Raymond Chandler, famed noir writer who also helped adapt many of his colleague's work to the big screen, had a rule: "when in doubt, have a man come through a door with a gun in his hand." The idea being to stuff action scenes into your novel or story whenever there was a lull in the plot, or when you weren't sure how to proceed.
Since I seem to be an endless font of negativity (in truth, it's just easier to write about flaws than strengths), I'm going to disagree. If we're talking about video games, or even movies, then Chandler's Guy With Gun Axiom is essentially correct. In fact, there's an argument for action movies that there's too much talking. Maybe someone should make an actual movie like that...oh wait, they did, it's called the Expendables.
Action scenes are always fun in video games and movies, since the audience gets drunk on the visual splendor of the fighting and the challenge of it, in the case of video games. To many, the combat of the game is the entire point, but others simply pad out a two hour plot into a twelve hour game with tons of random battles (Final Fantasy, anyone?). Even a mediocre movie can be salvaged with good fights.
In a book, there's no visuals to really convey the action. Don't get me wrong, a good fight scene in a book can be pretty awesome, especially since books always deal so much better with the internal aspects of a fight, the thoughts and fears of the characters made evident to the reader. But could you imagine someone making a good written version of the Matrix Lobby Scene? No, it would suck. And you certainly couldn't get away with a fifty page action scene in a book, the way you can get away with an hour long fight scene in a movie (an awesome movie, that is).
So whenever there's a fight in a book, it's can't just be gratuitous violence. It needs to serve a larger purpose. At best, it's going to be more than a battle between people. It will be a battle between two ideas or concepts, or the final, violent catharsis of pages of more cerebral turmoil for the main character, turmoil that he has endured for pages. Or maybe it's to introduce some key characterization or world information (mainly for sci/fi fantasy). Maybe it somehow introduces some important plot point.
Assuming you're striving to be more than a pulp writer cranking out dozens of stories per week to meet deadlines, I don't think it's a good idea to follow Chandler's advice here. I love fight scenes in movies, and I actually enjoy writing them quite a bit, but it's too easy to be seduced by them. They need to mean something, so I always try to ask myself what these fights mean within the larger context of the stories and themes of the novel.
Or, if you enjoy books without writing them, ask yourself what 'purpose' is there to any kind of fight or action scene in a book you enjoy. If the books you enjoy don't have cool action scenes, then I pity you, and you're probably an English teacher or something. :)
My next blog post should be my last entry into Fight Club (at least for now), and I hope you've enjoyed them.
I disagree.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, based on my admittedly limited recollection of detective fiction, the guy with a gun showing up did not tend to lead to a lengthy fight scene digression. It was much more of a spur, getting the characters moving and opening up another avenue of investigation. Kind of like in RPGs, where foes sent to stop the party often serve as a clue delivery system.
Also, there are several genres of fiction like techno-thrillers and some types of military things that are essentially all about the fight scenes. The difference though is that they're much more about lavish technical and other details, versus action. Red Storm Rising, while it does have its PoV characters, is pretty much like the 'no talking' action movies in that it's all about the military technology and strategy. By the same token, do you think there's a big series of Honor Harrington novels because of the compelling character and political situation, or because of the exploration of sci-fi weapons and tactics with bomb pumped laser warheads on missiles versus point defense and shields based on their gravity drives?
While perhaps the fight scenes in books don't lend themselves to pure action as well as other media, they definitely have their own strengths. To return to the video game analogy, books do well for the fights in strategy, sim, or wargames versus Mass Effect or Call of Duty.
Hey, my first comment!
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, it's from my brother. It seems kind of pointless to debate you over the interwebs instead of, you know, talking to you. Like I could do RIGHT NOW.