Writing Fight Scenes

[LifeContinuesOn]

I would like to ask for some tips on how to write a descriptive fight scene, because when I write I tend to make the fights kinda short and logical. I am currently writing a ambush fight scene and I want some tips from y'all on how to make it good.

 

[JayDirex]

This is going to force me to write a "how to write a clean, progressive fight scene." In the meantime you can DM me @LifeContinuesOn

Here is a Clean sword fight scene:
Angel formed a glimmering broad-sword and sliced down at the knight. The warrior stopped hurling fire to dodge the blow (he's an elemental).
Now facing the enemy, Angel charged with a high attack. But the knight drew his sword and blocked. From there, the Paladin and the knight clashed blades thrice before Angel whipped up and sliced his leg. As the man opened his mouth to yell, she slashed his neck on a downstroke.

“Grah!” the big warrior grunted before dropping to the floor with a thud.

When it comes to sword fighting: or any fighting, the key thing to remember are the KEY ACTION WORDS that a reader grasps that explain a scene clearly and with IMPACT

Charged
High Attack
Clashed Blades
Parried/ Thrust/ Blocked/ Sliced/ Slashed
Downstroke.

FIGHT PROGRESSION: The mistakes come in different forms: 1. kinda short and logical (this actually fine, as long as it has impact). 2. Long-complex-unclear which would be the worst of the two.

To make sure the fight is clear, write shorter CLEAR sentences using the high impact key words. 2 THE ONE THING I CANNOT STRESS ENOUGH

use the environment for the fight: Throw Dirt, swing a chair, crash into a table, roll down a mountain and hit a rock. Pick up the rock and throw it, ride over him with a horse/car…

Think bigger

Ambush scene: Our Hero, Eric, is surrounded by 10 elemental knights on horseback. They don't know he has a grenade. (and can summon a rifle out of thin air). He distracts the leader by throwing the leader a fat coin purse:

With the leader bounty knight distracted by the coin purse in his hand, Eric formed a grenade and tossed it at the other knights on horseback. Thinking the object was another purse, two men reached out to catch it. In that same moment, Eric jumped up and yanked the ruddy-bearded leader off his horse, throwing him to the ground.

“Wha!” the knight leader shouted before his face hit the dirt. In the same motion, Eric jumped on top of the leader and formed a ballistic shield, protecting the man as the grenade exploded.

Boom!

The thunderclap of the bomb shook an acre of ground. But unfazed, Eric didn’t care about the four knights blown to pieces, two dead horses, smoke, debris, and screaming from the survivors. With time against him, he formed a sturdy MSR10 Battle Rifle with a steel butt-plate and pummelled the leader he’d thrown down.

“Gaah!” The leader knight rolled over and tried to fight back. But Eric’s repeated rifle-butt strikes to the face and head bloodied the man until he blacked out.


Key Things here: Four knights blown to pieces, two dead horses, smoke, debris, and screaming from the survivors. - This shares with the reader the impact of this explosion, what it did to the surrounding in a clear way. repeated strikes is another good one. I could have written "struck him four times with the rifle butt" but that gets wordy...so "Repeated Strikes" gets the point across. you dig ^_^

...good times

 

[Assurbanipal_II]

I would like to ask for some tips on how to write a descriptive fight scene, because when I write I tend to make the fights kinda short and logical. I am currently writing a ambush fight scene and I want some tips from y'all on how to make it good.

Short and bloody. During ambushes in particular, the attackers either overwhelms the defender quickly, or the attackers decides to disengage before the defender counterattacks.

 

[CL]

I would like to ask for some tips on how to write a descriptive fight scene, because when I write I tend to make the fights kinda short and logical. I am currently writing a ambush fight scene and I want some tips from y'all on how to make it good.

One of the goals I always have is what I want the readers to absorb from this fight. I know you had said "descriptive", but do you want them to be thrilled and excited, disgusted and horrified, or laughing in disbelief? Some descriptions can give your audience a different perspective when they follow what comes after that fight too. Such as comedy can fall flat because they are no longer feeling giddy if you included some serious gore in that fight scene or, in another case unrelated to comedy, you could have held up their disbelief for far too long for them to take your story as seriously anymore. What is your goal? How do you want them to feel?

 

[LifeContinuesOn]

Short and bloody. During ambushes in particular, the attackers either overwhelms the defender quickly, or the attackers decides to disengage before the defender counterattacks.

I tend to do just that, but was wondering if I could find a way to make the fights more interesting

 

[tridetect]

I tend to do just that, but was wondering if I could find a way to make the fights more interesting

Introduce a conflict that the characters have to overcome. Twist the battle in the enemy's favor then have the characters figure out a way to beat them.

