Surprise! You Just Might Be Writing An Action Story

If I say “Action story”, do you think of explosions, sword battles and Marvel movies? Do you think “That’s not what I’m writing!”

You might be surprised. The Action Story Type isn’t defined by violence. It’s defined by danger. 

This came as a revelation to Sue Campbell back when she was first developing the story that became her novel The Cat, the Cash, the Leap and the List. 

It was a mostly violence-free middle grade story of three cousins and their summer adventures in Portland. Not a car chase or a gun in sight. The kids each learn an important lesson and grow up a little, but, as Sue herself has said, “I was not telling a cohesive story. I had simply strung together a set of amusing things that happened to some cousins during a long summer visit. I was not a fan of what I would have called ‘action stories’ and would have never knowingly set out to write one.”

Together, Sue and I hammered away at the problem until we realized that her story was trying to be an Action story after all! Why? Because the kids’ activities and inner changes all hinged on saving some newborn kittens and their feral mother cat. Action story protagonists are motivated by saving lives. There’s nothing there that specifies human lives. And though an Action story often involves life-and-death stakes, not every Action story has to involve actual death. Danger will do. 

Once Sue grasped that she was writing a novel with a primary Action plot, she studied the key elements of the Action Story Type and used them to clean up her manuscript. The Cat, the Cash, the Leap and the List became the exciting middle-grade adventure she had wanted it to be all along—while retaining all the important supporting Worldview story elements that give it so much heart and humor.

Editor Rachelle Ramirez went through the same discovery—but in reverse. She wanted to write an exciting young adult story, but her novel, at its heart, was a character-driven family drama. Not only were there no car chases or explosions, but there was no real physical danger for the teenaged protagonist, no villain threatening the lives of victims. The primary arc is a deep shift from naivety to wisdom, a Worldview story. 

But her protagonist has to grapple with the safety and danger of a very young child, and that external force drives her big internal change. And because it does involve the safety and danger of powerless child, it has an Action supporting story.

Rachelle now says, "Whenever a client tells me their main desire is to write an exciting story, I immediately suggest they integrate the essential moments, characters, and situations of an Action story—even though many times that’s not what they think they’re writing. Because it’s probably their supporting Story Type.”

What about your story? Might you have an Action primary or supporting story? If so, do you know what it takes to create a great Action story? Or do you know how to integrate the elements of an Action story in support of your primary character-driven story? 

If you’re not sure, check out our Action Story Masterclass….and, like Sue and Rachelle, write the story that’s in your heart to tell.