Write Great Fiction--Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell

Author:James Scott Bell
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: writing, plot, structure
Publisher: F+W Media, Inc.
Published: 2004-08-24T16:00:00+00:00

Action

Action happens when a character does something in order to attain his main objective. In a given scene, he has a scene purpose.

A scene purpose may be anything that is a step toward achieving the story goal.

A lawyer wants to prove his client’s innocence. He goes to the home of a witness for an interview. His purpose in that scene is to get information that may help his client.

That’s action.

But a scene needs conflict, or it will be dull.

So the witness doesn’t want to talk to the lawyer. Now we have confrontation (an essential element of the LOCK system), and we can write an action scene.

Commercial fiction will feel like it is mostly action scenes.

Here is a straight action scene from a novel of mine called Final Witness (it was easier to grant myself permission to reprint than jump through financial and legal hoops to get access to another novel. I beg the reader’s indulgence). The point-of-view character in this scene is a Russian immigrant who has built up a nice little life for himself in America with a bit of trafficking in drugs:

Now, sitting in stocking feet in the living room of his own stylish home, he could pop in a little platter and watch virtually anything he wanted.

Tonight it was Independence Day.

Sarah was out at her weekly social gathering. Dimitri was proud of her accomplishments, too. … She had become a fixture in the upscale community where they both lived. Best of all, she didn’t ask detailed questions about his enterprises. They were a perfect fit.

With a vodka in hand Dimitri clicked the remote and started the movie. …

[A simple objective to start. A man wants to watch a movie. He’s having a quiet night at home.]

He thought he heard a sound from the garage just after the credits finished. It was a thump of some kind, as if someone had dropped a soft bag on the floor. But no one could be in the garage, fixed as it was with a double security system. No one except Sarah could get inside without tripping the alarm.

Maybe she was home early. No, it was too early. She hadn’t been gone more than half an hour. …

Something told him he wasn’t alone. It was instinct, born of the Soviet system where someone was always looking over your shoulder.

Dimitri Chekhov hadn’t felt that in a long time, but he felt it now.

[An obstacle arises to his objective. A feeling that he is not alone.]

“Sarah?” he called.

No answer.

He got up from his easy chair and turned toward the front of his house. There was only darkness and shadow. Again, his mind told him no one could be inside. He had the finest security system money could buy. He needed it. The business he was in was not free from cutthroat competition — literally. … But his house was secure. He decided to sweep through the house once, put his fears behind him, and get back to the talking toys.

He had a .38 in the antique desk in his study.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.