Kate Flora (from a panel I did at a conference a few years ago)
So You Want to Write a Fight Scene?
Some things to consider when you embark on this task:
- What role does the fight play in your book? Not just in the particular scene, but in the overall book?
–how it is used to develop your plot?
–what does it do to enhance or complicate your characters?
Visualize the scene before you write it.
–what does the setting look like and how will the setting and items located in it enhance the scene you’re writing?
–where will your characters stand, how will they move, how will you make it vivid in your reader’s mind?
–Is your choreography logical?
3) Consider how you will use your words to enhance the scene.
–use verbs which will reflect the tension and violence of the scene
–make your sentences fragmented and choppy.
–connect the emotions of your reader to the emotions in the scene. Use that inner narrative to convey fear, anger, pain, strategizing, the consequences of failure, etc. Make the scene stand for more than simply what is happening in the moment.
4) What if you’ve never been in a fight?
–Read (do we really need to tell you this?) and choose scenes you think are particularly effective. Then write them out by hand in your special notebook. Seriously—writing things, rather than copying or typing, helps to embed the structure of the words, the rhythm and pacing of the scene, in a way that nothing else does.
–watch movies with good fight scenes, with pauses and repeats, to see what actually happens.
–be obnoxious with your family and friends and ask them if they’ve ever been in a fight. Then make them tell you about it. Here’s what you’ll probably discover: that often, in the moment, things happen so fast people rarely know what is happening to them. Reflection is after the fact. So you will remember this if you scene is sudden and explosive—think tunnel vision. It will be different if this is a longer scene where your character is fighting for his or her life.
And remember: Someone who posts a comment on one of our blogs this month will win a bundle of books.
There’s a big difference between being in a real fight and writing about one. Real fights seldom last as long as they do in the movies. Nor are they as dramatic. In fiction we shoot for something compelling that will keep the reader engaged. My suggestion is don’t worry about making it overly realistic, but rather engage the reader with good writing. Try reading the late, great John D. McDonald’s Travis McGee series. He wrote great fight scenses.
Thanks. I do like John D. McDonald. Could do with a reread.
When I attended the Writer’s Police Academy, they had fight scene instructors. To really bring it home, we all had to participate – just try to attack me with a knife – you’re going down! Writing a good fight scene is much, much, harder than fighting that same good fight. Hat’s off.
Didn’t you love the Writer’s Police Academy? I wish I could go again. I got the panicked feeling of being attacked in my self defense class. Even though I knew I was safe.
Great post. Violent scenes, well-written, can add so much to a book, but yes, the time compression and the unthinking fight or flight reactions are so important to get right.