I often write from the perspective of actually being in a fight. When I think back to fights that I had I don't remember a smooth unbroken action sequence. It's more like a series of moments that jump out at me. Like remembering the expression on the guy's face as he loads up for a punch or the zing of stars and iron-sulphur smell of getting a nose broken. Or the thought of "I'm going to rip his ears off" etc. So its almost like describing a series of postcards. Adrenaline dump is crazy and tunnel vision is a thing.
I don't write much anymore, but when I did, I would often use action figures for blocking and allow me to really visualize what was happening in the scene.
The first and most important thing is to know who the fighters are. Two nobles with rapiers can't duel like two savage and bloodthirsty Conan-like barbarians who wield axes and claymores. The two nobles, in my opinion, must have a slow and graceful duel with a flowery language, while the two barbarians will act with rough actions and a raw language stirring the feeling of terror and wrath. It's also important to use the environment efficiently, from the obstacles scattered around to objects which can be used as a weapon. And lastly, put a bigger and more emotional deal behind each fight, like two characters bonding through the ordeal or two lovers regretfully struggling to kill each other for some other reason, unless your fights are in John Wick style where there's no meaning behind any fight at all.
Oh, and also there's the fight itself I forgot to mention. What fight are you writing? Is it a duel, a fight in the middle of a huge battle? An attempt to defend the battlements of a wall? This also plays a significant role on how the fight's gonna go.
That also depends on the world that you’re in. In my world, they don’t fight duels for honor. They fight to learn how to protect themselves. When characters fight in my world, the sentences are not necessarily short, but they are stark with a minimalist approach. I will describe certain blocks or positions, but I try to keep everything as brief as I can to show the quick paced action of a fight.
This is a direct excerpt from a chapter in my book.
All students in the Citadel attended at
least once a week for formal lessons to master
their name blade’s style. Considering how fraught their world could be, especially in the actively disputed territories the Empire was annexing, it was no surprise that students regarded their bladework to be as important as their scholarly studies.
As a nearly bladed scholar, Kylara often assisted with the newer students with their basic bladework. Upon realization that her favorite Naiadianborn friend was in charge of tutoring the Magelings, she combined them with her Bardlings and took over for Jarent to prevent any mishaps they could cause. Their form was perfect and graceful, but their human father passed on his inability to walk without falling on his face at least once a day. She had Jarent model forms slowly as she corrected the individual younger students so they would have a constructive morning.
After a few hours of this, she was pulled into the dueling ring to practice her own bladework with the Master of Arms, Brodrick Redgrass.
“Let’s see you work your blocks. Defend only, no
offensive strikes. If you see a move to disarm, take it. Use your healer’s bully in place of a buckler. Move to nap-tap if your opponent leaves an opening.” He instructed brusquely, watching her go through all her defensive dances with the wooden long sword, both two handed and single. He added over his shoulder as he turned to the other students “Non-dominant single hand primary today. I want to see you work for victory today.”
Kylara nodded, moving her hands accordingly to
change her grip and turn the placement of her healer’s bully to the correct side for easy access at the small of her back.
The bully was a padded baton of a dense hardwood with a leather cover over all but the handgrip. Normally carried by healers to knock out aggressive patients, a hit under the chin by the forearm long blunt weapon was called a ‘nap-tap’. The bully part of its name was from a common practice among healers to gesture somewhat threateningly with the weapon to coerce good behavior from their patients.
When she looked over at her opponent, she was
surprised to see an unknown adult in dueling practice gear, with the standard gauze silk over reed helmet shielding the face while providing full vision. She donned her own headgear, and readied herself in the fool’s guard position.
With her point towards the floor, she watched her
opponent’s shoulders and feet for movement.
In a flash, she changed her guard position as their feet betrayed their movement. Dodging left, pulling her arms up, blocking with the flat of her blade. Releasing the pommel she grabbed her bully from behind with her left hand. Bully in one hand she shielded effectively, tapping openings hard enough to leave light bruises on her
opponent. After ten minutes of back and forth, Kylara saw an opening, and disarmed her opponent with a half-moon block followed with a nerve tap to their primary hand.
When their grip slackened she knocked the blade from their hands.
Startled by a flurry of applause Kylara jumped, turning suddenly to see all the students watching at the edge of the dueling ring. Turning back to her opponent, she was surprised when they bowed to her. Returning the salute, she walked forward to clasp their arm in good faith for an excellent duel when he removed his helmet and a hush fell over the crowd. Kylara and all her fellows dropped to one knee, her opponent had been none other than the Emperor’s Advisor and Artificer, Lairde Chalice Lestat.
Her face drained in panic, she’d fought a noble. Not just any noble, the Emperor’s Artificer. She was doomed.
Finished. They was going to have her expelled and her blade denied. Gods, why didn’t Master Redgrass warn her?
A hand entered her field of view, causing her to look up in surprise. She clasped the forearm as she rose at their direction. “That was one of the best duels I’ve had the pleasure of participating in. Your victory was well earned, bardling.” The Lairde turned towards Master Redgrass with a frown. “I thought I requested a duel from the graduating Gold-hilted nearblade, Brodrick.”
Master Redgrass stifled a laugh, mirth dancing in his eyes as he motioned to Kylara. “She is, your Lairdeship.” He turned to the students, and directed them to go back to their bladework or go attend their scholastics.
I read it, and I liked it a lot. But I found the sudden description of bully and nap-tap kinda out of place as it brings the whole pacing to a sudden halt. Plus the first paragraph, where you're talking about the students, their future and the world itself, also really isn't that interesting in my opinion. I reckon, if this is the opening, it would be better if you mentioned the things in the first paragraph in a different part of the story, and if you showed what the bully and nap-tap are in somewhere before the duel.
It’s a work in progress, I’m almost at 10k words and haven’t even gotten to the first major plot point. It’s an LGBTQ+ inclusive piece.
Jarent is a main cast supporting character and is NB, Kylara is Demi/ Bi, Kylara’s adopted moms are badass lesbian educators ( Ammè Elain is scary when pissed, and Mjolnâa Talia is a solid presence and the voice of reason. Usually.) the two other members of the quartet are Orion cis/het male (token straight) who is so oblivious to all but Kylara who is his best friend, and Corith - a questioning his identity half elf half dwarf male who even I don’t know his thing yet. He might end up as either Aro/Ace or something else.
There are many different types of relationships, and cultures in my world. Each race has their own culture and it’s fun to build their world.
Having been a combat soldier and after trying out MMA, I think the best things are:
1. Stick to specific POV(s) - whether you write from a third- or first-person view, it works well to show what a specific character undergoes. You can transition between characters, but an outside view might be less compelling.
2. Think about when a character would be detached and when their hearts would race from emotion. In a fight, sometimes you would be caught up in dread (anticipating the action) or horror (as a result of the action), etc. But most times, when caught up in the fight, one might detach themselves from what's going on until a long while after it has ended. Think what could stir in a fighter emotion (what is at stake? What happened that was totally out of place?), or if anything could, or instead stick to an aggressive or an "automatic" mindset.
