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writing fight scenes! ━━ no. 011
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     NOT ONLY WAS THIS A HIGHLY REQUESTED TIP, BUT IT IS ALSO ONE THAT I HAVE WANTED TO TALK ABOUT FOR A MINUTE NOW. Writing fight scenes is not the easiest task to accomplish. It's tricky and very hit-or-miss. For most, it's the most dangerous writing territory for them to dabble in. If one is not confident in their ability to craft a convincing action scene, nine times out of ten, they won't. Instead, they'll stick to a verbal fight of conflict instead of choosing to travel down the more compelling and eccentric avenue.

     If you are one of those people — I don't blame you. In fact, I used to be the same way. It was either I avoided writing an action scene or settled for something less satisfactory that I wasn't proud of or compromised for as a way to compensate for the material I could have, but chose not to write. However, not everyone is intimidated by writing action scenes. Some people thrive off of them and enjoy creating them, yet don't realize that they're doing it wrong.

     Now, there is truly no right way to write a fight scene, in my opinion, but there are ways to write one that is good, compelling, suspenseful, engaging, and captivating.

     I'm going to be transparent: in practice, writing a realistic fight scene for your story is one of the hardest things you'll ever do. That's because fight scenes can be very boring to read. A TV show or movie allows the audience to "take a passive stance and have the action wash over them." Meanwhile, when reading a fight scene, it requires your readers to activate their imagination and visualize the scene in their mind by using your words, and the descriptions that are given to them in your story. It's not an easy ask and can cause readers to become frustrated if they can't envision what it is they're reading.

     Never fear though, as someone who used to suck at writing fight scenes, I have constructed a guide that I believe will be useful to you all!

     ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐏𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐅𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐒𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐒 ⸝⸝ ⇗

          ╰─── On the surface, fight scenes appear as if they're an element that, if you add, will guarantee to keep your audience on the edge of their seats and glued what is going down. After all, that's the reality for most whenever they watch an action sequence. In reality, though, readers tend to skip over fight scenes and move onto the next segment of a story. I most certainly have and I'm fairly positive that anyone reading this has at some point.

     ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ 𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐓𝐎: 𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐖𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐀 𝐅𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐒𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐄 ⸝⸝ ⇗
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀→ ⺌ The outline is from WikiHows because for once, they gave good advice that is solid and I support. Credit to them.

          ╰─── 𝟬𝟭. Read examples of fight scenes. One of the best ways to prepare yourself to write an action scene is to find a novel or story you love and read over some of its action scenes. These action scenes should be ones that you find captivating, compelling, and well-written. Some examples I suggest are:

           ➳❥ Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 35 (Beyond the Veil) and 36 (The Only One He Ever Feared). These two chapters take place during the Battle of the Department of Mysteries and have excellent action sequences that inspire me a great deal. They're filled with angst, grief, fury, and failure. I love them.

           ➳❥ The Iliad, Books 15 and 16, and 21 and 22. The fight between Hector, Achilles, and the armies. The fight explicitly between Hector and Achilles has become a classic model for fight scenes in literature over the years and I quite enjoy it.

          ╰─── 𝟬𝟮. Ask yourself: is the fight scene essential to the overall plot or story? This is a question I am always asking myself when it comes to anything. Not just action or fight scenes. Sure, fights and battles naturally bring drama and excitement to any piece of work, but they should have a meaning or purpose behind them.

          Don't write a fight scene just for the sake of being able to tell and show people that your story has a fight scene. Do it because it goes with your story, the progression of events, the history of the characters involved, whether or not it will move elements of the plot forward, whether or not it contributes to character development, or leads to the reveal of a character.

           ➳❥ Other questions to ask yourself: will this scene provide crucial information to the reader about the characters involved in the fight? How is the fight scene situated within the overall plot or story? How will these characters build-up or prepare for this fight scene? How can I write it to fight the already established tone and mood of the story?

          ╰─── 𝟬𝟯. Ask yourself: what are the character's motivations to fight? In order to build the drama you want, present the characters in the light you want them to shine in, and write the desired outcome of the conflict, you must ask yourself this question.

