Action scenes, these scenes can make or break a good story as well. They are what keep readers interested. But overdo it or a poorly written fight scene can really damage the opinion of your book. While I have my own way on how to write fight scenes, I have done some research into this topic and this is what I have found mixed in with advice of my own.

(1) Don't Overwrite (NO DETAIL!!)
Try to let the reader choreograph the fight, let the reader use their imagination as much as you can. Let them know the outline of the fight and they'll fill in the blanks. This will let the reader feel invested in the story and they can paint their own picture in their head rather than you trying to force a picture into their head. Don't write the exact position of your characters is what I'm getting at, that is left up to the readers to imagine. Putting a simple 'they struggled' can give a reader a far better picture than when you are describing the exact position of them, also it can bored a reader as well.

Keeping your fights simple will allow a younger reader able to know what is going on compared to older reader. If you throw in words you found in the dictionary, the younger readers might not know those words while the older readers do, leading to confusion. So keep them simple, don't overcomplicate them.

This means no detail! Details are good to have, but they are an action scene's worse enemy.

(2) Pacing
Fights don't last long, they tend to end almost as quickly as they were started. So don't stretch a fight out a spam of chapters, most readers forget what the last chapter was even about anyway, so having a fight scene be a spam of three chapters is gonna confuse them.

Intensify the pace, short and simple sentences should do since fight don't last long, so make them quick and short. Intensifying your pace will put an illusion that the characters are moving quickly, like a fight does. Fights are quick, so your pace should be quick. Take The Princess Bride for example, the two sword fights that happen in the beginning are short and seen as some of the best ever written:

"The cliffs were very close behind him now.
Inigo continued to retreat; the man in black continued advancing.
Then Inigo countered with the Thibault.
And the man in black blocked it."

Short and to the point. Don't drag it out when things can be shorten. Pitch useless words, keep it nice and organized. William Goldman, author of The Princess Bride, wrote the cliff fight short and each sentence is a sudden movement. Every time a different person takes an action, a new line starts, making the reader think that it is important and interesting.

A rule to help: If it takes longer for a reader to read the action enacted than performed, it is too long meaning a kick to the face shouldn't take twenty seconds to do about three should do.

If you are still struggling, how I help quicken my pace is by listening to music. Find a fast pace song and usually you'll match that pace and forget the song is even playing.

(3) Needed Fights V.S. Unneeded Fights
Character development and plot progression v.s. what the heck did you just punch him in the face?

Action scenes are easy to overdo, and have to many of them. Putting in fights that have neither no plot significance or character development progression is not a fight that is needed. Make sure that if you are gonna have an action scene, it has importance to the storyline whether that be a character training or to cripple a character for an incoming death scene of theirs. Fights usually are triggered because of a reason, if a fight breaks out for no reason, than there is no reason to have that in your story.

(4) Make is BELIEVEABLE!
This is very important and there is a lot to cover in this. This is what separates a skilled fighter and the amateurs. Meaning an amateur should not beat a character who has training in sword fighting for years. I don't care how amazing that amateur is, they should lose that fight because fights tend to sway in the skilled's favor rather the amateur because..well skilled are skilled for a reason.

An amateur should fight like an amateur, they should be jerky with their moments, unbalanced on their feet, they have terrible reflexes, and they should get hurt in some way. But as time goes on, they'll improve in their fighting skills because they are learning. Calling your main character an amateur and you make him fight like some ninja will be a wtf moment since you labeled that character as an amateur. Amateurs should not be using moves that skilled fighters know. MEANING THEY NEVER FOUGHT OR DON'T FIGHT OFTEN ENOUGH TO BE CONSIDERED SKILLED!!!! SO DON'T MAKE AN AMATEUR SKILLED! It can confuse readers and that also happens to be a cliche, people tend to hate those. I know I do, I hate action scene cliches, it is an automatic turn off for me, so if you want to avoid it, make the character progress in their skills as the story goes on. And they should fight like they are skilled fighter in three chapters, experience means more than education in fighting terms. The more experience they have, the better they fight.

Skilled Fighters should fight like skilled fighters, they are graceful with their movements, more precise with their attacks, have effective moves of their own, amazing reflexes, but remember they are still vulnerable. Making an invincible character is gonna blow up in your face and will make readers hate the character. Because skilled fighters tend to have complicated moves, it takes more energy, meaning they will grow exhausted quicker. But amateurs grow tired quicker since they have not built up their strength compared to a skilled fighter that has. This does not give you the permission to make your skilled fighters have biceps the size of bowling balls or that magical 8 pact abs since most skilled fighters don't focus too much on gaining all those muscles, and besides...am I the only one who really hates the idea of like a guy who has the arms the size of bowling balls? They could crush you if they hugged you.

Back to skilled fighters now. Skilled Fighters should get hurt too, it does not matter how much experience they have, they will get hurt. Imagine this, you are reading a war scene that someone wrote and the main character comes out unscathed, not even a scratch or cut. That is just wrong, also a cliche as well. Every single one of your characters will be crippled in some way during any type of action scene. If not on their body, which I recommend giving your characters who aren't hurt badly to give them a few cuts so it looks like they actually did something, they will be physically exhausted. They will be tired, their limps will feel like jelly, their feet numb, their brain too tired and scattered to care about anything, their muscles will be sore, they will just be too exhausted to care about that cliche kissing scening that usually happens after a war scene. Your characters will be too focused on sleeping than kissing someone.

