"Every good novelist knows how to pump up the action in high-energy scenes. Every best-selling writer has an instinct for building pace, then letting off on the gas, then racing to the finish of a novel." -from The Writer's Little Helper by James V. Smith
*******
I was re-reading a few chapters from City of Glass by Cassandra Clare, and--as most things are prone to do--it got me thinking about the novel I'm working on. Specifically, it got me thinking about the amount of action in my story versus published works. Now, for those of you not fortunate enough to have read City of Glass, let me note that it is a fantasy that boils down to saving the world as we know it. So yes, lots of action. I mean, when you're talking demons and vampires and shadow hunters, there's going to be action.
In my book, the fate of the world is not hanging in balance. No one has to save the planet from being over-run by demons. Maybe the main character has to save her own soul, maybe even save her dad, or at least try to keep her family intact, but no world saving going on here. So how do I make sure there is enough action? I mean, sometimes it feels like ordinary things such as family, friends, high school (okay, so maybe that is a more life-hanging-in-the balance kind of thing), and dealing with the opposite sex (ditto on that) are just too mundane to build up huge amounts of action/tension. Look at my life--not all that exciting. (Well, okay, the lost Nintendo got dicey for awhile--lots of screaming involved. But no one was going to DIE because of it (contrary to some little person's belief.))
So for those of us not writing horror, fantasy, or suspense/mystery, how do we build in tension and action? I dug out my copy of The Writer's Little Helper and took a look at the chapter called "the ACIIIDS Test for evaluating scenes." ACIIIDS stands for Action, Conflict, Imagery, Invention, Irony, Dialogue, and Suspense. The author argues that every important scene should contain each of those elements--although ONE of those elements should dominate the scene.
In the book, there is a handy chart for the writer to evaluate the intensity of each of these elements. Action, for example, goes from impending, to incidental to overt to urgent to frenetic. Suspense = invisible, subtle, cheap, chapter show, awesome, and nail-biter. I liked the one for dialogue (which I always seem to have a lot of in my books) because it shows you can build intensity into a scene that way as well. Dialogue = internal, monologue, debate, argument, and imbroglio (I had to look that up. It means an embarrassing or serious misunderstanding; a complicated situation. Personally, I would have used screaming match or fight or something like that--but then, I work with middle school kids all the time.)
I find it interesting that the author of this books deals with readability/reading ease/words per sentence type stuff when it talks about how to evaluate and adjust your pacing. He suggests using the word processing tools to help you figure out the reading ease of your scenes, and then plot that on a graph. That way you get a good idea of the ups and downs of your piece--as well as an overall look at the readability of your piece. He suggests that if you have a scene that is supposed to be high action/drama/conflict, that you make sure it reads at a faster pace. "Remember, the quickest way to pick up the pace in a scene is to cut. Cut long sentences down to size. Cut long words from the piece. Use short words instead. Cut the passive voice to 0 percent. use simple declarative sentences, active voice, short paragraphs."
Granted, some books might just be more the page-turner type. Still, it sounds like any story can be ratcheted up by working on concrete things. I can include more intensity in the action, conflict, imagery, invention, irony, dialogue, and suspense in my scenes. I can adjust the pacing by paying attention to the readability of the scene--playing with sentence length, word size, and active vs. passive voice. All of these are do-able things.
Still, maybe a body or two thrown in for good measure....
What do you do to make sure the reader keeps turning pages?
In my book, the fate of the world is not hanging in balance. No one has to save the planet from being over-run by demons. Maybe the main character has to save her own soul, maybe even save her dad, or at least try to keep her family intact, but no world saving going on here. So how do I make sure there is enough action? I mean, sometimes it feels like ordinary things such as family, friends, high school (okay, so maybe that is a more life-hanging-in-the balance kind of thing), and dealing with the opposite sex (ditto on that) are just too mundane to build up huge amounts of action/tension. Look at my life--not all that exciting. (Well, okay, the lost Nintendo got dicey for awhile--lots of screaming involved. But no one was going to DIE because of it (contrary to some little person's belief.))
So for those of us not writing horror, fantasy, or suspense/mystery, how do we build in tension and action? I dug out my copy of The Writer's Little Helper and took a look at the chapter called "the ACIIIDS Test for evaluating scenes." ACIIIDS stands for Action, Conflict, Imagery, Invention, Irony, Dialogue, and Suspense. The author argues that every important scene should contain each of those elements--although ONE of those elements should dominate the scene.
In the book, there is a handy chart for the writer to evaluate the intensity of each of these elements. Action, for example, goes from impending, to incidental to overt to urgent to frenetic. Suspense = invisible, subtle, cheap, chapter show, awesome, and nail-biter. I liked the one for dialogue (which I always seem to have a lot of in my books) because it shows you can build intensity into a scene that way as well. Dialogue = internal, monologue, debate, argument, and imbroglio (I had to look that up. It means an embarrassing or serious misunderstanding; a complicated situation. Personally, I would have used screaming match or fight or something like that--but then, I work with middle school kids all the time.)
I find it interesting that the author of this books deals with readability/reading ease/words per sentence type stuff when it talks about how to evaluate and adjust your pacing. He suggests using the word processing tools to help you figure out the reading ease of your scenes, and then plot that on a graph. That way you get a good idea of the ups and downs of your piece--as well as an overall look at the readability of your piece. He suggests that if you have a scene that is supposed to be high action/drama/conflict, that you make sure it reads at a faster pace. "Remember, the quickest way to pick up the pace in a scene is to cut. Cut long sentences down to size. Cut long words from the piece. Use short words instead. Cut the passive voice to 0 percent. use simple declarative sentences, active voice, short paragraphs."
Granted, some books might just be more the page-turner type. Still, it sounds like any story can be ratcheted up by working on concrete things. I can include more intensity in the action, conflict, imagery, invention, irony, dialogue, and suspense in my scenes. I can adjust the pacing by paying attention to the readability of the scene--playing with sentence length, word size, and active vs. passive voice. All of these are do-able things.
Still, maybe a body or two thrown in for good measure....
What do you do to make sure the reader keeps turning pages?
5 comments:
Sarah;
My writing--outdoor essays--is different. Sometimes there's action--a rooster pheasant launching from a grass patch or the explosive covey rise of quail or a partner tripping on a rock and taking a swim while wading. I guess I try to keep the sentences shorter, than say when describing the poetry of the presentation in fly fishing. I want to keep the reader suspended in the beauty--the way the line's loop traces patterns in the air--I wonder if that's why fly-lines are colored--the fly's silent drift, the purling stream, ( I learned a new word too) the play of color, and shadows cast by the setting sun. Catching a fish is not what matters.
I strive for "0" passive verbs and do look at the readability. My kids wrote at a "higher grade level" than me but not as readable. That's one of the risks of using esoteric words or jargon. It may sound sophisticated, but no one understands it.
I'm guilty of too long of sentences. The reader doesn't have time to absorb it all. On the other hand, I dislike Hemmingway's style.
Larry,
It's interesting that higher grade level writing isn't always a good thing. The book I was reading talked about aiming at about a "6" on the Flesch-Kincaid scale (Microsoft Word). I tend to write higher than that, so it has made me more deliberate about switching up the length of my sentences. I throw in a few short ones now. (I like 'purling stream' by the way. Great new word.)
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