How to Write Fight Scenes
Almost every writer struggles with fight scenes in one way or another, even the experienced ones. There are more components to a fight scene than to any other scene, in my opinion.
A fight scene combines dialogue, action, pacing, and every single other element of writing into a deadly concoction that can be hell to write and even more hell to edit.
That’s why I’ve provided a helpful list of tips that you can use to make your fight scenes the best that they can possibly be!
1. If Your Fight Scene Doesn’t Take Place in a Hot Air Balloon, Then It Probably Should
Now, this is not in the literal sense.
A fight scene in a field where the two armies/teams collide head-on? Boring. Overused. Underwhelming.
A fight scene in that same field with those same two armies but during an earthquake where the ground is opening up beneath them? New. Avant Garde. Keeps the reader on their toes.
It doesn’t literally have to take place in a hot air balloon; what I’m saying is that you should push the circumstances of the fight scene to make it new and interesting.
A personal example is when I had a fight scene that really just wasn’t working for me; it was dull, it dragged on, and it was a bitch to get past the writer’s block.
But then, instead of having the fight scene out in the open like how I’d originally intended it, I made a split-second decision to have it take place in a tunnel, and let me tell you, it was AWESOME.
The new setting made the battle a lot more visceral; it was tight and cramped, and the characters were tripping on bodies and slipping in blood as they were jostled around in a tight space.
Doesn’t that sound more interesting than fighting in an open field?
Having the surroundings inhibit or alter the fighting style is what can make a fight scene truly a masterpiece.
Even if your battle has to take place in an open field, you can add different elements like an earthquake, the enemies’ swords being on fire, or different battle strategies to make it super cool experience.
Here are some examples of well-set fight scenes where the surroundings are taken into account to make it all the more interesting:
Club Fight (John Wick, 2014)
Carnival Fight (Stranger Things, Season 3 Episode 7)
The Hound vs. Beric Dondarrion (Game of Thrones, Season 3 Episode 5)
Jason Bourne vs Desh Bouksani (The Bourne Ultimatum, 2007)
Clarice Starling vs Buffalo Bill (The Silence of the Lambs, 1991)
Church Fight (Kingsman: The Secret Service, 2014)
Staircase Fight (Atomic Blonde, 2017)
Kitchen Fight (Sleepless, 2017)
2. Brevity is the Soul of Wit (AKA, Keep Your Writing Simple)
The way you write during a fight scene is a great way to keep a good pace.
Your readers should be on the edge of their seats, dying to know if their favorite characters are going to live or die; they don’t want to read big words like “indubitably” and “scintillating.”
Feel free to reference my post about writing pain here.
Your word choice should be gritty. It should reflect the desperation of the fight.
Don’t use long, winding sentences and flowy paragraphs for fight scenes.
Short sentence fragments.
Paragraphs that barely last a line.
Scattered, grammar-breaking clauses that put the reader in the same frantic state of mind as the characters.
(You see what I did there?)
Also, fight scenes are the major scene where the “show don’t tell” rule applies. If you only had a choice to follow that rule on one specific occasion, it should be during the fight scenes.
The readers should know how your characters are feeling just by their actions, not by you outwardly stating it.
The knife shredded the sleeve of her jacket, blood bursting forth and running down her arm. It surprised her at first and hurt like hell, but it didn’t take long for her to grow furious.
The knife shredded the sleeve of her jacket, blood bursting forth and running down her arm. Her eyes widened as she clamped her hand over the wound, but as she watched the blood trickling through her fingers, her expression contorted into something monstrous.
See how much better the second one sounds? You can tell exactly what this character is feeling even though I didn’t explicitly tell you.
Something else that also helps fight scenes is literary devices.
Similes. Metaphors. Onomatopoeias. Hyperboles.
If you use these (sparingly, mind you!) it can really give your fight scene that kick that you’ve always wanted it to have.
She rose to her feet as blood streamed down her body in a torrent, her eyes blazing like a thousand suns.
He turned to regard his opponent with clenched fists and a smile like razors.
She fought like a wolf trapped in the confines of a human skin.
The buildings crumbled as if made from silk and twine rather than metal and stone.
Be careful not to overuse them, though! If every other line has a literary device, it loses its punch!
3. Your Characters Shouldn’t Be Invincible
You shouldn’t be giving your characters the “invincible plot armor” treatment.
While all of the unnamed lackeys get swamped by the “unimaginable power” of the enemy, they shouldn’t be coming at your main characters any slower than they come at everyone else.
Your main characters should be having the shit kicked out of them.
There should be something about the fight that makes the readers think, “Wait a minute, they might not survive this.”
For example, let’s take Character A. Character A is strong, fast, and well-trained. The perfect soldier. He can hold his own in a fight.
However, what if his dominant hand is injured? How will he compensate for the injury?
The point of a battle is saying “On what circumstances will my characters be able to win” and then pushing it just a bit further into the grey area between “decisive victory” and “devastating defeat.”
A character who relies on speed getting their leg injured.
An expert cavalryman whose horse falls halfway through the battle.
A flying character grounded by a wing injury.
A magical character running out of potions and spells.
You want to push your character to their physical limits, take them out of their comfort zone and plop them right into the thick of it.
Only then will your fight really build tension, and tension is what every battle needs in order for the readers to not feel like their time has been wasted; if they know the characters are just going to win, then what’s the point?
Here are some fight scenes that do a good job of not knowing if the main characters are going to win:
The Battle of the Bastards (Game of Thrones, Season 6 Episode 9)
The Battle of Winterfell (Game of Thrones, Season 8 Episode 3) (Although the characters have undeniable plot armor, you don’t know if the battle itself is going to be won or not)
The Final Battle (Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2, 2012)
T’Challa vs Killmonger (Black Panther, 2018)
4. Study Other Fight Scenes
Whether they be in books, TV shows, or movies, a bit of research never hurts! (Which is why I’ve been putting recommendations throughout this post)
Watching fight scenes helps you get an idea of what you should describe, and reading fight scenes gives you an idea of how to describe it.
Besides, it’s a pretty fun kind of research, too!
Thanks for reading, I hope this helped!
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