with even that much practice.
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shoutjoy
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that is not good? back ground
sensitivities? smells, sounds, what is felt?
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mary rosenblum
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That is only good, shout, when
your character is not fighting for his life.
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mary rosenblum
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Believe me, he or she is not
sightseeing while life and death are in the balance.
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mary rosenblum
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When she pauses to rest, or he
collapses exhausted afterward, THEN the sight, smell, sounds will come
crashing in.
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shoutjoy
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but as a backflash, or
"seeing ones life go by" before sensing dying?
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mary rosenblum
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Yes, you can do that, but
again, we're not fighting for our lives here....we've lost!
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mary rosenblum
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Plenty of time to notice
things before the end...
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coway
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so in battle scene or any scene
where there is lot of action the POV can which to this cinamatic view,
briefly, if not too often? Is this correct?
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mary rosenblum
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I would do it VERY rarely,
coway.
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mary rosenblum
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And I would ONLY do it when
you have a large landscape to cover so that no POV can see it for us.
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mary rosenblum
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In a one on one fight, or a
small clash, I'd stick with your POV character.
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mary rosenblum
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Cinematic action scenes simply
lack reader engagement. Our beloved POV isn't there, so we don't care
nearly as much as we would if we were there with her as she fights.
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mary rosenblum
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You are nearly always better
off to stay with your POV, but occasionally, we need the big picture and
cinematic will give it to us.
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scoobysnax21
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How can you keep from switching
fromthe differant voices?
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mary rosenblum
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When, scooby? If you're asking
about cinematic...that is when you are in NO point of view character, so it
is straightforward exposition in the author's voice.
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ashton
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cinematic POV is a new term for
me. Can you explain?
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mary rosenblum
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Cinematic is derived from the
word 'cinema' and means just that...a camera takes the picture in effect.
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mary rosenblum
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You are not inside any
character's head, you don't know what anybody thinks, you are not hearing
any character's voice. The author is merely describing the action in crisp,
clear descriptives.
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gail
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I was in a car accident once
that felt as if time slowed down. Seconds seem to pass as minutes. In those
fleeting moments, many trivial sensations were noticed. How is this
different from the "action scene"?
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mary rosenblum
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This is another type of tunnel
vision, gail, and is used to make it clear that a particular scene has a
powerful impact on the POV character, or when there is a highly dramatic
moment.
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mary rosenblum
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For example, if our 14 year
old boy punches out his abusive stepfather after years of submission...
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mary rosenblum
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time may seem to slow down for
him. He may notice the bright, shiny wetness of the blood under his
stepfather's nose, the way his right eyebrow is crooked up in
surprise...the small fly buzzing about.
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mary rosenblum
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That is a simulation of
shock...
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mary rosenblum
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This is our After Hours Forum,
with me, Mary Rosenblum, your web editor. I've published seven novels and
more than 60 short stories and will do my best to answer any questions you
have. If you're new here, remember that you need to click on the 'Ask a
Question' button or the 'word bubble' next to the red question mark at the
top of the screen in order to ask a question. Your regular 'send' bar won't
reach me! Or you can use /ask and type your question into the regular send
bar if that works better for you..
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mary rosenblum
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i'ts also useful if your
character is injured.
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writermom
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sorry I just came in and I want
to make sure I understand are you saying that in a large battle scene you
can pull out of your mc's pov tto view the battle scene
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mary rosenblum
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You can if you need to, and if
the scene is say, too large for a single POV to show it to us..BUT...you
are distancing the reader from the characters when you do it, so it is not
USUALLY the best way to do it, but SOMETIMES it is.
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speckledorf
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Those lessons apply to those of
us describing firing guns and such too right?
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mary rosenblum
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Absolutely.
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shoutjoy
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how do you know when you get
carried away how do you know when to wind it down?
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mary rosenblum
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This is where good readers
help, shout.
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mary rosenblum
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Another writer can tell you
when the action goes on too long. Often it does, if YOU"RE having a
great time!
