Behind the Scenes

How to Fight-I Mean Write

The one thing I am complimented the most on and asked advice for is writing fight scenes. Fight scenes are the dread of writing. You want to add action to spice up your story, yet how can you write an accurate fight scene when you actually never been in a serious fight? How can I make it engaging without dragging it out, slowing it down, or making it boring? I faced all these dilemmas too and I learned through research (*cough* Pinterest *cough*) and practice. I hope my discoveries help you fear writing fight scenes a bit less.

Make your sentences short. Choppy. Quick actions are all you need. Don't make your sentences too long by describing every punch, kick, and swipe in detail. All we need to know is that it happened. Fights are short, chaotic, and fast-paced. There's not much to describe anyways, especially when your character can't think, which brings me to my next tip.

Adrenaline. Most likely, your character is high on adrenaline and their minds go blank. Be careful how you describe their thought process though. If your fighter is a novice, they might be doing a lot of thinking and less observing because they don't have instincts or muscle memory yet. If your character is trained, they might be more observant of their opponent and don't think much about their actions because it's all muscle memory. Adrenaline can make you do things you normally can't do and boost you on stamina, but when it fades, you're left exhausted and sore.

Heat of the moment. Your character is not going to be thinking about lunch right now. They will not dwell on things or daydream. All of his or her attention is on not dying or, if the situation is not as dire, winning. When I mentioned observing earlier, I meant analyzing the opponent's fight pattern, skill level, strengths, weaknesses, and mistakes. They're not going to be observing the color of their eyes or how hot they look when in a murderous rage; at least I hope they're not. Keep thoughts to a minimum and focus on actions. Most of the time, even the smartest moves are acted without thinking.

Word choice. Adverbs are not necessary. Use as many verbs as you'd like.

Senses. Emotions. Senses will not be remembered, but are still felt the moment. Taste such as salty sweat, coppery blood, and dry mouth. Smells such as sweat, blood, and the setting. Sounds such as flesh connection, breaking bones, grunts, groans, moans, screams, sobs, begs, clanging weapons, and ringing ears. Touch such as headaches, soreness, stinging or burning cuts, blood pumping, heart pounding, clenched jaw, exhaustion, bruises, and burns. Emotions may not be felt in the moment, but remembered. The aftermath of surviving something like that could be frightening or unsettling. Maybe your character started out angry or threatened or murderous.

Timing. Even in movies, fights usually last two minutes. I'm not talking about battles in war, I'm talking about fights between two or a few people. So don't drag it out. Eliminating thoughts, focusing on actions, and keeping your sentences short, simple and choppy will prevent you from making your fight too long anyways. Your characters will get tired and their attacks will become more sloppy as the fight continues. They will slow down, take more hits, and deliver blows intended to end the fight.

Battles. Now battles and war are slightly different. You can allow more thought process and dialogue with allies. There will be more breaks in between opponents and each fight will be about two or three strokes before the killer blow unless we're taking about the Boss of the battle. For example, think of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Clones and Jedi take out battle droids in the blink of an eye, but when General Grievous arrives, the Jedi have a much harder time. Another example: The Lord of the Rings. Orcs fall right and left, but there is usually that one bigger, tougher Orc or Troll that takes a bit more effort to take down, usually by Aragorn.

Weaponry: Since this was kind of short, I thought I would add what little I know about weapons.

Bows and arrows: My favorite, if you can't tell by the username. Archers must wear something called bracers around their wrists and about half of their upper arm. This prevents the string from hitting soft flesh and leaving a painful burn or worse. Sometimes, archer will wear a bit of protective gear around their string fingers to prevent bowstring fingers. If not, an experienced bowman will have very calloused fingers and/or scaring. There are different kinds of bows for different kinds of shooting. A long bow is used for shooting a great distance and is, well, long. Almost as tall as the archer. A recurve bow is for shorter distance and is preferred in a guerrilla fight because it is easier to use in confined spaces and shoot around angles. Whatever bow they use, the archer must pull the string back to the max, anchoring their arrow against the cheek by the corner of their mouth. Arrows must be checked before use. The slightest change in the fletching or arrowhead could result in a miss.

Swords: Second favorite. Length and weight of the sword is important and will differ between different people depending on their height, strength and skill. They must be sharpened and cleaned after battle as swords can be dulled, chipped and bloodstained by the end of it. If you'd like, you can give a sword a name and significance like Arthur's Excalibur or Bilbo Baggins' Sting or Percy Jackson's Riptide. Swords are kept in sheaths that hang from a belt. Sure, there have been some instances where the character is without a sheath (like Aragorn before he was gifted one by Galadriel), but that is very dangerous. Like what happened to Martin Luther, a sheathless sword could cut your leg severely. There's many different kinds of swords for different kinds of fighting and all the parts and terminology too, so I recommend doing a bit of research before writing your future fantasy novel. All I know is that you don't fence with a broad sword...

Guns: Now we're steering down more modern times. I saved a few tips about guns for writing purposes, of course. After firing, guns are hot. Someone can burn themselves if they touch the muzzle or barrel or jam it back under their waistband. Bullet shells are also hot and should not be picked up right away. There is no flash of light when a shot gun or hand gun is fired. Guns are extremely loud and will leave your ears ringing. You will run out of bullets eventually. There is a kickback and your first-time shooters may not expect it.

Lightsabers: Just because I can. Lightsabers are the sole weapon of the Jedi and Sith. At its core is a kyber crystal, which bonds with the Force-user and becomes the color that best resembles their personality. Red kyber crystals are artificially tainted by the Dark Side. Because a lightsaber is connected to the Force and is a very dangerous weapon, those who cannot control the Force have much more difficulty wielding one than a Force-sensitive would. There are many different style of lightsaber combat as well as hilts and colors. Because the blade is energy, it can burn through flesh and most materials. In the words of Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, it is an elegant weapon.

Knives and daggers: Same as swords except they can be thrown. They also have other uses than combat such as hunting. When they are used for fighting, your character must be quick because they are fighting at close quarters.

I hope this was helpful! I may write a post about whump and injuries because some of y'all need to learn how to do it right. I had to learn, too. Comment if you're interested and if this helped. Also, if you have any knowledge on weapons or writing fight scenes, feel free to comment that, too. I'm always learning.