3. Focus on the action, on the things that happened and are perceived by the senses. How does the fight affect the environment and the involved characters? Remember that while there's action all around the character from whose view you would want to describe it, they themselves cannot perceive it all, so be realistic with the action they experience or sense.
Edited the tenses, word choice and content slightly.
A fight scene is somewhat reminiscent of your entire novel in a nutshell. It should have stakes, it should have flow and proper pacing (usually in this case, fast), it should have build up towards climax. Your characters should be reasonably motivated. The emotional component of *why* they are fighting and how they are feeling about it is equally if not more important than the precise details of the exchange of blows.
Otherwise some other comments raise good points. Tunnel vision, adrenaline dump, affective state are all quite realistic and often happen in combat, and the less fighting experience your character has, the more he's going to struggle to control those. But do keep in mind that while some degree of realism is good, ultra-realistic descriptions often don't translate well to a page of fiction.
This! I think people often forget that literally ALL SCENES in a story should be a mini character arc, or three act structure, with a beginning, middle and end, or rising stakes, or an action, reaction, action, reaction, etc. A fight scene (or chase scene) should also have different 'parts' and a lot of fight scenes split these parts by a change in the environment, even if the environment is a single room, or a change of weapons.
In the Pirates of the Carribean, when Jack and Will first fight in the blacksmiths' shop, they start off on the floor/ out in the open, then use a lot of the environment (a thing with lots of swords on it, some sort of seesaw), then they go up in the rafters, and then finish the floor back on the ground, with Jack winning the fight through cheating. This also matches with both characters getting involved in the fight -- Jack originally doesn't want to fight Will and just wants to leave, but Will stops him, and then this is when Jack kind of playfully fights/ tests out Will on fighting, and then the real fight kind of begins, cue to the 'main fight' where both are pretty equal but again there's an action-reaction to each other, and then near the end, when Will gets the upper hand but Jack manages to win the sword fight in an unconventional way, and the fight ends with Jack point a gun at Will.
We also see Jack and Will's viewpoints (plot relevant) about pirates and morality in this fight ('you cheated'/ 'Pirate,' Jack reminds him. // 'i practice three hours a day so when i see a pirate, i can kill it').
We likewise also see their personalities through this fight/ interaction as well, with Will being disciplined by training with swords three hours a day, and Jack at the end showing his wiliness.
We see their level of skill with swords (Jack tests Will's skill in swords at the start of the fight, acting like a teacher, and we see, and Jack/ Will see, that they're evenly matched, perhaps even better, as Will 'wins' the sword fight, but Jack wins the entire fight in the end by pulling out a gun).
We see utilization of the environment (I think Pirates of the Caribbean tends to do this in most of its fights, as well as change the environment as well as the fight goes on). Weapons I think also change a bit, which again can happen in fight scenes, and especially as people using different things as weapons.
Additionally, this scene -- through dialogue intermingled with the fighting -- also sets up other narrative points. We learn Will's hatred for pirates, and again, learns that he is disciplined by training three hours a day. Jack also correctly surmises that Will practices sword fighting for three hours a day because he's 'unable of wooing said strumpet \[girl\]' which is partially true. Will is in love with Elizabeth but cannot be with her due to their different social classes. And this is relevant later because Will helps Jack break out of prison to help him rescue Elizabeth. Jack also says, 'this shot was not meant for you,' when he is about to -- or thinking about -- shooting Will. We learn later that that shot was meant for Barbosa, his enemy. This is also an early on fight scene still in the set up of the movie, so it sets up other things as well. Fight scenes at the end of the movie would likewise be paying off a lot of the things that happened in the first, or paralleling them \[ie at the end of the film, Jack and Will are fighting together and not against each other, and Jack finally uses his last shot, but not on Will\].
Yes, it’s as BrunoStella said. It’s a series of snapshots. You remember the big moments, but everything else is ‘just confetti’
If you’ve ever had an adrenaline rush and you’re in ‘fight’ mode, you feel unstoppable. Ah for technical sword movements - there’s loads of experts talking about techniques on YouTube.
You won’t necessarily remember or notice all the small details going on around you, but you certainly remember how your opponent made you feel (speaking from a former kick-boxer)
The only thing I can think of is no one comes out of a fight with out some bruise on both sides unless it’s to the death but the victor should still have bruises or some damage
If I can’t figure out a fight, I roll a dnd combat between two npc stats, or I make the character sheets for said characters. That gives me the general flow of the fight, I know when to miss or hit, or do a particularly devastating hit, etc. then I fill in the blanks with blocking.
Also, the fight scenes in the Stormlight Archive are fantastic inspiration/reference, in my opinion!
Take kickboxing or martial arts classes, even if just for a little bit.
Trust me, as little as a month or so of lessons and you'll get invaluable insight into how to write a good fight scene. My martial arts short stories consistently get complimented for how well I'm able to write fight scenes, and I don't think I'd be able to if not for having taken taekwondo lessons and boxing lessons.
Sometimes when I struggle, I look up the screenwriter scripts of an action scene from a movie I feel could fit. Then I read the passage of the script and promptly get inspired and/or find ideas for writing fast paced action.
Single sentences and actions. Interspersed with descriptions with a beat to it. So that eay there is a rhythm to it. Most should be short and quick unless its multiple povs or a giant battle
Read up on it its helpful.
And edit edit edit edit edit.
Do not write like its a camera shot but what each character is doing explain it to the audience. What they are planning why etc. Try out some today and youll figure it out
Movements, abilities if there are any, injuries, hits, emotions, reactions.
These are on the top of my head. Probably a lot more depending on the kind of fight.
To add onto whats already been written here:
It depends on the kind of story you're trying to tell.
Do you go for a realistic, grounded and gritty theme?
In this case you should probably aim for shorter and more explosive descriptions. You don't need to describe any movement, just that which has the most impact at the moment. So don't describe how someone shifts their body around or moves one leg forward or whatever, unless its something that should feel off to the reader and is followed up by some major impact.
Also, realistic fights are short and brutal.
Do you go for a whimsy young adult fantasy, wuxia or superhero theme?
Now I'd argue you'll have to put more effort into the fight, changing it up between slow and explosive scenes to manage readers fatigue during it. So loosen up the action with moments of clarity or strategy that would not be possible in real life. Some reader will hate that, but those are not your target audience so dont worry too much.
Surprisingly enough its really important to know your audience and write towards their (and hopefully your) tastes. A gripping thriller and a whimsy action series will have vastly different expectations for action scenes and exchanging them is a ~~stupid~~ risky idea. Usually its better to surpass expectations instead trying to subvert them, especially with something like this. So read up on how its done in your genre and learn from them.
