So…Why Action?

First of all, is action really a genre? I think sort of, but not necessarily. Well, maybe. An all-encompassing genre perhaps? Who knows?

Well, I don’t. And I don’t particularly care either. But I do know that I love action stories of all flavors. Horror, sci-fi, military thriller, kung-fu, fantasy, hard-boiled detective, etc. This goes back to my childhood. While I remember enjoying Sesame Street, Mister Rogers, and other “developmentally beneficial” television programming, it wasn’t until I discovered shows like Voltron, Transformers, He-Man, Thundercats, and M.A.S.K. had grabbed a hold of me. But then came BraveStarr.

What in the fiery chasm of Mount Doom is BraveStarr you ask? See for yourself:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUfJuOp7Dck

(Apologies for the link. Embed would’ve taken you directly to YouTube anyway.)

But seriously. That show had everything. When it came to the beginning of my understanding of the possibilities of the human imagination, I have to quote Leonardo DiCarprio’s Calvin Candie from Django Unchained: “Gentlemen, you had my curiosity. Now you have my attention.”

Plus I still get the theme song stuck in my head on a weekly basis.

I feel like I’m rambling. I do that from time to time. Anyhoo, there’s something about the propulsive movement of a good action sequence that never ceases to plunge its barbed hooks into me and yank me along with it. It may appear as chaos at first, but then you realize it is a carefully choreographed piece of art designed to suck you in and take you on a ride.

So…why action? Simple. Because I love it. It’s fun. It takes my breath away. It moves me.

But that doesn’t mean I ignore other staples of good storytelling like theme, plot, story, character, etc. Those all need to be there. Without them, then you have nothing. The beating heart of a story has to propel the action and give it purpose. I love writing tender character moments, funny scenes, engaging dialogue and fun stories. But I write them to build action scenes around.

Because I love it. And I cannot think of a better reason to do it.