Can you have too much action in one novel? That is the question I'm asking myself as I review the first draft of my novel. I've got roughly twelve major scenes in my 95k novel that either have something to do with the MC or other characters being put into a precarious or dangerous situation. Is it too much?

I think it depends what and how much is sacrificied to the action. Does it mean that the characters in all their changing complexity aren't as fully drawn as they might be? Does it mean that there's no space for anything but the baldest, barest prose? Does it mean that the emotional plot is sacrificed to the physical plot? If there's enough of all of those, to balance the action with all the other things which make a novel worth reading, then it's fine.

But I do also think that central to all fiction is the pattern of stress-and-slack, systole and diastole, or as Christopher Booker puts it in The Seven Basic Plots talking of thriller plots in particular, constriction and release (James Bond the classic example). If the rhythm of action and reflection (that's Jane Smiley's term in 13 Ways of Looking At The Novel) is well-balanced, then it's fine. If there's no reflection (not necessarily in the introspective sense), no pause to gather forces, catch breath, find space for a wider/deeper sense of the situation, for the readers and/or the characters to assess the situation, work out what the new need is and what might get in the way... then it's just like a computer game.

Are you re-using the same scenarios? If so consider having a cull of this repetition as it risks boring the reader.


- NaomiM

Hi Emma, Thanks for the guidance. I think there's enough of a balance but I'll definitely keep this in mind as I'm reviewing it.

Naomi, For the most part each scenario is quite different. Although there is one that is similar but builds upon the story so to speak. I've been thinking about whether that one is needed. I'll see.

Lorraine

The other question is, is it episodic? - are any of these dangerous scenes satisfactoraily resolved before the character(s) move on to the next one? If so, they may not be helping to move the plot along.
Preferably things should get gradually worse, or slightly better before getting worse, for the character(s) before the final resolution.

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Worth reading Sol Stein's Solutions for Novelists where he talks about making scenes justify their place in the finished draft.

Is that a book, article? Sounds like it's worth a read. Thanks, L

A book.

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He's written several, but that's the best one if you're editing a completed draft.

Yes, I think you can have too much acion - and I speak as a dyed in the wool writer of thrillers.

As Emma says, there must be balance. Light and shade if you will.
Otherwise you risk the story becoming 'one damn thing after another'.
To make the most out of each climax/turning point, you need to build to it.

HB x

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Whether twelve scenes is too much is impossible to say without context. But as long as they're spread and interspersed with more thoughtful scenes, then it could work just fine.

I've just watched the tv series The Deep and felt that too much happened, which made it seem to me to be melodramatic rather than dramtic (it also couldn't decide if it was a thriller, a spooky tale, a romance, or an action film.... but that's another discussion....)

So yes, I do think there can be too much. If you feel there is, deep down, there probably is.

Deb

I think Naomi gives good advice here. It's a bit like a roller-coaster - you've got to slowly ratchet the suspense up before you go careering down, round and upside down.

Thinking about it..there are three stories which run through the novel although all are interlinked through a relationship with the MC. And this explains why there are so many action scenes. I don't think it's necessarily wrong but I think I do need to find that balance.

I have purchased Sol Steins book through Amazon so hoping that it will help me with the editing.

As a reader - yes, definitely there can be to much action for me, anyway, and as a viewer.

As a writer - I agree that even if you're writing crime you can still have too much, but then I'm writing for a particular audience. Recently, when I was told I could write a four-part instead of a three-part serial, I second-guessed the editor would want more going on. But in fact she didn't - she wanted more depth to the characters. And I found that by filling in the characters more the mystery deepened and became more the kind of book I like to read. It also made more sense too.

What do you mean by "too much action?"

If you mean movement, then that's OK. That's what a good story does - move through locations and stages (see http://www.clickok.co.uk/index4.html )

If you mean explosions every five seconds, then that's possibly bad.

To answer your question - I've got roughly twelve major scenes in my 95k novel that either have something to do with the MC or other characters being put into a precarious or dangerous situation.

Definitely too much going on...too much tension and probably at the expense of not developing the characters enough and not building the suspense. I think there's a lot of rework ahead of me. Oh well, such is life and better to recognise it now than after I try and send it for agent review.