Tag: writing

Val Andrews, Epic Adventures: How to Write the Best Adventure Stories of all Time (Opal Tree Press 2024)

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/216173924-epic-adventures?ref=nav_sb_ss_1_23

Outline of how to write adventure stories

Adventure stories have 3 things in common:
• a protagonist who undertakes a journey
• a setting that is often unfamiliar and perilous
• a sequence of events that involve conflict and resolution
Start with action or intrigue—Hooking readers early is critical in adventure stories, where action and tension are key elements, so begin with a scene of intrigue, danger, or a significant event. Often there is an Inciting Incident, where the protagonist is confronted with the new world and challenged.
The plot structure is usually:
• Scenario (protagonist + status quo world)
• Initial setup (some backstory, setting and character)
• Inciting incident
• Preparation and departure
• First dive
• Exploration and discovery
• Rising tension, stakes, dangers
• Climax
• Resolution
Subgenres
You should write to your subgenre, which each have their own conventions and tropes:
• Exploration and discovery—
• Fantasy adventure—
• Historical adventure—
• Mystery and suspense—
• Myth and legend—
• Political and social commentary—
• Science fiction—
• Survival adventure—
The Hero’s Journey
It was Joseph Campbell in The Hero with a Thousand Faces who defined the precise stages in The Hero’s Journey. His story structure involved 17 stages in 3 acts. Departure, Initiation, Return.
Christopher Vogler condensed them into 12 stages:

Thrilling escape and return home—The protagonist overcomes, returns, usually with newfound wisdom or growth or riches.
Literary devices
All genres will use a mixture of (in alphabetical order):
• action
• antagonist(s)
• character development
• conflict
• Description
• Dialogue
• foreshadowing and flashbacks
• vivid imagery
• internal monologue
• juxtaposition (compare and contrast)
• metaphor and simile
• narrative style
• pacing
• plots and subplots
• point of view
• psychological depth
• Setting
• show don’t tell
• supporting characters
• symbols
• themes
• tone and mood
• voice
• worldbuilding
The 20-plus literary devices are also outlined in other books by Val Andrews, but it never hurts to go over them again. Here, she underlines their specific relevance to adventure writing.
I’ve read all this stuff before, but this book outlines it all in a cogent, coherent blueprint, which is worth memorising. Most useful to me were the notes on making the transitions between one stage and the next and the notes on the character development accompanying each phase.
I would also like to work more on using symbolism and juxtaposition in my plots and character developments and introducing scenes illustrating the hero’s transformation. I want to work more on foreshadowing.
It gave me some ideas on how to make my antagonists more multi-dimensional.

B. Luciano Barsuglia, The Midnight Sea (Koa Aloha Media 2007)

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19459623-the-midnight-sea?ref=nav_sb_ss_1_26

A megalodon-hunting expedition faces the violence of the sea and the violence of men

Casey Gilliam is thrown from the ship into the Pacific Ocean. Trouble is, there were no waves. What was it? Something had hit them, as the hull is leaking. ‘It was a monster,’ Charlie tells Captain Whaley. Casey knows as he dies—it was a shark. The men scramble for the dinghy as the Oracle sinks.
The rescuing ship, the Fisher King, finds a tooth indicating the monster must be over 30 feet long. Media mogul JD Sawyer wants to capture it, believes it’s a megalodon. He says, ‘we need a bigger boat.’
JD mounts an expensive expedition that includes his estranged son Nick, and Nick brings his friend Kazu. Dr Tyler Freeman is the ‘expert’. Tyler’s associate Susan Watson and Nick have had a thing in the past. Haidrian is JD’s lawyer. Samuel Gruber is the harpoonist. Frank Riley is videoing the hunt for a documentary.
Big game hunters mixed with scientists, each ‘blinded by their individual goals’? Kazu says, ‘It has potential to be a real bloodbath.’
At their first dinner together on the ship, they compare scars and shark stories, united as a team.
But as members succumb to the beast, one by one, tensions between them accelerate. Kazu has an old wound that’s become infected. A helicopter is coming—Susan is leaving—and it must hurry before the storm hits. The great shark has swallowed some EPIRB signalling equipment, bleeping as it approaches, a great device for building suspense.
While JD and his crew hunt the big one, another crew, the Dupries, are hunting them, and inside the ship a sabotaging, deadly mutiny is brewing.
The ticking time bomb of the mutiny is great; one disaster after another imperils the crew. There is a twist at the conclusion that you wouldn’t expect.
The ‘apocalyptic rage’ of the sea is a metaphor for the violence of the men.
Is this a creature feature or a techno-thriller? Why not both? The ‘science bits’—the biology of sharks, the descriptions of their equipment—is great, but I could have used even more.
There are more than nods to Jaws; only this expedition has fancier equipment. It even features the line ‘we need a bigger boat’. The author Barsuglia is a film producer; he must be planning a blockbuster.

