WIP Challenge Check-in, Day 9 - Sunday

[the_rck]

Hi! I'm the_rck, and I'm doing the check in posts this week.

So how's the writing going? I hope you're all making progress, one way or another, even if words aren't going down on the page.

What did you do today?
Write?
Edit?
Send to beta?
Research?
Posted?
Take a break?
Something else?

How do you feel about your writing today? Is it going great? Would you rather not talk about it?

The question of the day is pretty simple-- How are you at writing action scenes? What techniques have you found to make them work? I'm kind of bad at them, so I'm really curious how other people manage. I generally poke at them from several angles, handwave a bit and hope my beta readers have some suggestions.

Comments

[linaewen]

I took a break, even though I desperately needed to do some writing. I have been sick today, so I decided not to put any pressure on myself. ;-)

I find action scenes very difficult. I used to be pretty good with them, but for some reason, they have become harder for me, and almost give me writer's block sometimes.

[the_rck]

I hope you feel better quickly! Writing while sick is generally harder. I remember one year when I signed up for Yuletide and was quite sick (strep throat followed by an intestinal bug) during the last week and a half of the writing window. The fic that year wasn't great.

I sympathize on the writer's block for the action scenes. I'm not quite that bad (but I do tend to get blocked on visual description. That gets bad), but I try to avoid them when I can.

[barbayat]

Sunday was great. My stomach and head were much better and wrote over 2000 words on my Red Skull PWP. I hope that today I get to finish the third chapter. Yes, even my PWPs are not short. *sighs*

Whenever there is an action scene, I try to picture it in my head and then describe what is happening and add some of the characters thoughts and of course dialoge to it. While snippet day was yesterday, I think I can post an un-betad version of a fight from my Avenger fanfic. Chances are you can see what I mean below or maybe you it just plain sucks ;)

-------------

“Seems you are still on that losing streak”, Tony said.

The same moment he said it, it occurred to him that maybe that was not the smartest thing to say. Before he could do anything else, he was hit by blast and thrown back a bit. Then another one hit him and the third one he evaded by taking off. As he did the other blasts that followed.

“That is all you got?” Tony mocked.

“It is more than enough”, Loki said.

Then Stark realised his mistake. Loki had weakened the structure of the ceiling and it was about to come down. It was not a real danger to him or Loki but Agent Miller was quite vulnerable. It was too late to do anything except rush to her aid and shield her from the collapsing structure.

Which was of course exactly what Loki had counted on. Before he could reach Agent Miller he was hit by another energy blast. Only this time it was powerful enough to bring him down. He was not sure what happened, the blast knocked him down and then Jarvis informed him of an energy drain on suit.

Tony turned to look at Loki but he was just standing there – which told him that the source of the drain located from something that Loki must have planted without him realising it or maybe even prepared before he arrived.

'Where is it coming from?' Before Stark was able to answer his question, the first shards of glass and metal beams crashed down. Tony felt the impact although it did not damage his suit unless he counted the scratches on the paint job. He turned to look for Agent Miller but his field of vision was beginning to malfunction. The energy drain was sucking up the energy his arc reactor was providing for his suit.

As soon as the material from the roof had landed, Tony opened the visor and took a look around. Agent Miller emerged from behind the reception counter, a fresh, bloody cut on her arm. She looked from him to Loki who approached Iron Man gloating. He saw her heading for the exit as he turned towards him.

“So much for the new improved suit.”

Without the energy supply the suit was just heavy. Loki grabbed one of the steel supports form the ceiling and swung it at Tony's head. He managed to avoid being hit but lost balance and fell forward. 'This is not good', Stark thought as felt an impact in his back. While the suit protected him, he was now uncomfortably pinned between the uneven ground and Loki's boot.

[lilly_c]

I spent yesterday editing and writing instead of beginning operation tidy-the-f**k-up for my parents visit later this week.

It's going okay but I seem to have got stuck with an action sequence of sorts. In chapter 6 (might be 7 - I've done some more merging of the shorter chapters) of my Taggart fic there is a scene using CCTV showing my murder victim, he's already dead, getting pushed out of a moving car in the Clyde Tunnel and so far nothing is really working and I don't drive so doing it myself with a soft toy is out of the question. Maybe something will come to me when I go down to Glasgow next week.

[the_rck]

I've gotten some of my best writing done when I was procrastinating dealing with something else, so I have some idea where you're coming from.

I hope something works for you for this action scene! It's really frustrating when one knows what needs to happen but can't quite picture it or approximate it in words. (And I, also, can't drive. I'm not sure what I'll do if I ever have to write a character driving. So far, it hasn't come up.)