Writing Fight Scenes

by Marie Brennan

Have you ever:

*Held a sword?
*Taken a karate class?
*Punched another person in the face?

Even if your answer is "no," you can still write a good fight scene. In this guide, fantasy novelist Marie Brennan will show you how. Drawing on her experience with fencing, stage combat choreography, Okinawan martial arts, and above all writing, she lays out the components that turn the strikes into a compelling story.

From purpose to tactics to prose, Writing Fight Scenes walks you through the anatomy and execution of combat on the page.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction

77 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 22, 2013

About the author

Marie Brennan a.k.a. M.A. Carrick

Marie Brennan is a former anthropologist and folklorist who shamelessly pillages her academic fields for material. She recently misapplied her professors' hard work to Turning Darkness Into Light, a sequel to the Hugo Award-nominated series The Memoirs of Lady Trent. As half of M.A. Carrick, she is also the author of The Mask of Mirrors, first in the Rook and Rose trilogy. For more information, visit swantower.com, Twitter @swan_tower, or her Patreon.

Reviews

[Maria V. Snyder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for authors who want to write realistic fight scenes!

[Robin Glassey · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're looking for a writing resource on how to write fight scenes, I recommend Brennan's book, Writing Fight Scenes. She takes a step by step approach, starting with prepping the scene and understanding why the combatants are fighting in the first place. Personally, I loved how she used the Princess Bride fight between the Man in Black and Inigo as an example throughout to illustrate her points, not only because I love the Princess Bride, but also because the fight was a great way to show basic principles of fighting, motivation of the fighters and how dialogue was used during the fight. Her chapter on word choice was especially helpful, and one I'll be rereading as I structure my own fight scenes.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a black belt in Songham Style Tae Kwon Do, I found Brennan's advice informative for turning what a fight feels like to something that works on the page. Especially as someone who has, thankfully, never had to make use of those skills in a real fight, I found the notions presented to be effective in assuring that every fight means something, in the same way that writing out a monologue or a description would. I don't write a lot of fight scenes in my own work, but this builds on my own preexisting knowledge well, and I imagine would be very useful for someone who has never even been to a self defense class or practiced any martial arts.

If I had one criticism about this work, it's simply that it's not comprehensive. But, at the same time, it doesn't need to be: if you need to know the particulars about a weapon or a martial art style (assuming you're not just making one up) you can research on the internet or in your local library or talk to your friends that are military and martial arts buffs. The foundations here are the sort that every writer should keep in mind if they're pursuing just about any aspect of their work: style, detail, word choice, grammar and what is ultimately important to your particular work. I believe this more than anything makes Brennan's work worth the read.

[Just_ann_now · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very engaging and readable guide. I feel much more confident now about blocking out and successfully writing the fight scene I've been avoiding for almost three years now. My friend might get that long-delayed Yuletide story after all!

[Jamie Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good look at writing melee combat from the perspective of both an author and martial artist. It helped me with my current fantasy project which has many battle scenes in it. I recommend this book to other authors.

[Jd weber · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was really great to read.

Brennan really evaluates the nuts and bolts of a fight scene, breaking it down in a way that is easy to understand and honestly, pretty fun. Sometimes, I was struck by the realization that some the things she discusses may seem obvious, or like things that writers will naturally do, but as I've been studying the craft of writing, I'm finding that I enjoy this kind of analysis simply because it allows me to identify the techniques I'm already doing and consciously use them if I need to or leave them alone if I don't. There was plenty of new and interesting wisdom and seemingly advanced type theory also if you're beyond fundamentals.

Mostly though, I felt her wit and humor in some of the more dry areas meant that you don't yawn or cringe at seeing how the sausage is made. I'm sure I'll be referring to this book often as I write fight scenes in the future. Very fun :-)

[R.C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very helpful little book about how to make fight scenes part of your plot (and why they SHOULD serve as part of your plot, if you have them.) I also liked how she covers the issue of detail: how you don't necessarily need to be an expert to make the scene do what you want it to do in your story.

The book's focus is on melee weapons such as swords, with less specifics about brawling and nothing about larger battles or gun/blaster fights, though you could apply some of the larger plotting suggestions to any of those, with some imagination.

[Lindsey Stirling · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book really useful for thinking about how to write fight scenes. It contains some great advice, practical writing tips and on top of that it is written in a very engaging way. It is not a technical guide to fighting or weapons but it doesn't need to be (and as I've learned, you don't need to know much about fighting to actually write about it - phew!). I would definitely recommend this book if you ever plan on writing about any sort of fight.

[Helena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es bastante detallado, aunque no conocía la mayoría de ejemplos y eso lo ha hecho más confuso. Pese a ser corto tiene mucha información y se nota que la autora sabe de lo que habla. De todos modos, lo que hace es procurar una base, pero no creo que sea suficiente como para que alguien domine las escenas de acción, hay que hacer un trabajo de investigación y planificación específico para lo que sea que estés escribiendo.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice introduction to writing fight scenes, for someone who has no personal training or know how about how to write a fight scene or experience to draw on.

[Hillary DePiano · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book came along in a Humble Bundle and ended up being the first one I read out of that batch of great titles because, as a playwright and writer of prose, I find myself writing a lot of fight scenes, comic or otherwise. It's short but very easy to read and has a lot of useful information that applies whether you're writing prose or plays. If you're feeling timid before writing your first fight, this has some fantastic tips that should take you from skirmish to war and give you the foundation to get it right.

My only complaint about this book is that the jacket copy implies a greater level of detail than the book goes over. It's really more general hints for staging (or paging, I guess) and choreographing a fight scene and less of the combat specifics (in either weapons or terms), but for a solid overview of how to get started on that first fight scene or strengthen the ones you've already got, it's fantastic.

[Catherine Fitzsimmons · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this ebook for attending the author's workshop on the topic at Gen Con. It was an excellent workshop, and as her discussion was pretty much a condensed version of what's in this ebook, I can certainly recommend it as an excellent writing resource. I feel like she did a better job of concisely explaining some topics in person - particularly the 'beats' - rather than in the book and I might perhaps have not understood it as well with just the book. But it is still very useful at breaking down the components of a good fight scene so that writers can use those elements to craft their own.

[Jerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This pithy volume provides lots of information for writing fight scenes. Just what the title promises! It's not a manual of weapons or techniques. No exhaustive details on the kinds of trauma caused by different weapons. However in its short length it gives much around describing, pacing, and choreographing a fight. There's much to learn here.

[Dana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mildly helpful...

[David Macpherson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good information on how to present fights and action in writing. I need all the help I can get putting words together, let alone fights, so this was helpful.

[Miguel Ángel Alonso Pulido · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una guía breve y directa al grano sobre cómo escribir escenas de lucha convincentes. Me ha gustado que use muchos ejemplos para ilustrar sus argumentos y que la autora la enfoque desde el punto de vista del escritor en lugar del luchador. Como bien dice, no necesitas saber pelear para crear una escena de pelea convincente, basta con saber evocar los puntos clave. Si quieres saber cómo, te recomiendo que la leas. Muy recomendable.