#russpot

Hello!

Your primary goal should never really be to “elongate” something. You might find yourself needing to stretch something out in order to achieve the right pace or to emphasize the rhythm of a moment or something, but pace and/or rhythm are your goals there, not word count.

Writing fights and making them exciting and suspenseful is tricky. They easily get boring and repetitive if you don’t put a heavy emphasis on pace, showing (instead of telling), and advancing the plot.

If you really need the fight scene to last a while, try the following:

Writing an Interesting Fight Scene

Clue into how your POV character feels

Not just physically–though that might be really important if they’re involved in the fight–but emotionally as well. How is their adrenaline affecting their movement, their thoughts? How invested are they in winning the fight…or in merely surviving? How frightened are they? How confident? What odd details about their opponent are they noticing in the moments between swings? When they get hit, what runs through their mind?

Focus on elements that build character or advance plot

Elongating a scene will only work well if the added details draw the reader in. They will work fabulously in they draw the reader in and contribute to the overall narrative.

Adding some extra punches or kicks won’t work. It’s not interesting. It gets old fast if there aren’t other elements to the scene that make the reader care. You don’t want to slow down the drama of the story just so a couple of characters can whack each other in the face a few times. Make sure the fight is important and that each detail you choose to point out is crucial to character and/or narrative.

Realize what actually creates the feeling of drama and suspense

Is he going to dodge the next punch!?! OR Will he be able to get through this unscathed...and reach the cave in time to save the love of his life!?

The difference is that, many times, the actual suspense of a fight isn’t the play by play, but the situation that surrounds the fight.

What’s at stake for the character? What will he lose if he fails to defeat his opponent? (Plot)

How do his beliefs or his cultural upbringing play into his views about fighting? (World building/Character)

How good is she? Is she trained or is this all brand new to her? If she’s untrained, what kind of extra stress is she facing because of her chance of losing? (Character/Plot)

Are the characters fighting honorably or dirty? Is this moral code balanced between them, or is one of them more likely to take a cheap shot? (Character)

Write as much detail as you want...then whittle it down

There’s no harm in writing every detail of a fight, stretching it out as long as you can and then editing it down to fit your pace from there.

Read great fight scenes

It’s always a good idea to read successful writers and see what they did, how it worked (or didn’t) and why. When you read a scene with a critical eye (like that of a writer), then you’re more likely to pick up on technique and detail than you are if you’re just a casual reader.

Of course! This is a complicated one that is easily confusing.

Passive voice is when the noun that was acted upon appears before the action or the noun that acted upon it. (Sounds confusing, I know)

Active voice is when the noun that is doing the action appears before the action and the noun being acted upon (still confusing, I know, I know)

I’ll try to clear it up with some examples.

I am the noun committing the action. The action is stabbing. Caesar is the noun being acted upon. 

Active voice: “I stabbed Caesar.”

Passive voice: “Caesar was stabbed by me.”

Another one just for emphasis: 

Wonder Woman is the noun committing the action. The action is saving. The noun being acted upon is the village.

Active voice: “Wonder Woman saved the village.”

Passive voice: “The village was saved by Wonder Woman.”

You may notice that the passive voice sentence tends to be a lot longer than the active voice. That’s one tell-tale sign for it. If you’re having a problem with wordiness, you may need to check if you can make your sentences more concise by switching tenses. In addition, passive sentences are often worded rather awkwardly- for example: 

Passive: “He was reminded of her ex-girlfriend’s sister by the way she did her hair.” 

Active: “The way she did her hair reminded him of his ex-girlfriend’s sister.”

One is a little more clear than the others.

Another problem with passive voice is that sometimes passive voice entirely eliminates one of the nouns. For example, in active voice, I might say “I stabbed Caesar”, but in passive I might say “Caesar was stabbed,” completely eliminating me as an element of the sentence. One tip I saw for scenarios such as this one is the “by zombies” example. You can’t say “I stabbed Caesar by zombies”. That doesn’t make sense, but “Caesar was stabbed by zombies” does make sense, but isn’t true. Moral of the story, if you can add “by zombies”, you’re missing an element of the sentence, and it’s in passive voice.

What voice you use places emphasis on the different nouns- meaning, the way you order the sentence decides what the actual subject of the sentence is. 

I have done some research and I have yet to find a tip to help eliminate passive voice that contains every element, but keep in mind that you don’t necessarily need to all of the time. The best you can do is:

1. When writing, keep in mind what you want the subject to be.

2. When proofreading, check for clarity.

Grammar is one of the more confusing parts of writing, and this is one of the most common issues. Of course, there are exceptions, because grammar exists to be a pain, but I hope this helps it feel a little simpler. :)

Thanks!

also russel is hella gay for 2d