Not-so-Radiant Arin Posted November 22, 2012 Report Share Posted November 22, 2012 So basically, I've gotten to the point in my story where a major fight scene happens. This fight scene, obviously, is central to the plot. From my very brief outline of the fight scene that I did, it generally just got to the point where it was "Person X did this. Person Y blocked and retaliated. Person X guarded and made an opening on Y". I then realized that I was basically making a movie script, rather than "writing" a fight scene. This isn't a movie. This is a dedicated piece of work. With that being said, how do you go about fixing up your fight scenes, if you have any, and what kinds of fight scenes do you implore? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raine Posted November 22, 2012 Report Share Posted November 22, 2012 Fight scenes are fun! You can't treat them easily as a epic movie or game sequence. You have to focus on details, twist things up. Notice foot movement, inter-mince with dialogue, take into account environment with movements, emotional responses to certain inconsistencies in the opponents motions, make your fight like ABAABBBAAAB format and more dynamic with parries followed by a retreat to circle and charge only to spin to evade and counter with a downward slice that severs into his back however he rolls to avoid a deep wound. Put yourself into their shoes and view the fight more realistically where everything counts, see what they would see, think how they would think, and things should naturally become less mechanical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Crouton Posted November 22, 2012 Report Share Posted November 22, 2012 I watch a lot of live action shows, mostly Power Rangers circa. early to mid 90's. I also watch martial arts stuff like Bloodsport. Basically, study (good) fight scenes on TV shows/movies for ideas. Roundhouse kicks Backflips Minimum to no dialogue Breaking things Slamming each other through things Using sharp objects from said broken things as weapons It's a major fight, so it should be fast-paced and blood-pumping (with little to no dialogue.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Love of Ghibli Posted November 22, 2012 Report Share Posted November 22, 2012 Just going to reiterate what Raine said its all in the details. The smallest thing in a fight scene can lead to the most epic outcome. Statements about how time seems to stop, predicting the opponent's move, and even in some cases the dialogue that goes on during each swing of the sword/fist. The details are what give flavor, texture and depth to fight scenes so they just don't become blueprint layouts of how a battle is supposed to go down. Even in movie scripts they talk about what the characters are feeling or their facial expressions. They're are plenty great examples of fight scenes out there I mean most anime movies of existing series kind of go all in on their fight scenes. Fate Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works (that entire movie...win) Naruto...Any movie with Rock Lee in it lol Bleach: Hell something (best example of a free for all I've seen) Animatrix: and there are others but like Raine said the details are what matter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Cakey Posted November 22, 2012 Report Share Posted November 22, 2012 [quote name='Beginning446' timestamp='1353559298' post='6075393'] Fate Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works (that entire movie...win) Naruto...Any movie with Rock Lee in it lol Bleach: Hell something (best example of a free for all I've seen) Animatrix: [/quote] This is a comment not so much about how to write fighting and more about fights in general - and has nothing to do with your question, therefore - mostly because I saw Unlimited Blade Works very recently. The movie's gorgeous, of course, but it emphasized for me something extremely important. If Character A beats Character B in battle, Character A must be stronger than Character B. Some people might consider this to be obvious, but apparently the majority of writers of anime and video games [i]don't know this[/i]. Unlimited Blade Works hit that home for me. Or maybe I'm just spoiled, since I started with Fate/zero. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vector Nightmare Posted November 22, 2012 Report Share Posted November 22, 2012 Since UBW was brought up, I'll just say this. If you want solid examples of writing out fights (and writing in general), read the F/SN visual novel, and the F/Z novel. They are amazingly well-written and mirrormoon's translation of the VN is awesome. There's a whole lot to be learned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bahamut - Envoy of the End Posted November 22, 2012 Report Share Posted November 22, 2012 Recently wrote my first fight scene. It's only short and nothing fancy at all, but does the job I think. Can't offer much advice. Guess I'd say make it fit characters abilities. Don't have people who can't do backflips do backflips. And make it as bloody and violent as possible! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ListenToLife Posted November 22, 2012 Report Share Posted November 22, 2012 [quote name='Dr. Cakey Arclight' timestamp='1353563633' post='6075445'] [b]If Character A beats Character B in battle, Character A must be stronger than Character B.[/b] Some people might consider this to be obvious, but apparently the majority of writers of anime and video games [i]don't know this[/i]. Unlimited Blade Works hit that home for me. Or maybe I'm just spoiled, since I started with Fate/zero. [/quote] No, that's not how it works. And understanding that is one of the key aspects of making a good fight scene. Fights are not necessarily about the skill or strength of a character. It's about a variety of different things, including them and: intelligence, tactics, distractions, agility and - more often than not - luck. Making a character trip at a crucial moment, or have his grip slightly loosen, allowing for the enemy to counter. Have a character use the environment to his advantage, or place a very small, fast person to fight a slow, lumbering giant. Stuff like that. And make sure to describe. In detail. A hell of a lot of it. Every movement is important in a fight, and trained fighters with rushing adrenaline will notice [i]everything[/i] about their opponents, so every little twitch should be noticed. Obviously, dont go over board, but the description is the most important part in writing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
