Dude do you have any tips for writing fight scenes using the lions because I am utterly blanking, I have no idea how to write a fight scene
For the most part, Iwrite battles that involve the lions the same way I write battles onfoot, so I’m going to start with some general tips and then give afew pointers for the lions specifically at the end.
1)Establish the stakes and the odds.
Beforeyou even start writing the battle, know the context. Know why itmatters. In visual media—film, TV, comics—you can get away withmindless action if it’s pretty enough. With writing, you don’thave that advantage. Some people have a talent for vivid actionscenes, so they can come close (see Brandon Sanderson), but noteveryone can manage it.
The good news? You can have anaction-heavy story without relying entirely on the imagery. The keyis to make each action scene count.
First, establish the stakes. Why dothe characters need to fight? Why can’t they employ any otherstrategy? What do they lose if they fail or have to pull out? The mostimportant thing about writing fights is to make us care about theoutcome.
Second, consider the odds. Ifvictory is a foregone conclusions, do you really need to show thebattle? If you do, it should be brief. Fights where your heroes arethe underdogs are generally more interesting. You can, of course, setup a fight that shouldbe an easy win and have something go wrong. In fact, I encourage youto do so. Which brings us to
2)Battles should be dynamic, both in the details and on a larger scale.
You’re probably already thinkingabout how to make the actual fight interesting, but before you get tothat, think about the big picture. You set up a scenario, but thenwhat? Do the two sides just show up, trade bullets/lasers/punches,and then one side wins?
That works sometimes, especially insmall clashes with relatively unimportant enemies. But with biggerbattles or battles that involve a major antagonist, you’re going towant to do more. Havereinforcements show up, have the villain try a risky gambit. Have theheroes switch to adesperate Plan B (or Plan M.) Let the heroes defeat the enemy, onlyfor another enemy to show up.
I like to look at my battles instages. Minor battles typically only have one stage. Major but notclimactic battles might have two or three stages. Climactic battleshave a minimum of three, sometimes many more. For example:
Stage 1: Heroes are gatheringinformation in preparation for a battleStage 2: The enemiesdiscover the heroes, leading to a frantic battle as the heroes try toretreat/fortify their positionStage 3: Heroes formulate a newplan and enact itStage 4: One of the heroes isseparated from the team, maybe injured, and suddenly is in a desperate fight for their lifeStage 5: Heroes areabout to accomplish their goal when the villains launch a secondaryattack, forcing them to adapt to the new challengeAnd so on
If you’re just throwing in alittle bit of action and don’t want to do a whole big battle, maybeyou only include stage 3. For a little bit longer battle, you coulddo stages 1-3, or maybe stages 3 and 5. Including all five stageswould make it longer still, and as you write you might find otherchallenges to throw at the characters.
Another way to make things dynamicis to have the battle happen on multiple fronts and to jump back andforth between them. Short scenes ending in min-cliffhangers keep thetempo quick and the tension high. It might take some practice tojuggle multiple fronts, so start small—maybe pick two people, onefrom each front, to focus on and jump back and forth. Reallylarge-scale battles might have half a dozen fronts or more, and youmight rotate among the POV characters present at each front, butthat’s something to work your way up to. (Also, outlines reallyhelp for juggling lots of simultaneous action.)
3) Don’t giveus a blow-by-blow.
At least, not all the time. There are moments where blow-by-blow canbe used to great effect, but if you use it too much, it’ll justslow you down. Think of it like slow mo in a movie—it can make adramatic hit stand out, but an entire fight shown in slow mo probablywouldn’t work. Use them sparingly–for the “Oh, shit, something bad is about to happen” moments or the “Hell yeah!” cathartic shots.
Instead, you want to capture the flowof battle. Use short, vivid images; let us know whohas the upper hand, who’s struggling, whether or not people aretaking injuries/ships are taking damage. Don’t linger on thescenery, but show us how the battle is progressing through space.
4)It’s not always about the fighting.
I write a lot of big, action-heavystories, but when you look at it, there’s not nearly as muchfighting as you might expect. There are other ways to up the tensionand energy that aren’t necessarily battles—you can doinfiltration, arguments, suspense, ect.And even when you do have a battle, you can (and should!) break it upwith conversations, strategy discussions, momentary lulls in thefighting that allow for reflection or sudden understanding. Someonecan get wounded/their ship can be knocked out and they have towithdraw from the battle momentarily.
It’s hard to give specificsuggestions here, because so much of this point depends on thesituation you’ve set up (in a specific scene or across the wholestory.) The important thing to remember is that for the most part,and doubly so in fanfic, people are reading for the characters.Action is great, but don’t lose sight of the people in the middleof the battle. What do they want? How do they feel?
You’ll have to be concise withwhatever you do sprinkle in so you don’t slow the pacing down toomuch, but dialogue, internal monologue, and other breaks from pureadrenaline-fueled fight will ultimately heighten the drama.
The thing about Voltron is…Voltron itself isridiculously overpowered. It works in a cartoon because you get somepretty action sequences and some nice explosions, but in fic, thatgets boring fast. But you can’t ignore that it exists, because thepaladins aren’t going to make things harder than they need to be.Which means if you want to keep things interesting, you either needto create a challenge that even Voltron will struggle with, or youneed to come up with a legitimate reason for them not to formVoltron. Maybe that means giving the team two targets, maybe it meansone of the paladins isn’t in their lion for whatever reason.
Aside from the Voltron conundrum,the main difference between fighting on the ground and fighting inthe air is the kinds of risk the characters are faced with and thekind of challenges you can throw at them. On the ground, injury is avery real danger, and it’s comparatively easy to split the group upor to give them tasks they have to do (hacking, leading prisoners tosafety, sabotaging a weapon…)
In the lions, you’re one stepremoved from all that. It’s possible for the paladins to get hurtstill, but more often the risk is that the lions will get hit badenough to impact their performance. This could mean the shields aredown, the comms are jammed, the stabilizers aren’t working… Or itcould mean the lion is out of commission entirely. Whatever the case,the paladin can (and should!) react to this, though it might meanthey won’t be able to focus on the battle as much.
They can also still have differenttasks, but they might lookdifferent. The lions are mostly only useful for transport or forfighting, so unless its something that can be done remotely, anyspecific tasks are probably going to require some of the paladins tostrike out on foot.
The best thing about writinglion-based fights is getting to be a little more over the top thanusual. The lions are tough, and they have some badass weapons—so goahead and have Yellow headbutt a Galra cruiser. Let Red melt throughan ion cannon with her fire breath. Invent new abilities and play aroundwith them. The lions aren’t invincible, but they are incrediblytough.
Which brings up another point: in aground battle, the paladins’ lives are basically always on theline. The same mightbe true inside the lions, but not to the same degree. So if they’rein the lions, you need to put someone or something else at risk. Aplanet, a base… Or something more abstract. Maybe this fight is allabout buying time so some allies can enact a plan to sabotage aweapon or something. Something so that failure is a real possibilityand has real consequences.
I’m sure there’s a lot more to be said about writing fight scenes, but hopefully that helps you get started!
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