  Action/Adventure
This week: Like Lemmings... Edited by: Legerdemain  
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Like lemmings...
Instinct drives humans to pack behavior even if the individuals aren't aware of it. Would you say status is important to most people? Why? It's part of pack behavior. We try to gain higher status than others to have a place of importance in the pack. It can be something like having a nicer car than your neighbor, getting a promotion at work, or climbing a hill faster than the other bikers in your cycle club. Everyone wants to feel they have advantage over the others around them. Being a leader shows others your higher status and as a result, others will follow. Following the stronger member of the pack ensures good status of the members who follow and ensured survival.
In large groups or gatherings, herd behavior can sometimes cause mass destruction. Members of the group feed off the others emotionally until the entire group becomes violent or destructive. This can happen in times of stress during natural disasters or wartime.
When writing your action / adventure work, keep these tendencies in mind. When stranded, which person would the weaker members of the group follow? If the ship is sinking, whose instructions will the passengers follow? If the plane makes a water landing, is the exit organized or chaos? Take the time to examine human tendencies and try to write accordingly, the flow will be easier to read and feel believable.
And just for fun - lemmings do not commit mass suicide off cliffs as depicted in movies and song lyrics. They do, however, mass migrate when population density gets too high. Sometimes migrants die because they are not strong enough to survive the migration.
This month's question: What types of actions would you consider "pack behavior"?
Send in your reply below!  Editors love feedback!
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| |  | Rapture (18+)
Despite what they are and despite what they do, they only do it because they love you.
#1841583 by Corey Walker  |
Excerpt: “Does everyone else know?” He was still staring blindly at the horizon. They’re coming, he thought, Jesus they’re coming. Who’ll they take next? Me? My kids? My mother? One of my neighbors? Jesus.
| |  | Invalid Item
This item number is not valid.
#1845626 by Not Available. |
Excerpt: The rain was falling heavily and there was the odd rumble of thunder as the mob worked their way along the country lanes. Some carried burning torches to light the way and others were armed with pitchforks and hoes, prepared to fight.
| | | Invalid Item
This item number is not valid.
#1774004 by Not Available. |
Excerpt: As the tip of the sun broke the horizon, he stood, a black shadow against the blazing sunrise. He stretched his neck twice it's size and pointed his beak straight up; his bright red comb stood out like a warning flag. Never before was heard anything as magnificent as the sound that poured from this beast’s throat! The single, masterful crow caused the startled milk cow to scramble to her feet. The pigs snapped their heads up from the feeding trough and the piglets scrambled for their mom. The whole sun seemed to spring above the horizon as if it had been waiting for the sound.
| | Auronium (18+)
A planetary expedition reveals a forgotten civilisation, a rare element and a surprise...
#1831749 by Squeekachu |
Excerpt: A huge dome-shaped cavern lay before them. The walls were ghostly and translucent in texture, and held a little light of their own in the otherwise stygian grotto. More pathways could be seen winding out of sight. Each student adjusted their torch helmets to the lowest setting. The smell of rock, soil and damp permeated their nostrils.
| | | Invalid Item
This item number is not valid.
#1842933 by Not Available. |
Excerpt: “Ethics be damned. If I slept, your world would cease to exist. You’re all a figment of my imagination. If you, and earth, were real, how ... how would that explain a dumbass like me becoming a millionaire?”
Excerpt: Ignuth and Mudsock struggled into their heavy winter clothes. This was to be the biggest day of their young lives. They were going to participate in their little Eskimo village’s oldest ritual; one designed to recognize the fittest amongst them while keeping the population in check.
Excerpt: Pwyll's thoughts wandered as he walked slowly leading his weary battle charger. The road ahead was his future, but it was covered in shadow. Then again, perhaps it lay behind, in the shy smile beneath a crop of copper red hair, just as his heart told him. His trail was set and he knew it. It was written in the sands of time, he personally did the writing long ago. It was his own choice to be the speaker for the dead. His lust was a curse that caused him to abandon his people. His shame cost him true love. His desire for his betrothed the Queen of Dragons had cooled considerably over the years as did his lust for the Nymph Queen. None of that seemed to mattered now. It was the Fire Witch who captured is soul and every intelligent man knows, when a virgin has your soul; it is time to leave. He believed he would have sacrificed everything for a chance of happiness with her. Of the women in his life, Kerry was by far, the most danger to his duty. Or was she? It was Kerry who sent him to fulfill his destiny. His own weakness was the true danger and that knowledge chewed on his soul.
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This month's question: What types of actions would you consider "pack behavior"?
Last month's question: What is your favorite personified character?
THANKFUL SONALI Now What?  responded: 1. The Narnia characters 2. The pets in Harry Potter - like Crookshanks and Hedwig (if you can count those.)
hvysmker answered: I don't consider Oscar Rat as an impersonator. He's a real virtual character, living in an apartment in one corner of my brainpan. Oscar is a writer in his own right, having at least 200 stories in his own name, even publishing three in magazines. He writes only rodent-oriented works, attempting to tell the REAL story of his specie. Not the false facts in human literature. That rat has his own email address and once owned a blog. Oscar is married to the former Malodor Skunk. The two adopted Nancy Skunk, a teenager from Malodor’s sister, Peuti. He works full-time at the venerable Rat Archives, rewriting rodent history. Oscar has a part-time position as Rodent Advisor and troubleshooter for the President of the US. A good and patriotic rodent can do things for the President that humans can’t even attempt. He found fitting in easy with the other, human, rats in Congress. I think of Oscar as a friend and compatriot, never as an *Ugh!* character. ~Charlie
BIG BAD WOLF is hopping  replied: I like to use wolves.
Soulhaven sent: What is your favorite personified character? That would have to be Pratchett's Death. He's funny, and sweet, and takes on the role of antagonist just as well as protagonist. Oh, and he loves kittens. When I first started collecting Discworld novels, I began by flipping through, looking for the tell-tale CAPS writing. Now I just love the whole series, but it was Death that started that love.
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Action/Adventure: February 08, 2012 Issue [#4862]
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