Roger Ebert on action

[stephenspower]

I thought this comment from Ebert's review for "Steamboy," which he doesn't recommend, would be thought-provoking:

"It is a theory of mine that action does not equal interest. Objects endlessly in motion are as repetitive as objects forever at rest. Context is everything. Why are they moving, who wants them to move, what is at risk, what will be gained?"

Certainly good things I'll keep in mind when writing action sequence.s

 

[wordwalker]

It's a point. I think the best writing on that subject is Lisa Cron's A Cautionary Tale: 3 Writing Rules that Can Derail Your Story, that talks about planning opening chapters with interest as well as action.

Another theory is that action won't be repetitive if it's action in different forms, and a good writer watches for ways action scenes can break out to use varied settings, characters, tactics and results. I have my own "Tarzan test" for checking that (is the story about the difference between fighting a lion and a poacher, or between fighting a lion and fighting World War I?) at If your scenes look too similar, try the Tarzan Test

 

[Guy]

I completely agree with Ebert on this one. I think this issue is one of Peter Jackson's weaknesses. It's also one I can blunder into fairly easily.

 

[Mythopoet]

It's a point. I think the best writing on that subject is Lisa Cron's A Cautionary Tale: 3 Writing Rules that Can Derail Your Story, that talks about planning opening chapters with interest as well as action.

That's a great article. It clearly identifies exactly what I hate about so much contemporary writing.

And that Ebert quote is great. I need to write that one down.

 

[Terry Greer]

I completely agree with Ebert on this one. I think this issue is one of Peter Jackson's weaknesses. It's also one I can blunder into fairly easily.

Totally agree.
I like Jackson - but his action scenes just bore the hell out of me and strain all credulity. I know its fantasy - but it has to convince me its real while its on screen. Chases like the dinosaur stampede and V Rex chase in King Kong along with the whole dwarves under the mountain activating the furnace sequence are so lacking in any suspense as to leave me completely cold - ruining all the good memories I've had on the film up to that point.

 

[Jabrosky]

I'm convinced that action scenes are harder to pull off in literature than in visual media like film. It's not that prose can't stimulate the imagination if written well enough, but it's much more challenging to convey the awesomeness of a given moment through words than pictures. I usually set out to write action-packed stories since they seem the most spectacular in theory, but action scenes are honestly some of the most difficult scenes for me to write.