Writer's Workshop: Action, Kissing, & Other Scenes

MysteriousFemme · May 8, 2013

I'm not sure if this has been done before or if this would be the right place for this thread. If it has been done and if this is the wrong section, sorry for the repeat in the wrong section.

Now that that's out of the way, one of the harder things I've come across while writing is action scenes that are captivating. I've been working on this for about a month to help me out with action scenes in my novel and thought it could be helpful across the board with any type of scene and maybe you'd all find it helpful as well. I figured we could have a thread where we practice writing action scenes using links to clips on the internet.

What we'd do is this: Once a week, a link video clip from the internet would be posted.We'd all construct a short scene(I'd say at max, 1,000 words) using the provided scene(be it action, a kissing scene, a fight, a robbery) We'd use what we see to write (eg: Jack caressed Rose's hair line before leaning in and planting a soft kiss on her awaiting lips. He then rested his head gingerly on her bosom.- car scene from Titanic). We can offer each other advice on how to clean up and make it more interesting.

I'm not sure if you'd all be interested in doing this but let me know if you'd like to.

Reziac · May 8, 2013

That sounds like a good idea -- good practice at least, with the visualization already to hand.

Kerosene · May 8, 2013

It might be good, but it should go in the SYW section, as it is sharing work. There's already some threads like this in the Erotica SYW section.

Reziac · May 8, 2013

It wouldn't be original work; rather, derivative -- being essentially reverse-engineering the screenplay.

AutumnKQ · May 8, 2013

I like this idea.

Lady Ice · May 9, 2013

Sounds like an interesting idea. Maybe if the description comes first, then a link to the video to see if the description portrays what's going on in the video and whether the reader's imagination aligns with it.

WeaselFire · May 9, 2013

There's a book in my Kindle somewhere, "How to be a sex writing strumpet" or similar. Helped me. Several others on writing fight scenes, action, etc.

Jeff

Diomedes · May 9, 2013

I don't see the point in this, because writing and film making are completely different arts. Things aren't portrayed the same way at all. Reading and viewing are completely different experiences and with an exercise like this the writer will be, in my opinion, judged how well they have written by how closely they describe the actions in the link.

MysteriousFemme · May 9, 2013

Lady Ice said:
Sounds like an interesting idea. Maybe if the description comes first, then a link to the video to see if the description portrays what's going on in the video and whether the reader's imagination aligns with it.

This sounds good. I think we can do that.
Which idea would you guys think would be more affective? Maybe both at different times?

MysteriousFemme · May 9, 2013

Diomedes said:
I don't see the point in this, because writing and film making are completely different arts. Things aren't portrayed the same way at all. Reading and viewing are completely different experiences and with an exercise like this the writer will be, in my opinion, judged how well they have written by how closely they describe the actions in the link.

You don't have to participate if you don't want to. The point of the exercise wouldn't be to see who writes it best, but to use visuals to aid in creating these kinds of scenes(action, romance, dramatic) and to make them more effective in our writing. By being able to see something similar to what you have trouble writing, one might be able to pick up on key details that is missing and after we've written the scene, the great minds here can help us where the writing is lacking and/or show us where our strengths are. By everyone involved working on/seeing the same thing, we can see how others interpret what is being shown and gain insight/perspective on different techniques and the like.

When we are creating our own works and encounter these scenes, we'll have more experience writing them and maybe some will a have an easier time expressing what it is they are they are visualizing. I don't imagine though that this will be beneficial for everyone but I'm sure there are some who might find it helpful and can help them advance in their writing.

MysteriousFemme · May 9, 2013

WeaselFire said:
There's a book in my Kindle somewhere, "How to be a sex writing strumpet" or similar. Helped me. Several others on writing fight scenes, action, etc.

Jeff

Thanks for the recommendation. I'll definitely give it a try. I need to start making more use of my kindle anyway.

Lady Ice · May 10, 2013

MysteriousFemme said:
You don't have to participate if you don't want to. The point of the exercise wouldn't be to see who writes it best, but to use visuals to aid in creating these kinds of scenes(action, romance, dramatic) and to make them more effective in our writing. By being able to see something similar to what you have trouble writing, one might be able to pick up on key details that is missing and after we've written the scene, the great minds here can help us where the writing is lacking and/or show us where our strengths are. By everyone involved working on/seeing the same thing, we can see how others interpret what is being shown and gain insight/perspective on different techniques and the like.

When we are creating our own works and encounter these scenes, we'll have more experience writing them and maybe some will a have an easier time expressing what it is they are they are visualizing. I don't imagine though that this will be beneficial for everyone but I'm sure there are some who might find it helpful and can help them advance in their writing.

Agreed. It's not about a competition to see who is the greatest writer. It's about finding a way of turning the movie in your mind into words on a page that will evoke the same movie. I think it could also be helpful for the mechanics of how you describe certain actions and which ones you need to describe and which you don't.

Reziac · May 10, 2013

That gives me another idea... basically a game of telephone but retelling the same scene. Or maybe round-robin where everyone adds one sentence, still describing that same video. I don't know if it would work but it sounds entertaining.

Writer's Workshop: Action, Kissing, & Other Scenes

MysteriousFemme

Reziac

Resident Alien

Kerosene

Your Pixie Queen

Reziac

Resident Alien

AutumnKQ

Lady Ice

Makes useful distinctions

WeaselFire

Benefactor Member

Diomedes

MysteriousFemme

MysteriousFemme

MysteriousFemme

Lady Ice

Makes useful distinctions

Reziac

Resident Alien