I’m about 8,000 words into the first draft of the second book in the BANAnas series, and I’ve discovered something interesting.
I love writing action scenes.
Action Movies vs. Romantic Movies
It’s funny to find out that I love writing action scenes, because you would be forgiven for thinking that I don’t consume much action in my entertainment choices. When I sit down to watch a movie with my wife, nine times out of ten, we’ll watch a romantic comedy or a straight-up love story (like Pride and Prejudice). We rarely watch action movies. I’m sad to say that I have missed all of the recent superhero movies (except for Iron Man because I’m an engineer, so that one wasn’t negotiable). I think the best explanation is that my wife dislikes action movies more than I dislike romantic movies. The only exception to that is Star Wars and Star Trek. My wife geeks out about those as much as I do. Also, she has humored me for things like The Martian and Interstellar (again – science nerd here).
Writing in the Zone
But back to the original idea, I think most writers (and people in general who work on creative projects) have discovered the phenomena of being “in the zone” when it comes to their writing. It’s that wonderful state of existence when you barely have to exert any effort for the creativity to flow. In fact, when I’m really in the zone, I barely notice the time going by. What I’ve discovered in the past week or so is that this experience happens much more often when I’m writing the action scenes of my story. And if I know I have an action scene coming up in the my story (I’m a plotter – big shocker), I find I’m all the more anxious to get to my free hour or two in the evening when I can write. The times that I lack writing motivation seem to coincide with the times that the story is dragging. That might seem obvious to more experienced writers, but it was a revelation to me.
Add More Action
So my groundbreaking solution to my situation is–wait for it–to write more action into my stories. Fortunately for my pacing (and my future readers’ heart conditions) I also enjoy witty banter and romantic tension. That’s probably because I feel like those situations are “action” as well, just not the running-from-a-predator type of action. I guess we’ll see how I do with my wonderful solution.