Fight! Fight! Fight!
I’ve frequently found that when something doesn’t automatically attract me about writing I tend to over-compensate, assuming that if I don’t deliberately put in extra effort I’ll end up slacking off and produce something sub-par.
Which has resulted in my being praised for my fight scenes, even though starting off writing superhero fiction they were the thing I most wanted to avoid. I tend to space out during fights in movies, and skim fights in books. I would never watch something for the action sequences themselves. They just don’t hold my attention.
So, to make myself write them, and write them in a way that produced something I could be proud of, I had to both develop a structure and a set of rules. If I’m bored, it’ll show on the page.
I started off by watching and re-reading the few movies/shows/books that had fight scenes that actually felt engaging to me. The list was short and idiosyncratic to say the least. I made some notes, from which I made myself some rules.
Now, I keep that list of rules up on the big cork board in my office, to guide me whenever I have to write an action scene. For this month, I thought I’d share that with you!
Usual disclaimer—I never even attempted to make a list that was universal. This was always about what worked for me as a writer, and for my specific books. Your mileage may vary, etc.
That said.
Rule 1: Make use of the setting
I think this was the first rule I came up with because it was the first one to jump out at me. All my favorite fight scenes do this, dating all the way back to the Jackie Chan movies of my youth.
Then, on top of that, I think it helps a lot to have a really interesting or at least a really specific setting, and then make use of that setting. My standard is to make use of at least 2 unusual or distinctive features of my setting. So, for example, “woods” is ok. “Dense woodland overlooking the Mississippi via a small bluff, with dead drowned tree trunks coming out of the water where the river rose, and a small hunting cabin” is better. That gives me so many more elements to work with—enough that the reader won’t know which elements I’m going to use.
I like to use at least one element of the environment that the reader might have intuited was there but hadn’t been thinking about. That lets the reader feel surprised, without relying on shock. Using both horizontal and vertical space helps with that, and frankly if you’ve got superheroes or zero G or other genre elements it’s just wasteful to not use that to go vertical. It also gives you good excuses to play with line of sight- what a character in the fight scene can and can’t see from their vantage point in the moment. And that always adds a great element of excitement.
This is a rule that’s nice to use in non-action scenes, too, by the way. It helps fight the phenomenon of heads talking in a void.
2) Show each character’s approach to conflict
In conflict, characters can have to adapt to any number of circumstances, and change up their approach, but it’s good to know whether their default to conflict in general and this conflict in specific is most likely to be fight, flight, freeze, deflect, fawn or mediate. Knowing their default helps guide their overall character. Then, deviations from this default add a sort of punctuation and emphasis that add texture to individual conflicts. When the mediator suddenly snaps or the perpetually reckless fighter turns tail to run you know this conflict is different, which makes it instantly more exciting.
Partly because this exposes the various involved characters distribution of assumed advantage, which is always critical if you’re making sure to keep character’s specific in a fight scene, instead of default kicking and punching dolls.
And, there’s the question of whether the character tries to lean into other areas of influence they have; in general, in the situation, and with allies, bystanders or opponents in the conflict. I want to see when, if, and how the character’s non-combat skills show up in a fight.
3) Show associations
Segueing into the next rule, we also want to know whether a character is likely to seek or accept assistance, and who that assistance can come from.
Even when a character is alone with their opponent, I like to indulge in this rule—it’s one of my favorites. It’s really fun to show ways that one character might influence the approach or moves of another's, even when that other character isn’t present. That could be because of mentorship, admiration, habits built from teamwork, or other reasons.
One nuanced example of this is when one character or a team is so used to having a particular other team member that, when that character isn’t around, everyone has a gap in their approach—a special weakness or vulnerability where they’re used to having someone to cover them, and suddenly don’t.
I also make sure to remember to show subgroups and sub-alliances within a larger group fight—whose back to back, whose gone rogue, who is prioritizing whom.
4) Generate immediacy
This one is a lot of little bitty techniques that combine to control the tone and pace of the scene. A fight is not where we generally want a thoughtful, slow vibe. Instead, I aim for a tight focus, and short sentences. That’s not to say that I don’t want to include some natural pauses, but I try to use them to build tension with characters bracing themselves for the next volley or with frantic planning.
A ticking clock of accrued damage is great for that, creates a rhythm, and gives the reader something to focus on other than kicks or slashes, without feeling distracting. That’s a fun one because I get to add in nuance to whether the character’s internal signals are heightened/acute, or numb/dissociative.
If I can get some kind of external ticking clock going as well, that’s even better. That lets me control the dilation of time with a watchmaker’s precision.
5) Highlight character specificity
It may not surprise anyone who has read my work that this rule is my favorite. This is a huge category with so many fantastic options! Using a characters trauma as either/both a source of insight and away to nerf them let’s me use their history and make it present and relevant. It can also give the character a source of bias that blocks their understanding the current situation, which is a great trick.
If I can fully activate an insecurity of a character during a fight scene I’m guaranteed a solid beat in the character arc. I always want an action scene to be relevant to a character’s arc—whether they’re spiraling up or down.
This is also where I think about superpowers and such; I want to not fall into the trap of Dragon Ball Z and its ilk (no insult intended, I’ve spent more than a few hours of my life on that venerable franchise) of just declaring constant and fairly nonspecific “power ups”. I try to be very judicious in power ups, and make them specific and character-arc-relevant. That said, I want every fight scene with superpowers to have at least 1 novel use of a superpower that the reader hasn’t seen from that character before. That doesn’t have to be a power increase—it could be a reflection of illness, creativity, or desperation. I find that more satisfying than a declaration that a character’s power level is “over 9000!”.
Critically, absolutely all of this applies to both sides of the conflict—the antagonist should be following the same intrigue-building techniques as my hero, even if we aren’t inside their head.
And there you have it. Lee Brontide’s personal rules for writing fight/action scenes. I hope you enjoyed it! As always, you are invited to share your thoughts, your examples, etc.
Action Item of the Month: So, the Trump admin hates both trans people and intersex people passionately, and have proposed bills that would invalidate all the passports with X gender markers (leaving many people with no means of travel), and demand sex at birth be displayed—identifying and outing trans people who pass as their true gender whenever they have to use that passport, anywhere in the world and at home. It’s dangerous, it’s backwards, and it solves exactly zero actual problems. We’re in the “comment period” until March 14th. Make no mistake—these comment periods give federal workers reasons to delay, modify, or fight bad bills like these. So, I am asking you to add your objections here, here, and/or here.
As always, thank you so much for joining me.
Keep your chin up.
Till next month,
Lee Brontide
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