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Writing Thoughts - Commit to Action
Nov. 13th, 2008 09:39 amBoth Jackie Powers and I broke through a logjam in our writing. My logjam was fixing a plot point so that I got a picture of a Bad Guy into the Good Guy's hands. I did that while salvaging about half of a really good chapter. The end result is a bit rough, but fixable, and now I can more easily move forward.
I promised to talk about the concept of "commit to action" a couple of days ago, so here it is. First, let's define what "commit to action" means, and to do that, let's use an example. Consider the 1977 movie Star Wars (now dubbed "Episode 4 - A New Hope"). In the first quarter of the movie ("first reel" for you old-timers) Luke Skywalker is a reluctant hero. He wants to do the right thing with the 'droids, but not get too involved.
Then his family is wiped out. After that, he'll follow Ben Kenobi to the bottom of hell. At that point, he has "committed to action" and we've seen enough of Luke to like and care about him. By the way, the point in the story where this happens (end of first reel - 25% into the movie) is not an accident - that's exactly where you want this to happen. It serves as another "hook" to draw the reader in.
Some stories, or rather characters, don't need an explicit commit to action. For example, consider the typical police procedural. The cops show up, crack wise at the crime scene, and go off to investigate. For those characters, their commit to action was years ago, when they joined the police force.
Basically, whenever your characters have to deliberately take unexpected action, a "commit to action" moment is needed. Going back to crime novels, if a little old lady decides to start investigating crimes, we need a reason for her do to so. She's taking a deliberate, unexpected action.
In my story, I have several characters who need to commit to action. One needs to go meet a mobster. Another needs to transition from professional rescuer to cop. A third needs to climb out of the bottle. Handling these commit points is part of my job as a writer.
I promised to talk about the concept of "commit to action" a couple of days ago, so here it is. First, let's define what "commit to action" means, and to do that, let's use an example. Consider the 1977 movie Star Wars (now dubbed "Episode 4 - A New Hope"). In the first quarter of the movie ("first reel" for you old-timers) Luke Skywalker is a reluctant hero. He wants to do the right thing with the 'droids, but not get too involved.
Then his family is wiped out. After that, he'll follow Ben Kenobi to the bottom of hell. At that point, he has "committed to action" and we've seen enough of Luke to like and care about him. By the way, the point in the story where this happens (end of first reel - 25% into the movie) is not an accident - that's exactly where you want this to happen. It serves as another "hook" to draw the reader in.
Some stories, or rather characters, don't need an explicit commit to action. For example, consider the typical police procedural. The cops show up, crack wise at the crime scene, and go off to investigate. For those characters, their commit to action was years ago, when they joined the police force.
Basically, whenever your characters have to deliberately take unexpected action, a "commit to action" moment is needed. Going back to crime novels, if a little old lady decides to start investigating crimes, we need a reason for her do to so. She's taking a deliberate, unexpected action.
In my story, I have several characters who need to commit to action. One needs to go meet a mobster. Another needs to transition from professional rescuer to cop. A third needs to climb out of the bottle. Handling these commit points is part of my job as a writer.