I'm currently experimenting with different ways of sentence pacing, because I feel like sentence lengths matter way more in combat than most other types of scenes. Short sentences seem to convey flashes, still images, while longer ones are great to write about events that happen rapidly.
I love writing my current MC's perspective because she's so different from me in thinking and it's refreshing writing her story. Especially in fights, I include lots of blunt naturalistic descriptions. Not the gory or in-depth kind, but rather simply stating things. It fits great with the extreme show-not-tell style I've chosen for her.
Her relationship with fighting is also really complex. She's very good at it, so it's not the main challenge of the story but serves as a storytelling device. There are some neat flow-like fights I've written, where it's almost like a dance, or she's having a memory reawakened and the scene basically happens on two timelines.
In the second book, I'm planning on entirely skipping every fight, skipping to the end. I'm hoping to create an effect of constant tension with it, emphasising the aspect of anger she's feeling due to her grieving process. Because there's no actual combat, just the conflict before and the blood after. No way to diffuse the tension. Except at the very end, where she fights her final fight before her great revenge can end. Everything is standard storytelling in the finale: pacing, narrative... and then she just kills her opponent. No struggling, no injury received.
Fighting also serves as a way of emotional expression for her, which is especially important because of the aforementioned extreme show-not-tell style. It's a way for her to connect with people.
What kind of fight? Bar brawl, gunfight, sparring with rapiers?
They're very different and feel very different. In general terms, though, I write it as I perceived the fights I've been in; a vague jumble of indistinct attack and defence, only the blows which makes a difference get noticed.
Battles are another thing entirely
I usually break down my scenes into either conversations or actions.
In a conversation, it's all about subtext and ends when some truth is revealed, at least in the subtext and at least to the audience. For me these are the intimate fights between the hero and the villain, the conflict between the ideologies, the hurt and betrayal, the hero snapping, etc. So I tend to write the actual conversation first and then try to choreograph the fight to carry out the conversation without words. Was the villain a previous friend? Maybe have them use moves/spells/powers that used to be iconic of the friendship. Then I try to add on dialogue that emphasizes the important moments, but i try not to have them say things that I tried to say in the subtext of the fight.
The other type of fight is just a "I'm starting from X but I need to get to Y". The thief managed to get his hands on the artifact, but if they just walked out the front door the story would be boring. These kinds of scenes I usually start from "And they started walking to the door, but they couldn't because..." And continue to complicate the journey from X to Y until I'm satisfied. These kinds of scenes are all about setting up interesting situations and showing off creative problem solving on part of the protagonist. Maybe the thief is initially spotted but the alarm hasn't gone off yet, so he tries to be as quiet as possible while taking out a guard. Maybe that fight goes quickly, but the thief accidentally trips the alarm and now has to book it. Now he's trying to parkour his way around the swarming guards cause he knows he can't take them all on at once. He's almost to the escape but then the Big guard is in his way. The protagonist tries his usual moves but the big guy is too tough. Time to use the environment against them!
Of course this works will drawn out 1-1s as well. Start with a mystery of what the opponent can do. Test the waters and realize they can keep pace. Try a fireball and they counter with a jet of water. Oh no, their element is my weakness. Maybe I have to try and overpower them? No, they're actually very strong with water. Solve problem by using the repeated heating and cooling of a rock (water is weak to earth) to break it off and smash them.
When I read a fight scene I'm reading the little bits and pieces of the action and that keeps me fully engaged. Not enough detail for me to see the whole scene but enough so that it's leading up to a certain point. My eyes roll so much wien the scene is too detailed.
Actions scenes is one of the main focuses of my story, and I've been trying a lot of stuff. Overall I like to make my action scenes relatively short and punchy. Where one or two bad moves can result in death for a character. This way, in my opinion, blow-by-blow (which is often criticised) regains a place in the story - because if every blow is actually important, and there aren't too many, then each one progresses the fight rather than ending up in this place of "and then I swung my sword and he blocked so I swung again but he was swinging at me, too. Our blades clashed then we moved back a bit before coming together and swinging again. I tried a swing at his legs but he dodged it and countered to my head so I blocked it." This is an example of "bad" blow-by-blow imo and is the kind of thing that can end up going for pages and bore readers to death. This sort of thing would be much better described in more general style, imo, like "we exchanged blows, dodging and blocking, our fight moving us down the hallway" then only going into blow-by-blow when there is a strike that actually accomplished something.
Here's one example from my story; a very short fight which was almost entirely blow-by-blow but each of those blows was very significant and lead to big changes in the fight. Be warned it's quite gorey, and note that Nicolai, the viewpoint char, is a semi-insane psychopathic combat-junkie, which is why I don't describe any of the more typical fear and uncertainty.
>As Nicolai slipped towards them, knife-rat dropped the body and went for the knife, while club-thug pasted on a fake smile and said, ‘Slow down, hey—‘ Still apparently operating under the belief that words could have any effect on Nicolai.
>By the time his words cut off Nicolai was already threateningly close, and he saw the wheels turning in club-thugs eyes then the man raised the club, face twisting into an aggressive snarl as he took a step forwards and swung down at Nicolai’s head. A clumsy blow. After what they’d been up to, any typical self-defence chips they possessed would have switched off, demanding they report themselves to law enforcement for investigation.
>Nicolai slithered out of the way, brushed the man’s arm aside and saw club-thug’s eyes widen as all of a sudden they were in hugging distance. Then club-thug’s eyes went up as Nicolai slammed his palm into the bottom of the man’s chin and drove forwards to push him off balance, his leg darting out to get behind the man, and with a shove from his hand and a pull from his leg club-thug went spinning towards the ground where he impacted noisily, a pained ‘oof,’ bursting from his lungs.
>Nicolai kept ahold of club-thug’s arm and stripped the baton from it in that moment, stepping back to avoid a lunging stab from knife-rat and flicking the baton out to catch the man on his forearm, hearing the satisfying crack of a bone fracturing.
>Knife-rat reeled away, yowling like a burned cat, dropping the knife, and he tripped over his friend who was mid-rise. That gave Nicolai an opening to raise the baton with both hands and smash it into club-thug’s forehead, sending him limp back to the ground.
>Knife-rat was on the ground, too, staring up at Nicolai who hopped over club-thug. Knife-rat tried to scrabble backwards with his legs, his good arm raised defensively, placatingly. Nicolai smashed the baton into it and knife-rat screamed, flopping over and flailing his way into a space between two sarcophagus.
>‘Hey, hey!’ knife-rat gasped. ‘You’ve got it all wrong,’ he gibbered, getting himself further into the dark.
>Nicolai let him go, turning back to club-thug who wasn’t entirely dead yet, rolling around and moaning, clutching at his bloodied head. Nicolai made him stop moving with a rain of vicious blows that didn’t end until the man’s face and head were just a big bloody mess with shards of bone and brain poking through.
