In today’s episode, Fable and the Verbivore tackle the topic of writing violence and action. Within this topic, we look at the perspectives and lens you can take – as well as what makes these sequences hit home and resonate rather than fall flat.

We start off by discussing that there is a range that writers can work within between more detailed and overt depictions to the more subtle and implied descriptions – or even having these sequences appear off the page and only include allusions to them in the text. We reference an article called "Make Violent Scenes Matter" by author Carter Wilson that recommends writing a violent scene in two ways to determine if a more direct or subtle approach serves the story best.

Throughout this conversation, we discuss finding the personal and emotional connection within a violent or action sequence, writing these scenes with the goals of the book and what the reader expects in mind, and weighing the emotional costs to the story and the reader when considering killing off a character.

Lastly, we discuss how the choice of the point of view and distance to the violence is similar to how a director decides to frame and film a scene - where they choose to place the camera. It’s useful to pay attention in a given book or film scene to those viewpoint decisions and explore how they personally make you feel.

We hope you enjoy listening to this episode! Keep reading, and writing, and putting your voice out there!

Into the woods,

Fable & The Verbivore