I'm BORED with action scenes...

[FifthView]

I'm also constantly feeling that either a) my MC is overpowered or b) her challenges are too wimpy. But, you know, she needs to survive the book...

I haven't read through this entire thread, so maybe someone's brought this up.

There was a Writing Excuses podcast that mentioned in passing how to make a Mary Sue or Gary Stu character interesting, and one point might apply here. Just because a MC is overpowered in some ways doesn't mean the MC is overpowered in every way.

So maybe you could find the particular weakness or blind spot or short-circuit that will throw your MC off her game.

This could mean that she encounters someone with an ability that is unlike anything she's ever experienced before. This could be an offensive or defensive capability that happens to nullify her own abilities. Or it could be something extremely weird (gross, crazy, whatever) that causes a visceral reaction in her that throws her off her game. It could be that her opponent just happens to be a 10-year-old and she doesn't know how to proceed, having mixed feelings about hurting someone so much younger or even an impulsive, perhaps quite emotional limitation on her own endeavors. It could be just about anything. The point in this case might be this: Choosing the right opponents for her to fight.

Another possibility is to consider the collateral damage rather than the opponent per se. So maybe the 10-year-old is not her opponent but someone bawling out "Don't hurt my Dad!" and rushing in, getting in the way. (Again, this is just one example; be creative.)

As far as personal weakness and blind spots go...I remember an essay by Ralph Waldo Emerson in which he mentioned that geniuses are often overbalanced in some regard. So maybe your MC is quite powerful, but she simply makes bad decisions that come back to bite her during a fight. A silly example: She's a glutton and will eat almost anything....but unfortunately she must have eaten something really bad an hour before the fight and now she's having to fight while feeling nauseous and vomiting periodically during the fight; maybe it makes her dizzy. Even though your MC might be overpowered when it comes to fights, maybe she has some other weakness you can exploit that will affect her efforts.

Edit: I seem to be remembering that Writing Excuses podcast as being one about try-fail cycles. Mary in the podcast (I think) mentioned how even Gary Stu characters (or at least, characters who are extremely competent in some regard) can fail a lot. E.g., they may be exceptionally well-fit and great fighters but have trouble working out interpersonal relations or solving complex puzzles. Figure out how your MC is overbalanced in one regard and then come up with ways to exploit the bind side or weaknesses to make the action scenes more interesting.

 

[skip.knox]

DotA, a couple comments you made jump out at me. One sounds like a contradiction with your MC. The other goes clear back to your OP, about being bored with fight scenes and asking how to fix that.

First the contradiction. You have repeatedly stated your MC (and other characters, too) is a complete a**hole. I think once before I said no one is that, and encouraged you to think of your MC as an incomplete a**hole. I was serious about that. You've also repeatedly said she's self-reliant, cares only for herself--the details of a**hole-osity.

At the same time, you said your MC was once in love. That Leslie (?) reminds her of that and may be why MC starts to like Leslie. You also say Jennifer (? - sorry, not going back to check names) asked her to help her sister and MC agreed. Now both those data points to me are in flat contradiction to the completeness of her rear-end-like personality, and of her narcissism. She sounds like a conflicted person with warring emotions -- the very definition of incomplete. That's someone I can root for, because I can hope she comes around.

The second thing is about being bored. Others have spoken to this, so I just want to pile on. The key is for you to care. You care about what happens to the main character and to her allies. Maybe you even care about some innocent bystanders (that one is used in just about every comic book movie out there). That is absolutely first. Then, in the actual fight, something has to happen that puts MC, ally, or bystander into real peril. This means mapping out a way in which they die. Or are horribly maimed. Something juicy. Try plotting the scene toward that end. Death Is Coming. Then, figure out a way it doesn't happen. Or, what the heck, let someone die, if that's needed, though you'll need to explore MC's reaction. But MC needs to react to every battle. Every fight needs to have consequences for the MC.

The mechanics of the fight then must serve those consequences. To me, it's not about how do I make this fight scene realistic. That is necessary, but not sufficient. The scene is really about how do I make this fight scene hurt. How do I make it matter. Even if it ends in complete victory, some price was paid. As long as I keep my eye on the emotion I want coming away, I feel fairly well engaged in the telling.

