Friday, 15 February 2013

Action Sequences - or, if we want to be cruel, Arcade Sequences

What do Mills and Boon, the first three Star Wars movies and the Lethal Weapon movies all have in common?

They waste the reader/watcher's time with endless, pointless action sequences.

Whether it's a car chase with lots of crash-bang action, a space battle or soft porn, it's still what in the gaming world is known as an arcade sequence.

Arcade sequences are all very well for pre-pubescent nerdy kids who live for their joysticks. But to a reader, who by definition should be literate, they are the death of good writing.

If you really feel you can't be true to your creative vision without long, long action sequences, it's time to team up with a second-rate artist and go in for Manga.

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