We're having an adventure--just like in "The Goonies"!

Greetings Fellow Adventurers!

You may (or may not) have noticed that the title of today's post is a quote by the inimitable Crow T. Robot of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (I only quote from the best!).  

So, people seem to have certain questions that they always ask when they converse with people in various jobs.  How'd you get into it?  What did you specialize in this instead of that?  What inspired you to do this?  What gave you the idea for that? 

For a writer, people usually ask "what do you write?"  If you say you write instruction manuals for electric toothbrushes, their eyes glass over and they lose interest.  But when you say you write fiction, they perk up and ask, "What kind?"

They expect you to say "Fantasy" or "Sci-Fi" or "Mystery" or "Thrillers" or something like that.  And if it's a genre they're interested in, they press for further details.

I like to say "I write adventure stuff!"  That kinda throws them off.  They ask what that means and I explain that sometimes I write fantasy, sometimes sci-fi, pulp hero, weird western...but its ALL adventure! 

So, what exactly IS "adventure"?  This is what it says on Wikipedia:  

In the Introduction to the Encyclopedia of Adventure Fiction, Critic Don D'Ammassa defines the genre as follows:

.. An adventure is an event or series of events that happens outside the course of the protagonist's ordinary life, usually accompanied by danger, often by physical action. Adventure stories almost always move quickly, and the pace of the plot is at least as important as characterization, setting and other elements of a creative work.

But hey, what does Wikipedia know, right?   No, I'm kidding, that's a very succinct definition.  The great thing about adventure is that it can be dressed up in so many ways.  

Do you like stories where the lone barbarian fights his way through the goblin horde to kill the evil wizard?  Read the one about the disgraced archaeologist who accidentally finds the lost city in the jungle and has to stop the demented chieftain from declaring war upon the outside world?  Or the one about the cloaked vigilante who stalks the city's criminal underworld and uncovers a plot by a local kingpin to swipe the prototype laser cannon from the local secret government lab?  How about stories where the planetary colonist fights his way past the martian armies to save his girlfriend from the alien warlord?    That's Adventure, Son!  

Of course, there's no question that guys like Conan, Luke Skywalker, and Indiana Jones are in adventure stories.  However, it seems like adventure IS their normal life!  This isn't always the case, of course.  There are tons of stories that show the ONE adventure this person/these people had.

There are countless Disney family films...like "The Million Dollar Duck" or "The Cat From Outer Space" or dozens of others that are stand-alone stories.  There were the kids in "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial", or the ones in "The Goonies".  Frodo had one long series of smaller adventures, but after "Lord of the Rings" never went out to find more adventures like Bilbo did.  They all seem to have had one single adventure, then went back to their normal lives.  Well, of course, this didn't work too well for Frodo.

Now, this is a little more realistic.  People mostly seem to lead dull, boring lives.  If they're lucky...or perhaps its more appropriate to say UNlucky...their lives could be touched by a small piece of adventure.  Like being at the public event when the bomb goes off, or at the bank when the masked robbers burst in.  Of course, these are traumatizing events, and "the adventure" ends for most people with the end of the incident itself.

Of course, for entertainment purposes, this is harder to market.  That's why you have A hero, or perhaps A TEAM of heroes that have adventure after adventure after adventure.  Then you have to wonder about the Hero's uncanny luck, he never seems to sustain a great deal of damage...but then, he can't!  Cuz if he did, he wouldn't be able to come back next week/month for the next exciting adventure!  But this never slowed down the Shadow, or Beretta, or Napoleon Solo.

This is most easily fixed with A TEAM of heroes.  This adventure primarily features Team Member A, though some of the others are present as secondary characters.  Next book/movie/episode uses Team Member B as the primary character, again with some of the other team members playing back up.  This could be a good set-up for a group like G. I. Joe.

So what's the point to this rambling drivel?  Did I even have one when I started?  I'm starting to wonder that, myself!

The basic point I'm trying to make is that adventure comes in all shapes and sizes.   Adventure stories can be about knights, or pirates, or spies, or cowboys, or cops.  These can all be intriguing and exciting, I like them all and see no reason to choose one over the other.  

So I dabble in all these genres...or sub-genres.  And that's why I--ever so humbly--call myself a Terrific Adventure Scribe!

And if YOU like adventure in any of its forms, you're invited to come along for the ride!  You're sure to find something you like!

Good Adventuring!

Yours Truly,
Timothy A. Sayell