Spying Man

Assassins, Spies and SAS. Oh My…

In a recent post, Fight Scenes: Instinct & Perspectives, I spoke about emotional engagement and the perspectives used for writing fight scenes. I touched on fight-or-flight, and how a writer can use that to their advantage. However, I also spoke about believability. If elements of your fight scene delve into the unbelievable, you will lose your reader.

While most people are able to easily visualize how the average Joe will respond in a fight, what their actions would be, and their capabilities, there is one type of fighter that is often used within fight scenes that majority of people can't truly relate to.

I'm talking about those characters who are highly trained to be assassins, spies and special forces soldiers (or SAS, as they are known in some countries). While all of these characters will have different backgrounds and different skill sets, there will be commonalities to the way they behave. Their reactions to a given situation can almost be predicted.

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Arguments

Fight Scenes: Instinct & Perspective

Recently, I have found myself in multiple situations where I’ve been shoulder-tapped to look over the fight scenes of others. It’s ironic that I’ve developed a knack (and a love) for those action-pumping scenes that often result in carnage and death. I’ve come a long way since my husband’s single feedback line of my high fantasy novel (feedback given nearly 8 years ago now): “Your fight scenes suck.”

(Geez… Love you too, hubby.)

However, as much as that original critique strung, I persevered, and analyzed to death what makes a good fight or action scene. (Pun intended.) Now, nearly 8 years later, those action-filled scenes that get the heart pumping pour out of me with ease—and the body count rises significantly.

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Show the story. Tell the ride through the countryside.

Show the emotions. Show the setting. Show the complexities of your mind. Show this. Show that.

Oh, before I forget, tell that ride through the countryside. Tell that little backstory through dialogue. Tell the oral history.

When does one use tell? Should I always show? At what point is it too much show and not enough tell?

Show. Show. Show. Tell. Tell. Tell. It can seriously do your head in.

Understanding the difference between the two is one thing. Striking a balance between them to keep your reader engaged is another. For the moment, let's focus on the first issue.

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A Thesaurus Series for Showy Writers

Many writers are familiar with the mantra of Show, Don’t Tell. Exactly what it means is a subject that is up for debate, and not what this post is about. Nope. This post is looking at a few resources for writers that are designed to help writers show their stories.

I am talking about the Thesaurus series by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi.

Let me start by saying that I’m not getting anything out of promoting these books. They are on my list of recommended books for writers, because I honestly feel that they are brilliant resources that every writer serious about writing fiction should invest in. Let me explain why.

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Refueling the Writing Muse

We are approaching the middle of the NaNoWriMo season, and it's about this time of the month when some writers start to run out of steam. Whatever motivation they had when they embarked on the challenge has begun to wane. It's time to refuel the muse, so we can keep going.

Here are 9 different methods that could help you get back into the flow of writing.

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This #NaNoWriMo, don’t focus just on word counts.

As the clock clicks over into November 1st, writers around the world will embark on the NaNoWriMo challenge.

No doubt, some of you are wondering what NaNoWriMo is. Well, as a writer, you commit yourself to writing 50,000 words in one month — you commit to writing a complete first draft of a novel. For some, it is a daunting goal, but as someone who has taken part in every NaNoWriMo and CampNaNoWriMo event since 2014, I can tell you that it's worth the challenge and effort.

Every year, without fail, there will be a few who work at insane rates, pumping out 50,000 words within the first few days. Some even achieve this within the first 24 hours. No, I'm not exaggerating. Within my home region, there is always at least one, frequently two or three, with another two or three who hit 50,000 words within the first week. However, I actually feel sad for the ones  who rush to pump out those 50,000 words in such a short time, because in my opinion they have totally missed the point behind NaNoWriMo.

The real goal of NaNoWriMo is to spend an entire month writing your novel, aiming to complete it. If you finish early, you go back and flesh out some of the scenes. And if hit 50,000 words early but still haven't finished the novel, you keep going until you've written the words The End. You write every day, forming a habit for writing that will carry you through into December and beyond.

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NaNoWriMo is just around the corner

It's that time of year again. November is almost here. For some, this means that the holiday silly season is about to begin, but for many writers, November is an extremely important time of the year. November is NaNoWriMo.

For those who don't know, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month, although, it really should be international. Basically, writers commit the month of November to their writing, aiming to write a minimum of 50,000 words within one month. It may sound like a lot of words to some, but the first Harry Potter is 76,944 words.

NaNoWriMo is FREE to join, but the benefits of the program go beyond the prizes that winners get at the end of the month. The community of NaNoWriMo is huge — truly international. There are motivational posts from established writers (like Grant Faulkener, Neil Gaiman and Brandon Sanderson, just to name a few). You have access to the community forums, and there are events that are run within local regions.

To join, just go to the NaNoWriMo website and sign up. To get access to everything, you just join, but if you want to be in for the prizes at the end of November, don't forget to specify a project.

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Bullying

Words Can Cut Like Knives

As writers, we carefully craft our sentences to use the perfect word to say what is it that we want to say, creating the exact image in a reader’s mind. There are times when writers have been known to spend days to find those perfect words. Yet, there is one aspect of our writing lives where many writers don’t take the same care with words as they do their stories.

I’m talking about the posts that writers put on Facebook, Twitter and other social media. The rush to get the post out there can sometimes land us in situations where the words cut like knifes.

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How important really is grammar?

When I tell people that I'm a freelance editor (including other writers), they instantly assume that I'm a copyeditor, with a keen interest in working on the grammar and punctuation of my clients. I'm not surprised that writers often jump to that conclusion. Majority of editors that I encounter actually ARE copyeditors. However, what is the point behind looking at the appropriateness of a given word in a sentence when on page 152 the bad guys are setting up the bomb that will level the city, and the good guys find the bomb and disarm it by the end of page 154.

This may sound incredibly odd coming from a professional editor, but in all honesty, grammar takes a backseat to story and character.

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Nonfiction writers who write fiction need to retrain their brains.

There are some out there who believe that writing is just writing. If you have training in writing of one nature, surely you can write other stuff too. Well...

There are certain aspects of writing that hold true no matter what type of writing you do. The rules of grammar, for example, don't care if you write fiction, a scientific paper, or a cookbook. However, there is a massive difference between all three of those particular types of writing.

It is becoming increasingly common for those who have nonfiction writing backgrounds to shift into the fictional realms. Let's face it, we have big imaginations and we want to share that with the world. Rightly so. Our stories should be told. However, nonfiction writers, you need to retrain your brains if you are serious about pursuing fiction.

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