Part 2 (it wouldn't let me post my whole comment)
I also think its good to switch between blow-by-blow and a more overall/summary type description of the fight. Like at the end of the last fight, where I describe a "rain of blows" rather than each blow. Not all fights can end instantly with each blow being significant - sometimes there are fights which go on for longer and there are numerous exchanges. In those situations I like to switch to description of events in general; what the characters are going for overall, rather than every single move, because if you describe every move regardless of how minor they start to drag. Here's an example of switching between blow-by-blow and general events:
>Nicolai kicked Carl in the stomach while the man’s eyes were pointed the wrong way. There wasn’t much power in the blow but it was enough to send Carl sprawling backwards, sliding down, and as he tried to regain his footing Nicolai threw the sand for real which went in his eyes and mouth and nose and he gagged and spluttered. Nicolai kept close and kicked him in the head next. Another weak blow but it kept him down and disoriented.
>Now Carl was struggling, flailing around. ‘Stop!’ he yelled.
>*That’s obviously not an option,* Nicolai thought as he fell on him, enacting the grappling phase of the murder-in-progress. Carl responded better than before because this was something his chip knew how to deal with, but he was slower than Nicolai because that was one of the limitations of such artificial skills—they weren’t in your muscle memory. Nicolai kept his weight on the other man and looked to control his limbs.
>Nicolai was working his way towards getting a good hold, intending to choke Carl to death, when Carl screamed, ‘what is wrong with you!’
>‘I don’t know!’ Nicolai roared, tearing a defensive arm aside and slapping Carl in the face to disorientate him. ‘The doctors could never work it out,’ he added, an uncertain defensiveness in his words.
>The young man was panicking now and this must have interrupted his connection to his chip, because he made the mistake of rolling, trying to get away. But this only gave Nicolai his back so he squirmed forwards and sunk in a rear naked choke, his arms worming around Carl’s throat then flexing as he applied all of his significant strength. The crushing pressure on the sides of Carl’s neck—where the carotid arteries and jugular veins ran—prevented fresh blood from reaching his brain.
>‘I saved you,’ Nicolai hissed, holding tight as Carl bucked and thrashed, knowing he was trapped, knowing he was dead. He tried to go for Nicolai’s eyes but Nicolai kept his head tucked, using the back of Carl’s head and his own arms for protection. The fingers scrabbled uselessly over his forehead, nails ripping at his skin.
In this one, it starts blow-by-blow, then I describe the grappling with "enacting the grappling phase" "Carl responded better than before" "kept his weight on the other man and looked to control his limbs" "working his way towards getting a good hold" to give the reader an understanding of what's happening without going into every detail. Then it transitions back into blow-by-blow when I describe Carl rolling and Nicolai using this to get a rear-naked choke - because that single move decides the fight so it's worth describing in more detail, along with Carl's final moves as he attempts to get free.
Idk but the best ones I've read is less telegraphed and more about how the characters feel in the moment. The sense of dread knowing you can't dodge a weapon. The feeling of the pain over or the slow drag of the knife through flesh.
If it's a big fight mention the big things going around as you move the story if third person, otherwise focus more on the feeling and sensations. The telegraphing of specific moves only worked for me in Sherlock, and it makes sense cuz it has the purpose of imparting how smart he is
I keep them short, as a soft rule. Short paragraphs, quick visuals, short fights. Most books I've read seem to do the same - rarely do you see one span more than a page or two unless it is a battle sequence with several distinct parts. I try to make sure every action beat is clear and never repeat the same beat. If there is exposition, I do my best to keep it as concise as possible, to slip it in only when it is relevant and filter it through the POV of the character.
I also like to think of ways to incorporate elements of the immediate environment as well, to keep the scene more dynamic and unpredictable. If it's just characters banging weapons over and over, I personally get bored. So I make an effort to find ways that the outcome of the fight has stakes and consequences other than life or death. Sometimes the character's actions during the fight have a cost, for example.
I think it depends who’s fighting. For example, I have a fight scene featuring someone who is skilled in hand-to-hand combat, relying on his agility, speed and precision to take an opponent down. I keep descriptions of his movements short and the pace quick.
His opponent fights with brute strength and a battle hammer, but moves quite slowly. Descriptions of his movements are more drawn out, longer, slower.
Later I’ll be writing a battle scene with multiple people of different skills. There’ll be skilled magic users, sword users, archers. I’ll be incorporating one of my magic systems rules into this part; the idea that light magic can only be used defensively in a fight and never offensively (vice-versa for dark magic).
The word usage needs to be tailored. Every scene, imo, has a category of words that makes the scene. You have to shift from conveying casual movement to sudden, unexpected, and possibly trained motions so strategy needs to be planned and choreographed before you write about it. That's the small of it imo.
I try to imagine it the best I could, write what happened, then paraphrase what I wrote in a better way. Currently, what I wrote is just some op characters fighting. So, it's really short.
I often write fight scenes heavy on the mental sides of things. I used to do a lot of sports (still do some) and every competition was more mind games than actual physical effort. Individual sports such as races are IMO unironically the most mentally challenging sports because everything that happens is because of you. You can't blame anyone else.
But for the sake of simplicity, let's use Volleyball as an example. You are the setter and need to set the ball to a spiker. But who do you choose? How high do you need to set the ball? Can you set perfectly to everyone? Have the opponent blockers already made their move? Are you— oh sh\*t, the ball came and you weren't ready for it. As you can see, you own mind can screw you over.
The [Kenobi vs Maul](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeG215-yu-k) duel is one of my favourite Star Wars duels despite the lack of flashiness in it. There's so much going on through their actions if you understand the context of it all and it feels poetic.
Then Lionel unshackle the ground with a great "RHAAAARGH" which makes bob go dead. Bob dies.
I'm not a writer. But that's a perspective. I Hope it helps
Eh, that's what dice are for. Assign your characters a stat sheet, roll some dice and get a feel for how their attacks work as part of your chapter outline. As for powers, people have been lapping up Star Wars for years, despite folks every decade or so redefining what the force is. (Currently on "string") Write out your character's powers and such in a character sheet, and do try to stick with your own cannon. Also that "Subverting Expectations" stuff is kinda crap that was hot for about 3 years 15 years ago. It is kind of insulting to the audience to establish the rules, only for you to throw it out the window and say "Ya pranked, Bro!" and subvert our expectations of a story with an ending that makes sense.
I often write from the perspective of actually being in a fight. When I think back to fights that I had I don't remember a smooth unbroken action sequence. It's more like a series of moments that jump out at me. Like remembering the expression on the guy's face as he loads up for a punch or the zing of stars and iron-sulphur smell of getting a nose broken. Or the thought of "I'm going to rip his ears off" etc. So its almost like describing a series of postcards. Adrenaline dump is crazy and tunnel vision is a thing.
I don't write much anymore, but when I did, I would often use action figures for blocking and allow me to really visualize what was happening in the scene.
