Muse & the Marketplace 2018

At the core of both fiction and drama is the telling of the plot, and the plot, as Aristotle teaches, is the expression of an action. Dramatists have no choice but to know this because action is one of the few tools available to them. Fiction writers have far more tools at their disposal — voice, tense, internal monologue, summation, and so on. But too many fiction writers forget that an understanding of "action" — a truly deep, in the bones understanding of it — can be a powerful tool in helping them to tell the story. 

In this session, we'll discuss the Aristotelian idea of an "action," and will sit down to write brief scenes. We'll then analyze what we've written-- not in a critical way, but to examine how "action" has found its way into your scenario, without your even intending it.