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Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting

Those Cats Were Fast As Lightning

One problem I’ve often heard aspiring authors discuss on ye olde interweb is the difficulty of writing a fight scene. The most common issue comes from the author not having the fight diagramed or “choreographed” correctly in their head (ie things not logically flowing from one punch to the next), but after seeing samples of some people’s work I was surprised to find their troubles came not necessarily from lack of a comprehensive scene but from lack of knowledge of how fighting actually works.

Look, I’m not a boxer and I’m not some moron who likes to get drunk on Natty light and start throwing haymakers at a tailgate but I do know that throwing a punch A) hurts, B) requires you to move your body and C) will also move your opponent’s body if done correctly. Anyone who has ever played contact sports can tell you how it feels hurtling your body against that of another, the stress, the tension, the ramifications of impact. The human body is not a slab of granite, and writing your protagonist as some demigod who can take countless blows to the face, stomach and groin with only a slight grimace as a result will come as fake, boring, and bland.

Bruise your protagonist, make them bleed, have them reel from blows. Make it exciting! Ask yourself how you yourself would look after being partially mauled by pack of dingos. Would you walk into a bar and be the sexiest person there? I doubt it, and if you think you would you’re either extremely skillful at fighting off dingos, or are one conceited asshole (or you’re one sexy beast which may explain why the dingos were trying to get a slice of you in the first place).

Down Boy

Your character should realistically react to blows, but how to picture what this would mean? Simple! Draw on your vast wealth of personal experience! I’m kidding. Yes, while in this case being in (or breaking up) a scrap or two may actually help you understand these particular elements better it’s neither required nor indeed recommended to obtain firsthand experience to write a good fight scene. My recommendation? Walk through every step of the fight in your head and try to use common sense to plot an outcome.

If a character gets clubbed in the shoulder from behind to initiate a fight, put yourself in their shoes. If you were standing in the middle of a room and some punk ass were to whack you with a baseball bat right then what would you do? How would you get to them? Would you even try or would you focus on creating some space between the two of you? Maybe you stumble forward and pivot on an ankle to attack them. Maybe you fall to your knees, clutching your shoulder and gasping like a fish out of water. Or maybe you roll away like your speed running a boss in Dark Souls. Heck maybe there’s someone in front of “you” in this scene that renders all those actions moot. Guess what? If it doesn’t makes sense for you to do it in your head it won’t come across as believable to your readers.

You can even physically act out the scene if you must (and if you have willing friends/roommates now is the time to exploit them!). Just do anything you need to in order to get the physicality of the scene across to your readers.

Longer or shorter words can also impact the pacing of these scenes. For instance, in intense (often personal) fights, using shorter, concise words can help establish the frantic, choppiness of reeling from a sudden attack. Likewise, longer, more analytical words may help convey the grinding slog of a protracted duel.

Once you understand the biomechanics of the fight you’ll know which to use because you’ll have a better understanding of what your characters are experiencing.

PS: If you take the above advice to utilized friends/roommates/significant others to assist you I would highly recommend providing them with their choice of booze and wait until they’re about half way through before asking.

The results are Hi-larious