It doesn't matter how much force you put behind a punch if you do not throw it right. Amateurs blows are less effective, the blows on amateur take more out of them when an skilled knows how to take someone down and can take a blow take less out of them since they built themselves up to within it. And training means everything, if your character is out of training, even if they are skilled, they'll fight like an amateur.

Training polishes and enhance skills, laziness dulls and degrades them. so make your characters train regularly, although most people don't know the importance of training anyway. So you could probably get away with it.

(5) 100% Reflex
If your character has time to think out a move in the mist of a fight, you are writing it wrong. Fights are 100% reflex. Now if your character runs for cover, than that would be a great time to think out a plan, but when thrown up against the wall by the antagonist, your character's movements should be reflexes, proof of their training, or their survival instincts kicking in. Our survival instincts kick in when we are facing a fight that is to the death, we are usually blind to what we are doing, these instincts are usually what an amateur would turn to and turns them into a person they don't know. An example would be Oliver Queen's first kill, he was trapped on an island for five years, meeting two friends, Shadow was being attacked by a guard, Oliver, with the bare minimal of any fighting experience was able to kill the guard when he was only suppose to knock him out. He killed the guard because his rage mixed with his survival instincts kicked in, leading to him to stab the guard multiple times when Oliver is very much against killing. And when that rush ended, Shadow had to pull Oliver away from the scene since Oliver was horrified.

That is what an amateur would act like throw into an situation like that. A skilled fighter learns to control their rage and depend on reflex rather than letting their rage back up their blow.

(6) The fewer the perspectives, the better
First person, this isn't a problem for you.

Third person however it is. Giving people more than one perspective of a fight scene can be confusing, so limit this to revolve around one person.

(7) Use your senses!
Hearing. Sight. Touch. Smell. Use these to your advantage. While I said do not use too many details, senses are different. And we do have more than just the four senses, we know where are limps are position without having to looking at them or feel around. That is considered a sense of ours. So use that as well. Sensory fighting can be more relatable to the readers, it lets them know how a character is feeling, hearing, smelling, or feeling. The taste of blood, ringing in their ears, ache of their injuries, anything! You can make incredible scenes out of using our sense rather than any narrative can do. Example:

"He pulled him to his feet, almost tearing the collar....He heard the slight rasp of material ripping."

But just using senses, readers can see the pull needed to lift up someone and the violent grip on a collar and the force needed to tear it without you ever needing to spell it out for them with narration.

An example where is might not is (I hope) most readers haven't almost bled to death. So just putting in a simple "his clothes were shades darker" or "wet with blood" lets the reader connect those two with sight and touch since that can easily be compared to what spilling water on a blue t-shirt can do.

(8) Skipping a Fight with Just the Results
Now this is an option to consider if you really don't want to write a fight scene out. This would be skipping the violence and leave only the aftermath. Example from an article:

"I asked Tyler what he wanted me to do.
Tyler said. "I want you to hit me as hard as you can.""

Cut it off there and at the start of the next chapter:

"Two screens into my demo to Microsoft, I taste blood... My boss doesn't know the material, but he won't let me run the demo with a black eye and half my face swollen from the stitches in my cheek."

No details of a fight was given, but by the next chapter, Tyler has injuries that are proof that a fight did indeed take place. That is one way to avoid a fight altogether is you so desired.

(9) Don't get lost!
This is something I have trouble with all the time, I will be writing a scene and I'll totally forget who did what and who is injured where. Try writing out a timeline of your fight. This can also help you write the scene itself with having the framework and who is injured where.

(10) Use the setting!
Move around, don't trap your characters to one spot, make them jump around, fall back and push each other. Smash them through windows, push them up against walls, throw them at walls, hit them with a chair, anything! Anything can be used as a weapon, and moving your characters' fight around the environment is always a great way to show how strong they are or to quicken a pace if need be. Get creative with the environment, each environment has a uniqueness to it. Say you are in the library, who here has always been dying to make the bookshelves fall like dimeoes? I know I have, but that is a good example of using environment to advantage. In a office building? Cubicles are full of office supplies, and a getting your hand stapled HURTS...not that it has ever happened to me.... So using the setting, move around a lot, it will help improve your scene.

(11) Little to No Dialogue
Ever heard the expression, no time to talk let's fight? Hold that true. In fights, talking is usually the last thing to happen. Unless your antagonist is being cliche and revealing his entire evil plan.

(12) Avoid Action Cliches
Cliches like the "Luke I am your father." to "I will now tell you my evil plan." are things that are just too overdone. Be creative, think outside the box, make your fight your own creative work. Cliches aren't for everyone and can make people skip over the scene entirely, so try to avoid using them.

Hope that help you guys! What should be next? What else are you guys having trouble in? Some ideas: Character development, narrative, show v.s. tell, book descriptions, plot twists, character backstories, hooking readers, how to write that first chapter, etc...