101 TIWIK #8: Zap! Pow! Splat! Action!

What is action?

Put in the simplest terms, action is merely the inclusion of verbs in your narrative.

He charged. She swung her sword.

Easily identifiable as actions.

In a deeper sense, however, action is plot. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that plot is action. Or that the sum of actions in a book equal the plot.

He charged. She swung her sword. Steel connected with flesh and her sword came away covered in blood. She dropped to her knees, staring at the bloodied blade in horror.

That’s a plot point. That bit of action has propelled the plot forward in a new direction. And whatever action the characters take next will determine the direction of the plot. And the next action they take will move it further along, and so on.

Not all actions are plot. Some actions are so small as to be more akin to description. He brushed a wayward wisp of hair out of her eyes. It’s an action, but unless this is a romance, it’s probably not propelling the plot forward. Larger actions, like the example above, can’t help but drive the plot of the story.

When writing action in your scenes, consider how a play is staged or how characters move in a movie. Remember those awkward home videos from the fifties where the kids are standing still in the frame because they don’t realize that it’s a movie and not a photograph? When I started writing, a lot of my scenes were like that. Characters standing still makes for a slow-moving story, which kills reader engagement. My writing improved tenfold when I learned the importance of keeping the characters in motion.

Even if you don’t write down every detail of motion your character makes, it’s important that you know what a character is doing in a given scene. Imagine the motions they are making while writing the scene. While two characters are talking, is one of them preparing food? Is one of them washing dishes?

It’s actually better not to write down every detailed motion. As with description, you want to leave an impression of the action in the reader’s mind, not report it verbatim. Another easy error for the novice writer to make is to list actions.

He took the dishes to the sink. He turned the water on and filled the sink with water. He squeezed out the sponge and picked up a plate. He scrubbed dried-on rice off the plate.

This kind of listing, even though it is action, slows down the story and loses readers. As with description, pick key details that create an impression of someone washing dishes and intersperse them in the rest of the story.

“Caitlin called in sick again today.” He squeezed out the sponge and picked up a plate. Whatever Mary was cooking smelled delicious. “I’m this close to firing her.” Rice had dried onto a bowl, and he reached for the scrubber.

Even though actions shouldn’t be listed, they should be causally linked. The next action in a sequence needs to make sense to the reader. If my next line in the scene above was:

He picked up another plate and smashed it on the ground, yelling in anger.

That doesn’t fit the actions above. Unless I’ve already established that he’s mentally ill and unpredictable, there would need to be other, intervening actions leading up to him throwing this tantrum.

Actions need to make chronological sense. For example, it wouldn’t make sense to show him filling the sink with water after he’s already started scrubbing dishes.

There also needs to be some sense of the scale of time imbedded in actions. The next line after he reached for the scrubber can’t be he dried the last dish and placed it in the cupboard. Not enough time has passed between those two sentences for him to have cleaned and dried all the dishes.

Another error I’ve made, and seen in other writers, is starting a story with a high-action scene. A famous author whose work I otherwise admire made this (in my opinion) mistake in one of his books. The entire first chapter was an action-heavy scene with no character revelation or development. It reminded me of a Hollywood action movie that is all action with no substance. The problem was that because the action took place before we’d got to know the character, there was no sense of caring whether he succeeded. Compare that to a high-action scene later in the book, where I was on the edge of my seat wondering if he would live, because by now I knew and cared about this character. It’s a good reminder that high-action without sufficient character development will lose readers just as quickly as a slow story will.

A couple more things to keep in mind about action:

Whenever you can, combine action and description. If there is a strong verb in nearly every sentence you write, you’ll never have to worry about your story slowing down. Instead of saying, “Her hair was wispy” say “Her wispy hair fluttered in the wind.” Try to always show the thing you’re describing doing something.

Actions are great revealers of character, and as such should always be appropriate to the character who is doing them. Pick verbs that match the character. For example, your burly warrior character will probably not sashay. Nor will your ancient crone character strut.

In short, action is what keeps your story moving forward. Use it well, and your writing will be unstoppable.

Tomorrow: 101 TIWIK #9: Dialog–More than Talking Heads

This post is part of a series of 101 Things I Wish I’d Known Before I Wrote My First Book. Start reading the series at the beginning.