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Fight scenes



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Thu Jul 18, 2013 8:42 pm
MooMoo says...



I'm close to finishing my book and moving to the editing phase but I've come to a fight scene and I have no clue how to write one. Especially when it's from someone on the outside's view.

My characters aren't using swords, only their bodies/fists. Any advice?
  





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Thu Jul 18, 2013 9:31 pm
Rosendorn says...



Firstly, focus on the emotions of the scene.

Calling out fight scenes blow-by-blow is boring, often hard to imagine, and very difficult to get right if you don't have a solid grasp of fighting. So scratch that out of your mind past a few key blows.

Instead, focus on making us emotionally invested in the fight. Assuming the observer has a stake in the fight, figure out who they're worried for and who they want to win. How would they react to watching a fight? Do they want to move in and stop it? Are they too scared to do anything but watch?

Really focus on the emotional investment of the fight scene, instead of taking a play by play of blows. Emotional investment is what will keep us reading and engaged.
A writer is a world trapped in a person— Victor Hugo

Ink is blood. Paper is bandages. The wounded press books to their heart to know they're not alone.
  





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Thu Jul 18, 2013 9:37 pm
MooMoo says...



Okay, that makes sense. I tend to play it all out in my head like a movie and find myself writing more of a "script."
  





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Thu Jul 18, 2013 11:06 pm
Rosendorn says...



Yep, that's one of the reasons you don't want to write things out blow by blow. Emotions are far more interesting, and are easier. Because you're mostly keeping track of key blows, it's better because there's less of a chance you'll mess up the movements.
A writer is a world trapped in a person— Victor Hugo

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Fri Jul 19, 2013 12:00 am
MooMoo says...



Rosey Unicorn wrote:Yep, that's one of the reasons you don't want to write things out blow by blow. Emotions are far more interesting, and are easier. Because you're mostly keeping track of key blows, it's better because there's less of a chance you'll mess up the movements.


Ahhhhhhhhhh, okay. My editing process will have to include much more emotion then, because now that you've brought this to my attention I'm seeing it big time throughout the book.
  





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Fri Jul 19, 2013 12:53 am
Rosendorn says...



I wouldn't recommend writing out blow by blow fights unless you have a very good understanding of the fight style in question. Which means research and playing it out physically. Actually throwing the punches or kicks and seeing if the movements make sense.
A writer is a world trapped in a person— Victor Hugo

Ink is blood. Paper is bandages. The wounded press books to their heart to know they're not alone.
  





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Fri Jul 19, 2013 2:01 am
MooMoo says...



Rosey Unicorn wrote:I wouldn't recommend writing out blow by blow fights unless you have a very good understanding of the fight style in question. Which means research and playing it out physically. Actually throwing the punches or kicks and seeing if the movements make sense.


Gotcha. Thanks so much! My hubby is amazing with grammar and pretty good with character development but I love hearing multiple views.
  





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Fri Jul 19, 2013 2:11 am
MooMoo says...



Also, here lately I've been having trouble with motivation. Like, to finish. Thoughts?
  





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Sat Jul 20, 2013 10:53 am
Tenyo says...



If you're nearly finished then just go for it! The buzz you get when you finally wrap the tape around the first draft is amazing. Just keep ploughing through it.

Regarding the fight scene, Rosey has said it all.

Fights are hard to imagine because for a lot of people their main experience of fighting is in action movies and real fights don't go down like that at all.

First, they tend to be much shorter. Generally it's over with the first punch- once you take a hit to the face there's little chance of getting up from it. People are much more fragile than the movies think we are.

Second, they're much less clean. Some hits fail, others miss. The bad guy doesn't actually stand there with a sword waiting for his turn and in reality if someone were trying to inflict serious bodily harm, you'd go straight for the nose or groin. You'd use nails and teeth. Anything goes in a real fight.

Normally I'd recommend taking a look at some real situations and learning through observation, but fighting doesn't really apply so much. Maybe try play fighting or roleplay?

Generally there is an art to fighting. Imagine you could only have a fight in five turns, and choose the moves carefully. Body language in fighting can reveal a *lot* about the relationship between people and their nature.

