Fight Scenes...

I haven't written a fight scene yet, but what I've heard people saying is that for a fast-paced action effect, you should tend toward shorter sentences and less description, sticking to what's important - I guess so it progresses quickly for the reader, too. I'd suggest (at least if you're using 3rd person limited or first person) focusing on what the viewpoint character would be noticing while fighting.

When reading a fight scene, I like to know what's going on, if it's important (the stakes are high/I care about the person or people fighting), but not necessarily blow-by-blow, since that's probably too wordy (and if it's a particular kind of fight, such as swords, using technical terminology can just leave a reader confused as to what's going on).

I hope that helps. Welcome to the forum!

It seems like all I've written are fight scenes. The hardest part is keeping it fast moving and interesting without getting boring (yes, even action can be boring if done wrong). You don't--and shouldn't--need to describe every movement and blow; it's actually too detailed and can come across as boring because there is so much detail.

This is what we've done:

The fight should have a plot-related reason for existing. While revising, we ran across one fight scene that was boring because it was simply a fight scene that didn't have anything to do with the story. Fight scenes, like everything else in the story, should also be doing double-duty and moving the story forward.

Bring in the emotional impact of the fight, interspersed throughout as things go wrong. For example, the character thinks she's going to lose the fight and something bad will happen if she does. Which, of course, builds up a lot of suspense as her strength fails, as the bad guy lands a really powerful blow, she starts losing the fight, etc.

Keep it short. We found that we generally couldn't stay in a fight scene more than two or three pages. After that, it starts to become tedious and tends towards more mechanical details than excitement. The ending big battle runs about 15 pages, and it goes between three different fight scenes all at once. Most of them are not more than a page or a page and a half. Every time a scene ended, we upped the stakes one more time with something else going wrong.

Pacing. Make sure you control your pacing through the story in places before the fight scene starts. I was reading one of Matthew Reilly's book, and I swear, there was non-stop action. The story actually got boring in the middle of what should have been exciting action scenes. When I know a fight scene is coming, I like to slow the story down with a down chapter, and then have the fight scene. With the ending, it was more like a roller coaster--the reader goes slowly up this hill, expecting to see everything break loose at the top, and then of course, it does.

You might try reading Clive Cussler or James Rollins, who both use a lot of great action scenes.

I write a ton of fight scenes, but they're between street fighters - it is a tough balance, because they're almost blow-by-blow but not quite.

However, you're looking to write fantasy...

I think David Gemmell writes tremendous fight scenes (fantasy). You might check out his Legend series. Good stuff in there.

A fight scene is like a sex scene--they're better if you've some personal experience at it.

Google your area for fencing clubs if your book involves swordplay. You'll find members who read your kind of fantasy, and they will be only too happy to help out.

I took fencing in college, so that gave me a good background. We had a madman in the class who introduced a variety of styles for Eastern and Western swords. Fun dude.

Do this for any kind of weaponry. I've gone to firearm practice ranges, boxing and karate gyms, and SCA matches. There are always going to be people who will want to share.

One thing about sword fighting--it is like physical chess, only you tire out FAST.

There's a big fight in The Four Musketeers where Michael York and Christopher Lee have it out. York makes a lunge and just drops off his feet, collapsing and puffing hard, drenched in sweat. There wasn't enough oxygen getting to his muscles to support him. I've seen that exact same thing at SCA matches and felt it myself when fencing. Unless your heroes are in amazing shape their fights won't last very long. You wear gloves or you can't grip the sword for the sweat.

Good luck!

Gillhoughly said:

Google your area for fencing clubs if your book involves swordplay. You'll find members who read your kind of fantasy, and they will be only too happy to help out.

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I make my husband and son block out my fight scenes for me - that way, if I've described a move that wouldn't be possible for the human body, I can see it and make the change.

I'm fortunate that the guys enjoy doing this for me. 'Course, sometimes they get caught up in their horseplay, and I have to drag them back to the scene I wrote...

One thing i've noticed while reading fight scenes, is that the best ones have the character telling the reader what they should be thinking.

For example, having the person startled at how fast paced the fight was, describing the pain felt or the effort involved. The more intense a challenge the character finds it, the better experience it is for the reader.

When writing them myself, I prefer to be very general and describe several movements at a time. 'The battle erupted out of nowhere, and he found himself defending attacks from all directions. In his rare seconds of relief between blows, he registered only two thoughts...' that kind of thing.

Most of my fight scenes have been in a single point of view--often first person. I like to write (and read, for that matter) when the MC is trying to work out what's going to happen next. It's a lot like playing chess. You make your move, defend and then step back for a moment to plan your next move. But it happens FAST, and I like that level of internal dialogue and emotional conflict.

I also like Clive Cussler for action scenes, but they're not fantasy-based. I guess my question would be whether you're planning muscled fighting (sword, quarterstaff, or hand-to-hand) or magical fighting (avoiding energy blasts, battling against spells that constrict or cut, etc.) They're handled a bit differently.

Also, there are two kinds of fighting, to force capitulance or to the death.

The effect on your character will be very intense, especially in a fight to the death.

I tend to focus on the character's thoughts during the fight rather than a blow-by-blow account.

For fight scenes, if you want to see how the pros do it, read The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas. Or for first person you should try out Some Zelazny, though that is limited to swords mostly. My opinion is you shouldn't focus primarily on fight scenes, and instead drop in a little emotion. Swords clanging are fun, but the psychological thought going through the fighter is far more interesting.

POV is a huge issue here. A fight described in 1st person by one of the participants is a much different construction from one described in omniscient third.

caw