RedHunter2296
Competitive Professional In Being Ignored
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2020
- Messages
- 257
- Points
- 103
Hello everyone
As always I'm back, this time without a question to break the rhythm a little bit.
In today's program, I present my tips or guide on how to write action scenes or battles for your novels.
But I emphasize that this is just my way of working on it, and it is only advice, not rules or laws, after all, there is nothing written in stone when it comes to writing. Well maybe grammar.
Since so many of you have been so helpful in giving me advice, I want to return the favor (and because I'm bored).
All right, first let's start with the beginning to get the introduction running.
First of all, before an action scene you need to know something very important and to take into account:
1-THE INFORMATION AVAILABLE TO YOUR READERS!
Before you start with the punches, you have to establish everything else first.
You as a good writer surely have a super cool super epic and exciting battle planned down to the smallest detail in your head. But there's just one problem, your readers don't live inside it. They don't know anything you know, they don't know what powers the enemy has, what places he has under his control, what he specializes in or perhaps even what the protagonist of the story is capable of. And as an author, it is sometimes difficult to realize that we are looking at the whole battle map, but that only we have that map.
It is important for readers to be aware of the situation!
Whether you know it or not, readers love to think that they too are the protagonist and what they would do in his shoes, but for that they need to know what he knows. Try to imagine yourself playing a video game and how you process the information you receive and use it to make decisions on the battlefield.
For example, think that you are playing a shooting video game, either battlefield or Call of Duty, it doesn't matter, select one.
What information do you pay attention to and need to play well? Well first of all, what weapons or equipment you have at your disposal, after all you need to know what you will fight with, what are its advantages, what it specializes in, what are its disadvantages. How much ammunition is in the weapon is super important, after all you don't play the same when you want to waste it as when you have to make every important shot.
Many times I read stories where the mistake is made of only telling part of the information and omitting much of the rest that readers might want to know to imagine what decisions they would make if they were the protagonist in that specific situation.
Does the protagonist have a gun? Yeah? Well, how many bullets does he have? 2? Two what? Two bullets? Two magazines? Two huge boxes full?
Is it a sword? yes? well what condition is it in? is it new? is it old? Was it forged specially for the protagonist? then it would be new, right? was it found lying in a cave? was it well guarded or almost destroyed? Is it easy to use? is it heavy? what happens if it fills with blood? is it easy to keep using? does it become slippery?
Normally this information is known in advance of a fight. Readers know that King Arthur has his trusty Excalibur nearby and that it is an indestructible magic sword. But not be afraid to remind them of what the sword carrier has at his disposal before a battle if you feel it is necessary. A soldier would not normally go naked to a place where he could be killed, he would prepare in advance, select the right weapon for the right task.
But even this is not a rule, sometimes situations change and you end up in the wrong place with the wrong team. The protagonist was kidnapped and is locked in a small dungeon and the only thing he has is a very long range weapon, the way he thinks about the fight will also have to change.
The important thing is that the readers are on the same page as the protagonist, do not hide anything that the protagonist would know, they will love to try to solve the puzzle first and then see if the reading will give them the reason, if they are right they will like it, and if not, they will also like to know what the protagonsite (in this case the author) did different with the same resources to solve the problem.
This brings us almost hand in hand with the following point
Where the fight will take place?
Obviously the fight will have to happen somewhere, be it real, fictitious, or even in the subconscious.
But even so, just like the previous point, readers would love to have the same information as the protagonist to make decisions, and the location is as important as the weapons, that's why I'm putting it separately.
The fight is in an alley? well surely they would like to know what shape it is, how many exits, are there objects in the way? maybe those present an opportunity or a risk. are there witnesses? they could be a problem for those involved?
The battle is between two huge armies battling for control of the city? Well, which territories are being controlled, which places are more valuable, which are better to defend, which are better to give to the enemy in exchange of saving soldiers for later?
Try to be neat and simple. Unlike in real life, lectors are not generals of an army. You can use any trick to make your task easier, you can make the city simple, only 5 districts, two easy to defend, two difficult, and a castle that will decide who will win the battle.
One of my favorite tricks is to use maps. They are so simple, everyone knows how to use one.
Readers like to know where the enemy is, where the allied forces are, what points of interest there are, where the protagonist is in relation to the rest. They want to have the same map as you do in their head, so why not give them one? it doesn't have to be the newest, or with the right information, just something that tells them it's close to everything else is enough.
Take your time to set up this information, don't run to post punches just for the sake of posting punches.
Think about the fact that you are giving your readers the weapons with which they will have to go out and fight the enemy. They will want to know as much as possible, you just have to make sure you give them something, no matter how much or how little. Anything is better than nothing.
