Tips for Writing Believable Action Scenes

John Wilkerson — Fri, 11 Jan 2019 20:02:42 GMT

Current Revision posted to Common Mistakes by John Wilkerson on 1/11/2019 8:02:42 PM

Action scenes are incredibly tricky to write, and a lot hinges on them. Action sequences tend to be climax points: they are the last point of a conflict and requires a resolution of some kind at the end. If a writer is careless, it can be easy to create an anticlimactic climax point. In the clip below, John Wilkerson, sci-fi author, journalist, and ghostwriter, gives his most important tip for writing an action or fight scene. “Don’t define the technique step-by-step,” says Wilkerson. Part of this is because it takes an incredible amount of research to describe, in detail, a single fighting style. The other reason for avoiding intense, step-by-step description is that it will bog down a fight scene, which is generally supposed to be read as fast-paced. Wilkerson found that there are only five things a reader needs to know about a fight scene: (1) why the fight is happening, (2) what’s the emotional basis of the fight, (3) what are they fighting about, (4) who’s involved, and (5) who won. If an author tries to be more detailed than necessary, there is a high chance he or she will display ignorance to readers and will lose their interest.

www.authorlearningcenter.com/.../TipsforWritingBelievableActionScenes.mp4

Tags: fiction, Subscriber, video

Tips for Writing Believable Action Scenes

John Wilkerson — Fri, 11 Jan 2019 19:28:59 GMT

Revision 5 posted to Common Mistakes by John Wilkerson on 1/11/2019 7:28:59 PM

www.authorlearningcenter.com/.../TipsforWritingBelievableActionScenes.mp4

Tips for Writing Believable Action Scenes

John Wilkerson — Fri, 11 Jan 2019 19:10:42 GMT

Revision 4 posted to Common Mistakes by John Wilkerson on 1/11/2019 7:10:42 PM

Action scenes are incredibly tricky, and a lot hinges on them. Action sequences tend to be climax points: it’s the last point of a conflict and requires a resolution of some kind at the end. However, it can be easy to create an anticlimactic climax point. In the clip below, John Wilkerson, sci-fi author, journalist, and ghostwriter, gives his most important tip for writing an action scene. “Don’t define the technique step-by-step,” says Wilkerson. Part of this is because it takes an incredible amount of research to describe, in detail, a single fighting style. The other reason for avoiding intense, step-by-step description is that it will bog down a fight scene, which is generally supposed to be read as fast-paced. Wilkerson found that there are only six things a reader needs to know about a fight scene: why the fight is happening, what’s the emotional basis into the fight, what are they fighting about, who’s involved, and who won. If an author tries to be more detailed than necessary, there is a high chance he or she will display ignorance to readers.

www.authorlearningcenter.com/.../TipsforWritingBelievableActionScenes.mp4

Tips for Writing Believable Action Scenes

Author Learning Center — Fri, 11 Jan 2019 18:56:23 GMT

Revision 3 posted to Common Mistakes by Author Learning Center on 1/11/2019 6:56:23 PM

Content Here

www.authorlearningcenter.com/.../TipsforWritingBelievableActionScenes.mp4

Tips for Writing Believable Action Scenes

Author Learning Center — Fri, 11 Jan 2019 18:55:21 GMT

Revision 2 posted to Common Mistakes by Author Learning Center on 1/11/2019 6:55:21 PM

Content Here

www.authorlearningcenter.com/.../TipsforWritingBelievableActionScenes.mp4

Tips for Writing Believable Action Scenes

Author Learning Center — Fri, 11 Jan 2019 18:53:04 GMT

Revision 1 posted to Common Mistakes by Author Learning Center on 1/11/2019 6:53:04 PM

Content Here

www.authorlearningcenter.com/.../TipsforOutliningaFictionBook.mp4