1. beehoney

    beehoney Member

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    How can I write awesome fight scenes?

    Discussion in 'Plot Development' started by beehoney, Jan 14, 2018.

    Hello Writing-Community,


    Yeah! I know. You can write what you want. And how you want.

    But my problem with fight scenes is: Sometimes it is boring to write what the characters are doing. I mean in fight scene you want to read action. And that’s the problem itself. You can film action better than write it.

    I find it boring when someone writes things like Jeff beats Alicia with his fist in the face.

    Ok. Here you know what Jeff does. However, you can write it better.

    So. Do you have any tip how could I write this example better?


    Bye,

    Beehoney
     
  2. Wreybies

    Wreybies Thrice Retired Supporter Contributor

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    Don't treat it like a set of play by play instructions. Fight scenes often fall prey to this (as do battle scenes, but on a larger scale). Focus instead on the engagement of the character. The characters aren't puppets and a fight scene of the kind you describe does kinda' treat them as puppets, with words as strings to move their hands and feet. That's why a scene written in that fashion is boring. It has no emotional engagement, no human perspective. In you example, is the scene from the perspective of Jeff or Alicia? Whatever the answer to that question is, how is that person actually engaging the action?
     
  3. big soft moose

    big soft moose An Admoostrator Admin Staff Supporter Contributor Community Volunteer

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    Ive shared this before, but Jenna sums up what I want to say so I don't have to

     
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  4. John Calligan

    John Calligan Contributor Contributor

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    Sorry, but Daffy taught us what a parry was when we were like, four. Otherwise, I agree with her ;)

     
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  5. John Calligan

    John Calligan Contributor Contributor

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    ...
     
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  6. TWErvin2

    TWErvin2 Contributor Contributor

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    Go to your favorite authors, especially ones that have written novels similar to the genre and the fight scenes you hope to write. Study how they did them, using the same POV you are. Pay attention to wording, thoughts and dialogue, pacing and punctuation and sentence/paragraph length, etc. What was included, what was left out, and what was left for the reader to fill in. Then, from what you learned, apply it to your own writing style and project.

    There is a book I've come across that might be useful: Write the Fight Right, by Alan Baxter.

    Good luck as you move forward.
     
  7. big soft moose

    big soft moose An Admoostrator Admin Staff Supporter Contributor Community Volunteer

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    Jenna is younger than you and me, she probably doesn't remember that

    and although parry/block isnt the best example she's right in principle - too often when the writer is big into a particular fighting style they throw in all sorts of technical terminology

    tomas deployed his right foot the anipso gari fluffle tub, dropping Billy Bob to the tatami face upwards and then finished the fight with the flying toro picante

    rather than Tomas kicked Billy Bob's legs out from under him, sending him crashing to the floor, then finished the fight with a falling elbow strike to the bollocks
     
    Last edited: Jan 14, 2018
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  8. Cave Troll

    Cave Troll It's Coffee O'clock everywhere. Contributor

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    Write the action in a way that works for you.
     
  9. big soft moose

    big soft moose An Admoostrator Admin Staff Supporter Contributor Community Volunteer

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    no, write action in away that works for your intended market ... or you won't have one
     
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  10. matwoolf

    matwoolf Banned Contributor

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    upload_2018-1-14_20-32-11.jpeg I got me a new book from @Moosebattle.
     
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  11. X Equestris

    X Equestris Contributor Contributor

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    Wreybies nailed the big thing: emotional engagement. What is your POV character thinking? What are they feeling? Just be careful not to get too bogged down and place those in spots where they disrupt the flow. The thoughts and emotions work best in lulls, though sensations can go almost everywhere if they're appropriate.

    Aside from that, fast pacing and powerful verb choice is key. Your example sentence has trouble with both of those, thus why it's boring (along with the emotional detachment).

    Finally, most fights don't need to be very long. Especially if they're against unimportant cannon fodder. I end most such scraps within a short paragraph. Climactic or plot important fights can stand to be longer, especially if they involve a running engagement.

    The best way to get an instinctive feel for all this is to find fiction in your genre and mimic the authors you like. Short fiction markets that make some of their accepted stories freely available are a good place to start. If you were writing fantasy, for example, Heroic Fantasy Quarterly would have a lot of relevant work to look at.
     
  12. big soft moose

    big soft moose An Admoostrator Admin Staff Supporter Contributor Community Volunteer

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    Nice selfie matt :D
     
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  13. Cave Troll

    Cave Troll It's Coffee O'clock everywhere. Contributor

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    On a more honest note that is less vague:
    Watch fight scenes and note the emotion,
    what they do, and how they do it.
    Then spend some time writing it out in
    ways that capture those elements. Cause
    at the end of the day we typically know that
    they will be using fists and feet, so you can
    pretty much drop those and still write an
    effective fight scene. The more improvised
    it is (i.e. throwing some object, or hell even
    fish hooking a guy can add to it), just try
    and capture these elements in a concise way
    so as not to have them drawn out for a longer
    period than they should be. :)
     
  14. deadrats

    deadrats Contributor Contributor

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    I don't think you can film action better than you can write it. I know I can't. That's why I'm a writer and not in film. Try not to compare writing to other forms of story telling. They are quite different. And if you're already thinking something you probably don't do is easier than writing, I would rethink that. Your story is a written story. And there is so much you can do with writing that film can't. And I believe someone can write a much more powerful fight scene than I've ever seen in film. Writing is powerful. It's also hard. And it takes practice and dedication to reach our true potential. Sadly, I think too many writers give up before than. So, if you want to be a writer, don't give up, but start thinking as a writer and focus of the writing brings things to life. I don't write boring things or things in boring ways. There is no reason to write anything boring. I don't think any of us can tell you how to write better. It's not that simple. But I usually find reading more solves a lot of the problems that come up for me when I am writing.
     
  15. surrealscenes

    surrealscenes Senior Member

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    Write what you want to convey.
    Going to the oft-used Reacher example- Lee Childs has a really big thing about conveying Reacher's size. His size generally dictates how the fights go, set up the preview to the fight, etc. (A reason so many were upset that Tom Cruise bought the property and then played Reacher. Tiny little Tom isn't 6' 5" and certainly doesn't have freakishly long ape-like arms or deltoids like bowling balls.
     
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  16. Homer Potvin

    Homer Potvin A tombstone hand and a graveyard mind Staff Supporter Contributor

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    Last edited: Jan 16, 2018
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