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How to Write a Fight Scene (Rebloggable Version)

Admin Note: This post is a rebloggable copy of our page on fight scenes. The page is being phased out, so from now on all updates will be made on this post and not on the page.

Among the typically difficult scenes writers face in their stories, the fight scene definitely ranks high on the list. Below you will find several resources with tips for writing a good fight scene.

Action with a Side of Zombies: One of our articles focused specifically on writing action scenes. Bonus: the examples all include zombies.

ArchetypesAndAllusions: An article on the three main types of fighters and their various approaches to kickin’ ass (or not).

TheCreativePenn.com: Alan Baxter, speculative fiction author, gives some great advice on characterization, setting, martial style, and cliches.

StoryHack.com: A PDF that takes you through writing a fight scene step by step by Randy Ingermanson, compiled by Bryce Beattie.

MarilynnByerly.com: An extremely good guide to writing fight scenes. This guide includes tips on character viewpoint, mapping the fight, and tricks for writing each type of fight.

Shelfari.com: This site is an interview with famed fantasy author R.A. Salvatore on how to write great fight scenes.

TheBusinessOfWriting: C. Patrick Schulze gives some good, solid advice on identifying and writing your fight scene.

EzineArticles.com: Marq McAlister explains how to make a fight scene pack some serious punch. This article is good for fine-tuning.

Martin Turner: Focusing specifically on sword-fighting scenes, Martin Turner writes in great detail on every conceivable detail of this type of time-honored fight scene.

SeriousPixie.com: Susan tells you about the three types of fight scene writers and explains how to fix the problems that arise for each type.

David Alan Lucus: This multi-part guide gives advice in exhaustive detail on how to write an awesome fight scene.

NightFoot: This Tumblr post offers some great tips for writing fight scenes.

Film Crit Hulk: A shoe-in for screenwriters, the Hulk and special guest Tom Townend talk shop on how to write a great movie action scene.

Harry Edmundson-Cornell: Harry writes a series on the fight scene geared toward writers of Superhero comics.

How To Fight Write: The knowledgeable and thorough admins of this exceptional Tumblr blog will teach you everything you ever wanted to know about fight scenes and weaponry—even if they have to beat it into you.

Scholagladiatoria: A YouTuber with lots of weapons teaches you how they were/are properly used to their greatest advantage.

These links provide advice specifically for writing battle scenes:

Gerri Blanc: eHow’s article on battle scenes is a basic step-by-step list for you. It’s a good introduction to writing battle scenes.

StormTheCastle.com: This article takes you through an in-depth guide on how to write battle scenes for fantasy stories.

Rhonda Leigh Jones: Jones lists some dos and don’ts of writing battle scenes.

Other resources:

List of Martial Arts: Looking for a fighting style? Find it here!

List of Weapons: Every type of weapon you can think of is listed here.

List of Military Tactics: From troop movements to siege warfare, this list has got you covered.

Asylum.com: A few examples of awesome battle tactics from history.

BadassOfTheWeek.com: Get some inspiration for awesome fight scenes and fighting characters from this compendium of badassitude.

Thearmedgentleman: Austin has offered to share his knowledge on weaponry with any writers who have questions. Thanks, Austin!

Don’t see what you’re looking for here? You can find every post we’ve ever made or reblogged about fight scenes in our “fight” tag. You might also find our “action scene” tag useful.

We hope this helps! If you have another link or a tip for how to write fight/battle scenes, hit up our ask box and let us know!

art-res

Great tutorial!

#writing advice

clevergirlhelps

Writing About Immortality

ORIGIN

Granted Immortality – the character is given immortality. Gods and other high-magic beings will gift their mortal friends or pawns. Or perhaps the character has found a magical artifact or spell that will make them immortal. In other words, the character is born mortal, but becomes immortal. Examples: Nicholas Flamel (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone); Ganymede (Greek mythology); vampires (Twilight Saga); Jesus Christ (the Bible)

Natural Immortality – the character is born immortal. Immortality is a characteristic of their race, whether by science, magic, or their genes. However, the character does age and stops maturing a little over the age of consent. (Although it would be interesting to have a culture of immortal three-year-olds or immortal ninety-year-olds.) Examples: elves (Lord of the Rings); Asgardians (Thor); Greek/Roman gods

DEGREE OF IMMORTALITY

Incomplete – the character cannot die from old age or sickness. They can be killed by violent means – that is, they can be burned, shot, stoned, quartered, hanged, drowned, bled to death, etc. Or the character has a weakness (like silver bullets with werewolves) or there is a certain artifact that can kill them. Examples: elves (Lord of the Rings and Inheritance Cycle; can die violent deaths); angels (Supernatural; can by killed by angel blades or godlike power); vampires (can be torn to pieces and burned, stabbed with wood stakes, beheaded, etc.); werewolves (silver bullet); Voldemort (Harry Potter; can be killed if his horcruxes are destroyed as well); zombies (headshot)

Complete – the character is immortal no matter what happens. They can be torn apart atom by atom and age a billions years and still look like twenty-somethings. Granted, characters that have complete immortality are often too powerful to capture or torture anyway. Examples: most gods/God; personifications of Death

CONDITIONS

Conditional Immortality – the character needs to do something to preserve their immortality. Characters must perform certain rites – bathing in virgin’s blood seems common – or take the essence of a certain compound, or pray to gods, or become mortal for one day out of the year. If they fail to do the action, the character will become mortal and possibly revert to their true age within a matter of seconds. Examples: immortals (Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel; mortals swear obedience to their god in return for immortality); that crazy doctor guy (Supernatural; had to constantly look for fresh organs to replace his decayed ones); the Queen (Snow White and the Huntsman; had to have virgin’s blood); gods (American Gods; needed worship)

Unconditional Immortality – the character is granted/born with immortality and don’t need to do anything to sustain it. Examples: elves (LOTR); gods

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#writing advice