           ➳❥ Follow up questions that go with this: why is this character involved in the fight? What does this character hope to gain? What does the character stand to lose? What sort of abilities do they have? Do they have any training? Does this character have cultural beliefs about fighting? Why does the reader care about the character? How can they likely relate to the character?

          ╰─── 𝟬𝟰. Begin to think about your description of the action in the fight scene. While preparing, this is the perfect time to consider how you will position your characters in the scenes and how you will describe their actions and movements as they fight. Are you going to include a lot of descriptive words for each punch or kick? Do you have a clear sense of the movements of each character in the scene? Will you use dialogue to alter the pace of the fight and space out movements to help keep the reader engaged?

          ╰─── 𝟬𝟱. Take time to consider how the stakes change for the characters at the end of the fight scene. Good fight scenes will always dramatically shift the stakes of the overall story. The protagonist may end up wounded, fatally injured, or lose something precious during the fight. Or the antagonist may be defeated in the fight and the protagonist comes out on top. Also, a fight scene can cause new conflicts to rise for the protagonist, as a close friend, family member, or love interest may end up being collateral damage or become threatened during the fight.

          ➳❥ For example, in my book Expedite, in Chapter 22, the main character confronts the person who killed her parents. During the fight, she obtains three fractured ribs, a dislocated jaw, dislocated proximal phalanges in her fingers, a fracture running from the T1-T5 interspace where the thoracic nerves are on her spine, various cuts, and numerous bruises. To say the least, she got her ass handed to her and was severely injured. The antagonist, towards the end of the fight, says, "Tell anyone about this and I'll kill Barry." This threat causes a new conflict to rise for the main character, as she doesn't want to have to lie to Barry again about something important and lose him, but if she doesn't tell him, she could still lose him. It also causes her hatred for the antagonist to deepen and provides her with more motivation to take them down.

          ╰─── 𝟬𝟲. Optional. Take a fight class. All right, so this is actually something I did. No, I'm not lying about this to sound cool or like I know what I'm talking about all the time when it comes to fighting. (Because I definitely don't.) Although, I did do this during my senior year of high school for an elective. (I took self-defense classes with a trained police officer and actually got to fight him. It was pretty fucking cool.)

          While taking this class over the course of four months, I learned so much. I'm now able to flip someone over, tackle them and pin them down, escape from a chokehold, do different punches, block blows to the head, and am able to break out of a headlock. Needless to say, I felt like a badass and still kind of do.

          During, and after, this class, I gained a lot of perspectives and got a real, up-close look of fighting and how to properly defend yourself. This new-found knowledge not only helped me as a young woman but as a person and writer. I began writing my fight scenes in my stories differently and more realistically. I now knew that if someone flipped my character, they weren't going to be able to stand up so quickly. It was going to take a minute and their back would be incredibly sore and feel fuzzy. Getting pinned to the wall isn't something my character can break free from by kicking someone. (Something I, and other writers, write all the time.)

          Taking a class is optional and something that not everybody can do, but can definitely benefit you when it comes to writing and protecting yourself.

     ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐃 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐖𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐀 𝐅𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐒𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐄 ⸝⸝ ⇗
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀→ ⺌ Inspired by a Tumblr post by berrybird. Credit to them.

          ╰─── I have compiled a list here of things that I have learned from personal experience and also from professionals when it comes to fighting and action scenarios in general.

     ｡ﾟ☆ 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝜊𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑝𝑒𝜊𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑡𝜊 𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑎𝑠 𝑖𝑓 𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑟𝜊𝑚 𝑎 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑟 ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑤𝜊𝑛'𝑡 𝑓𝑢𝑐𝑘 𝑦𝜊𝑢𝑟 𝑏𝜊𝑑𝑦 𝑢𝑝. 𝑖𝑛 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦, "𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔" 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑚𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑢𝑝 𝑦𝜊𝑢𝑟 𝑗𝜊𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝜊𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝜊𝑓 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑦𝜊𝑢𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑘𝑙𝑒𝑠 (𝑑𝑒𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝜊𝑛 ℎ𝜊𝑤 ℎ𝑖𝑔ℎ 𝑦𝜊𝑢'𝑟𝑒 𝑗𝑢𝑚𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝜊𝑟 𝑓𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑟𝜊𝑚). 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑠𝜊𝑛 𝑤ℎ𝑦 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒-𝑟𝑢𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑑𝑖𝜐𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑟𝜊𝑙𝑙.