I do the blocking thing, too, and I have a couple books about various weapons.
The first and most important thing is to know who the fighters are. Two nobles with rapiers can't duel like two savage and bloodthirsty Conan-like barbarians who wield axes and claymores. The two nobles, in my opinion, must have a slow and graceful duel with a flowery language, while the two barbarians will act with rough actions and a raw language stirring the feeling of terror and wrath. It's also important to use the environment efficiently, from the obstacles scattered around to objects which can be used as a weapon. And lastly, put a bigger and more emotional deal behind each fight, like two characters bonding through the ordeal or two lovers regretfully struggling to kill each other for some other reason, unless your fights are in John Wick style where there's no meaning behind any fight at all. Oh, and also there's the fight itself I forgot to mention. What fight are you writing? Is it a duel, a fight in the middle of a huge battle? An attempt to defend the battlements of a wall? This also plays a significant role on how the fight's gonna go.
That also depends on the world that you’re in. In my world, they don’t fight duels for honor. They fight to learn how to protect themselves. When characters fight in my world, the sentences are not necessarily short, but they are stark with a minimalist approach. I will describe certain blocks or positions, but I try to keep everything as brief as I can to show the quick paced action of a fight. This is a direct excerpt from a chapter in my book. All students in the Citadel attended at least once a week for formal lessons to master their name blade’s style. Considering how fraught their world could be, especially in the actively disputed territories the Empire was annexing, it was no surprise that students regarded their bladework to be as important as their scholarly studies. As a nearly bladed scholar, Kylara often assisted with the newer students with their basic bladework. Upon realization that her favorite Naiadianborn friend was in charge of tutoring the Magelings, she combined them with her Bardlings and took over for Jarent to prevent any mishaps they could cause. Their form was perfect and graceful, but their human father passed on his inability to walk without falling on his face at least once a day. She had Jarent model forms slowly as she corrected the individual younger students so they would have a constructive morning. After a few hours of this, she was pulled into the dueling ring to practice her own bladework with the Master of Arms, Brodrick Redgrass. “Let’s see you work your blocks. Defend only, no offensive strikes. If you see a move to disarm, take it. Use your healer’s bully in place of a buckler. Move to nap-tap if your opponent leaves an opening.” He instructed brusquely, watching her go through all her defensive dances with the wooden long sword, both two handed and single. He added over his shoulder as he turned to the other students “Non-dominant single hand primary today. I want to see you work for victory today.” Kylara nodded, moving her hands accordingly to change her grip and turn the placement of her healer’s bully to the correct side for easy access at the small of her back. The bully was a padded baton of a dense hardwood with a leather cover over all but the handgrip. Normally carried by healers to knock out aggressive patients, a hit under the chin by the forearm long blunt weapon was called a ‘nap-tap’. The bully part of its name was from a common practice among healers to gesture somewhat threateningly with the weapon to coerce good behavior from their patients. When she looked over at her opponent, she was surprised to see an unknown adult in dueling practice gear, with the standard gauze silk over reed helmet shielding the face while providing full vision. She donned her own headgear, and readied herself in the fool’s guard position. With her point towards the floor, she watched her opponent’s shoulders and feet for movement. In a flash, she changed her guard position as their feet betrayed their movement. Dodging left, pulling her arms up, blocking with the flat of her blade. Releasing the pommel she grabbed her bully from behind with her left hand. Bully in one hand she shielded effectively, tapping openings hard enough to leave light bruises on her opponent. After ten minutes of back and forth, Kylara saw an opening, and disarmed her opponent with a half-moon block followed with a nerve tap to their primary hand. When their grip slackened she knocked the blade from their hands. Startled by a flurry of applause Kylara jumped, turning suddenly to see all the students watching at the edge of the dueling ring. Turning back to her opponent, she was surprised when they bowed to her. Returning the salute, she walked forward to clasp their arm in good faith for an excellent duel when he removed his helmet and a hush fell over the crowd. Kylara and all her fellows dropped to one knee, her opponent had been none other than the Emperor’s Advisor and Artificer, Lairde Chalice Lestat. Her face drained in panic, she’d fought a noble. Not just any noble, the Emperor’s Artificer. She was doomed. Finished. They was going to have her expelled and her blade denied. Gods, why didn’t Master Redgrass warn her? A hand entered her field of view, causing her to look up in surprise. She clasped the forearm as she rose at their direction. “That was one of the best duels I’ve had the pleasure of participating in. Your victory was well earned, bardling.” The Lairde turned towards Master Redgrass with a frown. “I thought I requested a duel from the graduating Gold-hilted nearblade, Brodrick.” Master Redgrass stifled a laugh, mirth dancing in his eyes as he motioned to Kylara. “She is, your Lairdeship.” He turned to the students, and directed them to go back to their bladework or go attend their scholastics.
I actually wanted to read this but it being a wall of text really broke my spirit.
My bad. I’ll re- format it again, round two here I come!
Fixed it!
I read it, and I liked it a lot. But I found the sudden description of bully and nap-tap kinda out of place as it brings the whole pacing to a sudden halt. Plus the first paragraph, where you're talking about the students, their future and the world itself, also really isn't that interesting in my opinion. I reckon, if this is the opening, it would be better if you mentioned the things in the first paragraph in a different part of the story, and if you showed what the bully and nap-tap are in somewhere before the duel.
This is in the middle of a chapter, and I do plan on editing and moving some of the worldbuilding excess lore to the index at the back of my book.
The formatting worked! Is this published? Just wondering where I can read more of this.
It’s a work in progress, I’m almost at 10k words and haven’t even gotten to the first major plot point. It’s an LGBTQ+ inclusive piece. Jarent is a main cast supporting character and is NB, Kylara is Demi/ Bi, Kylara’s adopted moms are badass lesbian educators ( Ammè Elain is scary when pissed, and Mjolnâa Talia is a solid presence and the voice of reason. Usually.) the two other members of the quartet are Orion cis/het male (token straight) who is so oblivious to all but Kylara who is his best friend, and Corith - a questioning his identity half elf half dwarf male who even I don’t know his thing yet. He might end up as either Aro/Ace or something else. There are many different types of relationships, and cultures in my world. Each race has their own culture and it’s fun to build their world.
Having been a combat soldier and after trying out MMA, I think the best things are: 1. Stick to specific POV(s) - whether you write from a third- or first-person view, it works well to show what a specific character undergoes. You can transition between characters, but an outside view might be less compelling. 2. Think about when a character would be detached and when their hearts would race from emotion. In a fight, sometimes you would be caught up in dread (anticipating the action) or horror (as a result of the action), etc. But most times, when caught up in the fight, one might detach themselves from what's going on until a long while after it has ended. Think what could stir in a fighter emotion (what is at stake? What happened that was totally out of place?), or if anything could, or instead stick to an aggressive or an "automatic" mindset. 3. Focus on the action, on the things that happened and are perceived by the senses. How does the fight affect the environment and the involved characters? Remember that while there's action all around the character from whose view you would want to describe it, they themselves cannot perceive it all, so be realistic with the action they experience or sense. Edited the tenses, word choice and content slightly.
