Authoring fight scenes

What's your objective? -Raven




I am pleased to report that as of Friday, hiccupping no longer feels like being impaled on a rusty pike.

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Sunday Form Of the Day: Leopard Fist
 
WIP: I wrote most of my 2nd extended fight scene… when I say “extended” I mean described blow-by-blow from start to finish. This fight is not a very lengthy one, though. It- like my first extended fight scene, which was moderately long- is a staff duel. I kind of dread doing fight scenes, because I’m never sure how much or little to describe. As a martial artist, of course, I’m used to paying hella close attention to every little thing, because if I don’t, it results in pain- LOL. I don’t know how quickly “normal” readers get bored with blow-by-blow, though- or how well they can follow, although I think my descriptions are fairly decent. Yet if you are writing “sword and sorcery” genre, you can’t really get away with not talking about ½ of your theme… and if you describe the magic closely, it doesn’t make sense to avoid writing fight scenes.

I’m excited about how one aspect of it turned out. I knew who needed to win, but of course you don’t really want it to be a rout.

One of the things that continually comes up on Jiu Jitsu Forums is the question, “What if you have a legit sub, but the opponent won’t tap?” Do you keep going and choke hir out, or break hir elbow? Or do you just let the sub go? What about practice vs a tournament? Your buddy vs a stranger? A white belt vs an experienced guy?

Now, I’m a very judgmental person, and I usually know exactly how I feel about a question- this one no exception. However, this is one of the rare questions where I can truly see and empathize with the “other” side. Moral grey fascinates me, as I don’t see it very often- again, opinionated here. Readers seem to love moral greyness. There’s been so much talk about that with Game Of Thrones.  As a writer, it certainly sets you up for interesting conflict and dialogue. I’ve been wishing all along that I could get more of it into my writing….. but I just tend to see things so starkly…. and that characteristic is a blockage in my fiction.

So anyway, this particular fight ended in a such a way that we’re not sure if opponent A was being an ass for refusing to surrender to a legitimate winner, or if opponent B was being an ass for refusing to let A go before- well, Something Else happens (but that would be a spoiler!).  I like that, and I like the possibilities it opens up for me later with these characters as well as with other characters who are going to be disagreeing about it. I also like that I was able to put something into my story from direct experience in MA.

I sure wish I could use transcriptions of actual spars I’ve had as a cheat for writing fight scenes.  Unfortunately, while the “white noise” phenomenon is very slowly improving, I still come up mostly blank when I try to recall details of my spars- even immediately afterward. I wonder if I should try to dictate into a mini-mic while I’m rolling.  ;)
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