Things to take into account:

~ Friends fighting will naturally avoid delicate areas like the nose and eyes, even without realising it. They'll do it more for the emotional impact.
~ Enemies won't care if they break a nose or a few ribs.
~ When trying to disarm (either out of self-protection or cowardice) people drag their opponents down to the ground. When trying to provoke they'll push backwards.
~ Head-bowing and shoulder barging are submissive techniques. Hair pulling and lifting are dominative techniques.
~ Men fight more with their fists and grapples and headlocks. Women fight more with claws and target sensitive areas.

~ When recalling a fight you're going to better remember the injuries that had a longer effect- simply because you'll recall them more. That punch to the face might have hurt more, but the kick to the leg left a graze.
~ You may take time to describe the fight step by step, but your mind is more going to be on the 'I wasn't really scared until I realised this might not end in my favour' rather than 'he punched me here and it hurt this much and then I got scared.'
~ Inside bruises hurt more than outside bruises. The strongest and most dominant memories of the fight are not going to be the angles or effects of the injuries, but the point where it seemed hopeless and the point where you regained your balance and the point where you suddenly realised how much make-up it would take to hide this.

~ Quite importantly, remember your view point. It changes everything. The sight of one man kicking another who is on the floor like his head was a broken draw is going to be very different to watching the flakes of mud break from a shoe as it withdraws and smacks you straight in the face so many times you can't even feel it.

That's all I've got, but I hope it helps!
We were born to be amazing.
  





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Mon Jul 29, 2013 3:50 pm
MooMoo says...



Tenyo wrote:If you're nearly finished then just go for it! The buzz you get when you finally wrap the tape around the first draft is amazing. Just keep ploughing through it.

Regarding the fight scene, Rosey has said it all.

Fights are hard to imagine because for a lot of people their main experience of fighting is in action movies and real fights don't go down like that at all.

First, they tend to be much shorter. Generally it's over with the first punch- once you take a hit to the face there's little chance of getting up from it. People are much more fragile than the movies think we are.

Second, they're much less clean. Some hits fail, others miss. The bad guy doesn't actually stand there with a sword waiting for his turn and in reality if someone were trying to inflict serious bodily harm, you'd go straight for the nose or groin. You'd use nails and teeth. Anything goes in a real fight.

Normally I'd recommend taking a look at some real situations and learning through observation, but fighting doesn't really apply so much. Maybe try play fighting or roleplay?

Generally there is an art to fighting. Imagine you could only have a fight in five turns, and choose the moves carefully. Body language in fighting can reveal a *lot* about the relationship between people and their nature.

Things to take into account:

~ Friends fighting will naturally avoid delicate areas like the nose and eyes, even without realising it. They'll do it more for the emotional impact.
~ Enemies won't care if they break a nose or a few ribs.
~ When trying to disarm (either out of self-protection or cowardice) people drag their opponents down to the ground. When trying to provoke they'll push backwards.
~ Head-bowing and shoulder barging are submissive techniques. Hair pulling and lifting are dominative techniques.
~ Men fight more with their fists and grapples and headlocks. Women fight more with claws and target sensitive areas.

~ When recalling a fight you're going to better remember the injuries that had a longer effect- simply because you'll recall them more. That punch to the face might have hurt more, but the kick to the leg left a graze.
~ You may take time to describe the fight step by step, but your mind is more going to be on the 'I wasn't really scared until I realised this might not end in my favour' rather than 'he punched me here and it hurt this much and then I got scared.'
~ Inside bruises hurt more than outside bruises. The strongest and most dominant memories of the fight are not going to be the angles or effects of the injuries, but the point where it seemed hopeless and the point where you regained your balance and the point where you suddenly realised how much make-up it would take to hide this.

~ Quite importantly, remember your view point. It changes everything. The sight of one man kicking another who is on the floor like his head was a broken draw is going to be very different to watching the flakes of mud break from a shoe as it withdraws and smacks you straight in the face so many times you can't even feel it.

That's all I've got, but I hope it helps!


That helped ALOT. Especially the information about different injuries and techniques. My view point is from someone watching the fight so I'm hoping that makes it easier.

And the ploughing starts today!
  








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