[From KMW: I’ve got a quick post for you today—a little storytelling snack—on how to write better action scenes. Specifically, we’re talking about what not to do if you want to keep your pacing tight and your scenes crackling with energy. (Hint: it’s all about trimming the fat, not the flavor.) I’ll be back next week with a full post and podcast on a juicy topic in response to one of your questions: “Using the Enneagram for Character Development: Avoiding Repetition for Lies Each Type Might Believe.”]

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If you wish to write higher motion scenes, the important thing isn’t simply what you embody—it’s what you allow out. Nothing kills momentum sooner than a poorly timed data dump or an overstuffed description that stops the motion in its tracks. Pacing is every part, and realizing the best way to management it could imply the distinction between a scene that crackles with vitality and one which fizzles earlier than it even will get began.

You need readers to be sucked into the battle so fully they neglect to shut their mouths and cease drooling. You do that by deftly structuring the size and variables of sentences and by trimming pointless data which may slam the brakes in your runaway freight prepare of action-packed pleasure. That is true it doesn’t matter what sort of “motion” your story consists of—whether or not it’s a chase scene, a love scene, or simply an intense dialog.

One of many quickest methods to destroy any scene’s pacing is by interrupting the motion with massive chunks of description.

For Instance:

Joseph Andrews by Henry Fielding (affiliate hyperlink)

Henry Fielding’s satire Joseph Andrews (often thought-about one of many first examples of the novel) acknowledges this drawback, tongue in cheek.

Throughout a tense and livid scene by which the hero helps a good friend combat off a pack of attacking canine, Fielding breaks the third wall to cheekily inform readers he want to embody a simile about now, however that he dare not interrupt the motion, which he says “needs to be speedy on this half.”

In so explaining his causes for not interrupting the motion, Fielding, in fact, introduced the motion screeching to a halt simply as certainly as if he had truly stopped to impart his simile. He was writing a satire, so he may get away with it. Most writers, nevertheless, can’t.

Writers typically trick themselves into considering descriptions are important, after they fairly often aren’t. Simply as Fielding’s motion scene survived admirably with out his simile, a lot of the knowledge writers need to clarify to readers typically seems to be deadweight.

The subsequent time you end up eager to decelerate for description or clarification, double-check whether or not this data is significant. For those who decide it is mandatory, the next step needs to be reevaluating whether or not the information could be moved so it doesn’t intervene with the motion. For instance, if readers want this data to grasp the motion, be certain that they’re aware about it earlier than the bullets ever flying, the canine ever begin barking, and the prepare ever begins rumbling.

Trimming pointless description doesn’t imply stripping your scenes of depth or element. It simply means being intentional about the place and the way you embody them. If you wish to write higher motion scenes, give attention to sustaining momentum by weaving important particulars seamlessly into the move, relatively than dropping them in like roadblocks. For those who preserve the pacing tight, the motion clear, and your readers engaged, your scenes will hit with the affect they deserve!

Wordplayers inform me your opinions! What are your favourite strategies to jot down higher motion scenes? Inform me within the feedback!