by Dr. Alex Jemetta

Part 2: The Facts of a Fight

When facing the daunting task of writing a fight scene, I think that most writers get hung up on the technical details. Research is a common procrastination method for most of us, and having facts and information can help us feel more confident in writing a scene we don’t otherwise feel comfortable writing. It is important to have your facts straight.

However, the truth is that the number of readers who care (and have the technical knowledge to tell) whether your character has their left foot forward when they should have their right foot forward is vanishingly small. I polled my martial arts club to get their opinions on common mistakes in fight scenes and, to my genuine surprise, nearly every single one said that writers get hung up on technical details and forget the experience of a fight.

I can’t tell you exactly what details you specifically need for your fight scene, and if you are writing scene with laser guns (or any guns), I probably can’t help you with details at all. So, let’s talk about what type of details are useful and what aren’t.

Big picture details are the most important. The overarching feeling of a fight is something that is often lost even when the nitty gritty details are correct.

What is and is not physically possible given weapons, armor, etc.

Be careful here because there are a lot of myths floating around. I firmly believed what medieval content creators on youtube said about dual wielding swords being book nonsense (because how on earth can anyone have the dexterity to pull that off?) until I watched someone spar with two swords at once.

What is the rhythm of this type of fight?

A knife fight feels different from a gun slinger show down feels different from a sword fight. Even different swords (saber, rapier, longsword etc.) all operate differently. How long does the fight take to start? Does it start slowly, or does it start with a bang? Is it over in one exchange, or do the opponents retreat and approach multiple times? Does it end with one fatal blow or is it death by a thousand cuts? I strongly recommend watching videos of people sparring or competing with the weapon you want to write about if you can’t watch a competition or performance person. Hollywood does not count.

Be careful with nitty gritty details.

1. Using too many technical terms that your reader doesn’t know can take them out of the scene. This goes for names of techniques and attacks as well as for details of armor and weapons. They don’t want to google what an uberhau or unterhau are. They probably don’t want to google the difference between a long sword, a broad sword, and a side sword either. Most people aren’t up to snuff on the intricate differences between types of swords or guns or polearms; keep this in mind.
2. Describing every single action in detail is going to bog down the pacing and get repetitive. This is a bit like world building in that you, as the author, need to know a lot more than what needs to be on the page.
3. Generally, details like the metallurgical composition of the blade or whether the mail armor is rivetted or butted are wasting valuable space in the middle of a fight scene. Unless it’s directly causing a problem, like the blade bending because it’s iron and not steel, it doesn’t need to be in this scene.

Part 3: The Experience of a Fight

So, if writing a fight scene is less about choreography and more about experience, what is the experience like? How do you, as an author who has never swung a sword or punched someone in a bar, write about that experience? The answer, of course, is research. Read interviews, watch videos, etc. I’ll try to give you a quick start guide here by painting the experience of a fight in broad strokes.

First, the most obvious thing: adrenaline. One of the reasons combat sports are fun is that your body isn’t amazing at distinguishing the difference between sparring and fighting for your life. You get an adrenaline surge every time. This will decrease over time, but it’s always there. If your character’s life is in danger, even if it’s something that happens often, they’ll feel it. Your character’s heart will be racing, their hands may be shaking, etc. Even if they have mental clarity due to experience, they will still have an adrenaline surge.

The second thing to consider are the other bodily experiences. This is a good place to bring in the visceral details that make a good fight scene immersive.

Physical exertion

 In fights where guns (or gun equivalents) aren’t involved, there is going to be a level of physical exertion. Drawing a bow takes strength. Repeatedly swinging a sword takes endurance. Fighting is basically high intensity interval training. Your muscles will get tired, your breathing will get ragged, you will sweat.

Heat

If there is any sort of armor involved (and there probably should be), you are going to be WARM. Wearing gambeson is like exercising in your winter coat, and mail and plate are worse.

Pain

There is probably going to be pain. As my father told me, never draw a knife unless you are prepared to get cut. The likelihood of your hero getting exactly zero injuries in a close quarters fight is low. Injuries are a good way to add complications to your plot. Keep in mind that adrenaline effects how you feel pain; I once got a bronze medal in a long sword competition with a broken thumb, definitely in part due to adrenaline. But it still hurt.

