tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824896765631412903.post2805029955511451958..comments2023-09-05T12:51:25.656-05:00Comments on edittorrent: The Call to Action: Some Strategies to Make It Big Edittorrenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14295505709568570553noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824896765631412903.post-61445229289918360982016-01-16T19:05:29.615-06:002016-01-16T19:05:29.615-06:00Thank you, Alicia. Your responses actually clear t...Thank you, Alicia. Your responses actually clear things up for me (and actually make me realize how busy you are!) and help me see things in a new way. It's amazing how we (and by that I mean <i>I</i>) can get hung up on language and a choice of words. Call to action is actually quite helpful!!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824896765631412903.post-64422417912557781682016-01-14T21:58:33.652-06:002016-01-14T21:58:33.652-06:00Another thought-- the call usually requires a choi...Another thought-- the call usually requires a choice, like Stacey is given the choice to stay home, or to accept admission to Cambridge.<br />John has the choice to approach Jessica openly, or to pretend they meet by accident.<br />Sunny has the choice to return to her partying, or to go to where the coordinates are and say her farewell to Mike (who isn't actually dead, but she doesn't know that yet).<br />Matthew has the choice to send a servant with the money Natasha needs, or to leave his comfortable ordinary world to go help a woman he doesn't like.<br />So... the ordinary world is like a default-- no choice needed. The Call to Action gives the character a choice to do something else, and in the case of a romance, that "something else" will lead to love (eventually).<br />What do you think?<br />AliciaEdittorrenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14295505709568570553noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824896765631412903.post-25290427223429778042016-01-14T21:52:32.481-06:002016-01-14T21:52:32.481-06:00Sure-- first, romance novels usually have an exter...Sure-- first, romance novels usually have an external plot that could supply the "call to action". But also there might be a romantic "call to action." In Romeo and Juliet, for example, it's when Romeo is "called" to go to the ball of his family's enemy, where he is going to meet Juliet. He doesn't actually go there specifically to meet Juliet but another girl-- that's the fun of it.<br /><br />Let's try another-- hmm. I'll try one of my own romances. In Poetic Justice, the "call to action" is when John realizes that the mystery trunk belongs to an heiress named Jessica Seton and tracks her down. The intersection between the external plot (the trunk and what it contains) and the romantic plot (meeting Jessica) is where the call to action happens.<br /><br />My latest book... let's see. The ordinary world for Matthew is his study and his medical practice and the comforts of home. The "call to action" which pulls him away from the ordinary world is the note he receives from Natasha asking for him to come to the inn to help her.<br />It might help to identify the "ordinary world" (Campbell's Step One), because it's from that the "call" compels the character.<br />The short story (romance) I'm working on right now-- the ordinary world is the town Jake and Stacey live and work in, their hometown. The "call to action" is her admission to Cambridge University's program for teachers (which will take her away from town, and will inspire Jake to re-dedicate himself to the marriage in order to keep her home).<br />Another I'm revising (I have way too many projects....), the ordinary world is the hedonistic city lifestyle where Sunny has retreated since Mike's supposed death. Sunny's call to action is when she deciphers the coordinates of the location where (she assumes) Mike's body is buried. (He's actually alive in that location.) <br /><br />Anyway, I don't think it applies only to a very specific plot or genre. I write in several genres (including romance), and I find this an important step in the journey. What do you think? Terminology might be the problem (this is Joseph Campbell's term). In his formulation, the call is what pulled the protagonist out of his/her ordinary world. I have always just seen that as the inciting incident, but now I kind of like the call to action better.<br />AliciaEdittorrenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14295505709568570553noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6824896765631412903.post-68579081775227481132016-01-08T11:07:13.223-06:002016-01-08T11:07:13.223-06:00These are all great suggestions for, I think, a ve...These are all great suggestions for, I think, a very specific plot or genre. Would this work for, say, an unfolding relationship in a romance genre?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com