I got several requests for "action" writing, specifically for battle or fight scenes. Since I know nothing of the matter I recruited the help of fellow writer and internet pal, Gavin aka TheOrangutan. So sit back and enjoy our very first "guest post"! (For a great example of fight scene writing please click on the dedication above and read "Merlin's Gold" by The Orangutan!

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Writing a Fight or Battle Scene by TheOrangutan

Introduction

I seem to have dropped myself in this rather, but GenxBlogger has very kindly asked me to add to this wonderful publication, and try and put together a chapter on how to do fight scenes / action sequences.

Now, I’m no expert on Action by any means, and there’s always different ways to do things, but I have written one on one fights scenes, small group fight scenes, battles scenes and other types of action so hopefully I can help in some way.

Many people will likely have different methods of doing things, or simply or more agile minds than myself, but I’ve always thought that writing an action scene is like keeping a dozen plates spinning at the same time. But, as long as you’re aware of your plates and which one is doing what, it’s definitely possible for anyone to do. Hopefully the following words will prove useful.

Having a Think, Planning

Right, before you start any fight scene, stop and have a think. It’s all too easy to let all the ideas and moves that you have buzzing around in your head jump out onto the page in a plethora of swordplay and screaming, but all you’ll do is get yourself in a muddle. Action is a great thing to write, but as with most writing, planning prevents piss poor performance.

Think before you write!

Before you put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard), get things straight in your head. Set the scene. First, decide on why the fight is happening, between who, and how many opponents your hero / heroine is taking on (I’ll come on to battle scenes later). This needs to be set up beforehand in the storyline generally, although leaping into a fight as your opening scene can be effective, as long as the reasons why the fight has happened are explained at some point afterwards.

All fights have a start, middle and an end with, sometimes with occasional interruptions (no, not toilet breaks), dialogue or additional fighters joining in as the scene progresses.

Next, where are you having the fight take place? What is your environment? Are you inside or outside? Are your opponents on something that’s moving (horse, chariot, ship, car, giant flamingo) or are they fighting in mud, on grass or up to their elbows in treacle? All of these things will have an impact on how they move, their speed, how quickly they get tired and whether people can join in the fight or not.

I find it quite useful to draw a wee map or plan. Geeky perhaps, but if you have a good idea of what is where, you can then give your reader the same information. Use little figures or even stuffed toys if you like, but not the cat as they tend to get bored and wander off. This also applies to younger brothers and sisters, babies, hamsters (which might get eaten by the cat) or goldfish which stay terminally still if used for too long.

For example, you have a fight in a medieval castle; are there tables and chairs around, tapestries on the wall, extra weapons on the walls, meat pies that can be thrown at the opposition, or people watching that might get in the way? Get your picture of your fighting area(s) firmly fixed in your head and / or on a piece of paper before you do anything else.

Right, so we have a location, we have a couple of people squared off and ready to scrap. You should also have a good idea of what your opponents are wearing or using.

To re-use the medieval idea again, are they in chain mail, plate armour, leather? Do they have helmets, greaves, a shield? What weapons are they using? (more on this in a bit too) This all comes down to detail. You don’t have to describe your warrior to the minutest detail in the story, in fact this can be highly detrimental to the flow of the writing, but if you know what he/she looks like before you start writing, then the details can be woven into the tale as and when you need them, and you won’t end up describing your character as dressed in white in one scene, and black in the next.

You are allowed, even encouraged, to keep notes and they can be invaluable. They may well never make it off your desk or off your computer or even out of your head, but they help you colour in the backdrop of the story in your mind, and the more detail available to you as a writer will allow you to paint a far more complete picture to the reader, even when you don’t use all the information in your notes.

Are your characters historically correct? Are they wearing plate mail 500 years before it was invented, are your Vikings wearing spandex or horned helmets (both of which are incorrect by the way, especially the horned helmets)?

This is less important in fantasy novels perhaps, where you can pretty much do what you want, as the world that you’ve set your story in is in your own head. Even in fantasy though there may be rules that you have woven inherently into your story that cannot be broken. For example you may have described one tribe as favouring the use of axes; another swords. So, if you start switching things around, you’re breaking your own story history. Whatever style of story you do, and perhaps more so if you’re doing historical fiction or even a fanfic, you need to do your research.

Research! It’s important.

