Tips On Writing Fight Scenes
– I decided to finally make a list of tips on writing fight scenes for all of you who come to me with questions. I am definitely not an expert, though, so I’ve included another resource at the bottom that you can visit if you have further questions. Happy writing!
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Don’t Write Meaningless Action Scenes
Your story isn’t a movie. Time shouldn’t be taken up by action that doesn’t have a purpose. Your fight scene should resolve some form of conflict or have some function other than pure entertainment. Action scenes in books don’t have the visual factor, so you need to fill that gap with emotion and significance to the plot.
Fight scenes are a fantastic way to add depth to your characters. Real, genuine emotions and traits come out when a person is in an intense situation, and fight scenes are definitely intense for characters. The way your character feels and reacts during a fight, as well as what is going through their head, are great details to display to your reader in order to make their personalities more three-dimensional.
Fight scenes in books are about emotions. Emotional significance, emotional reactions, and emotional consequences. Fear, uncertainty, desperation, pain, suspense, stress, etc. are all emotions your character will endure and you should make these visible to your reader or the scene will bore them.
Know where the suspension of disbelief ends. It’s important to know details like “If you jump off a building and land on your feet, your chicken legs will shatter, so your character, being a smarty pants, will know to tuck and roll.”
There’s no better way to explain this than to just say that if you have a question, any question at all, ask it. Find a reliable source, use your common sense, and try to write as accurately as you can.
Avoid Cliche’s and Conveniences
Simply, avoid the tropes that make your readers roll their eyes. Such as a completely inexperienced kid suddenly being able to take on 3 all powerful beings and leaving the battle without a scratch. Also, please make sure that your characters that are very skilled in combat have established limits and weaknesses. It doesn’t matter how talented you are with a sword, it is not possible, or at least very very difficult to take on a whole army of dead soldiers. Just keep that line between impressive and impossible in mind.
Create Some Actual Stakes
There are a lot of fight scenes out there that have little to no actual suspense because there’s nothing at risk. Yeah, maybe someone might get hurt or a castle will be lost, but there’s no bigger picture there or significant emotional loss to be experienced. If your characters are going to put their lives at risk to fight a battle they’ll likely lose, then there must be a really freaking good reason, and that needs to be clear to the reader. Context and connection will make the scene more intense for the reader, and that is key.
Use Your Fancy Writer Skills
Fight scenes are a really great opportunity to show off your technical skills as a writer, as they rely a lot on pacing, word choice, and description. You get to work with varying sentence structure, fancy words you don’t usually have the occasion to use, and descriptions that include more than one sense in a single sentence.
Sentence structure and choreography are an important part of fight scenes, because they convey a sense of place and realism to your reader’s experience. When it comes to sentence length, short, chopped sentences invoke suddenness, like quick actions that are happening in your story. Longer sentences, with more detail, slow it down and add for build up before another boom of action.
Use powerful words to accompany your powerful scene. Slice, shatter, pound, strike, crush, attack, escape, etc. These are all powerful words that will evoke more imagery in your reader’s mental depiction of the scene. Additionally, avoid adverbs at all cost. This is an occasion where you simply can’t afford them.
Work mostly with details that trigger the reader’s 5 senses. What the character smells, hears, sees, feels, and tastes. A lot of people feel this is difficult to do in such a fast paced scene type, but you can be dynamic with it by saying things like “The copper taste on his tongue and the blaring sirens in the distance didn’t phase him as he continued strike the man’s already bruised face”.
For More Information On The Subject
@howtofightwrite is a really great blog that focuses on writing fight scenes. They have a bunch of great resources and advice and I definitely recommend checking them out.
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