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The Secret of the Fight Scene

Everyone has seen that one fight scene that made them go “Wow.” Something about the battle made you jeer or even cry. Fight scenes, in a perfect sense, are meant to hold you at the edge of your seat, anticipating for what could happen next, then release you at the climax - leaving you exhausted but satisfied. (Get your mind out of the gutter; I am trying to sound cool here).

And of course, there is an underlying secret that will help you create the ultimate fight scene - sit nice and tight as I generously share the SECRET OF THE FIGHT SCENE (Insert dramatic explosion here)

I will be using the example of Mirajane vs Freed from Fairy Tail - arguably one of the best fight scenes in the entire series. It was fast, intense, epic, and best of all, tear jerking. Why?

The answer is quite simple; the fight scene told a story. The scene begins with Freed, a member of Fairytail, torturing Mirajane’s brother, Elfman(who was also part of the guild along with his sister), and threatened to kill him. This triggered a flashback for Mira of her supposedly dead sister, Lisanna, and how a take-over gone wrong resulted in her death. It becomes a mental battle as Mirajane must decide whether to use her take-over Satan Soul to save her brother, or to not risk it going haywire, possibly losing another sibling. This moment was the turning point for Mira’s character development. Her duty vs her fear. It is worth noting that all previous scenes with Mira, we seen only a kind, gentle side of her - her “demonic” side only hinted at a couple of times. This moment is when we discover exactly why Mirajane was known as the She-Devil. Now back to that pivotal moment: Mirajane makes her choice, and in an epic sequence, transforms into a demon. She goes to completely annihilate Freed in a beautifully choreographed showdown. The ending wrapped up the scene perfectly - Mira finishes the battle with the conclusion of what was occurring was wrong - they shouldn't be fighting one another because they are all members of the same guild. It left Freed in tears as he realizes his mistakes.

To sum it up, this entire battle was filled with character development and growth for both characters - Mirajane overcoming her fear and Freed evaluating his morals.

Choreography plays a secondary role as there are plenty of fights with absolutely stunning moves but appear lacking and unimportant. A good rule of thumb is if you can remove a fight scene from the story and nothing changes, then it has no use in the story.

A fight scene is like every other scene in the story - it must have some sort of narrative in order to truly have weight.

(I probably will write a seperate post on choreography and how to pick the perfect match)

[heartlesswriters]

The Mysterious Art of Magic

The concept of magic goes as far back as oral storytelling – whether it be about religious stories of gods and their abilities, or tales of heroes and their supernatural tokens used to defeat evil – which all comes back to the idea of doing the impossible. In the modern world, magic is systemized in the Fantasy genre; meaning, magic in today’s literature follows certain rules to establish a believable story. The only way for a fantastical story to be considered seriously is if the very foundations of the laws of that universe are stable and consistent. 

Essentially, to put it in simpler terms – Magic has rules and bullshit is not tolerated.

The best way to avoid holes in magic is to know how your magic works. For instance, in the show Avatar: The Last Airbender, bending(magic) is the manipulation of the five elements(Water, Earth, Fire, Air, Energy) and is directly dependent on spirituality. An average bender can only be affiliated with one element. The Avatar is granted the ability to manipulate all the elements. This is why the Avatar is so powerful. This is how the entire universe of Avatar is constructed. This is how we have no “asspulls.” Every single person in Avatar abides by these rules and thus, we can believe the story. 

There are several elements you need to keep in mind when generating your magic – What is magic in your world? Where does it originate?How does a user utilize the magic? What are the repercussions of using magic? What are the restrictions? How common is magic usage per member of a population? 

I will utilize my story I am working on, Stains of Sangre, to give an example of how I came up with the answers. 

In the world of Stains of Sangre, magic is the physical form of the sun’s energy which originates from the earth through a process similar to photosynthesis (except the sun’s energy is converted into magic and stored in the earth). 

To utilize magic, a mage must trade an equal part of their soul, release part of it to make room for an equal part of magic. This creates an equilibrium which is a recurring theme in the story. 

Of course there are repercussions; using too much magic at once could deplete your body of your soul and potentially either kill you or allow for a “demon” to infest your body. Symptoms include: fatigue, anxiety, dissociation, etc.  

Restrictions are based on how quickly your soul can regenerate which directly connects to mental, physical, and spiritual health. Then there is the restriction in the land itself – it takes about 50 years for the land to accumulate magic (covert soul into magic) so consequently if used all at once, no one would be abe to use magic because there is nothing to trade with. I also included symptoms of this phenomenon as dead plants and lack of animal life. 

On a different note, it is very important to establish your restrictions as they keep your characters from getting too over powered. 

Magic is quite common in my world – the only restrictions being if you have problems with your soul(spirituality) or have some sort of illness. 

How you answer these questions is up to you. It is beautiful to watch people generate entire systems of magic, so different from one another, in their minds.  

If you have anything to add, you are more than welcome to. 

Also, just one very important thing to remember; if you gain anything from this long ass essay:

NO BULLSHIT

~Mod Robot

[heartlesswriters]

Dealing With Plot Holes - Part 1:

Hello everyone, Mod Freya here!

Writing is a great way to let your imagination run wild. You create everything, from the world’s rules to its characters. You are an omnipotent god; your story is your dominion. And as a result, you can include anything you want.

However, those endless possibilities have a major drawback that, if not properly addressed, can immensely disturb the flow of your writing: plot holes. Because you’re able to put in any idea that might seem fitting, you will inevitably encounter contradictions and inconsistencies at some point.

It’s a merciless monster that devours everything unfortunate enough to cross its path. If you fall into its trap, it will swallow your ideas and pull them into an endless abyss until your story is reduced to a singularity. No one is safe from black holes-- plot holes. I mean plot holes.

I made that pun a week ago, and I’m still proud of it.

Since my fellow heartless writers deemed me relatively specialized in plot details and such, I decided to share my personal approach for treating black plot holes. Please take my advice with a grain of salt, as I’m a newbie writer with a limited experience.

You could probably tell from the title that I’m going to address this topic in two posts. In this one, I’m going to talk about how to spot plot holes. I have two ways to do that. Without further ado, here they are:

Make an outline: A good way to keep an eye out for plot holes is to organize your story. Having a planned outline helps you keep everything in check. I also found out that the more detailed it is, the more effective your plot hole radar will be. For example: I’m making a timeline for my first story right now, and whenever I mention something such as a magic type for the first time, I write side notes containing all the rules, strengths and restrictions I have for it. That way, I can come back to it whenever I mention it again and see if there are any contradictions.

Check the ideas’ compatibility: Whenever you come up with a new or rough idea, compare it to every rule, character and event related to it. As mentioned earlier, you can even go back to the outline or a character’s profile for reference. Ask yourself questions like the following: Does this make sense? Is this relevant? Is this compatible with the rules of my universe? Would it be logical for this character to do something like that? Would this effect the plot in a way that would realistically change an event or make it irrelevant? How can this even happen? Can I tweak this detail in a way that makes it possible? This will help you find and hopefully eliminate any future plot hole that might arise from new ideas.

This is how I personally look for those stubborn little parasites called plot holes. The next step is to annihilate them. There’s nothing wrong with finding things that don’t make sense in your story at first. In fact, it just means you have a wide imagination and a variety of ideas you want implement in your plot. Now, you just have to use said imagination to choose the most suitable ideas and play around with them until they do make sense... but that’s for another post!

Before I finish, I want to say that this is all subjective. My advice might not work for you, but I hope it’s as beneficial as possible. If you have other ways to spot black holes, please feel free to share it with us in the reblogs!

~ Mod Freya