Writer's Workshop #13: Action, Emotion, and Scenes/Sequels

A lot of my posts so far have been focused on the wide picture. Theming, character arcs, pacing. But what do you do when you get down to the nitty-gritty and want to start writing scenes? Thankfully, I've got just the answer for that, too! It's called scenes and sequels. But before I get to that, I want to talk a little bit about action scenes. Specifically, how extremely boring they are. Have you ever been watching a fight scene or a chase scene in a movie where you started drumming your fingers and checking your watch? Like, we get it. He's punching the guy. Over and over and over again. Seriously, who cares? After the movie's over, if you were to describe the scene to somebody who hadn't seen it, you'd probably just say, "He fought the guy, then he won." (Oh, hey, "and then" writing popping up again.)

But think about some of the really interesting fight scenes you've seen in your time. The one that jumps out to me is the fight scene on the trolley car in "Avatar: The Last Airbender." It's almost like it's broken up into several different fight scenes: there's the long-distance fight, then there's the showy fight on the top of the car, then there's the close-quarters fight inside the car, then there's the part where Azula cuts the wire... And all the while, the trolley's inching ever closer to the edge of the volcano, letting our heroes escape. Contrast that with the fight scenes in The Man of Steel, which are always only minor variations of "Superman punches Zod into something that blows up." There are two things that make these two fight scenes so starkly different from each other. The first is the time limit in the trolley fight. The fight is tense and exciting because every second Azula and Ty Lee fail to stop the escapees is another inch closer to freedom. The cinematography reminds us every now and again of this by moving to a viewpoint where the lip of the volcano is moving ever closer. Azula and Ty Lee notice this, and they change their tactics when it becomes clear they're not moving fast enough. Contrast this with any of the fights Superman has with Zod. Like, the one in Smallville for example. What's to stop the two of them from simply punching each other for eternity? Nothing, at least as far as we the audience can tell. Superman basically gets lucky when Zod's helmet breaks and he starts tripping X-rays.

But of course, the other difference is more obvious. Azula and Ty Lee take different approaches throughout the fight. They change their methods when it's clear the old ways aren't working. Remember what I said about turns a couple of workshops ago? Fight scenes are, in a sense, mini-narratives. They should have turns and climaxes and stuff, just like the overall story. An action scene isn't an opportunity for you, the writer, to kick back and relax. You can weave the narrative into the fight just as easily as you can dialogue, description, or less exciting activity. A good fight reveals something about the characters, something meaningful and powerful. When you just have scenes like "Superman punches a guy through a restaurant, then he punches another guy into a tanker truck, then he gets attacked by the military," there's nothing worth reading in that.

And that brings me nicely to my next segment. One of my clients complains that they don't know how to get emotional moments into their writing. They feel like there's too much dry, boring description flooding their writing. Well, worry no more, [name redacted], because I know just the solution! It's something called the Scene/Sequel approach to writing. You probably know what a Scene is (no duh), but the idea of a Sequel may stymie you. "...Like, the sequel of a book?" Actually, no. In this case, the Sequel is what follows a Scene. Okay, that's not very helpful. Let's break down what they actually mean. At their simplest, the Scene is what happens, and the Sequel is how the Main Character responds to it. Your story should alternate between the two, perfectly one to one. So what makes a Scene, and what makes a Sequel? Let's dig in deeper. (If you're following along with another definition, I'm about to go a little off the rails here. :P)

So, a Scene. A Scene is made up of three parts: the Goal, the Action, and the Consequence. The Goal defines what our character is trying to achieve with the Action, the Action is what the character actually does, and the Consequence is the way that the universe reacts to the Action that took place. So let's imagine a story I'm working on about Fluttershy meeting Rarity for the first time. My Scene could be something like this: "Fluttershy had come this far; she had no choice but to convince the mare who ran the boutique however possible. She rang the doorbell, which shocked her with how loud and disconcerting it was. The door opened, and there stood Rarity. 'Oh, hello!' she said. 'I don't believe we've met. How may I help you?'" That writing is horrible, but you get the drift. The Goal is the first part, where Fluttershy recalls her need to convince Rarity. The Action is next, when she rings the doorbell. The Consequence is Rarity showing up and being unexpectedly kind. So now we've got something for Fluttershy to react to: Rarity is kinder than anypony else she's talked to.

After this is the Sequel. The Sequel is also composed of three parts: the Reaction, the Consideration, and the Decision. You'll notice all three of these occur inside the Main Character's brain; that's not a coincidence. If the Scene is what's going on externally, then the Sequel is what's going on internally. The Reaction is how the Main Character's perception and interpretation of the Response. The Consideration is the Main Character going over options and reflecting on what to do next. And the Decision, naturally, is the Main Character deciding on a new Goal for the next Scene. (See? It all loops together.) So for my Scene from above, this might be the Sequel: "Fluttershy was spellbound for a moment. She was so beautiful, so kind, that it almost didn't seem real. She almost felt as though she had slipped into some kind of fantasy, and she would wake up to find that this Rarity was some desperate illusion. But this was no fantasy, no dream. She was just the pony Fluttershy needed." The Reaction is the part where Fluttershy acts all surprised and awestruck. The Consideration is the next part, where she thinks that maybe she's in a dream. Then the Decision is when she locks even further into her desire to ask for Rarity's help.

Do you see how it all loops together? The Consequence at the end of the Scene directly inspires the Reaction at the start of the Sequel, and the Decision at the end of the Sequel leads directly to the Goal at the start of the Scene. The Actions taken by the characters inspire the Decisions, and the Decisions inspire the Actions. All of this ties back to the turns and the "but/therefore" writing, as every part of the story leads logically to the next. But the difference between this and the "but/therefore" thing from before is that here, we're jumping back and forth between external and internal. It can be way too easy to take your interesting Response and immediately lead to the Main Character taking a new Action, but we need to understand their thought processes if we're going to empathize with them. Now, I fully admit I'm not very good at this. In fact, I only learned about it a few months ago, and I certainly haven't mastered it yet. It's just something we'll all have to learn together.

So, what do we have to learn from all this? Well, to be honest, it's actually all pretty obvious stuff. Give your scenes stakes, things that will make the readers worried about the final results. Have your characters develop by adding variety to their methods of approach. Intersperse scenes of characters acting and feeling external consequences with emotional reactions and decisions. Hopefully, all that will help the readers immerse themselves into the power of your story.

Comments

[stinkyFeet]

Yay! This is the most important part of writing in my opinion.