Writing Engaging Fights & Epic Battle Scenes
Ollie Ander
Is probably just a couple cats in a trench-coat—the hair shedding and sunlight napping are highly suspect.
Every writer struggles with a different aspect of storytelling. Some find it difficult to write convincing dialogue, others shy away from scene descriptions, but a unanimously difficult thing to write are fight scenes. Not every story needs to include a grand battle, but for some genres, they’re a must. No war-based Historical Fiction, Space Opera, or High Fantasy is complete without a dire action scene (or several).
So if you are writing in a genre that demands copious fight scenes but aren’t all that confident writing them, here are some tips for writing conflicts that aren’t just good: they're epic!
One vs One Fights
Even in a grander battle, skirmishes tend to break off and you will want to focus on individual character conflicts (sometimes simultaneously), so let’s go over things to employ in one-vs-one fights, then look at ways to keep larger scuffles readable.
Sentence Structure
One of the many difficult aspects of writing a fight scene is translating its physical enactment into written word. Reader’s sense of tension can be greatly affected by the style of writing and language used to describe characters’ actions. At the height of physical combat, readers are likely to get frustrated at lengthy interruptions (internal monologues, flashbacks), or complicated depictions of the choreography.
To capture a feeling of immediacy in a fight scene, keep your sentences short, direct, and use plain language so readers can easily follow characters’ movements (especially if it is not a simple one-on-one, has the inclusion of other characters, or hard-to-visualize elements like weapons/magic).
Choreography Terms
Sentence structure will help contribute to pacing in the speed at which the writing is consumed, but the choreography (flow of movements) of a fight is what will determine its level of comprehension: are the actions described followable?
First and foremost, your choreography should be readable. It’s important to make sure readers understand what’s happening over incorporating flashy maneuvers or technical terms. Suit the story’s terminology to the intended audience.
Individual Pacing
Describing a fight blow-by-blow can grow tedious if there is no sense of progression toward the end of the conflict. It doesn’t matter how many cool moves someone does if it already feels like the fight has gone on too long and readers just want a conclusion.
There is a line between keeping readers on the edge of their seat, and an altercation feeling like it’s dragging on. That tolerance will be different for everyone, so be sure to gather information on the reception of your action scenes from multiple sources (ie. beta or peer readers).
Actions = Reactions
Characters smashing their swords together over and over will get boring fairly quickly. With smaller conflicts, you can afford to linger and add depth to actions with reactionary effects. Even in something as simple as clashing swords, there are many tidbits of information that can be gleaned to enhance the narrative:
What is the sound produced, does it echo off the environment, are the swords of different metals? Does the initial blow convey anything about the skill level of the participants? Perhaps the impact has hurt a character’s wrist or even damaged their confidence. Every action can gain complexity through its causal effect; Action into reaction, be that physical or emotional.
Emotional Weight
Every impactful fight scene needs external and internal stakes. No one cares about a meaningless pub brawl, everyone cares about a duel in which a character’s love interest hangs in the balance. It is vital that readers be aware of the character's motivations—the emotional consequences of losing the fight on top of the physical downfalls—before the action goes into full swing (otherwise it will feel like an interruption to address as soon as things turn dire).
Battle Scenes
With a taste of how to enhance singular fights, here are some things to keep in mind during large, overarching battle scenes consisting of said smaller altercations.
Shifting Tension
Whether a conflict is small or large, you can create tension by having the direction of a duel shift mid-fight. This can be a physical or emotional turn.
Is there a factor that could turn a previously easy fight into an unwinnable one? Could the delivery of new information change the motivations of players’ alliances, or the timely delivery of fresh resources shift the tides of war?
Lasting Consequences
Expanding on the Reactions subheading, add weight to your fight scenes by having lasting consequences to confrontations. Injuries. Loss.
If battles never met any detriments, their reception will be that of redundancy, boring readers before they even start: "Who cares? Nothing ever happens anyway. They’ll be fine." It is a criticism of characters always escaping situations unharmed as having "plot armor."
With that, as well, addressing the effects of injuries incurred during a fight can add tension by swaying a side’s favor.
Diversify Descriptors
Bring nuance to your battle by studying up on action language. There are innumerable ways to describe an otherwise standard action that can give it flair and avoid repetition.
Offensive examples of weapon use include: thrust, swung, slashed, sliced, stabbed.
Defensive descriptors are also fun to switch up: blocked, parried, deflected, absorbed, dodged.
Establish the Setting
Have all important descriptors (i.e. weapons, the environment) established before the action so readers aren’t pulled out of it by questioning things. Remind them at the onset of the scene what your characters have to work with—readers can react viscerally to suddenly introduced, game-changing information. A new power or a long-forgotten weapon, without proper acknowledgment, will feel like a "deus ex machina."
On this point, establishing the physical setting in which the fight takes place could make it far more memorable and dynamic. Incorporate aspects of the environment can add ambiance and even act as a factor affecting the battle. What advantages or disadvantages does the battlefield present?
Battle-Wide Progression
The best way to keep readers interested in a large scene is to maintain a flow of progression—keep them hooked! Don’t get lost in hyperbolic descriptions of the choreography, or one singular aspect of a battle, at the expense of losing where those actions are leading things; what that means for the characters.
Keep readers who may not be able to visually deconstruct the realities of a battlefield aware of the overall standings: who is winning or losing, and why? This could come in the form of an external countdown, like how many enemies there are, or whether the hero's resources are dwindling. The countdown could even be a literal time limit, two great examples of which are Gandalf’s arrival or lighting the beacons of Gondor in The Lord of the Rings series, as well as the astrological timing of Sozin’s Comet in Avatar: the Last Airbender.
There is a lot to consider when writing a fight scene, but juggling the various aspects of description will come more naturally through practice. As necessary as they may be, if writing action scenes make you tense your jaw a little too much, perhaps you should check out $ The Best Writing Software for Fantasy Authors$ to focus on another, funner part of the story for a while—something not so high stakes or sweat inducing, like playing around with character models!
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