Today I want to talk about Action and Reaction for conflict, whether that is a piece of prose or on screen. Before I start on this post, I would like to announce the winning title for my project. Last week, I had a poll for people to help me choose the best name for my Pirate Adventure story.
The Winner is Pirates’ Blood
You can find out more about this project on my portfolio, which still has the temporary name Pirate by Blood for now.
Thanks for participating, don’t forget to follow me on social media.
Action and Reaction Dialogue
Action and Reaction is… well, pretty much what it says on the tin. In Screenwriting and prose, it is useful to add conflict into a scene. Characters never say what they actually really mean. It would be boring if they did. There would be no conflict because everyone would be totally honest with each other.
Action and Reaction is used to bring the subtext to the surface.
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
The best action and reaction I have ever seen is actually in a franchise I can never watch enough. Pirates of the Caribbean, which I have reviewed on my friend’s blog. It happens several times in the franchise, but the one I would like to talk about is in The Black Pearl.
This scene uses action and reaction in such a way that not only is it giving us exposition without us initially realising it, it is also using it as a way for Jack to do what he wants without been thwarted.
Breaking down the scene
When Jack approaches the port, he is stopped by Murtogg and Mullroy and asks why they are not at the gathering.
Action: challenges their position.
Instantly, you can see that one of the two bite; he gets defensive and says “someone has to”.
Reaction: Get defensive and reassure themselves that they are doing a good job.
Jack knows he has their attention, so he asks about the two visible ships.
Action: engage in a conversation about ship
He learns that they know about the power and speed of boats, so he takes a risk and brings the Black Pearl into the mix. It works, one believes it exists the other doesn’t.
Reaction 1: Add name of famous ship
We learn here that one character believes the supernatural and the other doesn’t—we also get a bit of exposition here, but it is hidden well in the argument.
Reaction 2: Characters argue about whether famous ship exists
Action: Jack slips away as the characters continue to argue.
Reaction: The Characters run after him once they realise, and point guns.
Jack then buys himself time by telling the characters the truth which confuses them as they now do not know if he is having fun with them or not.
Action: Tell the truth while approaching guns to show he is not afraid.
Reaction from Murtogg: Call Jack a liar.
Reaction from Mullroy: Question whether he did lie
Action: Jack confuses them more by adding he could have told the truth to be called a liar.
Text, Subtext and Conflict
Text is what is said. If we took each of these characters by their word, that would be the text of this scene. The subtext is what they are actually saying.
In the first action / reaction, Jack is not just talking about the gathering, he implies Murtogg and Mullroy are not important. “These people have gathered in the fort and your stuck here, without an invite, left to deal with me. You must not be liked much.”
This is why the reaction is one of defence. The characters struggle to ignore this, which may suggest that they had the same ideas and Jack just confirmed their doubt.
The next action and reaction happens when Jack asks about the ships. He is not really asking about the ships, he is getting these two characters to bite onto his words. He had already saw how easily they get defensive, so he has chosen to use this as an advantage. And it works.
He has added conflict between the two characters so that the conflict leaves him and moves on to them. This has created a brief positive change in the scene (for Jack at least), and it wouldn’t have worked if he didn’t imply that they were not important and get their emotional defences up over their physical.
This is changed to negative once the two characters realised what happened. But again, Jack uses his wit to buy himself time.
How to convert this to prose?
I’m not going to pretend prose and screenwriting are the same because they are not. But a similar action and reaction can happen with prose. Let’s take our earlier example and expand on it.
“Mornin’! Delightful weather today, ain’t it?” Freddy said.
Amy peeked up from her book and glanced up at the overcast sky. She looked at Freddy and took in his wicker basket. She screwed up her nose.
“Hmmm, delightful?I suppose of a castover sky is your thing…” Amy slapped her hand on her chest, “Wouldn’t take a chance with a picnic myself!”
Amy turned back to her book, which she was reading upside down, Freddy contemplated telling her.
“Well…” he said, breaking the silence, “s’pose I best be off, see ya!”
Now we know more about these characters. Freddy is a polite man, whereas Amy is not a polite woman.
He tried light talk, perhaps he saw the weather as delightful because it had rained for a week and the overcast sky was a delightful improvement. However, Amy’s initial reaction is to criticise. She points out that the sky is overcast and attacks Freddy by mentioning she wouldn’t have a picnic in this weather.
Looking into subtext
Subtextually, she is telling him to go away, she wants to read, further confirmed by her action.
Her action, then, is to return to the book she is reading, upside down. Freddy had the option to tell her, but chooses not to. We know that he is annoyed by her reaction, and so he reacts by not helping her out. Instead, his next action is to leave her struggling with the book.
Subtext wise, we learn Amy can’t really read—maybe that is why she is annoyed. Maybe she wanted quiet so that she could learn. We wouldn’t know this until another scene confirmed it.
We learn what the weather is like (expositional), but also what the characters are like. Amy does not seem like a nice person, while Freddy is polite, but he won’t help someone who is rude to him.
The same thing would apply to a screenplay.
FREDDY: Mornin’! Delightful weather today, ain’t it?
Amy peeks up from her book, which she has upside down, and glances up at the overcast sky. She looks at Freddy who has a wicker basket.
AMY: Hmmm, delightful?I suppose of a castover sky is your thing…
Amy slapped her hand on her chestAMY (cont’d): Wouldn’t take a chance with a picnic myself!
Freddy looks at the book, is about to speak, shakes his head. There’s a moment of silence.
FREDDY: Well… s’pose I best be off, see ya!
Action and Reaction Task
Choose one of these scenarios and come up with your own action / reaction piece.
- A couple and a waiter in a café
- A parent and a toddler at bath time
- A human and their cat in the home
- A teacher and a pupil in detention
- 2 work colleges in the office.
Try and make the scene show who these characters are, their personality, and if also possible, see if you can hide any exposition through the action and reaction.
My attempt
“I don’ wanna,” screamed Jess as her mother lifted her up to place her in the bath. She curled up her toes to prevent the water from touching her skin. The mother lowered Jess into the water. . Jess clambered to the edge of the bath and lifted her leg over the edge Her mother, Mary, just placed her foot back into the water.
“Cold,” the child said. The mother tests the temperate with her hand and shakes her head.
“It’s fine,” the mother said. She grabbed a sponge and started to wash the child’s body. The child screamed and pointed at one of the toys out the bath. The mother looked at a duck. The child tries to move to the corner of the bath, but her mother still has hold of her. Instead, the mother placed the duck in the bath. Jess looked at it then at her mother before picking it up and remaining quiet.
Action / reaction:
- Child controls limbs and screaming. | Mother ignores outburst.
- Child, Jess tries to escape. | Mother does not react verbally.
- Jess comes up with excuse. | Mother calls her buff.
- Jess tries to divert attention. | Mother looks but does not let go of child.
- mother gives child duck. | Child gives up.
Thanks for Reading
I hope you enjoyed this post, feel free to show me your scenes in comments, follow me on Social media and join my group.
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