Erica May, Overcoming Negativity: Developing a Resilient, Focused & Positive Mindset with CBT, Mindfulness, and a Better Work-Life Balance (Kindle 2024)

The inside story of a 14th century revolution

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/216451107-overcoming-negativity?ref=nav_sb_ss_1_25

Reprogramming your brain to stop the negative thoughts

I struggle very badly with negative self-thoughts, and because I don’t do anything to erase them from my mind, and I don’t talk to anyone about them, they get stuck. When I finally talk to close friends and family about what I experience, they are amazed at how much I hate myself. They manage to love me; why can’t I?
This book by a clinical psychologist gives us the scientific explanation of what’s going on, and what to do to change it. The best tool is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT).
The first step is acknowledgement. Identify those negative thoughts and realise they are not permanent, and seeking help is not weakness. Our brains have remarkable neuroplasticity, and are highly susceptible to change.
If the first step is self-awareness, the second step is cultivating self-compassion.
Some common ‘cognitive distortions’ are: black-and-white thinking, overgeneralisation, personalisation and catastrophising. You are not either one way or another; we are all a mixture of qualities. Just because that one report you wrote wasn’t very good doesn’t mean you ‘can’t write reports’. Just because one thing is bad doesn’t mean the world is coming to an end, and everything bad in the world is not your fault.
Just like physical healing, psychological healing requires exercise—a daily routine. Use rational thinking to question a negative thought (is there evidence to support the belief that because I made one mistake, I am a complete mess-up?), and replace the negative thought with a positive one (‘hey, everybody makes mistakes. I messed up once, but next time I’ll do it right’). Every time the ‘I’m a complete mess-up’ pops into your brain, challenge it and repeat the contradiction. When you ‘create space between stimulus and response’, it gives you time to interrupt the automatic entrenched negativity.
Keep a journal to keep track of your reprogramming process, noting negative thoughts, the questioning of the negative thoughts and contradictions/affirmations/gratitude. Pinpoint your ‘triggers’ and reprogram your responses to them. Evaluate your progress and give yourself credit for how much you’ve changed.
This is not a BIG deal. Baby steps is great. Small, incremental rewirings, practiced regularly, can lead to fundamental changes. Set realistic goals and congratulate yourself when you achieve them. When you don’t achieve them, consider them a learning tool.
Then, do something active to put your new positive thought into practice. Write a report and notice that ‘hey, this report was good. I have learned how to write good reports’.
Be Here Now. Practice mindfulness—the judgement-less awareness of the present moment, neither ruminating over the past nor worrying about the future. Meditate, noticing when a negative thought pops up and letting it ‘float away’. ‘Body scan meditation’ and ‘Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR)’ is a recipe for stress reduction. When you eat, focus on the taste of your food; when you exercise, focus on the feel of your muscles. ‘Loving-kindness meditation’ focuses on sending well-wishes to yourself and others.
Actively seek out moments to be grateful for and notice that you are grateful. Keep a record of accomplishments and celebrate milestones. Focus on what works. Make time for social interactions and for just having fun. Each time you don’t give in to negativity and instead affirm your strength builds ‘emotional resilience’, so quite literally, setbacks or failures do not need to be negative; they are learning tools.
The Resilient Habit Shift Model involves:
• identify triggers and negative thoughts
• implement positive habits
• practice self-compassion; acknowledge setbacks as learning opportunities
• engage with curated resources
In my case, this involves coming up with a list of positive activities I can do instead of watching BS on YouTube and getting depressed.
• build support groups and supportive friends and contacts
• set realistic goals
Sometimes you need to shield yourself from people who bring you down. Establish boundaries and clearly communicate your limits, while still actively listening to others.
My usual excuse for not doing all of the above is ‘I don’t have the time’, yet think of all the time I spend mentally beating myself up.
This was mostly stuff I already knew, as I have had CBT sessions with a psychotherapist and I’ve ready numerous books. But going over this material once again is another way to practice the reprogramming.