How to Write an Action Scene
Happy Thursday everyone! I decided to work on a different post today and take a break from posting literally essential devices.
Today this post will be all about action scenes and how to write them.
First we need to learn that there are various types of fighting styles or rather common fighting scenes that we see in the media and in writing.
Fight scenes can take on many iterations, but most fall into one of four categories:
Hand-to-hand combat: These fight scenes focus on the abilities and limitations of the human body. Boxing matches, martial arts battles, and straight up brawls between the good guy and the bad guy all fit this category. While there’s more to these films than mere fist fights, they’re nonetheless remembered for the fighting styles they showcase.
Fights with weapons: Weapon-based fights date all the way back to classical theater. For instance, Shakespeare concludes Hamlet with a fatal sword fight between Prince Hamlet and the aggrieved Laertes. Contemporary fights often involve guns, and indeed nearly every action movie of the past several decades seems to involve a shootout of some sort.
Fights on the run: Many of the best fight scenes pass through multiple locations before reaching a climax. Think of Indiana Jones battling villains on a train or James Bond dispatching villains using all manners of cars, boats, and helicopters.
Fights involving superpowers: Many a great fight scene has functioned as a showcase for characters’ superpowers—from the superhuman strength of a main character to the shapeshifting menace of a supervillain. These fights can thrill audiences as they push the boundaries of possibility, but writers should take care to sculpt these scenes carefully and not let them devolve into a checklist of cool stunts.
The Challenges of Writing Action Sequences
The art of writing fight scenes involves two main challenges.
Technical writing style. Whether you’re writing descriptive paragraphs in a novel or stage directions in a script or screenplay, you must be able to articulate the fight you envision in your head without wearing down your reader with technical drivel. Balancing specific details of your action sequences with a propulsive story isn’t easy to do. Sometimes a great fight sequence doesn’t come together in a first draft, so focus your revisions on clarifying each action and providing vivid detail without besieging your reader with dull technical terms.
 Storytelling during fight scenes. Your fight scene has to be part of your overall narrative, not a diversion from it. The key elements of a good story—character development, rising conflict, and detailed worldbuilding—must not be abandoned just because a fight is happening. A great fight scene will flow seamlessly from the story that comes before it into the story that comes after it.
Remember the actual actions of fighting are quick and sudden movements and it is often best to portray that in your writing with quick, short sentences. Unless you feel the need to write lengthy sentences that is!
Tips on How to Write a Fight Scene
Plan fight scenes to logically fit with your overall story. Some amateur writers use fight scenes as irrelevant set pieces—fixed moments in a book or script that other plot elements center around. In the best writing, however, fight scenes serve the overall narrative, not the other way around. When evaluating a brawl or a battle showdown in your narrative, ask yourself: Does it move my story forward? Does its inclusion align with my main character’s motivations? Does the story naturally flow into and out of this brawl?
 Include some technical details, but not too many. When you’re putting a fight scene into a script, you’ll likely want to indicate some degree of choreography so that directors and actors can envision what you have in mind. Likewise, in a novel or short story, you’ll want your fight scenes to have specific detail so they stand out from the pack. At the same time, recognize that the way to a reader’s heart isn’t through minutia. It’s through long arcs in character and story. Bogging down a fight scene in technical details will distract from those arcs and disengage a reader.
 Write in first person to try something different. Most fight scenes are told in the third person by an omniscient narrator who can describe every detail from every character’s perspective. Omniscient narrators can be great for worldbuilding, but they’re standard issue when it comes to action scenes. By contrast, a first person narrator provides a visceral perspective on a fight. Which is more unique: a narrator telling you that a boxer gained the upper hand in a fight, or the boxer himself describing the sudden shift from imminent to defeat to looming victory? First person narration connects your story to real life and can promote a deeper level of investment from your reader.
Things to Consider When Writing Action Scenes
hand to hand combat are often quick sudden movements and can cause the characters to tire out faster, unless they have good training such as boxers, who know how to use their space, distance and energy wisely.
things can get messy! There will be blood and sweat. Remember these can get in the eyes and cause irritation ad prohibit the fighter from being at their best.
Contrary to beliefs, adrenaline will not always give you the boost you need. Sometimes it will inhibit you from moving or causing damage to your opponent. It can make the fighter shake, throw inaccurate punches, jabs, weapons, sorcery, etc. Sometimes the nerves get the best and prohibit the character from expelling spells from their hands/fingertips, wants or magic object.
Weapons can and will break. What will the characters do then?
If the character isn't the best at fighting, will they use objects around them to protect themselves? Will they fight or run (flight).
There you have it! Something different from what I have been posting.
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