     ｡ﾟ☆ 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅-𝒕𝒐-𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒃𝒂𝒕. ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒'𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑡ℎ: 𝑚𝜊𝑠𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑-𝑡𝜊-ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝜊𝑚𝑏𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝜊𝑒𝑠𝑛'𝑡 𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑙𝜊𝑛𝑔. 𝑖𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑑𝜊𝑒𝑠𝑛'𝑡. 𝑖𝑡 𝑢𝑠𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝜊𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑠 𝑎 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝜊𝑓 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝜊𝑛𝑑, 𝑝𝜊𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑏𝑙𝑦 𝑒𝜐𝑒𝑛 𝑎 𝑓𝑒𝑤 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑡𝑒𝑠, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑟𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑦. ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑-𝑡𝜊-ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝜊𝑚𝑏𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑒𝑥ℎ𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑠 𝑝𝑒𝜊𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝜊𝑢𝑡 𝜐𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑙𝑦. 𝑠𝜊, 𝑢𝑛𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑦𝜊𝑢𝑟 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑎𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑒𝑥𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝜐𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑖𝑠𝑡𝜊𝑟𝑦 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑡𝑦𝑝𝑒 𝜊𝑓 𝑐𝜊𝑚𝑏𝑎𝑡, 𝑑𝜊𝑛'𝑡 𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑠𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑓𝜊𝑟𝑒𝜐𝑒𝑟. 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑠ℎ𝜊𝑟𝑡.

     ｡ﾟ☆ 𝒕𝒉𝒆 "𝒇𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒉 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒆." 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝜊𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑒𝜐𝑒𝑟𝑦𝜊𝑛𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑓𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡. ℎ𝜊𝑤𝑒𝜐𝑒𝑟, 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝜐𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝜊 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑓𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑐ℎ, 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑠 𝑚𝜊𝑠𝑡 𝜊𝑓 𝑢𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝜐𝑒𝑛'𝑡. (𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒, 𝑦𝜊𝑢𝑟 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑎𝑠𝑛'𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝜊 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠.) 𝑡ℎ𝑒 "𝑓𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑐ℎ 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑝𝜊𝑛𝑠𝑒" 𝑖𝑠 𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛'𝑠 𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝜊𝑓 𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑢𝑠 "𝑏𝑖𝑡𝑐ℎ, 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝜊𝑢𝑡 𝜊𝑓 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒. 𝑦𝜊𝑢 𝑘𝑛𝜊𝑤 𝑦𝜊𝑢𝑟 𝑑𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑐𝑎𝑛'𝑡 𝑓𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑡𝜊 𝑠𝑎𝜐𝑒 𝑦𝜊𝑢𝑟 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒. 𝑤𝑒'𝑟𝑒 𝑔𝜊𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝜊 𝑑𝑖𝑒 𝑖𝑓 𝑤𝑒 𝑑𝜊𝑛'𝑡 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝜐𝑒."

     𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑠𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑠, 𝑏𝑒 𝑐𝜊𝑛𝑠𝑐𝑖𝜊𝑢𝑠 𝜊𝑓 ℎ𝜊𝑤 𝑙𝜊𝑛𝑔 𝑦𝜊𝑢𝑟 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑓𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝜊𝑟 𝑖𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑝ℎ𝑦𝑠𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑓𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡. 𝑖𝑓 𝑠𝜊𝑚𝑒𝜊𝑛𝑒 𝑖𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝜐𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑓𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑓𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑚𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑎 𝑓𝑒𝑤 ℎ𝑖𝑡𝑠, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑐ℎ 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑝𝜊𝑛𝑠𝑒/𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝜐𝑖𝜐𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑘𝑖𝑐𝑘 𝑖𝑛, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑡 ℎ𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘. 𝑡𝜊 𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑠𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑦, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑐ℎ 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 "𝑝𝑟𝜊𝑡𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝜐𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝜊𝑛 𝑡𝜊 𝑎 𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑙𝑢𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑟𝜊𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝜊 𝑦𝜊𝑢𝑟 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑡𝜊𝜊 𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑙𝑦. 𝑖𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑙𝑢𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑟𝜊𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑒𝑑 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝜊 𝑓𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑐ℎ." 𝑠𝜊𝑚𝑒𝜊𝑛𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝜊 𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡ℎ 𝑓𝑖𝑠𝑡-𝑓𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑔𝜊𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝜊 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑝𝜊𝑛𝑑 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑠𝜊𝑚𝑒𝜊𝑛𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝜊 𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡.

