Fight scenes

Discussion in 'Archives' started by Ars Nova, May 28, 2014.

  1. Ars Nova Just a ghost.

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    Oh, fight scenes. Such sheer, rocky cliff faces they are. How do you tackle them? Do you stay in your character's head, building upon sensory detail and using their eyes and nerves to observe the battle, or do you zoom out and play the part of the cameraman, relaying simple and clear information? Samples of fight scenes you like are welcome, of course.
     
  2. . : tale_wind Ice to see you!

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    I...don't know. I can't think of any fight scenes I've done recently. I'll look through my Google Drive to see if I have any and report back with results. If I can't find any, I'll just start a random fight scene.
     
  3. Plums Wakanda Forever

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    The only fight scenes I've ever written have been for the Blood of the Cascade/Cascadia, but I typically end up writing them in a more camera man approach. For me, I've found it easier, I guess, backstepping from the character and giving a clear cut and simple description of what each character is doing. I've always thought about doing one solely from one of the character's heads, although it is kind of an adjustment to make since I've never really written from that point before, and it'd take some practice before I'm comfortable rolling into it.
     
  4. Ars Nova Just a ghost.

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    Yeah, it's tough because you have to balance confusion with clarity; no fighter ever knows what's going on through 100% of a battle (Awareness is key, so your enemy's always trying to dampen yours), but if the reader doesn't know what's going on at all then they lose interest. But it also opens you up to writing about their thought processes, reflexes and reactions, and lots of juicy sensory data that can spice things up.

    I prefer to write from my character's head, but I also focus intensely on character voice, so it comes a little more naturally to me. I should try the opposite as well.
     
  5. Mixt The dude that does the thing

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    I hardly ever write myself. (Poking around a bit in here as I debate picking up my last work from a little over 2 years ago). It really depends on the situation, and if I'm writing in first or third person. I prefer to take the cameraman approach, but if there is some character development in the action or that will later stem from it then I might stay in their head more. Likewise if I choose to write in first person it becomes about what the character notices, and if there is a lot of emotion they will notice less of what they are doing.
     
  6. . : tale_wind Ice to see you!

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    Aha, found a couple of fight scenes! This is one from a WIP that's part of a larger 'verse that I'm working on with a bunch of friends:
    The story this comes from happens from the third-person perspective of Cara, but I zoomed out for a wider perspective for this sequence. Here's an excerpt of a fight...ish scene from my PotS entry:
    If you go read the full story in the PotS thread, you'll see that it takes place mostly from Traveler's third-person perspective, and through the full story I keep the action mostly zoomed out, but for the particularly character-relevant bit near the end (with the bolt of lightning), I zoomed back in to Traveler herself.

    So it looks like I favor cameraman-perspective fights, with occasional moments in the characters' heads.