  Action/Adventure
This week: Tic Tic Tic Edited by: Legerdemain  
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Tic Tic Tic
A fun way to create suspense and action is a deadline. Imagine this, your protagonist is Dudley DoRight and his fair lady is tied to the railroad tracks. Yes, of course there is a train coming. We all gasp in horror. Will Dudley save the fair Nell in time? Will the Canadian Mountie rescue her and ride off into the sunset? Or will Snidely Whiplash finally succeed in eliminating the pretty woman? Giving your protagonist a cut-off point and obstacles to achieve success will create tension and suspense.
When writing a scene such as this, let your fingers flow and fill the scene with everything you can think of. Then let's edit. Does the dialog move the action? Are the sentences short, quick and concise? Is description kept to a minimum? Surely Dudley would not notice the sky or the flowered and grassy terrain unless he tripped over it and held back from saving Nell Fenwick in time.
Keep your sentences short. Just like the ticking of the clock, quick short dialog with minimal tags and short paragraphs keep the reader engaged and interested. When editing, take out unnecessary movement or words, crop down the essential and in the end, you'll have a great action scene.
Write on!
This month's question: How do you keep action moving in your stories?
 Send in your reply below!
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Excerpt: “Oh, it’s just Adam. He says he hopes we’re having a good time. I’m just gonna text him back real quick.”
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Excerpt: His eyes held a calm calculation that belied the raging anger that broiled beneath his skin. Closing his eyes in an attempt at withdrawal, he dredged up a soul-sigh. It came from the volatile recesses where delicate angels placate demons with gilded fans, butterfly kisses and lots of eye-rolling. It helped. Marginally.
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Excerpt: The car comes to a stop and after a few minutes I see the back door opening and strong, muscular arms appear, lifting the little girl out of the back seat. All I see then is this man’s back, his plaid shirt fills the screen as he carries her away. My vision goes out of focus…
Excerpt: “I’ve heard that they move everyone to relocation camps. They use them for cheap labor. Many die but the Corps don’t care. There are always plenty of replacements.”
Excerpt: I bumped into him so hard that proposals flew right and left -- explosively almost as if the two of us had been armed with some kind volatile chemical. I guess that’s a pretty good description of it since we were officially ex-spouses.
Excerpt: When he first entered Syed’s taxi, Mr Janus was older. If not for that gaunt face creased with wrinkles which framed ice-blue eyes peeping below brows the colour of storm clouds, Syed would never have allowed him to bring in the cat. No animals or non-paying passengers. Those were the rules.
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Excerpt: The timbre of her voice didn’t feel right. Panic swelled in his chest as his gaze swept her face. The eyes sat a bit too far apart, the lips a tad too plump, and the hair seemed a slightly different shade of brown. They’d been sloppy.
Excerpt: When the teacher was out of earshot, Becky said, "It's haunted, you know."
"What's haunted?" Johnny asked.
"The Fun House," Becky responded. "Kids in my class said so."
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This month's question: How do you keep action moving in your stories?
Send in your reply below! Help your fellow writers with suggestions!
Last month's question: Have you featured rodents in your stories? Send a link!
Tasia714  sent: Hi, I liked your newsletter. I recently wrote a chapter in my "Brandy Broke Story" (I use the game the Sims2) that included the use of dozens and dozens of tiny TWiki statues that attacked my main characters as they tried to sleep in their boat along a remote river bank in Africa. These little statues are creepy looking and very small. They really did a nice job playing the villains in my story. So yes,I completely agree little things can be very creepy and add a lot of excitement to a story. Thanks for posting. Tasia
KRHolbrook says: I've yet to use a rodent in any of my stories, but there has been one chapter where the sounds of ravens clawing against the boards in an attic have appeared. One day I might write something with rodents--I worked in a pet store for years after all!
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Action/Adventure: September 18, 2013 Issue [#5899]
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