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la-la-london
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#1
Old 12-27-2015, 02:17 AM

I'm not sure how to make fight scenes and stuff feel exciting through writing. Does anyone have tips on how to make it feel fast-paced and energetic?

xuvrette
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#2
Old 12-27-2015, 06:51 AM

My experience is... the faster the action, the shorter your sentence!
Try to tone down description(which I fail), focus on plain action.

Well, of course you can't have sentence like.
A punch, B kick, A dodge, B elbow attack...
just have to strike a good balance of short and make the sentence more...erm... storylike?

I am no expert, just what I like to read about action. Cause those flowery description of the weapon, flashy description of their awesome boot while kicking.... makes me faint.
... and that is what I tend to write... I am curbing it now. *sighs*

la-la-london
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#3
Old 12-27-2015, 09:05 AM

Quote:
Originally Posted by xuvrette View Post
My experience is... the faster the action, the shorter your sentence!
Try to tone down description(which I fail), focus on plain action.

Well, of course you can't have sentence like.
A punch, B kick, A dodge, B elbow attack...
just have to strike a good balance of short and make the sentence more...erm... storylike?

I am no expert, just what I like to read about action. Cause those flowery description of the weapon, flashy description of their awesome boot while kicking.... makes me faint.
... and that is what I tend to write... I am curbing it now. *sighs*
I see, that makes a lot of sense! I tend to be very descriptive too lol, i suspect that that's my problem. I'll have to try and curb it myself. Thank you and good luck!

xuvrette
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#4
Old 12-27-2015, 01:32 PM

Prepare a list of actions verb! Group the same/similar together... so you won't use 'kick' a thousand times.
stuff like swirl, twirl, turn, twist... that is one group since they are quite similar.
Punch, jab, blow, slap... could be one group of hand attack, though their clenching of fingers might be different.
Thesaurus is very helpful, there is quite a few online thesaurus resource.

I am working on one approach to satisfy my flashy description is by summarizing the details during the short pause or during the boring repetitive slashing of swords either through fighter's inner thought or bystander's whisper/thought.
Then I would avoid using too many of the same verbs, yet also give reader short while to slow down reading, and ultimately satisfy my ultra description details.

la-la-london
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#5
Old 12-27-2015, 08:27 PM

Quote:
Originally Posted by xuvrette View Post
Prepare a list of actions verb! Group the same/similar together... so you won't use 'kick' a thousand times.
stuff like swirl, twirl, turn, twist... that is one group since they are quite similar.
Punch, jab, blow, slap... could be one group of hand attack, though their clenching of fingers might be different.
Thesaurus is very helpful, there is quite a few online thesaurus resource.

I am working on one approach to satisfy my flashy description is by summarizing the details during the short pause or during the boring repetitive slashing of swords either through fighter's inner thought or bystander's whisper/thought.
Then I would avoid using too many of the same verbs, yet also give reader short while to slow down reading, and ultimately satisfy my ultra description details.
That's a good idea! I hadn't thought of that. I'll start a list right away! Yeah, the thesaurus can be a life saver for writers

I see, that seems like a solid approach. I'll probably try and condense my description down quite a bit and limit it to mostly the pauses in the fight, or before the fight starts.

Thank you for the help! I really needed it, aha. I always love action scenes but mine never have enough energy. Hopefully this will fix that

xuvrette
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#6
Old 12-28-2015, 06:42 AM

Film writing is different. Cause they actually have a separate profession, Martial Art Director/ Chronographer position.
So, the screen write just have to write -fight going on-, then the chronographer would arrange accordingly to what is provided by the screen writer. If the wound at the shoulder is significant, screen writer would just mention the important point of the fight scene.

Let me add one bit. Objective is quite important. What is the fight scene for? The cause of it? and the outcome of it? It can be one or many others. And in the event there are a lot of objectives, tier it according to importance, so you won't lose focus.
Have to figure out what you want to gain from that fight. eg. get the main character hurt? Show off character's secret skill?
Basically, justify how important that fight scene is, and adjust the length of the fight accordingly.
As, writing a fight scene and fight scene in film is very different. Fight scenes would ALWAYS look awesome on film, but not so in words.

