  Action/Adventure
This week: Run! Run!!! Edited by: Legerdemain  
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Do you run and hide or stay and fight?
In Freytag's description of narrative structure, a story needs these things: Exposition - Rising Action - Climax - Falling Action - Resolution. In writing action - adventure stories, your character will probably encounter several bouts of rising action before the climax is revealed. If your character is strong, they will overcome some of the obstacles and continue. In writing this action, think about not only the dialogue in the situation but their personal response to danger. Not every character will charge into a volatile situation and conquer their fears. Some may cower behind a rock and reassess their strategy.
When involving your characters in action, it is crucial to understand the body's response to fear. Built into our human genetic code, is a "fight or flight" animal response mechanism, once used to deal with threats to our survival. When such a threat is perceived, a part of our brain called the hypothalamus kicks a series of nerve cell firings and chemical release (adrenaline) into action and gets the body ready for response - running or fighting.
These patterns of nerve cell firing and chemical release cause our body to undergo a series of very dramatic changes. Our respiratory rate and pulse increases. Blood is shunted away from our digestive tract and directed into our muscles and limbs, which require extra energy and fuel for running and fighting. Our pupils dilate and tear production is inhibited. Tunnel vision can occur. Hearing loss could be a response. Our perception of pain diminishes and our immune system mobilizes with increased activation. Flushing, paling or sweating can happen.
It is also helpful to know that the rational mind begins to bypass what we would see as "normal" and begin to perceive everything around us as a threat. And if the body is unable to react, for example - in a car crash, inappropriate fight reactions might occur as the body needs to react to the stimulus from the adrenaline. Males tend to react more with a "fight" response and females tend to activate the "flight" response and turn to others for help, or attempt to defuse the situation – 'tend and befriend'. During stressful times, a mother is especially likely to show protective responses toward her offspring and affiliate with others for shared social responses to threat.
Stress response can also be a result of mental disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder, in which the individual shows a stress response when remembering a past trauma, and panic disorder, in which the stress response is activated by the catastrophic misinterpretations of bodily sensations. The trigger for these can be a myriad of things, smell, a sight, even words.
Knowing how your character's body should respond in a "fight or flight" situation is important, whether you decide to twist that response in your scene or use it to enrich your description. Using the right responses will give your story authenticity and your character more dimension. Write on!
This month's question: What are some of your typical character responses? Any clever responses?
Send in your reply below!  Editors love responses! |
Excerpt: I'm John Young. My NetLink number is 635769-22-1. I'm all alone now, and I only have a short time left to write my story. The clock on my desk softly ticks away the seconds, reminding me of my destiny.
Excerpt: But dreams are strange forces. A few nights after Hirana’s disappearance, Petros woke with a start from a dream so vivid that it hardly seemed like a dream. There was no doubt about the message; Petros was to locate Hirana and save her from becoming a sacrifice to Hadistis, the god of the underworld at the full moon that would happen exactly on the summer solstice, a relatively rare occurrence. This gave him just four months to find Hirana, but almost no information about where she was being held, or how to rescue her.
Excerpt: Apparently, sometime last year I entered a drawing. Not unusual for me; I was always filling out my name, address and phone number wherever and whenever I could. Most of the time I wouldn’t even pay attention to what to what the prize was. So when I received a phone call one day from some lady telling me that I was one of the lucky winners who had won an all expense paid trip to Tahiti for a week, I was a little shocked. Then she told me I would be getting a plane ticket in the mail in the next day or two. But (of course, there had to be a ‘but’) I would have to use the ticket within seven days or I’d forfeit my prize.
Excerpt: “Weise!” Dana growled from the pit master door as the vibration of the hull rattled under her feet and her dog tags fluttered at her chest. The P-681 stealth spacecraft known as the Shadow Star was breaking into earths second stratosphere, and Dana saw her daughter strapped into her can that lined the walls with the rest of the twenty man squadron, and clenched her fist.
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Excerpt: With trembling hands, Rosanna brushed the thin strands of her auburn hair off her face. The morning sun glared through the open window as she lay in bed, chest heaving and mind racing from the nightmare. Through emerald eyes, she stared at the ceiling as she realized it’d been over two weeks since the dream had last haunted her. She’d almost thought it gone for good. Closing her eyes tight, she remembered how, six months ago, a typical day had turned into the reoccurring nightmare.
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Excerpt: One eye opens, and I’m facing the clock. I’d set the alarm for five thirty, but I was so excited, I’d been waking up with one eye every hour since two. The comforter was snug up against my neck, and it was warm and cozy. Of all the mornings for everything to be warm and cozy, why did it have to be this one? I had an appointment to hunt for Ol’ Blue!
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Excerpt: In a place where you are under constant surveillance a good hiding place is more valuable than gold. Mary and Kayleigh had both soiled their share of bedding-but that had nothing to do with why they were in the laundry room. They were in the laundry room because it was one of the best hiding places in the entire institute.
Excerpt: I believe angels come to us in our time of need. They visit in disguise, using a variety of characters that promise to get our attention. In my case, it was a friend from my past that I failed to keep in touch with.
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This month's question: What are some of your typical character responses? Any clever responses?
Send in your reply below! Editors love responses!
Last month's question: Do you find new takes on old stories a good read?
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Action/Adventure: July 25, 2012 Issue [#5170]
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