#combat writing

I broke down why that kills pacing and what to do instead.

It’s not that odd at all and I’m honestly flattered that you’re asking me!! I’m still trying to improve in combat writing myself, but I can try to offer some pointers

For one, short sentences. Shorter sentences give a sense of quick bursts of action and things moving quickly, or sentences with commas separating the clauses if it’s a succession of events in rapid order.

Dashes! Not too many, of course. Maybe one or two, to indicate something happening suddenly without using the word “suddenly”. Usually if something unexpected/drastic happens or there’s something to interrupt the stream of action.

Keep fight scenes short. Even if the character is fighting for a while, high-stress situations tend to blur so there’s nothing wrong with skipping a little or being vague on details! Even two minutes for the average person is long, and feels even longer!

Realism! This is what I still struggle with the most. Do a little research and try to keep in mind the balance of pain tolerance and adrenaline response. A gunshot wound is probably going to take a (normal, human) character down for the rest of the fight unless it’s a graze, but then they’re still in pain and losing blood. Acrobatics are near impossible in close-quarters, et cetera

I put a lot of time and effort into this post. Check it out!

Like, if I have a nickle everytime I see a game version of a story and question why they didn't use the combat in the big war arcs, I would have two nickles more than I woke up with.

The first being the combat system in Hogwarts Legacy versus the spells they use in the Harry Potter series. The spells combo. The spells mastery skills. The potions and herbology use?? I was tweaking when I realised the final battle would have been more fun to read/watch if they use Hogwarts Legacy combat system.

The cloud giant watched his partner stand still; his expression blank and axe limp by his side. The giant felt hot rage build in his chest and glanced at the small ones that fought his pets. His eyes darted across them; the dragon one shooting two beams into a werewolf who howled in pain and a snake latching onto another of his pets. His eyes narrowed on the purple devil creature that had shouted out strange words to his companion; her eyes were trained on him and he could see her whispering under her breath. With a sneer he tried to take a step forward but stumbled slightly as the ground around him had been destroyed and replaced with loose rubble. He let out a large growl and raised his arms as billowing mist enveloped his body. He focused his vision on the spot in front of the devil and stepped through.

Daera noticed the mist rising around the giant from the corner of her eye and felt a pit form in her stomach as the giant disappeared.

‘Shit, shit.’ She muttered under her breath, glancing to the side where Seishiro stood readying himself to run toward where the others were fighting the remaining werewolves. ‘Help, the spell!’ She managed to shout out as the giant appeared suddenly in front of her. The looming 20ft form towered above her; the bone axe raising high in the air to strike. She felt the rush of wind as Seishiro darted in and landed multiple hits up and down the giants thigh, knee and shin and she saw him twist his hand in a familiar way for the last hit causing the giants axe-wielding arm to drop beside him with a growl of pain.

‘He has no reaction, run!’ Seishiro shouted as he leapt back out of the giant’s reach. She felt magic swell up to her arms and let out a shout and clapped her hands together with an echoing boom that filled the room. The magic burst from her hands in a rolling wave of thunder with enough force to send the giant stumbling backwards, his axe dragging along the ground. As he was swept back, Daera glanced quickly back at the other giant as she darted away toward Seishiro; who was gesturing for her to get behind him. The giant still blankly stared at the ground, swaying slightly as she continued to hold the spell.

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So instead of talking about my usual fandoms, I’m going to talk about anime because it gives me the best examples to really divide out the thing I want to talk about.

Behind a thing because this’ll be long, but I’ll be focusing on Sword Art Online, Log Horizon, and Grimgar. (In all cases you want to watch to about ep 15, except Grimgar which only has 12 eps) They hit the marks I want and have a strong concept theme basis to let me really explore how different these three fight elements are.