NAKED WRITING: Single Line of Action

NAKED WRITING

Daily Down & Dirty Tips

3. Single Line of Action

How would you like to write a novel that spawns two major films, a sequel, a radio adaptation and literary references for the next half century? In 1957 The Midwich Cuckoos by English writer John Wyndam was that novel. It was filmed twice as Village of the Damned.

Is your story this compelling? It CAN be if your outline includes a single line of action.

The story opens with Professor Zellaby suddenly struck unconscious. At that instant, every human, animal and machine in the village of Midwich stops.

Two months later, the professor’s going to be a father. In fact 12 women in this tiny village are suddenly pregnant. The babies arrive on the same night. They grow quickly. At age 9, they exhibit telepathic ability and brutal power. The villagers are afraid of them.

But… our hero’s son David, is one of these children. He tries desperately to save them, yet in the end he explodes a bomb, killing the Children and himself.

The spine that holds this story together is everything the children do to make the villagers afraid and everything Zellaby does to counter that fear. That spine is the single line of action.

 

Look at what drives your protagonist. In Gone with the Wind Scarlett’s line of action is her “need for control,” countered by war, by her infatuation with Ashley Wilkes, by Rhett Butler’s love for her… by everything that threatens Scarlett’s control.

 

Look at what challenges your protagonist. In Jaws, the line of action is Sheriff Brody’s desire to “keep Amity safe.” The counter action is everything the mayor and the shark do to threaten the town’s safety.

A single line of action holds your story together and compels readers to keep reading.