6/20/2023 0 Comments Storywriting description wellIt’s a short and brutal scene, but it gives you great insight into the personality of his character, Woodrow Call. Pulitzer Prize winner Larry McMurtry includes the scene below in his novel Lonesome Dove. Good writers know how to use action effectively to advance their story. Keep the story movingĭo you really need an action scene at that particular point in the story? We’ve all endured scenes where suddenly a fight occurs when there was no need for it: it didn’t advance the story in any way, and seemed as if it was included just for the fight’s sake. The styles are different, but both are effective and entertaining. Reacher kept it going long enough to let their momentum establish, and then he whipped back through the reverse quarter circle toward them, by which time he was moving just as fast as they were, two hundred and fifty pounds about to collide head-on with four hundred, and he kept twisting and threw a long left hook at the left-hand guy. Reacher half turned and half stepped back, toward his door, a fluid quarter circle, shoulders and all, and like he knew they would the two guys moved toward him, faster than he was moving, off-script and involuntary, ready to grab him. Reacher is the thinking man’s action hero, so Child’s fight scenes tend to be less choppy and more descriptive, fitting in well both with the character and the overall tone of the books. He stumbled back, blood rushing from his nose.Ĭonversely, Lee Child’s hero Jack Reacher is a giant of a man, capable of great violence but also imbued with a great capacity to reason. I hit Shelley four times, three lefts and a right in the face. I shrugged my shoulder up and took the punch on it. I hit Shelley under the jaw, and he stepped back and swung at me. Parker often goes into great detail about what his characters wear, but his actions scenes are short and deadly. This doesn’t mean your actions scenes have to fit exactly in with the rest of your prose, but you should use a style that complements the rest of your work.įor example, in his Spenser novels, Robert B. Use a style that fits with your novel’s tone and pacing Reading a variety of work will help inspire you to try a few different ways of writing action scenes, and ultimately find the one that works best for you and your story. Some action scenes are fast and deadly, some are longer and suspenseful. Some scenes feature intense, vivid descriptions some have almost no description at all. If you want to know how to write action, study these writers’ work. Parker have all written novels chock full of bad characters doing bad things. Mario Puzo, Lee Child, Karin Slaughter, John Connolly, Deon Meyer, Patricia Cornwell, Elmore Leonard, Louis L’Amour, Larry McMurtry and Robert B. Here are five tips that will help you learn how to write fight scenes. The second, third and fourth drafts have been much better. The fight I’d committed to paper, however, was a literal blow-by-blow account, and it was boring.ĭiscouraged, I trashed the first draft and did some further research. ![]() I heard each hit as it landed, saw the blood and cracked bones, felt the impact of fists and feet and knees and elbows. ![]() The fight scene played out in my head and I wrote it happily, seeing each blow in my mind’s eye. How to write fight scenes that satisfy your reader The plot was going to take a lot of work, the research would be arduous, the character development would drain me - but the action scenes were going to be a breeze. ![]() But there was one aspect of writing that I was sure would be much easier than the rest: the action scenes. When I began writing my first crime novel, I knew it would be a challenge.
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