     ｡ﾟ☆ 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒆𝒅. 𝑖𝑓 𝑠𝜊𝑚𝑒𝜊𝑛𝑒 𝑔𝑒𝑡𝑠 𝑝𝑢𝑛𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝜊𝑠𝑒, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦'𝑙𝑙 𝑝𝑟𝜊𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑦 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑎 𝑏𝑙𝜊𝜊𝑑𝑦 𝑛𝜊𝑠𝑒. 𝑖𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑏𝑏𝑒𝑑 𝜊𝑟 𝑐𝑢𝑡, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑒𝑑. 𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑙𝑦, 𝑖𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦'𝜐𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑓𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝜊𝑟 𝑎𝑛 𝑒𝑥𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑚𝜊𝑢𝑛𝑡 𝜊𝑓 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦'𝑙𝑙 𝑎 𝑙𝜊𝑡 𝜊𝑓 𝑏𝑙𝜊𝜊𝑑 𝑐𝑖𝑟𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑟𝜊𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑡𝜊 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝 𝑝𝑟𝜊𝜐𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝜊𝑥𝑦𝑔𝑒𝑛, 𝑠𝜊 𝑖𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦'𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑢𝑡, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑎 𝑙𝜊𝑡.

     ｡ﾟ☆ 𝒇𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒎𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒚. 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝜊𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖 𝑓𝜊𝑟𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑎𝑏𝜊𝑢𝑡 𝑎 𝑙𝜊𝑡, ℎ𝜊𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑙𝑦, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑓𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑠 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑚𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑦. 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒'𝑠 𝑏𝑙𝜊𝜊𝑑 𝑒𝜐𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒, 𝑝𝑒𝜊𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑖𝑡 𝑠𝑚𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑡𝑎𝑛'𝑠 𝑎𝑠𝑠ℎ𝜊𝑙𝑒, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑛𝜊𝑏𝜊𝑑𝑦 𝑙𝜊𝜊𝑘𝑠 𝑐𝑢𝑡𝑒. 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡'𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦. 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑐𝑖𝑟𝑐𝑢𝑚𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑠, 𝑖𝑡 𝑎𝑙𝑠𝜊 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝜊𝑟 𝑝𝑒𝜊𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝜊 𝑓𝑢𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑐𝜊𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝜊𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑠𝑙𝑖𝑝 𝜊𝑛 𝑠𝜊𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑙𝜊𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑔𝑟𝑖𝑝 𝜊𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑤𝑒𝑎𝑝𝜊𝑛𝑠 𝜊𝑟 𝜊𝑛 𝜊𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑠.

     ｡ﾟ☆ 𝒚'𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒎𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕? 𝒖𝒉 𝒐𝒉, 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒌𝒚. (𝑖 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑡𝜊.) 𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑖𝜊𝑢𝑠 𝑏𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑠𝑚𝑒𝑙𝑙, 𝑝𝑒𝜊𝑝𝑙𝑒. 𝑎𝑠 𝑖 𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝜊𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝜐𝑖𝜊𝑢𝑠𝑙𝑦, 𝑝𝑒𝜊𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑡 𝑠𝑚𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑡𝑎𝑛'𝑠 𝑎𝑠𝑠ℎ𝜊𝑙𝑒. 𝑠𝜊𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑐𝜊𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑏𝑢𝑡𝑒𝑠 𝑡𝜊 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑚𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝜊𝑓 𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑒. 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝜊𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖'𝜐𝑒 𝑘𝑛𝜊𝑤𝑛 𝑓𝜊𝑟 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑛𝜊𝑤𝑙𝑒𝑑𝑔𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝜊𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑚𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑛𝜊𝑡. 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝜊𝑚𝑒𝜊𝑛𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑒𝑠, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑏𝜊𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑙𝑎𝑑𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑑 𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑦. 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑡 𝑠𝑚𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑚𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝜊𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝜊 𝑤𝜊𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑛. 𝑠𝜊 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑝𝑒𝜊𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑓𝜊𝑟𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑒. 𝑏𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑑𝜊𝑛'𝑡 𝑠𝑚𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝜊𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝜊 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔.

