This may seem like a no-brainer for some folks here, but I have to ask for help here. I've been through about 3 drafts of 4 different fights that happen within the plot (my coursework means my story goes on the backburner). Some of them are important to the main plot, others are just to establish a character and their strengths/weaknesses. I can provide more details but, how much emphasis do I give each one depending on their importance. My writing is equally story and action-driven, and I may have bitten off more than I can chew. The characters involved in the fights are each individually feeling a slew of emotions over the course of the fight, feeling each injury, regenerating wounds while simultaneously being hurt again, This all seems difficult to incorporate tastefully within a written story. Any advice?
This is a really good breakdown of how fight scenes work and what makes one of them good, even though it's talking about visual rather than written media: As for how much detail, it depends--how much does that fight scene affect your plot? "Story" and "action" don't need to be different things--indeed, they probably shouldn't be (note: I'm not sure if you're saying you already have both within your fight scenes.). Fights, or any sort of high-stakes conflict, are great vessels for character and plot development, but to be memorable, they need to advance the plot or the arc of a character. For example, take the Luke vs Vader scene from The Empire Strikes Back. It's important to the plot in that it's a much-anticipated showdown that turns into a one-sided battle that shows Luke isn't anywhere near ready to face Vader, for all his good intentions. It's important to the characters in that they both have motivations and goals that extend beyond the fight--Luke wants revenge on the killer of his father and of his mentor, while Vader wants to win the fight, but not kill Luke. By the time the fight's over, the plot has been advanced, and Luke's arc has moved on considerably, with his purpose shaken and his goals thrown into question, while Vader has revealed something that changes what we thought we knew about him, and also hinted that he's not wholly loyal to the Emperor. It's those things that make it much more than a largely irrelevant display of flashiness. For the question of taste, you don't need to get too visceral with the descriptions. Combat is hectic, and even characters who can't regenerate often don't notice injuries until later on. It should be enough to simply describe bursts of pain or the most immediately noticeable effect of a hit (wounding a leg to knock the character to the ground, etc).
I'm awful at fight scenes. I just don't have a mind that puts together a series of actions in a way that makes sense to anyone else, or in some cases is even realistic. I was about to give up altogether, and then I read a post on a roleplaying forum that made me realize a good fight scene didn't have to be a technical manual. I went back and hunted it up so I could quote it. For context, this is a duel between a dragon-kin (Tom) and a panther-kin (Iani), in the middle of a huge battle. I was really impressed when I read this. I felt it was a great scene, which cleverly glossed over the fact that the writer didn't know exactly how to narrate a blow-for-blow fight scene either. If I hadn't been in the same boat, I wouldn't have noticed!
You need to focus on why the fight is going on. The point of the fight is not the fight, it's the impact on the story. So a fight where your main character gets the crap kicked out of him to show that he isn't ready, the aforementioned Luke/Vader fight in an excellent example of this, is going to be described differently than a fight for honor or a fight for the life of an innocent. You're going to be a lot more descriptive of the action in a fight where the stakes are story-altering than you are in a fight where it's just happening to establish something about the character. Most people don't care about every punch, every sword slash, they care about the broad strokes about what's going on and why it's important for them to care about.
I have a good example I think. Lauren saves a man from being mugged: This is the first time she really gets to utilize her new Vampyric abilities outside of her coven. She's aware she's far stronger than any human, but has zero combat experience at this point in the story. She realizes the extent of her power after she fails to throw a proper punch, gets stabbed, regenerates, gets angry and tosses one of the muggers hard enough to shatter brick. She also gives into her bloodthirst when she sees the mugger bleeding, which scares the guy she had intended to save away before he could even retrieve his stolen items, also making her more aware and thoughtful of the inherent bloodthirst. I'm hoping this sounds decent at least. This is one of the ones I've done multiple drafts of
That's very well put, in my opinion. The reason for the fight—in terms of story progression—often gets lost in minute description of the cut and thrust.
Once the adrenaline goes up, specifics go down. You won't really notice the little details. If I'm in a fight, I'm not going to see that George reared back on his left foot in preparation to take a swing- I'm gonna see George swinging at me and just react with a block, a duck, a swing of my own. You can gloss over the specifics. George swung at Storm, and Storm ducked. Her world narrowed to the space just around her, and time seemed to move in odd jumps. George stuck out a leg that Storm didn't see and she suddenly found herself on the floor. She rolled to one side as George kicked at her. I've got to get back on my feet, she thought. She surged upwards, and caught George's next punch with her hands. "George, calm down. I'm sorry I ate the last taco. Can't we talk about this?" That may be a terrible example, but its off the top of my head, and I was just trying to show that the details of each move can be pretty vague and yet still be believable.