Okay, still here? Almost there, then we can relax and start writing…

Weapons

This can take a bit of thought too. Choose weapons that are appropriate to the scene. Having a close action fight with one chap holding a crossbow and another holding a penknife is probably unlikely. Weapons also need research, having cavemen holding a composite metal longbow for example is less than likely and weapons too have their own history, whether they by swords, falchions or ballistae.

How many and what weapons do your characters carry? Note this down. Remember which hands are holding what. If you have a left hander fighting a right hander you’ll need to remember that when you’re describing what blows are going where. Work out how the weapons work. You can’t stab someone with a flail for example. Oddly enough you flail at people with it. Think too about how your weapons can be used to attack and / or defend. This will change depending on what weapon the opponent is using as well.

Finally, choose a weapon that fits the warrior / character. Giving a hobbit a massive two handed sword or King Arthur a dirk is kinda wrong. Can they lift it for example? Will the weapon render your character breathless and winded (and dead) after swinging it more than once? While I’m all for having strong lady characters for example, very few ladies have the physical strength to draw a longbow. Not many men do either. I’ve drawn one once, and it’s bloomin’ hard work. Think things through.

Writing

Ooh, we’re ready to go.

Okay, we know where we are, when we are, who we’ve got fighting, the environment we’re set in, arms (swords and stuff, not the things that your hands hang off) and why the fight is taking place.

This is the bit where is can go horribly wrong. Take a deep breath and relax, because it can also go wonderfully right if you keep thinking and keep your plates spinning nicely.

I find it useful to mentally plan your way through the fight, choreography if you prefer.

For the sake of example, let’s assume we have two men fighting each other. Both are right handed, both armed with short sword and shield, perhaps two Roman warriors. Picture this in your mind, you need to mentally choreograph (and / or write down brief notes) the fight in your head, work out what each opponent does with each blow. As the first man comes in with an overhead blow, does his opponent block it with his shield or his sword? If he blocks it with a shield, then it leaves his blade free to attack. If he blocks it with the sword, he can shield bash his opponent. Instantly you have a choice. He could also dodge of course. If they’re both right handed it is more than likely that the shield will do the block. Does it block it or does the blade deflect, throwing the attacker off balance? What happens next?

Now, the two of them can batter away like this for a bit if you like, but in actuality most fights are quick, brutal affairs and the writing needs to reflect this. Fighters want to finish quickly so they can either run away or face the next opponent. These long battle scenes you see with characters trading blow after blow are all very well, but sometimes a quick flurry is all that is needed. Think how you would perhaps find an opening and exploit it. Will your fighters fight clean or dirty? In my experience there is no such thing as a clean fight. My old martial arts instructor (who was a copper) always said that most fights very quickly end up on the floor, or with one man very quickly out of action. That is perhaps more true for unarmed combat, but the speed thing is definitely true. In the example above, the attacker goes off balance, does the other fighter immediately jump in and take advantage, does he slip on some spilt wine, thus giving the attacker the time to recover? So many questions, but so little time to get it all into the scene.

Right, scrap on, how do you start describing what’s going on. Essentially, you write how you’d fight. Keep it short, punchy:

“He hit the floor. Hard. Winded and groaning in pain, he struggled to his feet, blocking the next blow from his opponent, before roaring defiance and charging at the man who opposed him…”

Or

“The fighter hit the floor, his shield dented, the impact winding him and causing him to groan in pain. As he wheezed and tried to stand up again, his opponent moved to the attack, his short sword held tightly in one fist. As the blow came in, he blocked it with his shield and then roared his defiance into the still air of the morning before rushing forwards, his shield and sword held high...”

They both say the same thing, but the latter one, although descriptively more eloquent perhaps, is ponderous and doesn’t put across the speed and pace of the fight. Fights ebb and flow and you can control that with the pace of the sentence. Both could be used, but it depends where you are in your scene and how you want it to play out. It’s a fine line sometimes, but don’t stop to edit until you’ve finished the scene. Once you’ve got everything set up in your mind, this is the point where you want to hit the paper with all you’ve got. The quicker you write it, the more likely you will be to end up with a pacier scene.

In my experience, unless you’re opening a story or a paragraph in the middle of a fight (which can definitely work), there is a lead in to a fight. This is where your writing will reflect the pace at which the story moves.

The non-fight parts of the piece you’re writing can wallow happily in the descriptive side of things, dwelling on the detail (but still not too much, we don’t need to know that the knight was handsome with a small scar on his left pectoral muscle which shone as if freshly oiled… blah blah blah… okay, this might be a matter of personal taste here…), describe the location and background, the circling of the opponents, the pre-fight banter. This is where we can put in the Lines. Those little lines you hear in films or read in great books. For example:

"Just because I don't like to fight, doesn't mean I can't."