Although I'm not telling you to tell them everything at once either! Of course, you can keep that huge plot twist a secret until the right time.!
Also don't forget something!
There should almost always be a plan
Part of the preparation also includes looking for ways to win before even fighting.
It doesn't have to be a complicated strategy, but something beyond going straight ahead and hitting things until everything stops moving is preferable.
What is the most important point of the whole battle? How does the protagonist intend to achieve this before the battle?
Even if it is as simple as knocking the opponent down, it has to be more than just moving the arm. There has to be an intention behind it, hitting the head does not have the same effect as hitting a leg.
Please avoid the cliché of the protagonist thinking up a plan that he tells his allies outside the reader and then executing his perfect plan by foreseeing all his enemy's moves and telling it as it happens. This only kills the suspense or intrigue of what will happen, as readers take for granted that everything that happens is part of the plan and that victory is certain.
Sorry, that's just a personal anger about a certain topic that always gets on my nerves.
Once the stage is set up, it's time for the main show.
2- THE BATTLES ARE FAST!
First of all, I want to make this clear, the battles are fast, and that's what makes them exciting in the first place.
Reduce all the embellishments in your writing to nearly zero!
Now that it's time for action, anything but movement is slowing down the action.
The time to think was above, now it's too late, now only one thing matters: Try to win!
So try and try fast.
Focus on the senses, what things is your protagonist seeing happening? how is he/she moving? what is he/she feeling pain? how is he/she hitting?
Although it may not seem like it, the feelings are also almost like a action. They are something that is happening. Don't be afraid to write about the anger that your protagonist has, or the pressure and nerves he has knowing that he is just one bad decision away from death.
Just keep in mind that they are slowing down the action and therefore the fun. You can have those moments of course, but they should not be your priority, nor should they be your protagonist's, and much less your readers'. They want to know how the villain will be defeated, not all the feelings of each of the characters unless those same feelings will be the cause of the next action.
You need to establish new information to the reader? well then finish the battle first, but not the war.
Seeks to create a situation that lowers the action, something with which the participants break contact with their rivals. Something like a breakaway, an escape, but stable, a reason why someone would take time to talk instead of attacking or defending against the enemy. No one in real life would take the time for their opponents to talk about how to defeat you, so your villains shouldn't either.
Once the new information is established, the only thing left to do is to look for a new battle, to find the enemy again, or maybe he found them first, or maybe some new rival appeared.
Maintain updates on remaining resources
Battles are chaotic, it is easy to lose track of what is being used. And remembering the previous point, readers like to have the same information as the protagonist to know what decisions they would make in the same circumstances.
Take a moment to remind the reader what items are left in the inventory. How many magazines or bullets are left, what condition the sword is in, how their armor is damaged, how wounded they are . But remember that by doing this you are slowing down the action. So be short, concise and accurate.
No plan survives contact with the enemy
Do you use the plan that would be used before the battle? Well it's time to find out what happened with that
Sid it do any good for the protagonist? Was he able to complete any steps? Did he get something wrong and had to discard it completely?
As indicated above, no plan should always be executed to the letter. There is no way that the opponent has not twisted something, but this is also an opportunity!
You can make the fight even more interesting by establishing a new plan on the fly, taking into account what happens, the available resources, the victory conditions.
And even this new plan doesn't have to work out well, or be the last one. The battlefield always changes and so do the opportunities, and readers love to know clearly what those changes are and try to discover these advantages for themselves.
At some point the battle ends, but there is still one more thing missing.
3-EVERY ACTION HAS REPERCUSSIONS
There is nothing more boring than a battle in which nothing happens.
But how do we know that something happened? well that's by looking at what the battle left behind.
At least someone had to lose, maybe no one won, but without a doubt, at least someone did lose.
And if someone lost, how will this affect them? it has to, it's inescapable.
Every battle must have left something behind, a repercussion that will affect history for better or worse.
The protagonist may have won, but maybe he lost something, a loved one, a part of his body, his mind. The place where it all happened may have been damaged in the process. The country has suffered somewhere, its population, its government,
It is the duty of the author to show the repercussions of what happened, a battle does not just end and that's it, it will have consequences over time. So take the time to say it.
You can also use this part here to take a break and take the situation calmly, you can show the world, how the borders, the relationships, the characters will change.
You can't pretend that nothing ever happened, because then all you will have done is waste time, and what readers hate most is wasting time. They are giving you their time to pay attention to you and your story, so they also want a gesture that you are reciprocating the time invested in something.
And well, that would be my advice on how to write or rather improve the action scenes you write. I intended to make it more structured, simple, and easy to read. But as hard as I tried, I came up with something completely different.
