How to Write a Fight Scene That Packs a Punch

PREPARATION – Writing a fight scene requires a bit of patience. And unless you’re an expert in various forms of combat like sword fighting, you’ll probably need to do some research as well. Because if you DO write about sword or spear fighting or other medieval types of warfare, you must always assume that out of all your readers, there will inevitably be at least one arm-chair expert or two who will be more than happy to point out your errors.

If you want to learn how to write a fight scene, what you DON’T want to rely on is Hollywood. Instead, go online or to a local martial arts school, or find a friend knowledgeable in the fight game. Whether your story involves fencing or broadswords, wooden staffs or katana, it’s a good idea to know at least a little bit about what you’re writing about before you send your manuscript out to the publisher.

Knowing how to write a fight requires a modicum of preparation. But with a little work and effort, you can make it happen. Once you’ve got your weapons down, then you want to learn the vocabulary of some of the movements, whether it’s a “parry” in sword fighting, or a “spinning back fist” in mixed martial arts.

PACING- Remember, a lot of good writing involves rhythm. And since fighting is about as fast as it gets in terms of action, they rhythm of your prose should reflect that. The language in a fight scene should reflect a noticeable shift from the other scenes in your story. They should be shorter, tighter. In a fight scene, you want to avoid long convoluted sentence, or multisyllable words that might slow down the pacing. Rather, you want to use short sentences that pack a punch.

Think “onomatopoeic” words here. Words that sound like the thing they describe. For those of you old enough to remember the old Batman series with Adam West, you’ll recall the cartoon words interspersed within the fight scenes.

Crack, smash, jab, whack, pow, crack, biff, boom, bang,….and so on. Same with sword fighting – clang, slash, bing!

Remember too, that contrary to what Hollywood would have us believe, most fights are over almost as soon as they begin.

Keep that in mind, and you’ll find that with practice, writing fights isn’t as hard as you think it is.

Good luck and happy writing!