?someone? Posted November 23, 2012 Report Share Posted November 23, 2012 *Sigh* ... What Raine said. Also, it really depends. Sometimes over-the-top screaming, superpunching and lasers work, sometimes they don't. Align the fight with the tone of the story, is what I'm saying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aerion Brightflame Posted November 23, 2012 Report Share Posted November 23, 2012 For me it depends on the fight scene. In all different sorts the details are what complete it, but the genre of it matters more to me. A fight involving guns will involve the POV character more for me, becuase theres less to describe. Sword play or fist fights let me go into details about techniques, the feeling of bone breaking, sword finding home in flesh ect. Simply becuase theres more variety. But as Raine and others have said its the details that make it matter. Best thing to do to help is find books with fight scenes of the genre you are writing, and take that as your inspiration. It helps me where I need it to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alice Moonflowyr Posted November 23, 2012 Report Share Posted November 23, 2012 This is a little snippet from [i]Nine Princes in Amber[/i]. Fight scenes are awesome in it. [spoiler=Spoiler]Corwin and his brother Eric are about to fight. [i]"What an enormouts chutzpah you possess," I told him. "What makes you better than the rest of us, and more fit to rule?"[/i] [i]"The fact that I was able to occupy the throne," he replied. "Try and take it."[/i] [i]And I did.[/i] [i]I tried a head-cut, which he parried; and I parried his riposte to my heart and cut at his wrist. [/i] [i]He parried this and kicked a small stool between us. I set it aside, hopefully in the direction of his face, with my right toe, but it missed and he had at me again.[/i] [i]I parried his attack and he mine. Then I lunged, was parried, was attacked, and parried again myself.[/i] [i]I tried a very fancy attack I'd learned in France, which involved a beat, a feint in quarte, a feint in sixte, and a lunch veering off into an attack on his wrist.[/i] [i]I nicked him and the blood flowed.[/i] [i]"Oh, damnable brother!" he said, retreating. "Report has it that Random accompanies thee."[/i] [i]"This is true," said I. "More than one of us are assembled against you."[/i] [i]And he lunged then and beat me back, and I felt suddenly that for all my work he was still my master. He was perhaps one of the greatest swordsmen I had ever faced. I suddenly had the feeling that I couldn't take him, and I parried like mad and retreated in the same fasion as he beat me back, step by step. We'd both had centuries under the greatest masters of the blade in buisness. The greatest alive, I knew, was brother Benedict, and he wasnt around to help, one way or the other. So I snatched things off the desk with my left hand and threw them at Eric. But he dodged everything and came on strong, and I cercled to his left and all like that, but I couldn't draw the point of his blade from my left eye. And I was afraid. The man was magnificent. If I didnt hate him so, I would have applauded his performance. [/i] This isnt the end, it goes on for quite a few more paragraphs, but you get the idea. I try to model my fight scenes after Zelaznys, seeing as he's quite good. [/spoiler] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Cakey Posted November 23, 2012 Report Share Posted November 23, 2012 [quote name='DaWeirdGuy' timestamp='1353624042' post='6075817'] No, that's not how it works. And understanding that is one of the key aspects of making a good fight scene. Fights are not necessarily about the skill or strength of a character. It's about a variety of different things, including them and: intelligence, tactics, distractions, agility and - more often than not - luck. Making a character trip at a crucial moment, or have his grip slightly loosen, allowing for the enemy to counter. Have a character use the environment to his advantage, or place a very small, fast person to fight a slow, lumbering giant. Stuff like that. [/quote] Well, yes, and no. What a fight is [i]actually[/i] about, at its very core, is the externalization of an internal conflict between two characters. But in order for it to have any meaning, it has to be couched in reality - whatever 'reality' the story inhabits. Luck, for example, comes off as categorically unacceptable unless you are doing a 'this is how real combat is' or writing antiplot. Intelligence, tactics, speed, agility, charisma, and pie-making all come under the heading of how 'powerful' a character is, with emphasis given to whatever is important to this world's cosmology. This generally ends up being who's best at this universe's supernatural power, if we're taking our cues from battle anime (which most of us are). [i]Bleach[/i] briefly dabbled in speed being the most important thing (Ichigo's bankai and Byakuya's everything, for example), but eventually settled on Spiritual Pressure, because that's much simpler. [i]Bleach[/i] is, by the way, a great example both for excellent fights and awful, awful fights. We can jump down to [i]Amber[/i] for another example. In book twelve jillion or something, Corwin eventually has to fight Benedict, who's much better than he is. Corwin's able to use the environment to trap Benedict...and then he runs away. Partly because he doesn't actually want to kill Benedict, but also because if he won with a dumb little trick, we'd be pissed, and rightly so. I'm not sure how much we actually disagree or how well I actually addressed your points but...I've said words. So. Okay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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