Thank you all for your time and for reading this, I really hope it has helped you in some way
As always I'm back, this time without a question to break the rhythm a little bit.
In today's program, I present my tips or guide on how to write action scenes or battles for your novels.
But I emphasize that this is just my way of working on it, and it is only advice, not rules or laws, after all, there is nothing written in stone when it comes to writing. Well maybe grammar.
Since so many of you have been so helpful in giving me advice, I want to return the favor (
All right, first let's start with the beginning to get the introduction running.
First of all, before an action scene you need to know something very important and to take into account:
1-THE INFORMATION AVAILABLE TO YOUR READERS!
Before you start with the punches, you have to establish everything else first.
You as a good writer surely have a super cool super epic and exciting battle planned down to the smallest detail in your head. But there's just one problem, your readers don't live inside it. They don't know anything you know, they don't know what powers the enemy has, what places he has under his control, what he specializes in or perhaps even what the protagonist of the story is capable of. And as an author, it is sometimes difficult to realize that we are looking at the whole battle map, but that only we have that map.
It is important for readers to be aware of the situation!
Whether you know it or not, readers love to think that they too are the protagonist and what they would do in his shoes, but for that they need to know what he knows. Try to imagine yourself playing a video game and how you process the information you receive and use it to make decisions on the battlefield.
For example, think that you are playing a shooting video game, either battlefield or Call of Duty, it doesn't matter, select one.
What information do you pay attention to and need to play well? Well first of all, what weapons or equipment you have at your disposal, after all you need to know what you will fight with, what are its advantages, what it specializes in, what are its disadvantages. How much ammunition is in the weapon is super important, after all you don't play the same when you want to waste it as when you have to make every important shot.
Many times I read stories where the mistake is made of only telling part of the information and omitting much of the rest that readers might want to know to imagine what decisions they would make if they were the protagonist in that specific situation.
Does the protagonist have a gun? Yeah? Well, how many bullets does he have? 2? Two what? Two bullets? Two magazines? Two huge boxes full?
Is it a sword? yes? well what condition is it in? is it new? is it old? Was it forged specially for the protagonist? then it would be new, right? was it found lying in a cave? was it well guarded or almost destroyed? Is it easy to use? is it heavy? what happens if it fills with blood? is it easy to keep using? does it become slippery?
Normally this information is known in advance of a fight. Readers know that King Arthur has his trusty Excalibur nearby and that it is an indestructible magic sword. But not be afraid to remind them of what the sword carrier has at his disposal before a battle if you feel it is necessary. A soldier would not normally go naked to a place where he could be killed, he would prepare in advance, select the right weapon for the right task.
But even this is not a rule, sometimes situations change and you end up in the wrong place with the wrong team. The protagonist was kidnapped and is locked in a small dungeon and the only thing he has is a very long range weapon, the way he thinks about the fight will also have to change.
The important thing is that the readers are on the same page as the protagonist, do not hide anything that the protagonist would know, they will love to try to solve the puzzle first and then see if the reading will give them the reason, if they are right they will like it, and if not, they will also like to know what the protagonsite (in this case the author) did different with the same resources to solve the problem.
This brings us almost hand in hand with the following point
Where the fight will take place?
Obviously the fight will have to happen somewhere, be it real, fictitious, or even in the subconscious.
But even so, just like the previous point, readers would love to have the same information as the protagonist to make decisions, and the location is as important as the weapons, that's why I'm putting it separately.
The fight is in an alley? well surely they would like to know what shape it is, how many exits, are there objects in the way? maybe those present an opportunity or a risk. are there witnesses? they could be a problem for those involved?
The battle is between two huge armies battling for control of the city? Well, which territories are being controlled, which places are more valuable, which are better to defend, which are better to give to the enemy in exchange of saving soldiers for later?
Try to be neat and simple. Unlike in real life, lectors are not generals of an army. You can use any trick to make your task easier, you can make the city simple, only 5 districts, two easy to defend, two difficult, and a castle that will decide who will win the battle.
One of my favorite tricks is to use maps. They are so simple, everyone knows how to use one.
Readers like to know where the enemy is, where the allied forces are, what points of interest there are, where the protagonist is in relation to the rest. They want to have the same map as you do in their head, so why not give them one? it doesn't have to be the newest, or with the right information, just something that tells them it's close to everything else is enough.
Take your time to set up this information, don't run to post punches just for the sake of posting punches.
Think about the fact that you are giving your readers the weapons with which they will have to go out and fight the enemy. They will want to know as much as possible, you just have to make sure you give them something, no matter how much or how little. Anything is better than nothing.
Although I'm not telling you to tell them everything at once either! Of course, you can keep that huge plot twist a secret until the right time.!