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red 1
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I almost lost a finger in a
battle and I only briefly thought about. I was more concerned with the
fight until it ended. Then I assessed the damage.
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mary rosenblum
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Exactly, red.
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mary rosenblum
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One of the realities we mimic
is the effect of excessive adrenalin in our systems.
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mary rosenblum
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It really shuts down pain so
that it's not until the adrenalin leaves the system that we notice the
broken ribs, the torn flesh, the wounds...
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scoobysnax21
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would you use the same technique
if a mother lost her child
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mary rosenblum
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Sure, scooby...you mean that
tunnel vision and slowed-down time, right?
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mary rosenblum
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That mimics physiological
shock.
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mary rosenblum
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And that can be triggered by
physical or psychological trauma.
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twhorn
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in some instantances, the person
involved in the fight may be trained to take notice of certain aspect of
the fight, Like a friefighter checking the color of the flame and smoke,
can be an indication of acelerants...
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mary rosenblum
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Exactly, twhorn. I'm sure that
if my son the firefighter and I were in a burning house, what each of us
noticed would be VASTLY different...
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mary rosenblum
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and of course, he wouldn't be
utterly terrified, since he's been there before! That is why your fight
scene is always filtered through your POV.
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mary rosenblum
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An experienced soldier
probably won't see a battle the same way a raw recruit will, although there
will be some similarities.
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smeagol
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Good question, Gail. And Mary,
where does it work to the writer's advantange to go slow-mo? I am thinking
of the powerful fight scene in the movie "Rocky" where it was
painstakingly slow and without sound. When should a writer use this
technique in a battle or fight?
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mary rosenblum
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That was a cinematic
technique, smeagol. It is essentially what you do when you withdraw into
cinematic POV. When we step outside the battle to describe it...
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mary rosenblum
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we are doing that same slo-mo
camera take in effect, because these events are all happening together and
at speed.
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mary rosenblum
|
This is our After Hours Forum,
with me, Mary Rosenblum, your web editor. I've published seven novels and
more than 60 short stories and will do my best to answer any questions you
have. If you're new here, remember that you need to click on the 'Ask a
Question' button or the 'word bubble' next to the red question mark at the
top of the screen in order to ask a question. Your regular 'send' bar won't
reach me! Or you can use /ask and type your question into the regular send
bar if that works better for you..
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gail
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Ah-ha! Lightbulb moment...as
Oprah likes to say. Shock may be just the right "vehicle" to
allow my story to stay with the POV character. Thanx, Mary!
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mary rosenblum
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Good, gail! It can be a very
effective tool.
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red 1
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don't forget to mention fatigue.
Real people can't go on and on and on and on.... Adreneline is great, but
it will only take you so far.
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mary rosenblum
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And here is one of those
things that make fantasy editors roll their eyes....the knights in full
armor on a summer day, unhorsed, who go at each other with broadswords for
an entire afternoon.
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mary rosenblum
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HA!
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writeaway
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couldn't it also be when pov
would be fighting one on one..
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mary rosenblum
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Do you mean slo motion or
noticing tiny details, write?
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mary rosenblum
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Not in the middle of a fight,
not if you're writing realistic fiction.
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writeaway
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the pov would have tunnel vision
with enemy as focus
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mary rosenblum
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Tunnel vision, yes, but you
may or may not want time to slow down.
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mary rosenblum
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That tends to be an indication
of extreme stress...shock. That fifteen year old boy who decks his
stepfather may perceive the action as slowed down because he is in extreme
emotional stress.
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mary rosenblum
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But the warrior fighting an enemy,
while fixed on his opponent with tunnel vision, is probably not going to
suffer that 'shock effect' since he's done this before...
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mary rosenblum
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and is mostly focused on
making sure he does the stabbing and doesn't get stabbed.
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t green
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it's not just fight or crime
scenes that need action. how do you make the mundane action seem more...
active?
