Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Somebody Has a Gun

 
I've read a book somewhat recently that I feel sort of takes Michael's stance on action. It's like the author was thinking, "Well, as long as things are blowing up and people are fighting, that'll make my book interesting!"

I wish sometimes authors (and screenwriters and anyone making a story) could see that they're pulling a Michael here. Now, obviously there needs to be action, and for some stories it's appropriate to have guns and that type of action. People have guns in TV shows and movies because it is exciting, like Michael said. But Michael fails to realize that usually before the big fight that he wants to emulate in his improv class, there's character development and conflict and mystery. They may start out with a big scene, but then it peters out and we get the plot. Bursts of action may come in the middle, but sandwiched between those there's other crucial elements that make a story interesting and worth reading/watching.

But really, seeing/reading anything that just seems to down on the action without incorporating other elements can just be tiring. This may be more of a jab toward action movies than books, but this is something we can all fall into and I've been thinking about.

5 comments:

  1. Very true! And I love the scene of The Office. Some people really do think it just needs action and guns, but some of the best books have heartfelt internal conflicts that drive the story with emotions instead of "Ooo, thing blow up!" Though I admit my dad usually says that a movie has to have something blow up to be good. Boys.

    Great post!

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  2. Thank you for this! It's funny because I was watching the movie "E.T." this morning while I was getting dressed, and my hubby commented that it had a lot of really slow part, that it needed more action. I LOVED E.T.! Just the way it is. Too much action bores me stupid.

    All the males in my family don't get it. I think it's the testosterone.

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  3. This post came at a perfect time because I'm trying to balance action and other developments in my WIP, so I'm glad to see someone putting my muddled thoughts to words. Thank you!

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  4. I've thought about this with my current WIP. There's A LOT of action. It's not that I'm purposely doing it...the story just calls for it. So when i go back and revise I'm going to have to make sure the reader will care about the action because they care about those in the action.

    Thanks for stopping by my blog!

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