Action scenes workshop?

[THE Rigil Kent]

Has anyone toyed with the idea of doing something like this? For the most part, I'm generally satisfied with the action scenes in my fics, but I often see people saying they can't write them or just won't write them, so ... here I am.

[panyasan]

I tried to write a battle scene in one of my fic'sand it turned out okay. There is still lot's of room for improvement. I have to confess before writing that scene I studied two action scenes of your hand Rigil, so if you wanted to give a work shop "How to write action scenes" I will be the first one to sign up.

[Aquarius]

If you conduct it, I'm in.

[Misplaced]

I'm interested! Especially considering that my original work contains a LOT of action (way more than my fanfic), it would behoove me to be good at writing it.

[ladyrainbow]

Me...I tend to have battle scenes in some of my fics (space battles or hand to hand).

[Destinye]

I'd be interested. I usually fail at action scenes. I go over-the-top or don't describe enough, xD

[THE Rigil Kent]

Gak! Am I gonna regret posting?

FYI, I have no idea whatsoever how to conduct a workshop like this so advice would be appreciated in that regard.

[Aquarius]

There are a few different ways you can do this. And you can take your time putting it together; we're starting the smut workshop in a few days, so waiting a little bit may help the people who want to do both.

The way the general workshop has worked, is that somebody submits a sample of their piece, then volunteers go over it with a fine-toothed comb, sussing out the strengths and weaknesses, and suggesting areas for improvement.

The smut workshop will be more like the art workshop in that there are structured lessons, and then the author writes something based on those lessons--and then we all critique it as above. I'm working out of a book that helped me a lot, specifically devoted to the craft of writing good, realistic love scenes. If there is a resource that you found beneficial in helping you to become the respected action-writer you are today, you might look to that and see about forming some lessons based on the advice you followed from it...maybe even post some articles or other resources you might have found helpful along the way.

[THE Rigil Kent]

The way the general workshop has worked, is that somebody submits a sample of their piece, then volunteers go over it with a fine-toothed comb, sussing out the strengths and weaknesses, and suggesting areas for improvement.

I see. So basically I (and whoever participates) would be acting like teachers? Hmmm...

The smut workshop will be more like the art workshop in that there are structured lessons, and then the author writes something based on those lessons--and then we all critique it as above.

The author being ... me? Or whoever we're critiquing? Hmm. Seems to only really help one person ... unless there are multiple critiques going on at once.

If there is a resource that you found beneficial in helping you to become the respected action-writer you are today, you might look to that and see about forming some lessons based on the advice you followed from it...maybe even post some articles or other resources you might have found helpful along the way.

First ... I'm respected?

Second, in my case, I'm just a prolific reader and have picked up tricks and tactics from novels I've read. Mayhap I should assign homework? There is no resource that I've actively read for the purpose of improving action scenes, although I can probably point participants toward novels or authors that I think are especially good examples. For example:

• Anything by Michael Stackpole. His early BattleTech books are really good in this regard and I'm always amused when I think of how he wrote those.
• Dan Abnett, especially his Eisenhorn omnibus, which is set in the Warhammer 40K verse and is an awesome example of how to do good action from a 1st person perspective.
• Etc.
[/list]Does the community have a preference to how we approach this? Do we want to pick one person and critique, or should we treat it like a school assignment with me (shudder) as the teacher (double shudder. I'm sure, somewhere, every single one of my English teachers from high school & middle school who told me not to write the way I did, especially the ones who always dinged me for "sentence fragments," are shivering as a cold chill crawls up their spines. )

[ladyrainbow]

Definitely second the recommendation to read anything by Michael Stackpole. Also anything by David Weber (Honor Harrington series).

There would be multiple critiques, Rigil. In the Writing Workshop, everyone gets a chance to critique, then the author can respond when all the critiques are submitted.