     ｡ﾟ☆ 𝒂𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖. 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝜊𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖 𝑑𝑖𝑑𝑛'𝑡 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑛 𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑙 𝑖 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑦 𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓-𝑑𝑒𝑓𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑒 𝑐𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠. 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝜊𝑚𝑚𝜊𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝜊𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡𝜊𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝜊𝑓 𝑎 𝑓𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡, 𝑦𝜊𝑢𝑟 𝑎𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑘𝑖𝑐𝑘 𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑦𝜊𝑢 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑘𝑖𝑐𝑘 𝑠𝜊𝑚𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑖𝜊𝑢𝑠 𝑎𝑠𝑠. ℎ𝜊𝑤𝑒𝜐𝑒𝑟, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝜊𝑓 ℎ𝜊𝑤 𝑎𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑎𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑠 𝑦𝜊𝑢 𝑖𝑠𝑛'𝑡 𝑎𝑠 𝑏𝑎𝑑𝑎𝑠𝑠. 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝜐𝑒 𝑖𝑡 𝜊𝑟 𝑛𝜊𝑡, 𝑎𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑠 𝑦𝜊𝑢 𝜊𝑢𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑠 𝑎 𝑓𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑒𝑟'𝑠 𝜊𝜐𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑐𝑦. (𝑖𝑡 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝜐𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑒𝑟'𝑠 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑘𝑦, 𝑑𝑖𝑧𝑧𝑦, 𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝜊𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎 𝑝𝑢𝑛𝑐ℎ, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝜐𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑎𝑡 𝑎 𝑙𝜊𝑠𝑠 𝜊𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑓𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑘𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦'𝑟𝑒 𝑓𝜊𝑐𝑢𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝜊𝑛 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑙𝑖𝜐𝑒.) 𝑖𝑓 𝑦𝜊𝑢 𝑠𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑡 𝑓𝜊𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑟𝑡𝑦 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝜊𝑛𝑑𝑠, 𝑦𝜊𝑢 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝜊𝑛'𝑡 𝑏𝑒 𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝜊 𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑐ℎ 𝑦𝜊𝑢𝑟 𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡ℎ, 𝑎𝑠 𝜊𝑝𝑝𝜊𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝜊 𝑗𝜊𝑔𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝜊𝑟 𝑓𝑎𝑠𝑡-𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑎𝑙𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝜊𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑟𝑡𝑦 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝜊𝑛𝑑𝑠.

          𝑎𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑘𝑒𝑒𝑝𝑠 𝑦𝜊𝑢 𝑎𝑙𝑖𝜐𝑒, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑑𝜊𝑒𝑠 𝑛𝜊𝑡 𝑔𝑖𝜐𝑒 𝑦𝜊𝑢 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑡𝜊 𝑓𝑢𝑙𝑙-𝜊𝑛 𝑘𝑖𝑐𝑘 𝑠𝜊𝑚𝑒𝜊𝑛𝑒'𝑠 𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑓𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡.

     ｡ﾟ☆ 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆. 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝜊𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑦𝜊𝑢𝑟 𝜊𝑝𝑝𝜊𝑛𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑐𝑟𝜊𝑠𝑠 𝑎 𝑟𝜊𝜊𝑚 𝑖𝑠𝑛'𝑡 𝑎𝑠 𝑠𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑎𝑠 𝑦𝜊𝑢 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝜊𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑏𝑒. 𝑏𝑦 𝑑𝜊𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠, 𝑦𝜊𝑢'𝑟𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝜊𝜐𝑖𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑎𝑛 𝜊𝑝𝑝𝜊𝑟𝑡𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑡𝜊 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑦. 𝑖𝑓 𝑦𝜊𝑢'𝑟𝑒 𝑝𝑢𝑟𝑝𝜊𝑠𝑒𝑓𝑢𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑡𝑟𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝜊 𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑦𝜊𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑦𝜊𝑢𝑟 𝜊𝑝𝑝𝜊𝑛𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑖𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑠 𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑒.