Also don't forget something!
There should almost always be a plan
Part of the preparation also includes looking for ways to win before even fighting.
It doesn't have to be a complicated strategy, but something beyond going straight ahead and hitting things until everything stops moving is preferable.
What is the most important point of the whole battle? How does the protagonist intend to achieve this before the battle?
Even if it is as simple as knocking the opponent down, it has to be more than just moving the arm. There has to be an intention behind it, hitting the head does not have the same effect as hitting a leg.
Please avoid the cliché of the protagonist thinking up a plan that he tells his allies outside the reader and then executing his perfect plan by foreseeing all his enemy's moves and telling it as it happens. This only kills the suspense or intrigue of what will happen, as readers take for granted that everything that happens is part of the plan and that victory is certain.
Sorry, that's just a personal anger about a certain topic that always gets on my nerves.
Once the stage is set up, it's time for the main show.
2- THE BATTLES ARE FAST!
First of all, I want to make this clear, the battles are fast, and that's what makes them exciting in the first place.
Reduce all the embellishments in your writing to nearly zero!
Now that it's time for action, anything but movement is slowing down the action.
The time to think was above, now it's too late, now only one thing matters: Try to win!
So try and try fast.
Focus on the senses, what things is your protagonist seeing happening? how is he/she moving? what is he/she feeling pain? how is he/she hitting?
Although it may not seem like it, the feelings are also almost like a action. They are something that is happening. Don't be afraid to write about the anger that your protagonist has, or the pressure and nerves he has knowing that he is just one bad decision away from death.
Just keep in mind that they are slowing down the action and therefore the fun. You can have those moments of course, but they should not be your priority, nor should they be your protagonist's, and much less your readers'. They want to know how the villain will be defeated, not all the feelings of each of the characters unless those same feelings will be the cause of the next action.
You need to establish new information to the reader? well then finish the battle first, but not the war.
Seeks to create a situation that lowers the action, something with which the participants break contact with their rivals. Something like a breakaway, an escape, but stable, a reason why someone would take time to talk instead of attacking or defending against the enemy. No one in real life would take the time for their opponents to talk about how to defeat you, so your villains shouldn't either.
Once the new information is established, the only thing left to do is to look for a new battle, to find the enemy again, or maybe he found them first, or maybe some new rival appeared.
Maintain updates on remaining resources
Battles are chaotic, it is easy to lose track of what is being used. And remembering the previous point, readers like to have the same information as the protagonist to know what decisions they would make in the same circumstances.
Take a moment to remind the reader what items are left in the inventory. How many magazines or bullets are left, what condition the sword is in, how their armor is damaged, how wounded they are . But remember that by doing this you are slowing down the action. So be short, concise and accurate.
No plan survives contact with the enemy
Do you use the plan that would be used before the battle? Well it's time to find out what happened with that
Sid it do any good for the protagonist? Was he able to complete any steps? Did he get something wrong and had to discard it completely?
As indicated above, no plan should always be executed to the letter. There is no way that the opponent has not twisted something, but this is also an opportunity!
You can make the fight even more interesting by establishing a new plan on the fly, taking into account what happens, the available resources, the victory conditions.
And even this new plan doesn't have to work out well, or be the last one. The battlefield always changes and so do the opportunities, and readers love to know clearly what those changes are and try to discover these advantages for themselves.
At some point the battle ends, but there is still one more thing missing.
3-EVERY ACTION HAS REPERCUSSIONS
There is nothing more boring than a battle in which nothing happens.
But how do we know that something happened? well that's by looking at what the battle left behind.
At least someone had to lose, maybe no one won, but without a doubt, at least someone did lose.
And if someone lost, how will this affect them? it has to, it's inescapable.
Every battle must have left something behind, a repercussion that will affect history for better or worse.
The protagonist may have won, but maybe he lost something, a loved one, a part of his body, his mind. The place where it all happened may have been damaged in the process. The country has suffered somewhere, its population, its government,
It is the duty of the author to show the repercussions of what happened, a battle does not just end and that's it, it will have consequences over time. So take the time to say it.
You can also use this part here to take a break and take the situation calmly, you can show the world, how the borders, the relationships, the characters will change.
You can't pretend that nothing ever happened, because then all you will have done is waste time, and what readers hate most is wasting time. They are giving you their time to pay attention to you and your story, so they also want a gesture that you are reciprocating the time invested in something.
And well, that would be my advice on how to write or rather improve the action scenes you write. I intended to make it more structured, simple, and easy to read. But as hard as I tried, I came up with something completely different.
Thank you all for your time and for reading this, I really hope it has helped you in some way
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