Oh, and a third thing, worth mentioning. The villain wants to wreck the world and you wonder why MC would care. I don't think she needs to. But she does care about *her* world. Be it ever so wretched, there's no place like home. It could be Hell's Kitchen in the 1970s, but people would defend it if it were threatened. This is a character type that's been done before (they've all be done before!). She may look hard-hearted to an outsider, but that's because outsiders don't get in. But among her peeps, however few they are, she's fiercely protective and even kind (can be a gruff kindness). Given that, when she learns the Big Evil Plan, she can be like sure, whatever ... wait, you mean she's going to blow up *my* block? She's going to stomp *my* kitty? Nope, no way. Selfishness can serve greater ends.

 

[Malik]

even Gary Stu characters (or at least, characters who are extremely competent in some regard) can fail a lot. E.g., they may be exceptionally well-fit and great fighters but have trouble working out interpersonal relations or solving complex puzzles. Figure out how your MC is overbalanced in one regard and then come up with ways to exploit the bind side or weaknesses to make the action scenes more interesting.

Also, this. My MC killed somebody in a duel on Earth and it destroyed his life, so he's hesitant to fight, and he keeps getting the crap beaten out of him because he either refuses to fight, or fights just enough to stop the fight. We know he's a world-beater -- we see that in the sparring exchange -- but we spend most of the book wanting to kick him in the ass to climb out of his shell and get back at it.

This also falls into a whole thing about the utility of violence and its follow-on effects, which is something that we don't see a lot in fantasy; we have a lot of hero MCs who happily hack and slash their way through a pile of bodies that should rightfully land them in The Hague, with no repercussions. (Yay! Happy ending! He killed eighty-five people! Yay!)

People always tell us that violence doesn't solve anything. Well, actually, it does. Violence is exceptionally effective at solving immediate problems. It works really well. What it does, though, is create other problems. This is the other half of my MC's issue; backed into a corner, he mows down a platoon-sized element in a frenzy of violence that would make Rambo blanch. This creates a whole huge snakes' nest of problems when the smoke clears, not the least of which is the MC curled up in ball surrounded by stacks of corpses and the odd disembodied organ, rocking back and forth and talking to himself. (Hopefully this gets the reader wondering if he just solved his problem or amplified it.) So another option is to keep your powerful character but have him/her keep getting deeper into trouble with every outburst of badassery.

 

[DragonOfTheAerie]

Ok, I have to say that mainly, I write very emotion- and relationship- driven stories. Arguments, tense conversations, love those. Fight scenes, chase scenes, anything action-y...There has to be an emotional dimension.

So, I can see that in this case, my scene is rather lacking in the department of emotional dimension.

Which, has helped me figure out that my sketchy (less than sketchy) character motivations have finally collapsed on themselves. I think I'll have to go back and address the core issue before I can write the action scene. Or the rest of the book.

And now, I'm kind of panicking and have been in a state of fear and paralysis for a while now because honestly whenever anything goes wrong in my WIP it is TERRIFYING. I don't know why but I have no belief in my ability to fix anything. How do other people handle it? How do you get to where, when something goes wrong, you're like, "ok, what can I do to fix this?" instead of "I've failed again. It's ruined. I can't fix it," I'm not at that point where I believe I can write a book. I make excuses for why the ones I wrote in the past don't count. Somehow.

I'm sorry you guys have to read the over-dramatic posts I make when I'm really scared. I don't like rereading them after I've calmed down. But...yeah. I wish I had someone or something to turn to when I feel like EVERYTHING HAS GONE TO HELL. Gah. I love writing but I hate what a wreck it can make me.

I really want to finish this book just to prove to myself that I can do it. But I don't know what to do and I can't even think clearly right now.

Edit: maybe this isn't the right place but I don't want to make another thread full of HOW DO I HANDLE THIS EMOTIONAL CRISIS?!

 

[Heliotrope]

These might make you feel better.

Just so you know, nobody sits down and writes a perfect novel from first page to last in a single shot. Nobody.

