#creative writing help

Fight scenes are a dime a dozen. Most fiction has it. But good fights are as rare as gold—and just as beautiful too. A good fight scene outshines a million terrible ones.

But what separates the good ones from the bad? Is it… the weapons? The physical descriptions? How the characters react?

The answer's not as clear-cut as you'd hope.

Today I'll be breaking down why your fight scenes suck (and how you can fix them). If this post ends up helping you, give me a reblog so I can help more writers! Share the love.

(Fuck the gremlins, we're posting things TODAY)

Hi, welcome to the first actual post on my Tumblr page in where I ramble about how to write the goodest things.

Today's lesson is on PACING AND TENSION!

Hard to explain in many words, so behold my crudely drawn graph of how I handle this shit in my own writing (and I apologize in advance for my chicken scratch kekw)

I tend to have very high-stakes plots, but I feel like this could end up applying to any sort of genre or plot. I know a lot of these graphs I saw in school were a single bell curve with a gradual incline into the climax, but in my experience, the best way to build tension, keep pacing as even as you can, and really build into the peak of a story is to have small points of buildup to smaller peaks (aka the tension points) with sharper curves down into downtime (allowing the character to breathe), before building up again. Each tension point gets more and more intense, with the downtime acting as the small buffers between the gradually increasing intensity of the tension until SURPRISE, SHIT HITS THE FAN, IT'S THE BIG BAD ISSUE COME TO A BOIL.

But of course when shit hits the fan, things aren't the same as they were before (or at least, they won't be for a while), so the shape changes. Instead of sharp curves up and down, you're looking at a more gradual downward incline, with dips for moments of recovery/acceptance before there's little spikes in tension as a result of whatever occurred in the climax. This isn't an exact science and definitely can be toyed with, but this is a model I like to attempt to adhere to when I'm focusing on coming up with my story beats and creating the groundwork for the big climactic explosion.

Thank you!

My best advice to moving the plot forward in a convincing way is to obviously, not force it. If you're having trouble continuing, don't force yourself. You're either gonna burn out or create something you hate and the reader hates because they'll see that it's forced. If you get stuck on how to proceed: Back track. Go back to where you started writing, and reread. You may get an idea as you go.

Some people find story/plot maps helpful. Writing down or creating a visual representation of where you want to go.

if you can't write linear, try bouncing around. You might not know how to write that next scene, but you might have an idea for four scenes later, or three whole chapters later or just the end. Go write a different scene. You might get an idea of how they connect. I am incapable of writing in a linear fashion so I tend to do this one a lot.

When it comes to interactions between characters, try to remember: How much do real people communicate? People do not realistically talk to eachother 24/7. If your characters are on a long journey or something, there's realistically going to be some bouts of silence. If you don't want there to be silence, ask yourself 'which character would realistically break the silence and how?' but it is realistic and acceptable to gloss over bits and pieces with brief explanations of 'we tried our hand at small talk for a while until we lulled back into a comfortable silence' or whatever fits.

Sometimes when I am stuck and do not know how to proceed, I look at where I left off and I ask myself very simply: "Who?What? Where? Why?" Who is here, what are they doing, where are they, why are they doing this? OR who do they need, what do they need, where do they need to be, and why do they need this.

We all love earth-shattering plot twists and heartbreaking character deaths, but y you can’t have those things without something to contrast them. That is what these scenes are for. They can take place during any time in the story, the point is that they aren’t a major turning point. I find these scenes harder to write because it’s a lot more difficult to make it interesting without as much conflict. So, here’s some tips!

1. Change the setting. Not every scene has to have your characters just sitting around and talking by themselves. Perhaps your characters are going swimming or playing a game or at a party. Or maybe they're on public transit. If the characters are doing something besides talking it can make the scene just a bit more interesting for you and hopefully your readers. Even better, have that setting directly cause conflict in the scene. For example, maybe the characters are discussing something private out in public. Maybe they got lost. Pretty much anything you can think of, do it.

2. Add character interaction. Pretty much everyone has a group of other people they interact with. What are their relationship with these people? Their friends? Family? Do they have any pets? Is there are any conflict between your character and their mother, for example? Their best friend? Do they have to walk the dog even though they don’t want to? Is there a pesky rival who won’t leave them alone? Whether they be allies or minor antagonists, having other characters can add some life and flavor to not just one scene but your story in general.

3. Add some conflict. This is rather common advice but people tend to talk about the why instead of the how and what. Maybe your character has to go somewhere or do something and they don't want to. Or perhaps they are trying to do something and fail a few times. Maybe they're hanging out with people they don't know very well and feel uncomfortable with it. It doesn't have to be super dramatic and it shouldn't be because these are the quiet scenes.

4. Look back on the past. When your scene takes place, what has happened to the characters so far? How has that changed their outlook? For example, my WIP has a scene I haven’t written yet where two characters go over to a friend’s house and help his mom bake cookies. Sounds boring, right? Except for one thing... the friend is missing, and the characters went over to try to figure out. His mom is trying and failing to bake cookies to cope with the stress. Now that’s a lot more interesting. Past events, either in the character’s backstory or during the course of the story, can really add that spice you need.

5. Foreshadowing. There is nothing more fun than introducing some cool symbolism or something and having your characters either misinterpret it or not notice it all. This always gets me hyped for the later events of the story/makes me feel like a literary genius (whether or not that's true doesn't matter, these are meant for your first draft). Only thing is if you have to know what's going to happen in your story, so if you don't write like that then welp. 6. What if? What if the character gets lost? What if the person they’re looking for is busy? Pretty much anything goes here. If you think of something that sounds cool, try it. If it doesn’t work, oh well. If it takes your story in a new direction, great! Maybe this version of this story will be better. If it isn’t, oh well. There’s no harm in experimenting.

7. Forget about it and move on. This is a last resort. If the scene is giving you immense writing block and none of these tips and move on, maybe it’s just time to get rid of it. It might be a good time for a break too. The best ideas often come to you when you least expect it... like when you’re lying in bed. If you don’t want to take a break, you can just fast forward and come back to it later. Don’t abuse this though... you actually want to write a concrete story, not a jumbled mess of scenes.

Sometimes we get scared about writing a story or even the thought of posting it.

I get this too. One example of this is that I got scared about writing certain stories for some new ships in fanfiction I found I liked. Fearing that it wasn't something that I could feel okay posting. Fearing how it would go. But after talking to my partner I felt more comfortable about it and have let myself write them to my hearts content.

My partner told me to not censor myself. That it is okay to like what you like.

A small note from myself. Just don't take it as okay to go out there in your life and commit a crime. Like going out there after underaged people because you like that as an example. I don't encourage that at all.

When it comes to stories like fanfiction sometimes we like certain characters together, even if it seems weird. Maybe the characters are mythical creatures. And you don't have to be ashamed of that. You like what you like.

Holding yourself back in story writing can make you not like it as much as you did before. When I found I shipped two mythical beings I held myself back, however when I stopped censoring myself I found so many opportunities for stories opening up. I found an enjoyment is seeing what stories I could come up with next for them. I no longer felt like quitting on writing stories about them.

Fear is a part of life. We can get scared and that's okay.

Try out the story. You could find a whole new possibility for stories for you to write. This is especially true for fanfiction writers.

The waves on the ocean stopped moving as if time froze. The still water created a tunnel. You, a very confused surfer, decide to swim through and you make your way into a magical realm of the ocean.