Why Action-Adventure is the Most popular Genre?

• Do you want to Start a New Story?
• And you don’t know which Genre or Setting choose.
• Why not pick a Genre which fits every Setting?
• Which Genre can do this?
• This 1.

Summary – Why do we Favor Action-Adventure?

1. It’s the Broadest Genre.
2. It’s the Most Flexible.
3. It can accommodate all Settings.
4. It’s the Genre that fits best Series.
5. It allows to create Sagas quite easily.
6. It may also be the most enjoyable Genre.
7. Allowing to create the most enjoyable Characters.

• Action-Adventure will often help you to create Stories.
• The flexibility of its structure may also allow you to change of Genre as the Story unfolds.



The Broadest Genre

• A sense of Large Scale
• Adventure means Exploration.
• In most cases the World will be presented as Dense or Complex.
• Even if it is only a Town.
• Multiple Interactions will be proposed to the Characters.
• Many of which, will have multiple different consequences.
• Generally, 2ndary Characters will be attached to a zone.
• These zones should be defined early in the Story.
• You should also start by Mapping your World.
• The Larger your World, the Clearer the Map will need to be.

• Diversity
• Action means Conflicts.
• For this you’ll need oppositions.
• Oppositions between Groups.
• Oppositions between Individuals.
• All Genres are based on the Creation of Conflict.
• Action-Adventure benefits from Scale.
• It also places itself in an ideal zone.
• It’s often brutal but also more detached from the consequences.
• Aftermath of a conflicts are often more intense & painful in Drama or Horror.

• Series & Sagas
• The Broadness of Action-Adventure makes it the most appropriate Genre for Series.
• It is intrinsically adapted for Sagas.
• The Characters pursue a Short term Objective which is directed by the Story.
  • Often this Objective is to Stop another Organization or Individual.
  • Or to protect a Location from this Organization or Individual.
• They also pursue a Long term Objective defined by themselves.
  • Their own Growth.
• The Balance between these 2 layer of Objective allow to develop a Saga properly.

If you want to know more about Series.



Depicting Action-Adventure

• Why Action-Adventure?
• Why not Action or Adventure?
• The main Difference with Pure Action is in the Exploration.
• Action revolves around Characters.
• Whereas Adventure focuses on Environments.
• Action-Adventure provides a Balance.
• Allowing the Public to explore the World.
• While attaching themselves to the Characters.
• The main Difference with Pure Adventure is in the Violence.
• Many pure Adventure stories are joyful & bright.
• They go through consensual topics.
• Therefore, they may be adapted to a public considered childish.
  • Fables are not per se, children material.
  • They are not necessarily Adventure either.
  • Many famous Fables & Tales can be classified as Horror or Drama.

• Horror
• How do Horror integrates to Action-Adventure?
• The Combination has 1 main advantage Brutality.
• Horror brings more Violence while maintaining this Public-Friendly frame brought by Action-Adventure.
• It allows to instil Fear in the Public.
• To display Starker Consequences.
• To propose more difficult & painful choices to the Characters.
  • Remember, true Horror is reached when the Character herself becomes the Monster.
• Horror exacerbates the Action dimension.

• Drama
• Drama is essential if you want to create Attachment.
• Drama is the genre of Sadness.
• And the Public should long for this Sadness.
• The Combination of Action-Adventure & Drama enlightens it.
• It allows to create more Memorable Separations.
• To display more Memorable Disappearances & Deaths.
• To Open the Public’s eye on a broader world.
• Leaving more room for Contemplation.
• Drama exacerbates the Adventure dimension.

• Comedy
• Comedy is Relief.
• Action-Adventure needs more Comedy.
• It needs funnier Characters.
• Not just 1 per story but many.
• All Characters can have a humorous dimension.
• Even the most Dramatic ones could evolve to a point where they realize their issues have a silver lining.
• Some painful situations may even be soothed by laughter.
  • That is, laughter concerning the Situation directly.
  • Which is why this last remark is not applicable to every painful Situation.

If you want to know more about depicting a Story.

It Fits almost every Story

• Flexibility
• Action-Adventure offers Possibilities.
  • To the Story.
  • To the Characters.
  • To the Public.
• It is by far the most flexible genre.
• One could write almost any story using this Genre’s Structure & make it successful.
• It often is more inclusive than Horror or Drama.
• It is easier to write than Comedy.
• And it is more Universal than pure Action or Adventure.

• Accommodation
• Most Action-Adventure stories will please.
• Because they are Accommodating stories.
• Action-Adventure brings a sense of Comfort.
• These stories feel Comfortable for they are Known.
• Or at least appear Familiar.
• Also, the genre seems to be more Accessible & Friendly than any of the other 5.

• Limits
• Not every topic will be covered.
• Because not every topic is welcomed in Action-Adventure.
• Not every story will be told under the Action-Adventure label.
• Difficulty to welcome the harshest elements of Horror.
• This genre is Consensual.
• Therefore, it may lack of Intensity.
• Also, it will often lack of Depth.
• It is rarely as Innovative as other Genres.
• Comedy is often Plain.
• And the Weakness of the Comical situations is noticeable.

If you want to know more about the types of Adventures.

An Enjoyable Story

• An Enjoyable Setting
• Stories are meant to be Enjoyed.
• That’s what Entertainment means.
• That’s what it needs to deliver.
• …
• At least for Action-Adventure.
• It is the only genre in which you could expect an Enjoyable Story in the traditional Connotation of the word.
• Even Comedy does not have to deliver this.
• Some great Comedies can be painful to watch if you come to emphasize with the Protagonists.
• Most Stories are meant to be enjoyed.
• Even in Horror or Drama.
• However, not all Stories will be.
• Because of the narrow Connotation of Enjoyable.

• A World you want to Explore
• Action-Adventure means Exploration.
• It doesn’t deliver as much as pure Adventure in term of Environment.
• Though it is 2nd to this Genre in term of Exploration.
• Most environments will be Impressive.
  • Not all environments should be.
  • Diversity is essential in most things.
• Most Characters will be Enjoyable.
• To meet, to interact with, even to part with.
• Why are they enjoyable?

• Enjoyable Characters
• Action-Adventure is the Genre which makes most use of Archetypes.
  • Far more than Horror & Comedy.
• There is a simple reason to this.
• Action-Adventure is meant to feel Familiar.
• It’s its defining Characteristic.
• Characters created on an Archetypal base will feel more familiar.
• And subsequently, when they are Individualized, more Enjoyable.
• They will, as always, require Quirks to create the necessary Uniqueness factor.

If you want to know more about the Enjoyability factor.