          𝑖𝑛 𝑚𝑦 𝑏𝜊𝜊𝑘 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒕𝒆, 𝑖𝑛 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟 54, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝜊𝑤𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑔𝜊𝑛𝑖𝑠𝑡 (𝑠𝑎𝜐𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑟) 𝑎𝑐𝑟𝜊𝑠𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝜊𝑟, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑡𝜊 𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑠𝜊 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑠ℎ𝑢𝑡 𝑑𝜊𝑤𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑠𝑖𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑓𝑖𝑔𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑡𝜊𝑟 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑥. 𝑠𝜊, ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝜊𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑖𝑚, 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑠 𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝜊𝑟𝑘𝑠.

     ｡ﾟ☆ 𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉. 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝜊𝑛𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝜊𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑓𝜊𝑟 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝜊𝑓 𝑦𝜊𝑢 𝑤ℎ𝜊 𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑟𝜊𝑤𝑠 𝑎𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑎𝑝𝜊𝑛𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑦𝜊𝑢𝑟 𝑏𝜊𝜊𝑘𝑠. (𝑖 𝑑𝑒𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑑𝑖𝑑.) 𝑎𝑟𝑟𝜊𝑤𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝜊𝑛𝑒 𝜊𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝜊𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑤𝑒𝑎𝑝𝜊𝑛𝑠, 𝑖𝑛 𝑚𝑦 𝜊𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑖𝜊𝑛, 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝜐𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝜐𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑔𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑗𝜊𝑏 𝑑𝜊𝑛𝑒. 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑠𝜊𝑚𝑒𝜊𝑛𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑐𝑘 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑟𝑟𝜊𝑤, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑐𝑎𝑛'𝑡 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑏𝑒 𝑦𝑎𝑛𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝜊𝑢𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎 𝑙𝜊𝑡 𝜊𝑓 𝑑𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑒. 𝑚𝜊𝑠𝑡 𝜊𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒, 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑟𝑟𝜊𝑤 𝑖𝑠 𝑦𝑎𝑛𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝜊𝑢𝑡 𝜊𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑘𝑖𝑛, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑟𝜊𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑘𝑠 𝜊𝑓𝑓 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝜊𝑑𝑦 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑦𝜊𝑢'𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝜊 𝑝𝑢𝑙𝑙 𝑖𝑡 𝜊𝑢𝑡. 𝑎𝑟𝑟𝜊𝑤𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝜊 𝑝𝑖𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑒𝑝, 𝑠𝜊 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑎 𝑙𝜊𝑡 𝜊𝑓 𝑑𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑒. 𝑎𝑟𝑟𝜊𝑤 𝑤𝜊𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝜊𝑛.

     ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ 𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐓𝐎: 𝐃𝐄𝐒𝐂𝐑𝐈𝐁𝐄 𝐀 𝐅𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐒𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐄 𝐈𝐍 𝐀 𝐖𝐀𝐘 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐑 𝐂𝐀𝐍 𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐊𝐄𝐄𝐏 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐎𝐅 ⸝⸝ ⇗
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀→ ⺌ These tips/steps are all by brynwrites on Tumblr. They give incredible advice, I highly suggest checking them out.

          ╰─── 𝗦𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴. "First off, you want to make sure you've described every part important of your setting. The most common mistake I've noticed in the action scenes of not-yet-publish manuscripts isn't overly long, bogged down scenes or badly written individual actions, but poorly developed settings. Where the hell are your characters?! If your reader is forced to re-visualize the surroundings at any point throughout the scene, then your suspense has been dropped a notch, and your reader de-immersed from the story. Every piece of the setting which will be used at some point within the action scene should be documented up front, with very clear respect to each other. Your reader doesn't simply need to know that every part of your setting exists, but where each part exists in relation to all other parts."

          ╰─── 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵. "Before you write fight scenes, you should decide what style of fighting you're trying to mimic (if one or more characters have combat training) and do a bit of research. There are videos of basically every type of fighting style which exists.

          "Keep in mind: Many martial art styles practiced today are for show, and not much use in combat unless against either someone of the same style or an unskilled opponent. If you're trying to write a style of martial arts, make sure you know the reason that particular style was developed and what it's most used for."

          ╰─── 𝗗𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗺𝘀. "Now that you've done all that research, don't actually write about it. The point of researching fighting isn't to wow your reader with how many little facts you know, but to create a cohesive, broader picture. Words like attack, block, swing, kick, stance, stab, punch, etc, are all solid words which every reader will understand no matter their own personal experience."