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mary rosenblum
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Let me tell you, t, it is MUCH
harder to get the character across the room than through a fight scene!
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mary rosenblum
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I'll have to do a forum on
making mundane action powerful. That's a whole forum on its own...making
the boring scene interesting!
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red 1
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shock is another crazy thing in
battle. The opening scene in Saving Private Ryan does a great job showing
many different aspects of shock and soldier point of view. It's a movie,
but you can watch it to "feel" what the soldier's are
experiencing. Then you can use it as an example for your writing.
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mary rosenblum
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Thanks red, it's nice to know
Hollywood does it right now and again!
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mary rosenblum
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The critical thing in
determining how your character will perceive that battle is...your
character.
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mary rosenblum
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How DOES he or she react to
this? It might be with focus and competent agression.
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mary rosenblum
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It might be in a state of
shock where only luck saves his backside.
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mary rosenblum
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It might be in any of a
thousand mental states in between.
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mary rosenblum
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YOU need to know YOUR
character well enough to make that character perceive that battle or action
scene or death believably.
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smeagol
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So, Mary, when writing action
scenes of any kind, you would want to consider what you want your reader to
feel, or what effect you want to use to draw the reader into the action or
battle. I was just thinking of the "Rocky" final fight scene. The
reason that the choice was both cinematic and slow-mo was to pull the
"reader" or watcher in this case, in and grab them emotionally,
give them an emotional stake in the fight. Right?
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mary rosenblum
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Not being the director I can't
tell you exactly what his intention was there, but slow motion DOES
highlight the importance of the scene...
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mary rosenblum
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And you do the same thing in
prose.
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mary rosenblum
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I've read fight scenes, for
example, where our POV is very outmatched and as the fight proceeds and
that character is beaten...
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mary rosenblum
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we know he or she is going to
lose and likely be killed. And then, through some fortunate circumstance,
the POV is lucky enough to kill the unbeatable opponent...
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mary rosenblum
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and often this moment, as the
blade slides in or what have you, the moment stretches out, accentuating
the critical importance of this victory...
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mary rosenblum
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and suggesting the POV's
exhaustion and shock at his victory.
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gail
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There is also
"disassociation." The POV is involved in something so physically
or emotionally stressful that they become disengaged from their bodies and
perceive events as though through a filter.
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mary rosenblum
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Yes, that can be used very
effectively if the POV is doing something that is highly negative to that
characater.
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mary rosenblum
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The POV becomes almost without
any sense of character as the POV shuts down all reaction to what he or she
is doing.
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neesi
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How do you make a smooth transition
between the two different POVs?
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mary rosenblum
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If you're shifting from third
person to cinematic, I would just do a clean scene break...skip a line and
center a * . Do the same thing to transition back to your POV..
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mary rosenblum
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Oh yes...
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mary rosenblum
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cinematic does not tend to
work as well with a first person POV.
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mary rosenblum
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Yes, you CAN do it, but it's a
MUCH bigger jolt to the reader, and it's darn hard to pull off well.
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wolf122
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What would you recommend: action
scenes at the beginning or end of chapter 1 of a novel (etc.)? Would you
build the characters first, then the action, or the other way around?
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mary rosenblum
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well, action is always a nice
way to start any story. :-)
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mary rosenblum
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Generally, a chapter will be
strong if you give it its own dramatic arc.
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mary rosenblum
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In my novels, each of my
chapters rises to some peak of action, even if it's a small peak.
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mary rosenblum
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It is the roller coaster
effect that keeps the story moving strongly for the reader...up, down, up,
down, UP, DOWN, up, down...
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smeagol
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Mary, can you give us a quick
example of a one-on-one sword fight between two people? What would the
writing look like?
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mary rosenblum
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Tell you what, smeagol, I'll
be posting an article on this very same topic, probably by the end of the
weekend. That has an example in it. :-)
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mary rosenblum
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In fact it has an example of
both a good scene and a not so good scene in it. So you can compare...
