action

topic posted Mon, November 19, 2007 - 11:16 PM by  Adam
What are your methods for researching action sections of your writing? Ex: fighting sections - do you really lay out how the fight goes and is that really what would happen in your reality?
posted by:
Adam
Las Vegas
  • Re: action

    Tue, November 20, 2007 - 9:04 AM
    I deal with it cinematically, and it depends on both the POV and what my inner camera is doing.

    For example, my battle scenes include different but integrated approaches. Long-shot elements show the landscape, the fighters as a mass rather than as individuals, variables like fire and other destructive forces. Short-shot elements show the effects of weapons at close range, carnage coming into view, etc. Deep POV includes personal, physical reactions, where I try to bring as many senses as I can into play and let those physical reactions show (rather than tell) the emotional response.

    2. In scenes where I have two individuals at odds and a consistently tight focus, I write within the POV of the one who is experiencing the most drama of the encounter -- i.e., the one who has the most to lose. If I'm re-enacting actual body moves, I play and replay a "movie" in my head as a way to rehearse and fix the images. When I'm writing I re-enact body moves at my desk, to experience what something might feel like on a visceral level. I also take different body types into account in what for me is mostly a mental choreography.

    Experiment and see what works for you. Cartoonist Alison Bechdel posted a terrific video at
    www.youtube.com/watch
    of her process, which involves her taking photographs of herself as all her characters in their respective positions -- body language, facial expressions, and props -- and then using the photos as models from which to draw.
    • Re: action

      Tue, November 20, 2007 - 10:52 AM
      I like how you approach that, using the camera shot as a metaphor for describing it. That works. Thanks.

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