  Action/Adventure
This week: Crazy-true! Edited by: Legerdemain  
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Crazy-true!
We've all heard funny anecdotes from family and friends that would make good stories. And we've certainly embellished a few tales of our own. But I think the best stories have the delicate balance of truthfulness and fiction that make you believe a story is crazy-true. When my uncle worked in the Emergency Room in the hospital, he told some interesting crazy-true stories of the people that would appear there. Some were results of freak accidents and some the result of someone doing something very stupid to them or friends. A lot of the truthful story seemed like a stretch of fiction.
I like to surf the newspaper headlines on Twitter. I don't subscribe to the paper any more, I was killing way too many trees just to throw out a pile of ads and car sales. But once in a while a headline will grab my attention, like the headline regarding a judge allowing a convict to delay his sentencing and long term in prison, so he could get some dental work done and spend Christmas with his family. Just think, "what if?".
I read the story of the four year long court battle for a woman who wants her neighbor to cut down his tree because it's leaning on her garage and will collapse it. Robberies on commuter trains, little league coaches fist-fighting, and workers stealing gasoline from the township that hired them - all stories that pique interest and with a writer's twist could become an action adventure story. Of course the names and locations would be changed to protect the innocent, but the spine of the story could start out from a small truth. And as long as you hang on to that truth, the story will ring true.
So when looking for an action adventure plot, check your real-life newspapers and tv headlines, some of them would make an awesome crazy-true story.
This month's question: Have you ever written a story based on a true news item?
Send in your feedback below!  Editors depend on your feedback so please take a moment and reply.
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| |  | Numb (E)
A short slightly dark read, about the atmosphere outside an emergency room.
#1839251 by Harman  |
Excerpt: The waiting area outside the ER of Jehangir Hospital was just as clean and well maintained as the rest of the hospital. But it didn’t need to be. Nobody who ever sat in those chairs lining the walls of the long corridor ever cared about hygiene or cleanliness while there. Every man who has ever had to sit down on one of those grey plastic chairs has always had far more important things on his mind.
| | | A Bad Day (13+)
This is a true story of the worst day in my life. Do you think that it's bad enough?
#1380509 by Jerry Zunt |
Excerpt: I thought for a second that I was going to make it but my left foot was under his front trailer tire.
| | | My Visit to ER (E)
True story of my visit to a Hospital Emergency. Hon Mention Jan 08 SOYB Sandbox
#1174971 by Chanon  |
Excerpt: About 6:30 that evening, I began to experience pains in my shoulders, elbows, wrists and the right side of my chest. I thought of four possibilities, gastric reflux; severe indigestion, pleurisy, the last and least possibility, was my heart. I have experienced the first three conditions in the past but my heart has always been strong and there is no history of heart problems in my family. At 7:30 I decided to go to a nearby emergency clinic, I thought I could be in and out with a prescription in hand in a few hours. Fat chance.
Excerpt: “Something should have tipped me off!”
Check out "The Dialogue 500" - This contest uses only spoken words or internal dialogue!
Excerpt: "Good morning, I'm sorry to disturb you, ma'am. We received a 9-1-1 call from this building. Is everything okay here?"
Excerpt: “I am at a high risk for a stroke. I wanted to improve my chances of survival. You know? Like hedge my bets,” Richard said.
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This month's question: Have you ever written a story based on a true news item?
Last month's question: How do you keep action moving in your stories?
Quick-Quill  replied: I try to put a hook at the end of a chapter. But right now I'm having a hard time creating action. I keep asking myself how do I get that tense feeling? I know what's coming but is the reader getting there are bombs in the airport? Maybe my characters are not as upset or worried as they should be? how do I make them act like that yet interact with each other so the reader gets to know them??
mblank said: My favorite trick for keeping the action moving is to weave all explanation and back-story into the direct actions or thoughts of the main character, so I don't have to pause the action for exposition.
PatrickB supplies: When I'm writing for plot (and not description or character), I remind myself what the character's current goal is. If Stacy needs to get across campus from her dorm room to attend a poetry reading, I ask myself if anything between her room and the convention hall is relevant to that goal. Is it stormy and if it is, does that matter? Does she meet a friend on the way who delays her in some way? Does she pass a creepy old academic building that is rumoured to be haunted, and is that haunting relevant to the plot? If nothing relevant occurs, then the description of her trip should be kept to a minimum. "Stacy grabbed her purse and cell phone, knowing that if she did not hurry, she would miss the opening speaker. She bolted from her dorm room and made it to the convention hall just a few seconds before the audience was hushed." This type of questioning keeps us from having chunky paragraphs of irrelevant description that does not serve the plot.
BIG BAD WOLF is hopping  responds: Depends on the situation- verbs, deeds, fighting, and so forth.
A*Monaing*Faith answers: Lately in 'suspense' stories I've involved countdowns, either by time or distance, not as exciting as near railroad decapitation, but still fairly effective when done right. |
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Action/Adventure: October 16, 2013 Issue [#5951]
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