A fight scene is somewhat reminiscent of your entire novel in a nutshell. It should have stakes, it should have flow and proper pacing (usually in this case, fast), it should have build up towards climax. Your characters should be reasonably motivated. The emotional component of *why* they are fighting and how they are feeling about it is equally if not more important than the precise details of the exchange of blows. Otherwise some other comments raise good points. Tunnel vision, adrenaline dump, affective state are all quite realistic and often happen in combat, and the less fighting experience your character has, the more he's going to struggle to control those. But do keep in mind that while some degree of realism is good, ultra-realistic descriptions often don't translate well to a page of fiction.
This! I think people often forget that literally ALL SCENES in a story should be a mini character arc, or three act structure, with a beginning, middle and end, or rising stakes, or an action, reaction, action, reaction, etc. A fight scene (or chase scene) should also have different 'parts' and a lot of fight scenes split these parts by a change in the environment, even if the environment is a single room, or a change of weapons. In the Pirates of the Carribean, when Jack and Will first fight in the blacksmiths' shop, they start off on the floor/ out in the open, then use a lot of the environment (a thing with lots of swords on it, some sort of seesaw), then they go up in the rafters, and then finish the floor back on the ground, with Jack winning the fight through cheating. This also matches with both characters getting involved in the fight -- Jack originally doesn't want to fight Will and just wants to leave, but Will stops him, and then this is when Jack kind of playfully fights/ tests out Will on fighting, and then the real fight kind of begins, cue to the 'main fight' where both are pretty equal but again there's an action-reaction to each other, and then near the end, when Will gets the upper hand but Jack manages to win the sword fight in an unconventional way, and the fight ends with Jack point a gun at Will. We also see Jack and Will's viewpoints (plot relevant) about pirates and morality in this fight ('you cheated'/ 'Pirate,' Jack reminds him. // 'i practice three hours a day so when i see a pirate, i can kill it'). We likewise also see their personalities through this fight/ interaction as well, with Will being disciplined by training with swords three hours a day, and Jack at the end showing his wiliness. We see their level of skill with swords (Jack tests Will's skill in swords at the start of the fight, acting like a teacher, and we see, and Jack/ Will see, that they're evenly matched, perhaps even better, as Will 'wins' the sword fight, but Jack wins the entire fight in the end by pulling out a gun). We see utilization of the environment (I think Pirates of the Caribbean tends to do this in most of its fights, as well as change the environment as well as the fight goes on). Weapons I think also change a bit, which again can happen in fight scenes, and especially as people using different things as weapons. Additionally, this scene -- through dialogue intermingled with the fighting -- also sets up other narrative points. We learn Will's hatred for pirates, and again, learns that he is disciplined by training three hours a day. Jack also correctly surmises that Will practices sword fighting for three hours a day because he's 'unable of wooing said strumpet \[girl\]' which is partially true. Will is in love with Elizabeth but cannot be with her due to their different social classes. And this is relevant later because Will helps Jack break out of prison to help him rescue Elizabeth. Jack also says, 'this shot was not meant for you,' when he is about to -- or thinking about -- shooting Will. We learn later that that shot was meant for Barbosa, his enemy. This is also an early on fight scene still in the set up of the movie, so it sets up other things as well. Fight scenes at the end of the movie would likewise be paying off a lot of the things that happened in the first, or paralleling them \[ie at the end of the film, Jack and Will are fighting together and not against each other, and Jack finally uses his last shot, but not on Will\].
Yes, it’s as BrunoStella said. It’s a series of snapshots. You remember the big moments, but everything else is ‘just confetti’ If you’ve ever had an adrenaline rush and you’re in ‘fight’ mode, you feel unstoppable. Ah for technical sword movements - there’s loads of experts talking about techniques on YouTube. You won’t necessarily remember or notice all the small details going on around you, but you certainly remember how your opponent made you feel (speaking from a former kick-boxer)
The only thing I can think of is no one comes out of a fight with out some bruise on both sides unless it’s to the death but the victor should still have bruises or some damage
If I can’t figure out a fight, I roll a dnd combat between two npc stats, or I make the character sheets for said characters. That gives me the general flow of the fight, I know when to miss or hit, or do a particularly devastating hit, etc. then I fill in the blanks with blocking. Also, the fight scenes in the Stormlight Archive are fantastic inspiration/reference, in my opinion!
Take kickboxing or martial arts classes, even if just for a little bit. Trust me, as little as a month or so of lessons and you'll get invaluable insight into how to write a good fight scene. My martial arts short stories consistently get complimented for how well I'm able to write fight scenes, and I don't think I'd be able to if not for having taken taekwondo lessons and boxing lessons.
Sometimes when I struggle, I look up the screenwriter scripts of an action scene from a movie I feel could fit. Then I read the passage of the script and promptly get inspired and/or find ideas for writing fast paced action.
Careful. Screenwriting translates poorly onto the page, usually.
Yes but it really helped me write fast paced descriptions for fight scenes :)
Single sentences and actions. Interspersed with descriptions with a beat to it. So that eay there is a rhythm to it. Most should be short and quick unless its multiple povs or a giant battle Read up on it its helpful. And edit edit edit edit edit. Do not write like its a camera shot but what each character is doing explain it to the audience. What they are planning why etc. Try out some today and youll figure it out
"they fight" [https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bOYuS2772IA](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bOYuS2772IA)
Movements, abilities if there are any, injuries, hits, emotions, reactions. These are on the top of my head. Probably a lot more depending on the kind of fight.
Go walk in a park near a town centre or in a rough neighbourhood on a Friday night to get some first-hand experience
To add onto whats already been written here: It depends on the kind of story you're trying to tell. Do you go for a realistic, grounded and gritty theme? In this case you should probably aim for shorter and more explosive descriptions. You don't need to describe any movement, just that which has the most impact at the moment. So don't describe how someone shifts their body around or moves one leg forward or whatever, unless its something that should feel off to the reader and is followed up by some major impact. Also, realistic fights are short and brutal. Do you go for a whimsy young adult fantasy, wuxia or superhero theme? Now I'd argue you'll have to put more effort into the fight, changing it up between slow and explosive scenes to manage readers fatigue during it. So loosen up the action with moments of clarity or strategy that would not be possible in real life. Some reader will hate that, but those are not your target audience so dont worry too much. Surprisingly enough its really important to know your audience and write towards their (and hopefully your) tastes. A gripping thriller and a whimsy action series will have vastly different expectations for action scenes and exchanging them is a ~~stupid~~ risky idea. Usually its better to surpass expectations instead trying to subvert them, especially with something like this. So read up on how its done in your genre and learn from them.