 

[Assurbanipal_II]

I tend to do just that, but was wondering if I could find a way to make the fights more interesting

That is the issue. If the ambush succeeds, nobody will know what is going on. ^^

 

[JayDirex]

He has the Spatial Vending Machine story ^_^ (ish cute) @Assurbanipal_II @LifeContinuesOn
and, oh man. VENDING MACHINE FIGHT IN THE DUNGEON. I am sooo there. That means he has the ability to:

Propel objects out of its various orifices
hurl objects
use it's body weight to become a monolith.
possible electrocution
DEFINITE POISON- (poison whatever it gives to someone).

Then he can also do something I call "Blading". the vending machine can stop short and turn itself at an angle, and a pursuer can run into it's rectangle edge and get all messed up.

As for fight scenes, remember to use Key Action Words that describe something, like pummeled: Literally means strike repeatedly with the fists, all in one word.

 

[LifeContinuesOn]

Introduce a conflict that the characters have to overcome. Twist the battle in the enemy's favor then have the characters figure out a way to beat them.

Is losing your weapon a good twist or is it a bit cliche?

 

[JayDirex]

Is losing your weapon a good twist or is it a bit cliche?

cliche, unless he picks up another UNLIKELY weapon. (Rock, stick, PENCIL, rolled up newspaper, chair). Makes the scene way more interesting.

 

[LifeContinuesOn]

cliche, unless he picks up another UNLIKELY weapon. (Rock, stick, PENCIL, rolled up newspaper, chair). Makes the scene way more interesting.

Thanks, I've got a great idea now.

 

[Discount_Blade]

Thanks, I've got a great idea now.

Your MC is gonna flip a table and throw a chair aren't they?

 

[LifeContinuesOn]

The Chapter ;3

Currently this story is on royal road, but you can check out the scene and tell me how I did though

 

[TheTrinary]

Outside of the prose, you need to have a structure within the fight scene itself-- straight up act 1, 2, and 3. Establish everything and open the action. Have a peak mid point that will swing the other way (winning to losing or vice versa) low point for who you want to win, and have that last second twist where plan A fails but you get that last second save with solution B.

This sort of advice applies to pretty much any scene writing, but people seem to forget it applies to fight scenes as well.

I would also like to remind you to only take the advice here in to consideration as things you CAN do. You don't have to use the environment but that can be clever. You can have your character lose their weapon regardless of how many times that has been done as a low point or twist.

Example based on an ambush like you are asking:

Act 1: Set up. Establish what you want. Ends when the ambush starts.

Act 2: Fighting commences and (assuming you want the ambush to win) you have a moment where maybe the captain rallies four or five of his good men together into formation as the rest break around them. Uh-oh. Your characters need to kill that man before the rest of the retreating soldiers rally around him.
Act 3: Your characters tries something, maybe a charge. Maybe he's just going to dive in 6v1 himself. Doesn't matter. It fails
Act 3, part 2: Uh oh. It looks like they might actually rally since your character failed. This entire ambush could fail. But in a latch ditch effort, you're character battered and bruised on the ground with soldiers running towards him, pulls out a throwing knife and snipes the captain. Even though the enemy was gaining momentum, without leadership they fall apart. Ambush successful.

A lot of what other people are talking about are very specific ways you could write a scene. Maybe your character is in single combat with the captain and loses his sword. Maybe his big play to win the day is to realize something about the environment and use that to win. It goes on and on.

 

[Tessa_Renalds]

This thread is the best; I was thinking about my fight scenes and how I could improve them—then I saw this. Thank you for the tips!

 

[LostLibrarian]

I would say the most important thing to impactful fight scenes is "short and precise information" for the following things:

(1) The layout of the battle: what terrain, where are the fighters compared to each other, distances (!), line of sights, etc. Depending on the position in your story this is something that can be done beforehand. (e.g. your MC travels a street before where you describe it in detail so the reader knows it when the fight breaks out two chapters later).

(2) The stakes of the battle: honestly, if there isn't anything at stake, consider not writing the scene because it'll become old really fast. Stakes don't have to be "life or death" all the time. They can also be something like "Did our teamwork become better?" or "Can X use skill Y after his training?". But there should be something that both parties want to achieve and that should be the middle point of the fight. (e.g. if you have a battle where "Can character X snipe enemy Y is the question" you could concentrate on the defensive battle of the other characters and them slowly retreating/losing while waiting for that shot).

(3) Make the strengths of each party clear. Be clear what enemy might be a threat and why and be consistent. Some LitRPG or CN-webnovels have that problems where the numbers change so often, that they become meaningless because sometimes it's meters, sometimes it's kilometers, sometimes it's slow, sometimes it's fast. If the reader doesn't understand the clear strength and weakness of the partys, he can't feel the pressure and with that your entire battle becomes a special effect firework without anything to it.


