Constant Conflict Can Give you a Head Ache

Constant Conflict Can Give you a Head Ache

I love writing action adventure.  I learned though that constant conflict can dull the action. 

I make sure that each of my chapters has the set up for the action but at the same time making the “action” part contrast the moment in the story to make the “action” part really pop.  A calm before the storm type of idea.

I also rewrite to make sure that the action part of the chapter doesn’t always happen at the same part in each chapter.  I find it easiest to "set up" the action in the beginning, then the action, and then the result with a cliff hanger.   I try not to make this the norm throughout the book ether.  I learned to move the action part or the conflict part to the beginning or the end of the chapter.

I usually look for the book’s rhythm after a couple rewrites.  I lay the chapters out on a table and find the slow spots and the fast spots. I want to make sure they blend together perfectly.  I want the reader on a roller coaster ride for the whole book but I want them to take a breath now and again so they can appreciate the next thrill.

I also noticed another pattern of my writing.  The chapters near the end of the book are shorter and the action is bigger.   I think the shorter chapters near the end of the book make the book feel like the action is picking up speed.   It’s like a trick of the writing trade I learned in a writer’s magazine a long time ago.  If you take a paragraph of action and break it up to smaller paragraphs the reader’s eye will read quicker, there for making the action seem to pick up.

This part of writing isn’t so much the passion on the page a reader will notice.  The reader reads the final product but doesn’t see the hard work underneath the clever ways you turn a phrase or set up the action. He sees the paint on the walls but not the framing in the walls.  I think not noticing the structure of a story is sign of a writer good at his craft.

Keep Writing

Matt Schott

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