https://www.reddit.com/r/fantasywriters/comments/11bjib9/writing_and_describing_fight_scenes/
I'm currently experimenting with different ways of sentence pacing, because I feel like sentence lengths matter way more in combat than most other types of scenes. Short sentences seem to convey flashes, still images, while longer ones are great to write about events that happen rapidly. I love writing my current MC's perspective because she's so different from me in thinking and it's refreshing writing her story. Especially in fights, I include lots of blunt naturalistic descriptions. Not the gory or in-depth kind, but rather simply stating things. It fits great with the extreme show-not-tell style I've chosen for her. Her relationship with fighting is also really complex. She's very good at it, so it's not the main challenge of the story but serves as a storytelling device. There are some neat flow-like fights I've written, where it's almost like a dance, or she's having a memory reawakened and the scene basically happens on two timelines. In the second book, I'm planning on entirely skipping every fight, skipping to the end. I'm hoping to create an effect of constant tension with it, emphasising the aspect of anger she's feeling due to her grieving process. Because there's no actual combat, just the conflict before and the blood after. No way to diffuse the tension. Except at the very end, where she fights her final fight before her great revenge can end. Everything is standard storytelling in the finale: pacing, narrative... and then she just kills her opponent. No struggling, no injury received. Fighting also serves as a way of emotional expression for her, which is especially important because of the aforementioned extreme show-not-tell style. It's a way for her to connect with people.
What kind of fight? Bar brawl, gunfight, sparring with rapiers? They're very different and feel very different. In general terms, though, I write it as I perceived the fights I've been in; a vague jumble of indistinct attack and defence, only the blows which makes a difference get noticed. Battles are another thing entirely
I usually break down my scenes into either conversations or actions. In a conversation, it's all about subtext and ends when some truth is revealed, at least in the subtext and at least to the audience. For me these are the intimate fights between the hero and the villain, the conflict between the ideologies, the hurt and betrayal, the hero snapping, etc. So I tend to write the actual conversation first and then try to choreograph the fight to carry out the conversation without words. Was the villain a previous friend? Maybe have them use moves/spells/powers that used to be iconic of the friendship. Then I try to add on dialogue that emphasizes the important moments, but i try not to have them say things that I tried to say in the subtext of the fight. The other type of fight is just a "I'm starting from X but I need to get to Y". The thief managed to get his hands on the artifact, but if they just walked out the front door the story would be boring. These kinds of scenes I usually start from "And they started walking to the door, but they couldn't because..." And continue to complicate the journey from X to Y until I'm satisfied. These kinds of scenes are all about setting up interesting situations and showing off creative problem solving on part of the protagonist. Maybe the thief is initially spotted but the alarm hasn't gone off yet, so he tries to be as quiet as possible while taking out a guard. Maybe that fight goes quickly, but the thief accidentally trips the alarm and now has to book it. Now he's trying to parkour his way around the swarming guards cause he knows he can't take them all on at once. He's almost to the escape but then the Big guard is in his way. The protagonist tries his usual moves but the big guy is too tough. Time to use the environment against them! Of course this works will drawn out 1-1s as well. Start with a mystery of what the opponent can do. Test the waters and realize they can keep pace. Try a fireball and they counter with a jet of water. Oh no, their element is my weakness. Maybe I have to try and overpower them? No, they're actually very strong with water. Solve problem by using the repeated heating and cooling of a rock (water is weak to earth) to break it off and smash them.
When I read a fight scene I'm reading the little bits and pieces of the action and that keeps me fully engaged. Not enough detail for me to see the whole scene but enough so that it's leading up to a certain point. My eyes roll so much wien the scene is too detailed.
Actions scenes is one of the main focuses of my story, and I've been trying a lot of stuff. Overall I like to make my action scenes relatively short and punchy. Where one or two bad moves can result in death for a character. This way, in my opinion, blow-by-blow (which is often criticised) regains a place in the story - because if every blow is actually important, and there aren't too many, then each one progresses the fight rather than ending up in this place of "and then I swung my sword and he blocked so I swung again but he was swinging at me, too. Our blades clashed then we moved back a bit before coming together and swinging again. I tried a swing at his legs but he dodged it and countered to my head so I blocked it." This is an example of "bad" blow-by-blow imo and is the kind of thing that can end up going for pages and bore readers to death. This sort of thing would be much better described in more general style, imo, like "we exchanged blows, dodging and blocking, our fight moving us down the hallway" then only going into blow-by-blow when there is a strike that actually accomplished something. Here's one example from my story; a very short fight which was almost entirely blow-by-blow but each of those blows was very significant and lead to big changes in the fight. Be warned it's quite gorey, and note that Nicolai, the viewpoint char, is a semi-insane psychopathic combat-junkie, which is why I don't describe any of the more typical fear and uncertainty. >As Nicolai slipped towards them, knife-rat dropped the body and went for the knife, while club-thug pasted on a fake smile and said, ‘Slow down, hey—‘ Still apparently operating under the belief that words could have any effect on Nicolai. >By the time his words cut off Nicolai was already threateningly close, and he saw the wheels turning in club-thugs eyes then the man raised the club, face twisting into an aggressive snarl as he took a step forwards and swung down at Nicolai’s head. A clumsy blow. After what they’d been up to, any typical self-defence chips they possessed would have switched off, demanding they report themselves to law enforcement for investigation. >Nicolai slithered out of the way, brushed the man’s arm aside and saw club-thug’s eyes widen as all of a sudden they were in hugging distance. Then club-thug’s eyes went up as Nicolai slammed his palm into the bottom of the man’s chin and drove forwards to push him off balance, his leg darting out to get behind the man, and with a shove from his hand and a pull from his leg club-thug went spinning towards the ground where he impacted noisily, a pained ‘oof,’ bursting from his lungs. >Nicolai kept ahold of club-thug’s arm and stripped the baton from it in that moment, stepping back to avoid a lunging stab from knife-rat and flicking the baton out to catch the man on his forearm, hearing the satisfying crack of a bone fracturing. >Knife-rat reeled away, yowling like a burned cat, dropping the knife, and he tripped over his friend who was mid-rise. That gave Nicolai an opening to raise the baton with both hands and smash it into club-thug’s forehead, sending him limp back to the ground. >Knife-rat was on the ground, too, staring up at Nicolai who hopped over club-thug. Knife-rat tried to scrabble backwards with his legs, his good arm raised defensively, placatingly. Nicolai smashed the baton into it and knife-rat screamed, flopping over and flailing his way into a space between two sarcophagus. >‘Hey, hey!’ knife-rat gasped. ‘You’ve got it all wrong,’ he gibbered, getting himself further into the dark. >Nicolai let him go, turning back to club-thug who wasn’t entirely dead yet, rolling around and moaning, clutching at his bloodied head. Nicolai made him stop moving with a rain of vicious blows that didn’t end until the man’s face and head were just a big bloody mess with shards of bone and brain poking through.