103 Bracing Quotes to Propel You Through Your First Draft? ? Writingeekery

 

[Caged Maiden]

I feel exactly the same way you do right now, Dragon. I just realized that I wrote a chapter that sits about 50k words into my story, and for most of the novel, I felt like I was being pretty bold. But then in this chapter, I had the car in idle as I crept through the first two scenes, and in the last one, I put my foot down and left rubber all over the road. So...how the heck am i going to rein that in so it doesn't feel like I stood on the brakes and slowed back down to an idle in the next chapter? I have no idea.

I don't know how people fix things effectively, because I'm learning it AGAIN this time around. Perhaps I'm just denser than everyone else in the world, or perhaps I'm being more particular about how I edit, making sure I don't have even a single dull or lackluster scene? I'm not able to answer WHY I suck at getting things right the first five times, but it's the truth. I write every chapter about four or five times, adding things in, changing structure, maybe totally changing a character's motivation or the outcome. I have to try things a few different ways. I can't sit down and brainstorm all the meaningful possibilities at the beginning, because my brain doesn't work that way, but I'm actually feeling pretty alright about rewriting, as long as I can keep my motivation going and tell myself i'm not total shit and my story is getting done.

Super scary, for sure. Just do the best you can, and then if that doesn't turn out to your liking, try it another way. I think this is why there's so many people who are ho-hum, okay writers out there. To get past this might be easy for some folks, but imagine for the majority, who find it scary, uncomfortable, or otherwise too much effort. I felt like quitting today. Like proper quitting. I got so upset over the engine revving sort of metaphor I've got going on, I just KNOW there's no way to fix the sharp rise in intensity and then the steep drop on the other side of this chapter. But I will do my best, and I will go on, and I will make adjustments until things work, even if it means butchering the intensity right out of a scene I like...because I will kill darlings that hurt the overall impact of a story.

You can do it!

 

[DragonOfTheAerie]

These might make you feel better.

Just so you know, nobody sits down and writes a perfect novel from first page to last in a single shot. Nobody.

103 Bracing Quotes to Propel You Through Your First Draft? ? Writingeekery

I haven't even made it through them all and I have to say I LOVE the Margaret Atwood one, "A word after a word after a word is power." I love it so much. Link is going in my library of useful links (which includes everything from research to tumblr pages with funny and relatable memes.)

 

[DragonOfTheAerie]

I feel exactly the same way you do right now, Dragon. I just realized that I wrote a chapter that sits about 50k words into my story, and for most of the novel, I felt like I was being pretty bold. But then in this chapter, I had the car in idle as I crept through the first two scenes, and in the last one, I put my foot down and left rubber all over the road. So...how the heck am i going to rein that in so it doesn't feel like I stood on the brakes and slowed back down to an idle in the next chapter? I have no idea.

I don't know how people fix things effectively, because I'm learning it AGAIN this time around. Perhaps I'm just denser than everyone else in the world, or perhaps I'm being more particular about how I edit, making sure I don't have even a single dull or lackluster scene? I'm not able to answer WHY I suck at getting things right the first five times, but it's the truth. I write every chapter about four or five times, adding things in, changing structure, maybe totally changing a character's motivation or the outcome. I have to try things a few different ways. I can't sit down and brainstorm all the meaningful possibilities at the beginning, because my brain doesn't work that way, but I'm actually feeling pretty alright about rewriting, as long as I can keep my motivation going and tell myself i'm not total shit and my story is getting done.

Super scary, for sure. Just do the best you can, and then if that doesn't turn out to your liking, try it another way. I think this is why there's so many people who are ho-hum, okay writers out there. To get past this might be easy for some folks, but imagine for the majority, who find it scary, uncomfortable, or otherwise too much effort. I felt like quitting today. Like proper quitting. I got so upset over the engine revving sort of metaphor I've got going on, I just KNOW there's no way to fix the sharp rise in intensity and then the steep drop on the other side of this chapter. But I will do my best, and I will go on, and I will make adjustments until things work, even if it means butchering the intensity right out of a scene I like...because I will kill darlings that hurt the overall impact of a story.

You can do it!