          ╰─── 𝗞𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗣𝗢𝗩. "If you're writing is in first person or limited third person, then your POV character won't always know everything that's going on. Maybe they're reading their opponent well and can block everything that's being thrown, or maybe their focus is split or they aren't skilled enough to do that, and they don't see a kick coming or a knife drawn until it's sinking into their stomach."

          ╰─── 𝗞𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿. "Everyone fights a bit differently. What tweaks does your character make to their fighting style in order to adapt it to fit them? Are they quick and mobile? Do they hunker down and take the hits? Do they like unusual combos? Feigns? Do they have honor or do they cheat? Have they brought in skills from another style of fighting or physical activity? Do they laugh and smile while fighting or are they stoic? Which hand do they use? This is especially important if you're writing a Type C fight scene because you can really characterize the turmoil with how your combatants fight. For example, a character who is enraged or desperate might attack viciously with no heed for their own safety, whereas a character who is timid or calm might fight in a much more cautious, reserved fashion. This kind of subtle characterization goes a long way to sell the emotions."

          ╰─── 𝗙𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝗿𝗻. "Fighting hurts. It hurts as your muscles tire, it hurts when you get hit, it hurts when you block (especially in certain fighting styles of hand to hand combat). You sweat, you stink, you injure yourself when you get sloppy, and, depending on what you're doing, you get blisters and burns and bruises. Don't forget to let your characters feel these things too!"

          ╰─── 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗺 𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁. "Know what unrealistic tropes are popular in fight scenes and learn how to avoid them. Some random things to keep in mind:

          ➳❥ "Most weapons are made to fight against themselves.

          ➳❥ "The ways you utilize your stance and environment, as well as how you "outplay" or counter your opponent, are more important than how large or strong you are and how many attacks you know.

          ➳❥ "The large majority of close combat fighting styles require just as much defensive training as offensive. (Let your character block attacks! No real human can take solid blows all day long.)

          ➳❥ "The basics are the most important part of fighting. When two highly skilled combatants battle, the winner is often decided by who has the best mastery over their fundamental skills. No matter how long they've trained, they can always improve on these fundamentals.

          ➳❥ "Hitting people with your bare fists hurts, especially if you hit other bones/hard surfaces."

     ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ 𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐓𝐎: 𝐖𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐅𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐒𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐒 ⸝⸝ ⇗
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀→ ⺌ These tips/steps are inspired by various articles I have found online, my own, and ones I have seen used in books.

          ╰─── Write in shorter sentences. Shorter sentences are easier to digest as a reader and they also speed up the pace of a story. Keep them choppy; one action after the other. If there's a lull in the fight, then write in longer sentences and use phrases to analyze the situation. Once it's back to action, then it's back to choppy sentences.

          This also applies to words. Use short, simple, and strong words when thick in the battle. Save those vocabulary points for another time.

     Side Note: Do everything you can to keep the fight here and now. In other words, maximize the physical and minimize the theoretical. There isn't time for what if's or theories. Keep things immediate.

          ╰─── Mix the action with dialogue. Don't just write out long descriptions of what's happening in the fight. Include verbal dialogue and incorporate scenes where people are talking and then fighting.

          ╰─── Don't focus too much on what's going on inside the character's mind. Introspection happens before and after a fight, not during. Remember this. Also, during a fight, if something happens, people don't take the time to pause and think rationally. They don't dwell in the heat of the moment and keep moving on. Focus on actions, not thoughts.

          ╰─── Keep the fight short. Fights should never go on for pages (unless you're discussing an epic battle between armies or multiple people, and not individuals). Keep it to half a chapter, or a full chapter at most. Never anything more unless it's something that has many layers and pauses in it.

          ╰─── The senses. One of the best ways to get visceral when describing a fight is to activate every sense possible. This includes sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell. Think of how you can use these five descriptors in your writing to immediately transport the reader to the scene.

