Best Advice on Writing Chase Scenes

Type of vehicles? (on foot, car, motorcycle, horse drawn chariot)
Environment? (city, country: mountainous | desert, on the water?)

I stick with a single POV, and try to imagine what I would (or wouldn't) notice if it were me.

For example, if I were running through a crowd, I'd likely be scanning for breaks in the crowd as I moved forward. I'd miss major details - shops I was passing, other altercations, even familiar people - because I'd be focused on forward progress. If I were following someone else through the crowd, I'd be hyperfocused on them and how they were moving.

To guide the reader, of course, you'll probably have to have a little more structure to the scene. But IMHO the more visceral you can make it, the better.

^^^ Yup - what Lizmonster said.

You might also try mapping it out, not just the route but the crowd and traffic (etc) that might be encountered. Get it firmly in your head, and let your imagination take flight as you write.

Maybe take a real run, and figure out what kinds of things you notice as you run. Whether they are about your environment, or about your ability to run in it.

I highly recommend reading Bell’s Conflict and Suspense (https://books.google.com/books/abou...BAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button). There’s a page or two specifically on chase scenes. More importantly it explains the use of speeding up and slowing down time and other techniques to make your action scenes gripping.

Please! Only I can write Chase scenes.

Things I establish for myself before writing a chase:
Who/what is chasing who/what, where does it start and end, modes of travel, does the chaser succeed.
I like to keep how the chase proceeds unplanned and let the story flow as the section is being written. Someone might trip, crash into another person, become injured, find a weapon, etc. I won't know what happens during the chase until it occurs.

Realize that chases are not linear. It isn't a matter of getting them from point A to point B, it's point A through points B-Y and finally ending up at point Z. A chase is a convoluted thing. If it was easy, it wouldn't be a chase.

A brainstorm of ideas of general advice applied to the situation:

- use the actions in the chase to describe the internal state of the people involved
- make a short list of possible thoughts going through their heads, but don't write about idea one or two, try using idea three or further down
- use active, specific verbs
- describe the actions and environment only to the degree they are necessary
- read through your draft and find the parts that are boring to you (they are boring to everyone else too); they probably need to be cut down to keep the pace charging

These ideas are vague, but "chase scene" is pretty vague too.

Perhaps watch some chase scenes from films and tv. What does the POV see and do? Adapt it to your own story.

Chase said:

Please! Only I can write Chase scenes.

Click to expand...

I was gonna say...

Nothing drags a chase scene (or ANY quick action scene) down like too much flowery description. The people involved in a chase scene are focused: one on getting away (or leading if it's some kind of trick), and the other on catching up. The one running will be trying to increase distance and break line of sight...if they aren't fast enough to do it quickly, they'll probably try to be clever and create obstacles, which may stop the pursuer dead or do nothing but slow down the one trying to get away. If they know the area really well, they can pull all sorts of environment-dependent tricks to lose the pursuer, from ducking into buildings to going around a corner, throwing off a jacket, and calmly walking back the way they came, mixed in with a crowd of pedestrians.

The pursuer is highly focused on the one running away and will be constantly trying to narrow the gap and, if they're smart, trying to figure out where the one they're chasing is trying to go. Even if you lose someone in a chase, if you know where they'll go afterward, you can just go straight there...sometimes useful, sometimes not. If the pursuer DOESN'T know where the one being chased is going, then it is vital that they don't lose line of sight for more than an instant, which means the environment they're both moving through is extremely important. Crowds, buildings, vehicles, everything is suddenly an obstacle. The pursuer will be trying to watch the one they're chasing, other people, vehicles, traffic lights, animals, and everything else to find the best way through to close a little more distance.

Chances are the pursuer will be hyper-focused and aware, but that can create tunnel vision as well if they're not careful, where they are only focused on the one they're chasing and run straight into a cyclist, or get hit by a car, for instance.