And thanks for this. This, and not getting impatient with my constant panic and self-doubt...

Doesn't get any better, huh? I figured as much. I think something that needs to be talked about more is that it takes a lot of bravery to get to the end of a story. We kind of assume, I think, that the great writers got to where they were because of talent or skill. I'd pick inexhaustible muleheadedness over inexhaustible talent. One will get you pretty far without the other, one will get you nowhere without the other.

I wish this wasn't so scary! But maybe it will be a little less scary the next time. (On the other hand, maybe it's preparation for something MORE scary.) But I wish I could stop getting so freaked out over it. It's embarrassing.

Go back and fix things or shove on through? It'll be easier in the long run to go back, I think. But I don't know...I'm almost to the end, but what I have now won't be able to hold up a good climax. As I said, goals aren't clear enough.

 

[Chessie]

You probably don't want to hear this but...the whole freaking out/the world is going to end if I don't fix this NAO is part of...well, adolescence. Everything is really intense for you right now. Biology. But do not despair Dragon. It'll pass and in about...oh, 10 more years you'll start to feel like normal. Jk about the 10 years part but not about the Chicken Little aspect of everything you're going through. All I can say is that we've all been there and there's nothing to feel ashamed of. However, it would behoove you to take a few breaths and chillax.

About fixing your manuscript, these sorts of things take time. The folks here have given you some fantastic advice yet anyone can only help you so much. There's nothing terrifying about writing and editing. Annoying? Yes. Overwhelming? Yes. But there will be vastly more things in this life that will bring you stress and anxiety of which writing will not likely compare. SO...

Write for enjoyment. You're still in exploratory writing. Focus on story more than words. Take pride and gusto in what you've accomplished: an 80k ms. That's awesome! Woop! So now just get to the end. Don't let the fear or anything else stop you. I'll give you a few of my thoughts on parting:

-Get to the end of the book no matter what the cost. You must finish what you start.
-If it's too overwhelming to fix it in the end, just shelf it and write another book for now.
-Keep a running list of all the issues you can think of that need fixing, by chapter and scene if you're able to. This way you'll have a master file to refer to when you go back and edit, if you do.
-Read craft books, watch youtube videos, learn learn learn more about creative writing. Apply what you're learning to your work.
-Cycle back to add/take out things in your story and this will help produce a cleaner script. Go back and read the previous day's writing or chapter, fix mistakes that stand out, then write your words for the day. Go back and do it again the next day, revising existing narrative through several cycles.

And finally, harness your inner artist. Connect with her when you write. If you're not having fun, if this is too stressful, then back off and go read a book. Take care of yourself most importantly. Exercise, eat well, rest, feed your spirit, etc. All of that helps to ease your anxiety and therefore help you create with more ease.

 

[Heliotrope]

I'm with CM and Chessie.

It doesn't get any better in that sitting down to write will always be hard. Writing the first draft of anything, be it a story, or an article, or a essay is always hard because you are taking something abstract (the thoughts in your brain), and trying to turn them into something with structure, which can feel frustrating at times.

However, I think with time and more practice you will learn your process, and you will learn that there is no place for perfectionism in this business and it will get less scary. I don't find it scary at all. Hard? Yes. Work? Yes. Scary? No.

 

[Malik]

HOW DO I HANDLE THIS EMOTIONAL CRISIS?!

Do what we all do. Make some coffee and keep typing.

 

[Malik]

DOTA:

I just finished my first draft of Book II and kill me. It is 103,000 words of pedestrian, middle-school, tell-not-show, one-dimensional bullshit. I was having an existential crisis just reading back over it. But then I went back and read a couple of books whose style I loved, and then remembered some of the things about my first novel that I loved, and now I've started the task of reworking every. Single. Line. Until it's up to par.

But believe me, man. I went through a couple of weeks there where I was absolutely sure I sucked and that I was fooling everybody and I could never write anything beautiful again. Hell, half the time that you're writing you feel like that. If you don't, there's something wrong with you.

However, after a week of tinkering, I have an opening sequence that blows my entire first novel away. It makes me want to rewrite my first book, that I spent 25 years crafting. If I was sure of a release date I'd send these first five pages to my editor, then post it to my blog and shoot it out to my mailing list. It's that good.

