How to Craft Accurate Fight Scenes
by Dr. Alex Jemetta
In this three part series, I am going to teach you how to craft realistic fight scenes.
Fight scenes might be my favorite thing to write; they roll off my fingers nearly three times faster than dialogue. I also love reading a good fight scene. Given that I spend about six hours a week swinging a sword, this isn’t really surprising. What was surprising, at least to me, is that many of my fellow authors dread fight scenes.
What makes fight scenes intimidating to write? And what makes a good fight scene? I think the answer to these questions are one in the same. There are three parts:
- Crafting a fight scene is a distinct skill that has to be cultivated. It requires (among other things) tight pacing, high tension, and visceral description.
- Fight scenes require knowledge of weapons and martial techniques, which in turn requires research or experience.
- Many (perhaps most) writers have not experienced either a fight or a combat sport, and therefore aren’t writing from personal experience.
Part 1: Crafting a Fight Scene
We’re writers, so let’s start with craft. When writing a fight scene, it is critical to understand the purpose of the scene. If you don’t know what you are trying to convey, it’s difficult (if not impossible) to make the right choices.
All scenes should advance at least one (and preferably two or three) of the following: plot, character, or world. Fight scenes usually focus on the first two.
Plot
Your fight scene needs to serve a purpose. Does the hero defeat the bad guys? Do the bad guys capture the hero? Is the real villain secretly someone the hero trusted? If the fight scene does not affect the plot, it will feel flat even if it’s well written.
Character
Use your scene to add depth to your characterization. How someone prepares for, participates in, and reacts to a fight all tell a lot about them. It’s easy to get caught up on choreography and neglect character. It’s also easy to fall back on cliché. Picture this: a badass assassin calmly walking into a fight, casually killing people, and walking away unphased.
That’s not cool; it’s boring. What is underneath that? Is the assassin mentally distancing themselves, so they don’t have to deal with the emotional implications of killing someone? Are they an anti-hero with severe antisocial personality disorder who genuinely feels nothing when killing someone? Does their mental clarity contrast with the inevitable adrenaline rush as their body prepares for battle? A fight scene with no character work will always feel hollow.
Now that we’ve established the goal of the scene, let’s run through a non-exhaustive list of things that good fight scenes need:
- Stakes: The stakes of a combat scene in a book are twofold. The stakes for the character are not always life or death, but (grievous) bodily harm is usually a possibility. If there’s no real danger to the characters, there’s no real tension in the fight. However, the outcome of the fight should also matter. The hero can survive unscathed and still lose. If the outcome of the fight doesn’t matter, neither will the fight.
- Tension: A fight is adrenaline filled; your fight or flight response is in overdrive. The reader needs to feel that.
- Rapid Pacing: Fights go fast. Split second decisions save or lose lives. The scene needs to feel like it’s moving at the speed of a real fight.
- Tight prose: I love a plush description of blood blooming like roses on skin like alabaster and soaking into the soft carpet of loam to feed the hungry forest as much as the next fantasy reader, but the middle of the fight scene is not the place for it. Stopping to describe things (such as weapons and armor) in loving detail will ruin both tension and pacing.
- Visceral Description: the mechanics of most fights are actually very boring, but the experience of one is far from it. In writing, the description makes that difference. Consider the difference between: “She punched him hard enough to break his nose” and “bone crunched as her fist slammed into his nose”. Your character sweating in a fight is boring, but a character’s eyes burning as sweat drips into them can help the reader experience what the character is.
Conclusion
Between the action inside the scene and the craft needed to construct the scene, there is a lot to keep track of when writing a fight scene. If you find combat scenes overwhelming, don’t try to do everything all in one pass. If you know what needs to be achieved in the scene (e.g. the character needs to kill the guard and get the keys to her cell), you can start by blocking out the choreography, build up character and description layer by layer, and then finish by tightening and polishing the prose.
Do you find fight scenes intimidating? If you do, what is the number one stumbling block standing in your way? If you don’t, what is your number one piece of advice for other authors?
About Alex
Dr. Alex Jemetta (she/they) is an astrophysicist and fantasy author. When she isn’t at her desk with her two cats, she is practicing historical longsword. Her love for research, the night sky, and historical weapons seeps into her world building. As a disabled, neurodivergent, queer author, she’s passionate about writing classic fantasy stories from a non-traditional perspective.
If you want more in depth ramblings about fight scenes and swords check out her website or subscribe to her newsletter.
You can also find her on Instagram, twitter, threads, blue sky, and TikTok at @astroalexwrites.
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Header phot credit - Ricardo Cruz - Unsplash
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25 comments on “How to Craft Accurate Fight Scenes”
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I've always found fight scenes–any action scenes–more difficult to write. The actual mechanics of any battle, particularly if the combatants are trained professionals, is well outside my personal experience. The needs of pacing and purpose, though, I'm well aware of and comfortable reflecting. As a result, my fight scenes tend to be quick and final. My other action scenes are a little longer.