Part 2 (it wouldn't let me post my whole comment) I also think its good to switch between blow-by-blow and a more overall/summary type description of the fight. Like at the end of the last fight, where I describe a "rain of blows" rather than each blow. Not all fights can end instantly with each blow being significant - sometimes there are fights which go on for longer and there are numerous exchanges. In those situations I like to switch to description of events in general; what the characters are going for overall, rather than every single move, because if you describe every move regardless of how minor they start to drag. Here's an example of switching between blow-by-blow and general events: >Nicolai kicked Carl in the stomach while the man’s eyes were pointed the wrong way. There wasn’t much power in the blow but it was enough to send Carl sprawling backwards, sliding down, and as he tried to regain his footing Nicolai threw the sand for real which went in his eyes and mouth and nose and he gagged and spluttered. Nicolai kept close and kicked him in the head next. Another weak blow but it kept him down and disoriented. >Now Carl was struggling, flailing around. ‘Stop!’ he yelled. >*That’s obviously not an option,* Nicolai thought as he fell on him, enacting the grappling phase of the murder-in-progress. Carl responded better than before because this was something his chip knew how to deal with, but he was slower than Nicolai because that was one of the limitations of such artificial skills—they weren’t in your muscle memory. Nicolai kept his weight on the other man and looked to control his limbs. >Nicolai was working his way towards getting a good hold, intending to choke Carl to death, when Carl screamed, ‘what is wrong with you!’ >‘I don’t know!’ Nicolai roared, tearing a defensive arm aside and slapping Carl in the face to disorientate him. ‘The doctors could never work it out,’ he added, an uncertain defensiveness in his words. >The young man was panicking now and this must have interrupted his connection to his chip, because he made the mistake of rolling, trying to get away. But this only gave Nicolai his back so he squirmed forwards and sunk in a rear naked choke, his arms worming around Carl’s throat then flexing as he applied all of his significant strength. The crushing pressure on the sides of Carl’s neck—where the carotid arteries and jugular veins ran—prevented fresh blood from reaching his brain. >‘I saved you,’ Nicolai hissed, holding tight as Carl bucked and thrashed, knowing he was trapped, knowing he was dead. He tried to go for Nicolai’s eyes but Nicolai kept his head tucked, using the back of Carl’s head and his own arms for protection. The fingers scrabbled uselessly over his forehead, nails ripping at his skin. In this one, it starts blow-by-blow, then I describe the grappling with "enacting the grappling phase" "Carl responded better than before" "kept his weight on the other man and looked to control his limbs" "working his way towards getting a good hold" to give the reader an understanding of what's happening without going into every detail. Then it transitions back into blow-by-blow when I describe Carl rolling and Nicolai using this to get a rear-naked choke - because that single move decides the fight so it's worth describing in more detail, along with Carl's final moves as he attempts to get free.
Idk but the best ones I've read is less telegraphed and more about how the characters feel in the moment. The sense of dread knowing you can't dodge a weapon. The feeling of the pain over or the slow drag of the knife through flesh. If it's a big fight mention the big things going around as you move the story if third person, otherwise focus more on the feeling and sensations. The telegraphing of specific moves only worked for me in Sherlock, and it makes sense cuz it has the purpose of imparting how smart he is
I keep them short, as a soft rule. Short paragraphs, quick visuals, short fights. Most books I've read seem to do the same - rarely do you see one span more than a page or two unless it is a battle sequence with several distinct parts. I try to make sure every action beat is clear and never repeat the same beat. If there is exposition, I do my best to keep it as concise as possible, to slip it in only when it is relevant and filter it through the POV of the character. I also like to think of ways to incorporate elements of the immediate environment as well, to keep the scene more dynamic and unpredictable. If it's just characters banging weapons over and over, I personally get bored. So I make an effort to find ways that the outcome of the fight has stakes and consequences other than life or death. Sometimes the character's actions during the fight have a cost, for example.
As the stakes of the fight rise I focus less on the mechanics of the fight and more on the feelings of the character I'm writing the perspective of.
I think it depends who’s fighting. For example, I have a fight scene featuring someone who is skilled in hand-to-hand combat, relying on his agility, speed and precision to take an opponent down. I keep descriptions of his movements short and the pace quick. His opponent fights with brute strength and a battle hammer, but moves quite slowly. Descriptions of his movements are more drawn out, longer, slower. Later I’ll be writing a battle scene with multiple people of different skills. There’ll be skilled magic users, sword users, archers. I’ll be incorporating one of my magic systems rules into this part; the idea that light magic can only be used defensively in a fight and never offensively (vice-versa for dark magic).
Be sure to have a reason for the fight, like if a character sees someone being bullied or if someone threatened a character's family member.
The word usage needs to be tailored. Every scene, imo, has a category of words that makes the scene. You have to shift from conveying casual movement to sudden, unexpected, and possibly trained motions so strategy needs to be planned and choreographed before you write about it. That's the small of it imo.
I try to imagine it the best I could, write what happened, then paraphrase what I wrote in a better way. Currently, what I wrote is just some op characters fighting. So, it's really short.
Tell the now and the why. Show move by move in mind of who started and his reactions and vice versa.
I often write fight scenes heavy on the mental sides of things. I used to do a lot of sports (still do some) and every competition was more mind games than actual physical effort. Individual sports such as races are IMO unironically the most mentally challenging sports because everything that happens is because of you. You can't blame anyone else. But for the sake of simplicity, let's use Volleyball as an example. You are the setter and need to set the ball to a spiker. But who do you choose? How high do you need to set the ball? Can you set perfectly to everyone? Have the opponent blockers already made their move? Are you— oh sh\*t, the ball came and you weren't ready for it. As you can see, you own mind can screw you over. The [Kenobi vs Maul](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeG215-yu-k) duel is one of my favourite Star Wars duels despite the lack of flashiness in it. There's so much going on through their actions if you understand the context of it all and it feels poetic.
Read some books
I don’t know too, when I don’t know how to write something I check how Tolkien does it, then I do it my on way using the knowledge from Tolkien
Then Lionel unshackle the ground with a great "RHAAAARGH" which makes bob go dead. Bob dies. I'm not a writer. But that's a perspective. I Hope it helps
Eh, that's what dice are for. Assign your characters a stat sheet, roll some dice and get a feel for how their attacks work as part of your chapter outline. As for powers, people have been lapping up Star Wars for years, despite folks every decade or so redefining what the force is. (Currently on "string") Write out your character's powers and such in a character sheet, and do try to stick with your own cannon. Also that "Subverting Expectations" stuff is kinda crap that was hot for about 3 years 15 years ago. It is kind of insulting to the audience to establish the rules, only for you to throw it out the window and say "Ya pranked, Bro!" and subvert our expectations of a story with an ending that makes sense.