It takes time. And coffee. And for some of us, alcohol. (The dog wants me to edit this and add that a good dog at your feet helps a lot.) And sometimes it just takes brute force and ignorance to just get the shitty first draft down, get it done with the promise of making it beautiful later.

Michelangelo famously said that inside each block of marble he could see the statue trying to get out. That's this. Don't worry if your fight scenes are flat. Have them do what they need to do, and then write the next thing. When you're done, you'll have as much time as it takes to fix it. Years, if you need it. And you're young; you will. You write very well and you have tremendous promise. But that's the thing, friend: right now it's only promise. Having read your stuff, I don't think there's a one of us on this board who wouldn't go back in time to be you right now. You're going to be fine.

Anyway. Believe me on this: it is way, way easier to go back and rewrite a scene than it is to write it. And the more you write, the better you get, so just get the words out, even if you're like a cat bringing up a hairball and it doesn't look or sound any better than that. This may be a book that you have to rewrite several times until it's where you want it to be. And that's fine, too. Some of us work that way.

 

[DragonOfTheAerie]

Do what we all do. Make some coffee and keep typing.

but I don't liiiiiike coffee. Lol. Yes, I am here, legitimately a writer who does not drink coffee. What about an orange Creamsicle? I'm a sucker for those things.

And smoothies.

And mac and cheese.

The above are basically my comfort foods.

 

[Malik]

Ever tried an egg creme? It blows an orange creamsicle away.

 

[Chessie]

Do what we all do. Make some coffee and keep typing.

I have another suggestion but she's not old enough yet so....

Ahem.

I'm listening to Ace of Base as I type this. It reminds me of when I was also 15 years old and lived in Montreal for several months. Holy shit was that an adventure! NO responsibilities. Carefree playing soccer with my cousins, going on dates with some hot pizza working dude named Patrick...damn. Being a teenager is hard but also an amazing time. Take it easy, Dragon. Breathe. And remember that you are not doing anything serious with this manuscript so who cares if it's not perfect or even close to it? Perfect doesn't exist in life, period. Just write and have fun. You'll get to the serious stuff soon enough.

 

[DragonOfTheAerie]

You probably don't want to hear this but...the whole freaking out/the world is going to end if I don't fix this NAO is part of...well, adolescence. Everything is really intense for you right now. Biology. But do not despair Dragon. It'll pass and in about...oh, 10 more years you'll start to feel like normal. Jk about the 10 years part but not about the Chicken Little aspect of everything you're going through. All I can say is that we've all been there and there's nothing to feel ashamed of. However, it would behoove you to take a few breaths and chillax.

About fixing your manuscript, these sorts of things take time. The folks here have given you some fantastic advice yet anyone can only help you so much. There's nothing terrifying about writing and editing. Annoying? Yes. Overwhelming? Yes. But there will be vastly more things in this life that will bring you stress and anxiety of which writing will not likely compare. SO...

Write for enjoyment. You're still in exploratory writing. Focus on story more than words. Take pride and gusto in what you've accomplished: an 80k ms. That's awesome! Woop! So now just get to the end. Don't let the fear or anything else stop you. I'll give you a few of my thoughts on parting:

-Get to the end of the book no matter what the cost. You must finish what you start.
-If it's too overwhelming to fix it in the end, just shelf it and write another book for now.
-Keep a running list of all the issues you can think of that need fixing, by chapter and scene if you're able to. This way you'll have a master file to refer to when you go back and edit, if you do.
-Read craft books, watch youtube videos, learn learn learn more about creative writing. Apply what you're learning to your work.
-Cycle back to add/take out things in your story and this will help produce a cleaner script. Go back and read the previous day's writing or chapter, fix mistakes that stand out, then write your words for the day. Go back and do it again the next day, revising existing narrative through several cycles.

And finally, harness your inner artist. Connect with her when you write. If you're not having fun, if this is too stressful, then back off and go read a book. Take care of yourself most importantly. Exercise, eat well, rest, feed your spirit, etc. All of that helps to ease your anxiety and therefore help you create with more ease.

