I'm writing a fighting scene but I'm in need of some good verbs that help convey the savagery of the fight. Does anyone have some suggestions?
Smashed, thumped, jammed, jabbed, crashed, crunched, rammed, shoved, punted, hammered, whacked, spiked, stabbed, tore, slashed, dashed, ripped, gouged
Are you describing a fight from the point of view of an onlooker, or are you attempting to convey how a fighter experiences pain?
Depends on who's fighting. If it's a street fight or something, use ugly words like hurled, pummeled, cracked, lurch. If it's more experienced fighters, use slashed, strike, cut. Maybe even since they're more experienced they will dodge, so you could use parry or evade.
I need context. Are you looking for action words for the act of fighting? Are you looking for words describing the carnage thereafter? How decimated the flesh is? The vocabulary that would be used to express the feeling of pain? Personally, I find that the tried and true 'sharp inhalation through the teeth' is very evocative of a pain experience.
OW! STOPPIT! LEGGO O' ME! THAT TICKLES! IS THAT A KNIFE? ARRRRRRRRGHGHGHHH!!!!! Seriously though, why not just use Thesaurus.com It will link from one painful word to lots of others, which in turn link to lots of others.
I think you can see by the responses, we need a bit more info. It's one thing to be in the fight while it's happening, and quite another to remember what happened based on the injuries. It's also different if you are describing the fight as viewed by an onlooker, and if that onlooker has experienced a fight themselves or not.
The pain is sliding, slipping up his fraying meat, a glissando from his crown to his feet. His frame rings in some note above the range of human hearing, a tuning fork of perfect agony. He crumples to the ground, his skin holding together the bones, muscle, and remaining viscera which no longer stick to each other in a sickening stew. Struck by the demon only once, he is unmade. ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ Don't focus on the words, focus on how you put them together. Chords are great, but they need to work together to make a song.
Use language that normally describes other senses: bright pain; ear-ringing blow; a slash that left a screaming, gaping wound. Describe sensations away from the wound: a blow to the head that reverberated in the soles of his feet.
