Oddbean new post about login | logout Action sequences can be rather hard to do in books, and yet there are plenty of good ones. As a reader I tend to like the "less is more" approach most of the time. A few paragraphs of intense stuff rather than page after page of detail, unless it's something really unique. If any of the novels you read have action sequences, what do you find draws you in about them, and what sorts of things can turn you off from them and knock you out of the flow?
Yeah I don’t care for a blow-by-blow, literally, but I’d rather know what the POV character is feeling. Is he confident, numb with terror, confused as to why this is happening, determined, etc.? Or is he moving through emotions as the situation progresses? Action scenes are a good chance to flesh out a character. In The Godfather (book and film) when Michael is confronted at the hospital by men who came to kill his father, he lights a cigarette for Enzo the baker and notices his hand is steady though it was a very intense situation. Enzo on the other hand can barely even smoke it he’s shaking so badly. That’s maybe more suspense than action but the scene moves the story while also building Michael’s character.
quick thoughts: + chose to focus on the impact or the method, but usually not both, so the imagination does the rest + interjecting short snippets of inner state (ie thoughts/dialogue/emotions) helps immerse - avoid external / historical references or anyy calcs, basically anything that engages the system 2 (analytical) usually breaks the flow, action excitement is all about emotional reaction, usually system 1 domain hope that helps!
I like sudden twists like, Crack. As he turned around, his face was gone. Less is more
I would say it depends largely on the style of action. Brandon Sanderson writes action sequences blow for blow quite often, but his magic systems make it far more interesting. Also, one of the authors who stands out for me is Robert Heinlein; action sequences in The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress are detailed from the narrators point of view, but there is a lot that he only sees or hears about afterwards; it is a very convincing way to infer chaos.
You're writing the book, aren't you? Been out a while. I am excited if my assumption here is correct.
Escalating tension and stakes for the main character(s). Worry they can't get through it. Gregg Hurwitz, in one of his Orphan X novels, has a multi-chapter action scene which starts in a hotel room and spills out into a busy city street, as our hero tries to clear a path for a mother to reach and rescue her child. It just keeps tightening the screws because you care about all 3 characters and the odds are brutal. Absolutely virtuoso action and suspense writing.