Other points as mentioned above:
- concentrate on the key points in a battle. Nobody wants to read 100 sword attacks that are the same. You can mention that in 2 sentences and move on to the next important beat.
- Battles are often chaotic and members don't have all information. Use that in your writing and use less detailed and more chaotic descriptions. If you character can still monitor all 20 members of the battle and see the heavy breathing of the enemy 500 meters away... why should I feel like he is at his limit?
- Battles (like any other conflict in a story) is between two parties who want to achieve different/opposed goals. Make both of these goals clear.
- While books have problems to make battles as exciting as acting or animation, they can easily jump into character's heads. So tying the battle pogression to an internal/character development gives more weight to a battle compared to endless special effects descriptions.

 

[NotaNuffian]

The Chapter ;3

Currently this story is on royal road, but you can check out the scene and tell me how I did though

It is clear on how the fighting is taking place. Also, Ma-rio...

 

[JayDirex]

Outside of the prose, you need to have a structure within the fight scene itself-- straight up act 1, 2, and 3. Establish everything and open the action. Have a peak mid point that will swing the other way (winning to losing or vice versa) low point for who you want to win, and have that last second twist where plan A fails but you get that last second save with solution B.

This sort of advice applies to pretty much any scene writing, but people seem to forget it applies to fight scenes as well.

I would also like to remind you to only take the advice here in to consideration as things you CAN do. You don't have to use the environment but that can be clever. You can have your character lose their weapon regardless of how many times that has been done as a low point or twist.

Example based on an ambush like you are asking:

Act 1: Set up. Establish what you want. Ends when the ambush starts.
Act 2: Fighting commences and (assuming you want the ambush to win) you have a moment where maybe the captain rallies four or five of his good men together into formation as the rest break around them. Uh-oh. Your characters need to kill that man before the rest of the retreating soldiers rally around him.
Act 3: Your characters tries something, maybe a charge. Maybe he's just going to dive in 6v1 himself. Doesn't matter. It fails
Act 3, part 2. Uh oh. It looks like they might actually rallied since your character failed. This entire ambush could fail. But in a latch ditch effort, you're character battered and bruised on the ground with soldiers running towards him, pulls out a throwing knife and snipes the captain. Even though the enemy was gaining momentum, without leadership they fall apart. Ambush successful.

A lot of what other people are talking about are very specific ways you could write a scene. Maybe your character is in single combat with the captain and loses his sword. Maybe his big play to win the day is to realize something about the environment and use that to win. It goes on and on.

This is beautiful what you wrote because I keep planning on writing a how-to on fight progression. and to add to your point I also wanted to touch on the three basic level of fighters your hero will face.

1. Lowly guards, henchmen. (Threats). they are easily defeated one on one or four at a time, and the hero can look cool beating them up. But as a mob they generally pose a threat.

2. Lieutenants: (Lead Henchman- Obstacle) a fighter that is close to or should be on par with your hero. This guy is going to swing the battle in his direction before the hero wins.

3. Boss: (The true Villain) This guy should be able to put your hero in the hospital no questions asked and I feel that he should at least once in the story beat up your hero. But in the end the hero will rise above above the boss because he's a hero.

The point is the type of threat should determine the progression and outcome of the fight.

"you're character battered and bruised on the ground with soldiers .... throwing knife and snipes the captain. Even though the enemy was gaining momentum, without leadership they fall apart. " I don't remember you beta reading my chapter.

 

[EternalSunset0]

Thanks for this thread. Learned quite a lot from this one :D

 

[TheTrinary]

This is beautiful what you wrote because I keep planning on writing a how-to on fight progression. and to add to your point I also wanted to touch on the three basic level of fighters your hero will face.

1. Lowly guards, henchmen. (Threats). they are easily defeated one on one or four at a time, and the hero can look cool beating them up. But as a mob they generally pose a threat.

2. Lieutenants: (Lead Henchman- Obstacle) a fighter that is close to or should be on par with your hero. This guy is going to swing the battle in his direction before the hero wins.

3. Boss: (The true Villain) This guy should be able to put your hero in the hospital no questions asked and I feel that he should at least once in the story beat up your hero. But in the end the hero will rise above above the boss because he's a hero.

The point is the type of threat should determine the progression and outcome of the fight.

"you're character battered and bruised on the ground with soldiers .... throwing knife and snipes the captain. Even though the enemy was gaining momentum, without leadership they fall apart. " I don't remember you beta reading my chapter.

This is true in a fantasy genre with more exaggerated characters of different power levels (and actually a system I'm using in my novel.) But that's really based on genre. If you want to have a more down to Earth/ realistic narrative these things go away. If you are writing about actual medieval combat, this dichotomy doesn't exist at all.

And even within that dichotamy, you don't have to have all three. You technically only need one depending on your purpose. You can take lowly guards and make them a threat if they fight smarter. But really everyone gravitates to #2 since its the easiest. Creating a threat out of your #1's is hard and requires craft, just like figuring out a way for your hero to beat a #3 requires a lot of skill as well. I vaguely recall a Daniel Greene video that went into this in a lot of detail.

So really it's about the "what" much more than the "how". What do you need narratively. What works. Once you figure it out, you take those elements and plug them into a structure.