Writing Fight Scenes
As I enjoy a good action scene, there are several fight scenes throughout Girl in Red. Having no experience with writing them, they started out so-so, but improved as I got more practice. This is a common issue with writers, so many others will give you different advice. What I’ve got here is just what I’ve learned.
Before writing the fight, ask yourself if it needs to be there at all. If the main character is a spectator, then minimal detail is sufficient. The important part then is how the character reacts to the fight, not necessarily who wins or loses. If she has no investment in either side, then make sure there’s something else for her to be doing. Whether it be finding a way to stop the fight, or walking away because it’s beneath her, she should have something.
When you decide the fight’s going to take center stage, start by listing everyone involved. The easiest fights are – of course – between two people. Even then, the next step is to make a map of the area in which the fight is taking place. Make sure you know everything in the area that could possibly be used as a weapon. Characters shouldn’t be pulling a table out of nowhere (unless magic was involved). The same goes for powers; never have your characters pull powers out of thin air because you wrote yourself into a corner.
It gets vastly harder when there are multiple combatants. I’ve ran into this multiple times, but the big two were the Triwizard champions vs. the Adamantine Clockwork Horror in Cherry Champion, and the Hogwarts heads of house vs. Rose in Villain in Vermilion. In both cases, I drew a grid, drew a letter for each character, and started writing out each combatant’s actions turn by turn. Arrows would indicate where they moved. Of course, that’s not how it ended up in the final draft; that’d be dull. But it helped me organize the entire scene before writing it up.
When writing the scene, I also learned not to overdescribe the action. As a reader, I don’t need to know absolutely everything each person is doing. That goes for any description in the story. Leave some room for the reader to imagine it. And as with any action scene, the focus should be on the action when the main character is directly involved. If they’re watching, as Hermione did when Rose fought the heads of house, then they should be feeling something. When Hermione entered the fight, I toned down the emotion.
When it’s over, remember to give a breather. Let the readers catch their breath before going into another scene. The characters still standing can take a moment to recover, since they are people (not necessarily human, though). And know when to end it too.
Fight scenes can be tricky to write at first, but like anything, practice makes perfect. I wouldn’t say I’m perfect at it, but certainly a lot better at it than I used to be. It’s important to keep trying if that’s what you want to do.
Remember, this is for your writing. It’s worth the effort.
© 2023 Sky Starlight CC BY-NC-SA