{"id":131,"date":"2014-03-12T13:01:00","date_gmt":"2014-03-12T13:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/blog\/2014\/03\/12\/wtite-vision-wednesday-action-resu\/"},"modified":"2015-11-25T12:24:06","modified_gmt":"2015-11-25T19:24:06","slug":"wtite-vision-wednesday-action-resu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wtite-vision-wednesday-action-resu\/","title":{"rendered":"Wtite the Vision Wednesday: Action->Result"},"content":{"rendered":"
\nThere is a video game I like
\nto play. Throughout the game, you are given choices to carry things with you,
\nto tell the truth or not, to treat others with respect or treat them poorly, to
\nlearn new skills, to teach others, to save people with words or actions from
\ninjury or death. As my character makes these choices, I develop this character.
\nMy choices are saved in the game and have an impact later in the story. I have
\nrealized many aspects of this game are applicable when developing the mythic
\nstructure of your manuscript.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nAction<\/u><\/b>\u00e0<\/u><\/b>Result<\/u><\/b><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nToo often I wish I could go
\nback and make a different choice\u2014but I can\u2019t. If I want to win an epic battle
\nin scene three, I better have learned to fight in scene one or two. (Since my
\ncharacter didn\u2019t start out with that skill.) This is even a biblical principal.
\nWe often see verses written in the action\u00e0result format.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nStudy<\/i>\u00e0<\/i> to show thyself approved. II Tim. 2:15.<\/i><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nWherefore, take unto you the whole armor
\nof God that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all<\/i>\u00e0<\/i> to stand. Ephesians
\n6:13<\/i><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nResult\u00e0Action? <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nSometimes
\naction is implied. A missionary to a foreign land certainly is expected<\/i> to know
\nthe language. An accountant should be good with numbers<\/i>. To return to the game
\nanalogy, my character was mentored (in amazing game part 1) and the mentor (I
\nwas formerly the mentor) made choices to arm this character with survival
\nskills. In game part 2, my character is able to use these skills. There are no
\ncontrivances to save the character. You literally might see a weapon, but the
\ncharacter can\u2019t pick it up unless the correct choices were made in earlier play.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nManuscripts have to be like this. You as a writer are immersing a reader into your mythic
\nworld. Make it real. Also, as a writer, the choice “not to prepare your
\ncharacter” can be part of the plot. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nEarly
\nin Fictional Manuscript<\/i> Tess
\nmentions to Max that she never learned to drive a stick shift, so later, when
\nMax is injured and unconscious in a remote area where there is no cell phone
\nreception and his manual transmission truck is the only means of transportation, Tess has a problem. Is it realistic that Tess suddenly knows how to shift gears?
\nNo. Is it realistic that she\u2019ll grind gears all the way to find help? Sure.
\nWill this choice make a difference in how quickly Max gets help? By all means. Could
\nthis add tension and suspense? Of course. We would immediately feel her angst.
\nShe regrets not having learned this driving skill. She is panicked because Max
\nis out cold and bleeding. She\u2019s worried she won\u2019t get help in time. (If I
\nreally wanted to torture this poor character, I could make it a snake bite and give her a time limit.)<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nRemember
\nwriting is like a chess game. You really need to think in terms of future moves and like the
\npieces on a chess board know the limitations of your players.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nHappy
\nWriting,<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\nLisa<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is a video game I like to play. Throughout the game, you are given choices to carry things with you, to tell the truth or not, to treat others with respect or treat them poorly, to learn new skills, to teach others, to save people with words or actions from injury or death. As […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[504],"tags":[100,101,102,103,104,3],"class_list":["post-131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editing-writing-advice","tag-action","tag-balance","tag-christian-fiction","tag-contrivances","tag-plotting","tag-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}