          ➳❥ Taste is a good sense to introduce in your fight scenes, but it's also a tricky one because most people try to be dIFfeREnT and be absurdly abstract with the description of how things taste. Instead of using phrases like, "he could taste fear in the air," go for something more concrete like, "blood mixed with strawberry lip gloss was a strange taste indeed." Some examples of things one could taste in a fight are salt from sweat, the roughness of a dry mouth, or the copper metallic taste of blood.

          ➳❥ Touch is one of the easiest senses to convey. Describe how the characters feel and interact with each other physically. For example headaches, sore or tense muscles, exhaustion, blood, bodily liquids, heart-pounding, bruised knuckles, aches, pulses, stings or flares of pain, burns, heat. Side Note: Pain will stay with a character, even if it's minor and it won't go away in an hour.

          ➳❥ Smell is also one of the easiest senses to describe, yet it's rarely called upon in fight scenes. You often see or hear a fight, but can you smell it? In-person, what would the fight smell like? Probably sweat, but consider other scents, such as the ambient aroma in the scene. For example, if the fight takes place in a car garage, there may be the lingering scent of motor oil and tire rubber.

          ➳❥ Hearing is the most delicate, in my opinion, when it comes to the five senses. An action scene is a perfect time to introduce onomatopoeia into your story. In case you don't know, an onomatopoeia is a word that sounds like what it is describing. Although, by onomatopoeia, I don't mean turning your writing into a comic book, with words like kapow or bang! Instead, use words such as boom, clang, clap, clatter, clap, crunk, creak, crack, click, buzz, gargle, groan, hiss, howl, hum, knock, rattle, plod, roar, rustle, sizzle, bustle, trap, thud, smack, squeal, thumb, whine, whistle, whisper.

          ➳❥ Sight is perhaps the most obvious that you should include. When writing a fight scene, you need to describe what exactly the characters are seeing and point out areas that the reader should take particular attention to.

          ╰─── Don't overwrite. It's a general rule that you should leave as much to the reader's imagination as you can, and this is doubly true for action scenes. The choreography of the fight may be exact in your head but you can't force readers to see the same thing. So, let the reader choreograph your fight scene. This is their time to shine. Let them know the outline of the fight and they'll imagine their own visceral fight scene. Counter as it is to a writer's instincts, 'they struggled' paints a far more vivid picture than describing the exact position of each combatant's arms.

          ╰─── Maintain a good pace. Intensifying the pace of your writing can communicate the immediacy and suddenness of conflict. Short, simple sentences keep the reader on their toes. Fights happen quickly and your description needs to match that. Short, to-the-point sentences are a must for any fight scene, but pacing works best when it's combined with perspective.

          ╰─── Perspective. It's difficult to communicate excitement when you describe something objectively. Hovering around the fight describing the actions of both characters sets a limitation on how gripping the experience can be. The key is to thrust the reader into the thick of the action and to do that, they need to experience the fight through a character. That's not to say that you have to suddenly adopt the first person. You can still do this by using third-person omniscient; this is a method of storytelling in which the narrator knows the thoughts and feelings of all of the characters in the story.

          ╰─── Words. If there is ever a time to include your extensive list of verbs, this is it. Consider using verbs such as bellow, thrash, shriek, dive, charge, raze, graze, crumble, hurtle, shatter, snarl, splinter, bolt, dodge, and heave. Avoid using adverbs. (An adverb is a word or phrase that modifies or qualifies an adjective, verb, or other adverb or a word group. Examples include, slowly, rapidly, warmly, etc.)

          ╰─── What not to include. Don't include a blow-by-blow of what happens in the fight. While editing, after your initial draft, remove non-essential details that can slow down reading. Delete flowery language—extra words drag the pace. Also, remove every single word that you can (especially adverbs). Consolidate characters to reduce reader confusion and frustration.

     I hope all of this helps! I might add more over time, but as of right now, this is my constructed guide! Don't hesitate to ask questions!

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❛ YOU 𝑪𝑨𝑵'𝑻 𝑩𝑹𝑰𝑩𝑬 THE DOOR
ON 𝒀𝑶𝑼𝑹 𝑾𝑨𝒀 TO THE 𝚂𝙺𝚈. ❜
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