“Still think I can’t fight?”

“You want to fight? Fight me…”

and so on. There’s often a wee comic twist at the end, Arnie style, but that’s up to the writer…

Above all, keep it punchy.

And, use a Thesaurus, you can only use ‘hit’ so many times.

I don’t honestly think it matters whether you write in first, second or third person (and I have seen action done in all three very successfully), all that matters is that you keep a track of the action. If you forget who is meant to be where, which hand the hero is holding his sword in or the fact that you killed off Gandalf four chapters ago, your readers will very quickly give up on you.

Make notes.

Multiple Opponents

Most normal human beings will be unable to fight more than two opponents at the same time, probably only one. This is where thought really starts coming into it. If your hero, and they probably will be a hero if they’re taking on many opponents, is fighting multiple characters they’re not going to form an orderly queue while Conan the Chunderer gaily picks them off one at a time. “I say old boy, form an orderly queue, we’ll all get to have at him eventually you know, please wait your turn.” This is not a line at the post office where the little old lady gets first whack with her handbag (not the double headed battleaxe, although she might be one of course, some old ladies are formidable).

A great exponent of the multiple opponent fight scene is Jackie Chan. Rent one of his films and have a look at it. If you think you can describe something like that, then go for it. Choreographing something something like this in your head, or on paper for that matter can be done, but you really do need to make sure you’ve got it straight in your head first.

You also have to keep track of how many have died

Battle Scenes

In some ways these are easier than multiple opponent scenes, but they are generally on a much grander scale and, as mentioned several times before, planning is important.

This is where you definitely need to have your plates spinning madly. You have two (possibly more if you want to get really complicated) groups of people wanting to kill each other. A plan of your battlefield can be really useful at this point, along with moveable characters. Nerdy? Definitely, but only if you spend 5 days painting them all in perfect detail. But it does help.

Where are your characters located? Are some fortified? Do some hold the high ground? Do they have siege weapons, cannons, horses, chariots, tanks?

I’ve found the best way to do large battles is by imagining you are some sort of general floating above the battlefield. How do you see people moving, in what patterns? How do people attack, how do they defend? If one army moves, how do their opponents respond? What tactics will give each side the upper hand?

The way you describe this is very similar to a single combat scene, and you can make it really complex or in some ways relatively simple.

In any battle there is often a decisive moment that changes the balance, whether it be a single act of bravery or stupidity, or the sudden arrival of extra forces. How you pinpoint that and describe it is important and the success of your scene can hinge on it so make it powerful. A pace change in your writing at this point can be particularly effective.

Fantasy / Magic

This is almost exactly the same as describing combat or battle scenes, however you’re potentially including magical weapons and / or defences. Before you use any magic, you have to do exactly the same as you would with a normal weapon. Work out how it works, work out the effects, consider how the use of it will affect the parties involved, and whether the defences will withstand the onslaught. Other than that, it’s pretty much action as normal but with a whole lot more potential for oddity.

Whether you want to drop a magically enlarged two toed sloth into the middle of your medieval style battle is entirely up to you.

Other Action

Whether you’re describing a fight, a car chase, a furious descent down a mountain on skis, or two small boys wrestling over a toy car, it all needs to be planned. Think through the entire scene in your head. If you can see how it happens, then you can explain it to other people. If you have no clear idea yourself, there is no way you’ll be able to explain it to your reader.

Keep it fast and sharp. Change pace occasionally if needed, description should be there, but not flowery

Dos and Don’ts

Do

research, watch films, read similar style books to what you’re writing plan things use a Thesaurus keep it fast and punchy in the heat of battle include the odd comedy moment (if you want to) think about your weapons, how they work and how they’ll interact

Don’t

stop until you’re out of breath and have finished, then edit afterwards just jump into it without thinking get too flowery with the detail during the action

Up to you

varying the speed gore and blood (although you’ll have to do more research if you do) magic 1st, 2nd, 3rd person Comedy moments

You’ve finished your fight scene. Relax, take it easy, have a biscuit. Give it a day, then re-read, edit, re-read, edit until you’re happy with it, then get someone else to go over it.

Oh and finally (a bit like parenting), listen to advice from others, take the bits you need, ignore the rest and do it in a way that works for you.

But listen to feedback… Wattpad is good for that…