Yeah, i figured that might have a little to do with it...

Exploratory. That's a word i like. You see, this first draft has so far just been figuring out what i want this story to be. I had no idea what i was writing at the beginning. Now i have a better idea and the struggle will be in giving that form on the paper.

I guess the fact that i've already written 80K words means I can do one thing: put one word in front of another. And that counts for something, right?

Anyway, thanks.

 

[DragonOfTheAerie]

I'm with CM and Chessie.

It doesn't get any better in that sitting down to write will always be hard. Writing the first draft of anything, be it a story, or an article, or a essay is always hard because you are taking something abstract (the thoughts in your brain), and trying to turn them into something with structure, which can feel frustrating at times.

However, I think with time and more practice you will learn your process, and you will learn that there is no place for perfectionism in this business and it will get less scary. I don't find it scary at all. Hard? Yes. Work? Yes. Scary? No.

So it won't always be this scary? I certainly hope not.

 

[Chessie]

Scary things are monsters under beds and wicked necromancers.

Writing is not scary. Fear is an excuse to not produce that you can totally overcome. As you mature in your craft you'll progress into different stages and start looking at stories beyond words and stringing pretty ones together. You'll come to understand audience and their needs. That's when your motivations and intentions change and you'll worry less about perfectionism.

 

[DragonOfTheAerie]

DOTA:

I just finished my first draft of Book II and kill me. It is 103,000 words of pedestrian, middle-school, tell-not-show, one-dimensional bullshit. I was having an existential crisis just reading back over it. But then I went back and read a couple of books whose style I loved, and then remembered some of the things about my first novel that I loved, and now I've started the task of reworking every. Single. Line. Until it's up to par.

But believe me, man. I went through a couple of weeks there where I was absolutely sure I sucked and that I was fooling everybody and I could never write anything beautiful again. Hell, half the time that you're writing you feel like that. If you don't, there's something wrong with you.

However, after a week of tinkering, I have an opening sequence that blows my entire first novel away. It makes me want to rewrite my first book, that I spent 25 years crafting. If I was sure of a release date I'd send these first five pages to my editor, then post it to my blog and shoot it out to my mailing list. It's that good.

It takes time. And coffee. And for some of us, alcohol. (The dog wants me to edit this and add that a good dog at your feet helps a lot.) And sometimes it just takes brute force and ignorance to just get the shitty first draft down, get it done with the promise of making it beautiful later.

Michelangelo famously said that inside each block of marble he could see the statue trying to get out. That's this. Don't worry if your fight scenes are flat. Have them do what they need to do, and then write the next thing. When you're done, you'll have as much time as it takes to fix it. Years, if you need it. And you're young; you will. You write very well and you have tremendous promise. But that's the thing, friend: right now it's only promise. Having read your stuff, I don't think there's a one of us on this board who wouldn't go back in time to be you right now. You're going to be fine.

Anyway. Believe me on this: it is way, way easier to go back and rewrite a scene than it is to write it. And the more you write, the better you get, so just get the words out, even if you're like a cat bringing up a hairball and it doesn't look or sound any better than that. This may be a book that you have to rewrite several times until it's where you want it to be. And that's fine, too. Some of us work that way.

So relatable. O_O

i was dry heaving rereading what i'd written in my manuscript. Even the things i thought were pretty good were mediocre. I mean, I feel like this is a good thing, since i can see how i've improved throughout the manuscript. It gets better as it goes along and that's encouraging.

And, yeah. I have this puddle of vomit and i can see the story trying to get out. I've spent these 80,000 words just trying to figure out what i'm writing, really. Now i have a few leads but i still don't know what it will be in the end.

I'm keeping a revisions document as i write. I write down things I know i need to fix as I'm writing, re-reading, etc... It'll be a map for when I do go back and rewrite. So, it's a little comforting that I can see some of the problems. My plot though. It'll need major surgery most likely.

I do agree about the dog.

 

[Heliotrope]

Yeah, I know she doesn't like to hear it, but our Dragon is still just a baby dragon so coffee and alcohol is perhaps out of the question.... for now.