How to Write Action

31 May 2010 | Filed Under Tools of the Trade 

In honor of Memorial Day, I thought we could look at how to write the hallmark of fantasy: the fight scene.

I’m sure you’ve heard to use short sentences to keep up a fast pace. And to be specific (“uppercut” rather than “punch”). And to describe the action in gritty terms rather than wax poetic (“their fight resembled the dance of butterflies”). But the secret to writing a great fight scene?

Get inside the character’s head.

Fights themselves are pretty generic. Someone attacks, someone defends. The readers don’t need a blow-by-blow account of how this fight goes down. After all, you’re not choreographing it for a movie. Let the reader use their imagination a bit.

What we, as readers, are curious about is what the character is thinking. Do they have a plan, or are they just reacting? Are they scared? Confident? Worrying about whether they left the stove on?

Maybe not that last one, but you get the idea. Leave the fancy moves to the movies; after all, they can’t do much else. Show us the character’s thoughts, and you’ll have a much more interesting battle on your hands.

Comments

One Response to “How to Write Action”

  1. Jim C. Hines on June 1st, 2010 7:57 am

    Hi Jenn,

    I couldn’t find an e-mail address on your site. Could you please get in touch with me? You won a free autographed book in last week’s giveaway.

    You can e-mail me at jchines -at- sff.net.

    Thanks!
    Jim

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    Hi, I'm Jenn, new grad student and old YA fantasy writer. I've long dreamed of being a novelist, and I bet you have too. I hope you find my blog helpful, inspiring, and maybe just a little bit fun. (But not too much fun. Writing is serious business, you know.)

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