Q&A for How to Write Fight Scenes

Include "I" and "myself." For example: I prepared to strike my assailant in the groin with a balled fist; he grabbed my arm and twisted as I swung. I recoiled in pain, but got over it. I grabbed his legs and pulled him down onto the concrete. His head slammed against the sidewalk. Bleeding and bruised, I ran.

Here's an example for you: Leon and John circled each other, each one grinning at the tension they had caused in the room. Suddenly, Leon lept forward, charging his friend. Unprepared, John recoiled from a punch to his jaw with a wince. In retaliation, he prepared to strike his friend in the stomach, but he hesitated. "Don't do that," Leon told him before striking John in the shoulder with a hard fist. John fell backward with a loud thud. "It's fatal," Leon finished, offering a hand to help his friend up. "You could've done better."

Look at examples in comic books! D.C. and Marvel are your best choices!

Reference the book The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton. Look at the fight scene towards the end of the book; it's filled with chaos and tension.

In that case, the fights would be advancing the story. However, writing, multiple, frequent fights can be difficult to keep interesting. There are other ways you can show danger in a story, too, without actually writing fight after fight after fight (i.e. news reports, gossip, etc.). In the end, it's your story, and you can do whatever you want.

All the above advice still stands, however remember to include how the protagonist feels when outnumbered, and how the fight escalates as a result. For example, the character starts the fight as though they were fighting one person, and as a result gets mobbed and has to frantically adapt to survive. Draw from a character's experience thus far - if this is the first one vs. crowd fight your protagonist is in, mention the chaos and panic of trying to keep track of multiple opponents, and if they are experienced in such a field, make your character's tone calm and collected. Remember that the protagonist is likely to get tired over the course of the fight, so include this exhaustion as well.

It depends how old the students are and what their characters are like. If it's a typical scene where two high schoolers are getting in a tussle, I imagine chaos and just random punching, as well as scrabbling on the floor.

I suggest reading through the mangas. The fighting images show the main parts of a fight, so you don't overcrowd with small, unnecessary details. Also, lots of the fighting styles are based off Asian fighting techniques, so research them. I myself use Bruce Lee and IP Man movies to help with my own Naruto story. Also, some books, like Harry Potter or The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel, that use magic in fighting can be very useful.

I suggest watching movies like Mission Impossible and John Wick for good examples of this. Get a feel for what it looks like, then work out your own version and write it out.

Put a lot of detail into how the sword moved and the footwork of the battle. When your bad guy is almost immortal, you don't want him to die, as that makes the story a bit pointless if an almost immortal person could die. Instead, have a few jabs of cuts and bruises, minor injuries that could still stop him from killing your protagonist.

Don’t add too much detail otherwise the reader won’t be able to remember what each character is doing. Try including a short paragraph for every person or team fighting an opponent. Don’t include detail of every blow because the reader will get bored so try and include the main blows e.g. blow after blow and don’t forget to include main strikes. Add detail to if they defeated the opponent or lost - for example - the monster fell to the ground with a loud thud.

Try using careful metaphors to describe the fight. Animals use body language to communicate, so you should add some of this in. Decide if you want a scene that is more focused on gore, or on the actual fight.

Describe what weapons are used, and how. Describe the setting, and the strong emotions in the character. Decide if it is more focused on gore, or the actual fight. Strong emotions will help to reveal the motivations for the fight.

Try reading books with lots of gang fights. Describe what weapons and used and how. Describe the teamwork, and the strengths and weaknesses of every fighter. Describe their motives and feelings as well.