In my first book, my main characters escape captivity and commandeer an alien spacecraft, which would normally demand combat. But they are scientists, not trained fighters. Neither are the alien crewmen. So, they use the ship's environmental controls to incapacitate the alien crew–changing the conflict from a fight to a rescue mission.
I'll be opening my third book with a similar scenario, except this time my main characters are a company of U. S. Army Rangers. The alien crew, again, are untrained but capable of quickly awakening their soldiers out of stasis. Since my rangers lack the technical background, their only option is to surprise and overpower the small alien crew first. I find this very intimidating to write without more research into the specific training and practices used by Army Rangers. Thus, so far, I've skipped writing this chapter.
In fitting with one minor theme of the series, I want to avoid the 'kill your enemy' mindset. Ultimately, in book four I intend a negotiated "Cold War" stand-off, leaving open the possibility of an eventual conciliation.
Can you find an Army Ranger to befriend and consult with about tactics? Do you know a retired Marine or a Navy SEAL who might make a connection for you? Retired professionals like this often get excited to be involved in helping to develop a book plot realistically.
Even if your story is set in the future, combat strategy and tactics won't change significantly. The laws of physics remain unchanged no matter which world, or which millennium one inhabits.
That sounds like an interesting set up.
I'll echo the advice from Sally about seeing if you can find someone to interview about their experience in the military. I also often use interviews or docu-series on youtube for information. There are channels that interview everyone from ex-CIA to ex-drug cartel. There are probably also books written by authors who served in the military that you could read.
However, the truth is that if you write a scene that is logically sound, has good, consistent characterization, and advances the plot, very few people will care if the details are slightly off, and the majority of the audience won't have the knowledge to tell the difference.
Do your due diligence on the research, but don't put too much pressure on yourself to get every detail right.
-- Alex J
This post is so well timed for me. I’m planning a fight scene now and glad to get these tips. I’ve read too many fight scenes where the author describes every.single.move (he did a backflip, then landed a jab, then rolled three times before…) and I absolutely hate reading that level of second-by-second detail. I love those that offer enough tension and let my mind fill in the details.
Exactly why I've always hated writing fight scenes. I say TOO MUCH, and it's boring.
I think that over describing and giving a play by play is actually the number one mistake made in fight scenes!
I polled my HEMA club about mistakes in fight scenes and I expected things like "the long sword is not heavy" but several of them actually flagged excessive use of detail getting in the way of the scene!
-- Alex J
Excellent advice. But I'm hoping a follow-up article will go into writing fist fights.
Thanks! I’m glad the post was helpful.
The two follow ups are not specific to any type of combat. Breaking down specific types of combat could be a near infinite series of posts! (I might do something like this over on my own page… it’s very tempting). The second blog discusses what types of details are useful and how you can research them. The last one discusses the experience of a fight (what is a combatant is thinking and physically experiencing). Both of those can be applied to hand to hand combat!
Are there specific things about hand-to-hand that you feel you want to know?
— Alex J.
Fantastic advice!
You've sparked some ideas I can use to add some spice to a story that I'm working on.
I look forward to your future blogs.
Thanks, Alex!
You make some good points. As someone who practices historical longsword, you must have some idea how important it is to have touched and handled weapons, preferably practicing with one. As I'm sure you know, you can find reenactors or sword clubs who will help out with this.
Someone who tries drawing a longsword or worse a greatsword that you are carrying on your back, for example, they might change their mind how to carry it. I do like to describe sword positions (sword high over his shoulder, maybe) as I think it helps the reader visualise what is happening rather than saying the characters 'hacked and slashed'. (The likelihood of doing a back flip is pretty laughable.) I do not think that requires describing every foot move or even worse historic names of longsword guard positions such as 'his left foot was forward with his weight balanced, he raised his sword into Vom Tag' and I promise I have seen done. Of course, it also depends on what kind of fight you are describing. The technique of describing your MC in a battle is quite different than describing a one-on-one fight.
You're absolutely right that lots of HEMA clubs, SCA groups, etc have open days. When my club does demos at historical markets, we let people hold the weapons. We also have free beginners lessons twice a year.
Handling a weapon and knowing what they feel like (long swords are lighter than people think and rapiers are rather heavier) can be very valuable. It's also fun!
I actually have a slightly controversial opinion on back sheathes because if you are traveling, and not expecting to actively draw your sword, it is much less annoying to have it on your back than at your hip. I've spent more hours walking and taking public transit with a sword than I care to admit, and it's always on my back. If you are going into combat, of course, it's silly to have it on your back because it's difficult or impossible to draw!!
I discuss this in the next blog post, but authors getting hung up on details and writing (to use your example 'his left foot was forward with his weight balanced, he raised his sword into Vom Tag') is actually something my HEMA club members pointed out as being a common mistake in combat scenes! So I absolutely agree that using clear visuals without getting into a name soup play by play is the way to go.
-- Alex J
Yes, it is fun and illuminating for writing about them. I am no longer in a club since I have moved, but was for quite a long time. But even if someone can't do that going to an open day is very worthwhile.
