Lesson 10: Dramatic Action

Powerful Pacing for Storytellers Section III: Overview of Modes of Discourse (AKA Fiction Delivery Modes)
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Transcript

Dramatic action. Here the author is showing the scene to the reader in eyewitness fashion, not telling them about it. This is the stuff scenes are made of the reader sees and hears through the character's eyes and ears. When you as a reader feel that you're deep into the characters viewpoint, you're probably reading demonic action. As humans we all experience life from a single viewpoint. by limiting your readers vision to what that single character character experiences throughout the scene, you'll pull the reader deeper into character viewpoint, giving him the opportunity to fully experience the viewpoint character's life.

Some scenes involve everyday encounters, while others are dramatic life and death situations. In the last lesson, we left melody at the hospital waiting for news of Scots condition melody needs to know he's going to be alright. I'll read you some excerpts from the scene that follows. I've written this scene in eyewitness fashion limiting the readers knowledge to what my viewpoint character melody knows. Most of the scene is written in dramatic action mode, but you'll see some dialog as well which is quite common. I've worked to include what melody sees, smells, tastes and feels in dramatic action mode keeping the reader anchored in melodies viewpoint.

I suggest you download the entire scene which is available as a downloadable resource here in section three so you can really see how the whole thing flows along. So we begin, maladies paste from the window looking out over endless hospital buildings to the corridor where eventually the surgeon must appear with news for her. Look, miss. She swung around. Her silent companion the other man in room. He stood tall and lean, limping slightly as he walked towards or his voice was soft with a precise accent.

British she decided amazed that part of her mind could still function. Sit down, he said gently insistently, his voice taking on the faint birds, Scottish ancestors. You cannot face the floor all day like that. Sit down and I'll bring you a cup of tea for you. Tea. It sounded far better than the follow liquids.

She had cokes from the coffee machine earlier. Even the bitter smell of it had made her nausea. Notice the sensory data in the single viewpoint we see the building the corridor, the limping man in the waiting room. We hear what melody hears his accent his hesitant words. We smell the bitter coffee she smelled. We're deeply in touch with what melody is experiencing close.

Are experiencing the story in real time than we were in the previous lesson on dramatic summary. I'll skip a bit here and come back a few sentences couple paragraphs later, the stranger held out the flattened paper bag. She took a doughnut from on top of it, it tasted sugary to sweet. She chewed for a long time and finally swallowed without gagging and, and asked Who are you, Harry, the mate from Jonathan Karki. You're the Skipper's woman aren't you? She wanted to be his woman if he would ever let her that close.

She said I love him and it felt like a relief to say it out loud. He nodded and they fell into silence waiting together. This scene isn't over yet a little further into Baladi and hairy silence. I insert more dialogue into the scene when Harry shares his feelings of guilt and they began a conversation We'll look at that in the next lesson on dialogue. Remember, the entire scene is available as a downloadable resource here in section three of this course. And another thing to remember, scenes are the heart of your story.

If you want your readers to keep wanting more, you'll ensure that your scenes draw the reader in with eyewitness dramatic action passages. Thanks for watching.

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