Let’s think about our senses, what is a combatant perceiving?

Sight

It’s very common to hyperfocus on your opponent in a fight and not really see what else you is around, especially if you are not an experienced fighter. However, it will still matter how bright or dark it is. Metal objects (and a lot of weapons and armor are metal) also reflect light, which affects visibility.

Sound

This one is heavily dependent on the details. Battle fields are loud and chaotic. Swords clang when they interact, and the sound can be extremely loud in an enclosed space. I often wear ear plugs when practicing longsword in a small room. Gunshots are louder, loud enough to damage your hearing at close quarters. Helmets and fencing masks muffle sound. People make sounds when they fight: breathing, talking, laughing, and taunting. Bodies also make sounds when they are struck: bones crunching, fits thudding against skin, etc

Smell

People stink when they sweat, and battle fields stink worse. Armor smells, sometimes of sweat but also of oil or whatever else is used to maintain it. Metal on metal strikes of swords on armor have a distinct smell. Smell is one of the most evocative of our senses, don’t forget to use it.

Touch

In fencing, you learn to respond to the sensation of the opponent’s sword against yours. This is because the signal from your hand to your brain is faster than your eye to your brain. You fight by feeling. This sense is largely covered in the section above but also consider the following sensations: the weapon in your hand, armor on your body, sweat running down your skin, your hair in your face, and the heat of someone else’s body against yours.

Taste

This is often neglected and might not be the most relevant in this context, but never say never. The taste of blood due to injury to the mouth or the salt taste of sweat are both reasonable experiences in combat.

What on earth is your character thinking about? This is something that is both character specific and context specific. Here is a list of non-exhaustive suggestions:

The weapon or the opponent

Someone who is an inexperienced fighter or who is facing a new or particularly dangerous weapon is going to focus on the weapon. However, (at least in a sword fight) an experienced fighter is looking at the body of their opponent. Shifts in stance and core/shoulder muscles will give you more warning than the movement of the weapon itself. Whether you are throwing a punch or swinging a sword, the motion involves your whole body.

Distance

There are a lot of distance scales to keep track of in a sword fight (and other styles of combat as well). The most important, as the fight begins, are the distance between you and your opponent, the distance from which you can reach your opponent, and the distance from which your opponent can reach you. These are not, generally speaking, the same (especially if there is a difference in height). Playing with distance using footwork and subtle maneuvering can win a fight right off the bat. These distances depend on the weapons being used, the stance, the type of attack, the reach of the opponent, etc.

Tactics

Combat is rarely about brute force. Brute force and speed won’t get you as far as you might think, at least not against anyone who either knows what they are doing or who has a weapon. The mental/tactical component of fencing is so important that fencing is one of the Olympic sports with the oldest athletes. The average is around 28, but there have been Olympic fencers in their 40s. It’s also one of the few sports where you can start training at 12 or 13 and still make it to the Olympics. It’s like chess. It’s like a dance. For every action there’s a reaction. That being said, the individual exchanges generally move so fast that you don’t have time to explicitly think about these interactions; your body responds to what’s happening instinctively based on your training. Then you break and circle, and your active brain can process.

The terrain

 We usually practice sports in gyms on smooth floors but fights in books can happen anywhere. Foot work is important. If you have proper structure, someone twice your size can’t move you, but if you put your foot down wrong, you’ll twist your knee and end up on the ground and needing crutches.

The surroundings

Are there people nearby they are trying to protect? Do they need to avoid a priceless artifact? Is there another enemy approaching? The surroundings could be a dangerous distraction or a valuable asset.

Not getting hit

This sounds obvious, but it’s something that is very different between a real fight and a combat sport. In competition longsword, it can be a good strategy to go for a two-point target and give up a one-point target. In a real fight, with a real weapon, defense has to come first. It doesn’t matter if you take your opponent’s head off if they stab you through the heart.

Surrender

Is this fight really worth dying over? Historically, we know that knights were essentially always ransomed, which meant if they couldn’t fend off their kidnappers, it wasn’t worth their life to fight back and they’d surrender. Similarly, bandits would attack merchants on the road, but they’d break and run if the target fought back to hard.

Summary

Writing a good fight scene is about so much more than getting the details right. Immerse your readers in the experience. Crawl inside your characters head. You’ve got this.

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.

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