Carrying your weapons when traveling was what a squire was for. 😉 I agree that having a weapon thumping on your leg or on your horse's rump is annoying, so an unconventional carry position might have been used. I have never seen any evidence of a historical scabbard meant for the back, but that does not mean they might not have existed.
I am struggling through a fight scene right now, so this came at the perfect time.
I needed this so much! Thank you!!!
Verbal fights, I'm aces at. Physical fights drag, because I have trouble choosing the minimal amount of details that make them realistic. Can't wait to see the rest of the series too. 🙂
You're welcome!!
The next post is about choosing the right details! Hopefully that helps you out.
-- Alex J
Although I have never been in a physical fight (well, at least not since sixth grade, in the school corridor with the girl who bullied me once too many times),I crafted a fight scene in a bar in my second novel, mentally role-playing it. If this happens, what physical reaction results? Just how does the protagonist or antagonist fall back or fall down upon being punched? Where does the punch land? Where does the fight take place - the room, the street, the town park? What else is in that space? Who else is there - witnesses, innocent bystanders, anyone egging on the fighters? (All of which background/scenery should be revealed before the fight breaks out.) What does the protagonist/antagonist do next?
I think in the heat of the action, the protagonist concentrates heavily upon the opponent, and time may seem to stand still, or at least the sense of time passing is not noticed.
At the end of the scene, when the police haul the two brawlers out into the street and interrogate them, I have my protagonist catching his breath, casting foul looks at his opponent, and feeling the flesh around the knuckles of his hand swelling in tiny, puffing increments from the punches he landed, and the same happening above his eye, where his opponent struck a hard blow.
A lot can be said for using the imagination; just run it by those with experience for a reality check. I made friends with a local police lieutenant who advised me on scenes involving the police. I think he enjoyed the role of consultant.
You are absolutely right that imagination is a powerful tool. Authors absolutely do not need to get into a fight to write one!!
What the protagonist is concentrating on is actually a really interesting point to consider because it depends on how much experience your character has (and if there's a weapon involved)! Studies in the sport of Olympic fencing showed that new fencers focus on the weapon. More experienced fencers focus on the body of the opponent. Seasoned fencers begin to properly consider terrain and surroundings.
Also it sounds like you ended the scene perfectly. You brought the reader back to the character. You gave the protagonist a moment that demonstrates his character. You brought in his visceral/physical experiences. You're bang on with all of that!!
-- Alex J
Thanks!
Retired Marine here, also neurodivergent, also disabled.
I'm often struck by unrealism in fight scenes. It's kind of jolting to reflect that most people have never actually been in a fight - when I grew up, and even my kids, it would have been hard to find anyone who hadn't been in some fights. Maybe our society is better off now. At any rate, both my son and my daughter found themselves in more fights than they wanted as teenagers (sometimes she did go looking for them) and I certainly did.
Maybe you're covering this in a future segment: if there's one thing that jumps out as unrealistic to me in movies and TV, it's the way ordinary characters emerge from terrifying, traumatic experiences smiling, relaxed, often joking, and acting as if nothing significant had happened. Even when they win a fight, even when it's necessary and justified, hurting or killing others and even seeing it happen leaves permanent marks on the mind and soul of a healthy person. I wish more writers understood, or addressed, that fact. After I retired from the Corps I had a second career as a psychotherapist and worked with a lot of trauma survivors, and I think their stories both are fascinating and need to be told.
Thanks again!
The emotional impact of a fight is a really good point to bring up! Experiencing violence and being forced to perpetrate violence will have a lasting effect on someone.
This can happen even in combat sports, and it's going to be much more true in actual combat. Most people struggle to hit their partner solidly when they start using a sword; they instinctively hold back for fear of hurting them. Unfortunately, your brain can think you are being attacked during sparring (I mean... you are, but not really). We shake hands after every match to help disrupt the formation of negative associations between seeing the other person and feeling attacked.
Your point is what I was thinking about when I wrote in the blog about a character that seems emotionless in a fight actually repressing their feelings. But that's an aspect of making a fight feel real that I didn't really dig into, thanks for bringing it up.
-- Alex J
Thank you very much, Jim, for bringing up the psychological ramifications of wounding or killing. I share your feelings about the unrealistic aftermaths in movies and TV, and it *is* something my characters deal with in my own military sci-fi. (I'm also a veteran.) In fact, I'm writing scene tomorrow that my MC has had to prepare for both physically and psychologically. Though he knows it's necessary, it's going to change him.
Thanks for this fascinating post! I find the choreography hard for me, trying to picture the movements and such. It is good to remember that the characters and what this does for the story are more important.
The choreography can be tricky if you don't have the experience. I recommend watching videos of people competing in a related combat sport or sparring on youtube. There is some level of sport-ification, but it helps you see what sort of things might happen and help you get a feel for the fight.
But the truth is, exactly as you say, that the characters and the story are more important than the details of the choreography
-- Alex J
I've only written one fight scene. The biggest hurdle was getting the pacing right while having enough detail so the reader isn't confused about what's happening. It's a balancing act.
Excellent. Thanks, Alex
My "fight" scenes are just banter.