Writer forum had been quite quiet lately, so excuse my long winded self absorbing blabber.

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#7
Old 12-29-2015, 05:30 AM

I like what Xuvie said first about short sentences.
Think of it like a movie scene, and however long your sentence or your description is, is how long looking at that thing, or doing that action is taking.

For example: "She swung her leg out, tripping him." sounds really quick, while "she spun her leg in a wide circle, tripping her opponent" makes it seem like one of those scenes in sherlock holmes where he thinks a few moves ahead, and time slows down for the reader/viewer.

The other trick is to limit your narration, or the internal monologue of your POV character. Assume that the only thing that is on their mind is exactly what is going on then and there. It brings a sense of urgency. If the only thing your character is worrying about is punching that other person, or not getting punched, then the reader knows that things are kind of dire.

Your action scenes don't have to be short to not drag on, they just have to have a sense of urgency.

la-la-london
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#8
Old 12-29-2015, 08:18 AM

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bearzy View Post
I like what Xuvie said first about short sentences.
Think of it like a movie scene, and however long your sentence or your description is, is how long looking at that thing, or doing that action is taking.

For example: "She swung her leg out, tripping him." sounds really quick, while "she spun her leg in a wide circle, tripping her opponent" makes it seem like one of those scenes in sherlock holmes where he thinks a few moves ahead, and time slows down for the reader/viewer.

The other trick is to limit your narration, or the internal monologue of your POV character. Assume that the only thing that is on their mind is exactly what is going on then and there. It brings a sense of urgency. If the only thing your character is worrying about is punching that other person, or not getting punched, then the reader knows that things are kind of dire.

Your action scenes don't have to be short to not drag on, they just have to have a sense of urgency.
I see, good advice! Focusing too much on a character's internal monologue is probably a big part of my problem. I'm very descriptive and I tend to get into the details and the characters' thoughts quite a bit, so that's something I think I need to work on in general It seems especially important in the action scenes, since timing is everything with those. Creating a sense of urgency is definitely my goal, thank you for the help!

---------- Post added 12-29-2015 at 12:24 AM ----------

Quote:
Originally Posted by xuvrette View Post
Film writing is different. Cause they actually have a separate profession, Martial Art Director/ Chronographer position.
So, the screen write just have to write -fight going on-, then the chronographer would arrange accordingly to what is provided by the screen writer. If the wound at the shoulder is significant, screen writer would just mention the important point of the fight scene.

Let me add one bit. Objective is quite important. What is the fight scene for? The cause of it? and the outcome of it? It can be one or many others. And in the event there are a lot of objectives, tier it according to importance, so you won't lose focus.
Have to figure out what you want to gain from that fight. eg. get the main character hurt? Show off character's secret skill?
Basically, justify how important that fight scene is, and adjust the length of the fight accordingly.
As, writing a fight scene and fight scene in film is very different. Fight scenes would ALWAYS look awesome on film, but not so in words.

Writer forum had been quite quiet lately, so excuse my long winded self absorbing blabber.
Oh no, not at all! I'm just glad I'm getting advice about this! I noticed that this forum doesn't seem very active, which is a shame.

I hadn't really thought about the point of each individual fight scene. I guess it's usually in large part because they're cool and exciting lol but I'll have to put some more thought into what else I'm trying to accomplish with them.

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#9
Old 12-29-2015, 12:04 PM

The whole motivation of writing because it is cool and exciting could be a good enough reason.
You could be writing for your own satisfaction, in that case you may not need to 'care' who your reader is.
But if you are seriously thinking to market your writing, then you do have to consider about the definition of 'cool' and 'exciting' to other people. You either let other people decide for you, or you decide for them.

Writing is as subjective as ART. Some people like style A, some like Style C.
For me, the first thing to satisfy is for my satisfaction of writing awesome scenes, then my satisfaction of reading my own writing. XD lol. My preference of writing(long winded) and reading(short and simple) is contradicting, which kinda help in keeping balance.

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#10
Old 12-31-2015, 02:14 AM

Glad to help. Also, check out the podcast called writing excuses, they have a couple of episodes on the subject, and all the hosts are published authors.

 


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