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mary rosenblum
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The main thing with action
scenes is to really think about what your character perceives...
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mary rosenblum
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rather than trying to use the
scene to feed information to the reader.
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mary rosenblum
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Use less dramatic scenes for
that information feed.
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mary rosenblum
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Most of us have had traumatic
moments in our lives and you can extrapolate your own experience in a car
crash, some sort of accident, to convey realistic feelings and responses in
your characters.
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shayon-joseph
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Mary, any books, off the top
your head, that show good examples of what we're talking about here
tonight? Any favorite authors, that do it well?
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mary rosenblum
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Scott Card does it well. Nancy
Kress.
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deb1234
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I have a man who needs to finish
chanting a spell before a ghost takes on solid form and kills him. How can
I intensify the action?
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mary rosenblum
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I would switch back and forth
between the words of the spell and the ghost. Perhaps he finishes the first
phrase and the ghost's feet are solid...
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mary rosenblum
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it reaches for him, not yet
solid and he stutters out the second phrase...
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mary rosenblum
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as its knee bumps a table,
knocks it over...
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mary rosenblum
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By letting us see the
transformation in between phrases...you give us the effect of the man
constantly looking to see how much more time he has...
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writeaway
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to me, to much description gets
in the way of action
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mary rosenblum
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It really can, write.
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mary rosenblum
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Think of action in terms of
dramatic arc.
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mary rosenblum
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We begin slowly, down at
'ground leve' with lots of visuals. We are strolling, not under stress, and
we have plenty of time to look around and admire the scenery.
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mary rosenblum
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Now we hear a growl in the
shadows.
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mary rosenblum
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All of a sudden we want to
know what is there. We no longer care about the birds over head, the
flowers in the distant meadow...
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mary rosenblum
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we are focused on that grove
of trees and the deep shadow there. What is hiding behind the trunks?
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mary rosenblum
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Now the sabre tooth leaps out.
And we run. All we see are trees...dodge 'em...a rock, jump over...
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mary rosenblum
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We are looking out for
obstacles and that is IT.
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mary rosenblum
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We have gone from the bottom
of that dramatic arc to the peak.
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ashton
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Is it ok to reflect backwards in
time from your pov's start?
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mary rosenblum
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Sure, ashton. That's a
flashback. Just don't do it in the middle of a life and death action scene.
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mary rosenblum
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No kidding, I had a workshop
story once where the author had the POV reflecting on his childhood in the
middle of a swordfight.
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mary rosenblum
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At length.
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mary rosenblum
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I figured he didn't survive
it, myself.
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mary rosenblum
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Well, this i
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mary rosenblum
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has been a fun Oregpon
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mary rosenblum
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I can't type!
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mary rosenblum
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Must be the huge dog head in
my lap...there, that's better!
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ashton
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Are there any books you'd
recommend?
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mary rosenblum
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Mostly, I'd recommend reading
a lot of action scenes, ashton.
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mary rosenblum
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Ask yourself if they
worked...did they really suck you in?
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mary rosenblum
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If they seem really powerful,
look at what the author did, how she used words, what description she
included...
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mary rosenblum
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And if it didn't seem all that
strong, try copying it and editing it. See if you can make it stronger.
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mary rosenblum
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That's an excellent exercise.
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mary rosenblum
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Thank you all for coming.
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mary rosenblum
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I'll be posting an article on
Writing the Action Scene on the website sometime before the end of the
weekend.
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mary rosenblum
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It has some examples in it.
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mary rosenblum
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Do drop into our Sunday casual
chat...
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mary rosenblum
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it's just a casual get
together...no particular topic...at 5 pm pacific, 6 MT, 7 central, and 8 pm
east coast time.
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mary rosenblum
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I'll post the transcript of
this Forum in the usual place: Writing Craft: Forum Transcripts.
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mary rosenblum
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Have a good weekend, all! See
you on the website!
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