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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/33367
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/33367
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

One of the most memorable fight scenes I've read is duel between d'Artagnan on the one site, Athos, Porthos and Aramis on the other, Chapter 5 of "The Three Musketeers". _A whole chapter_ albeit a short one, is just this one scene. So how does it work?

We start from how the MC plans to go about the battle (set-up). The MC meets his adversaries. A dialogue ensues. In between, there's also a brief description of the location and the weather. Finally, the swords are crossed. Then, the scene takes a turn: new adversaries appear, forcing d'Artagnan and the Musketeers to unite against them (after some more dialogue). There's word-fencing with the new adversaries, there's mention of how this new battle is personal for Athos (raising the stakes), there's a battle-cry. When the real battle commences at last, **there's no pass-by-pass description**. Instead, there's the MC's mood, a one-sentence description of his fencing style, and how it compares to his adversary's. (Can't bring you the quote - I only have the book in French. Sorry about that.) A change in the adversary's attitude, the MC's tactical response - still all general, then a zoom-in (a.k.a more detail) on the adversary making a mistake, d'Artagnan takes advantage of it and runs him through. The whole combat sequence is one paragraph, out of it only one attack-parry is described - the one that's important. **That's the only actual action sequence in all the chapter.** The battle, however, is not over yet. We get a still moment of how the other combatants are doing from d'Artagnan's POV. He recognises that one of his companions, Athos, needs help and acts on this recognition. The micro-scene between Athos, his opponent and d'Artagnan is all about Athos being wounded but this fight being personal for him, and d'Artagnan recognising both. The actual fighting plays second fiddle to this interaction. Then there's the resolution of Aramis and Porthos's fights, and the scene ends with a triumphant march.

So what lessons do I draw from this scene? (_I_ draw. There are things I miss, and things on which others might disagree.)

- Set-up: Where is the combat taking place? What advantages and disadvantages does it offer? Is it a planned combat? If so, what's the plan? (If you tell the reader the plan, things shouldn't go according to plan. Which then makes everything more interesting.) Is it personal for at least one side? What are the stakes? Is one side stronger than the other?
- Dialogue: a "Princess Bride"-like combat isn't very realistic. But it's awesome because of the dialogue. You can forego realism for awesomeness, or you can have dialogue before after, and during breaks in the actual fighting. Either way, dialogue is something that can be done well in a book, so writing good dialogue is playing to your strength. Also, where relevant, don't forget battle cries, orders, sounds of pain and cries for help.
- Pacing: if it takes a long time to read a scene, it feels like the action took a long time. Therefore, if you want the action to feel fast-paced, you want it to happen in a short amount of text. "He kept spinning around his opponent, changing tactics often, attacking furiously while also parrying every blow", for example. You don't have to be specific. Remember that real-life fights are very fast. Whether with swords, daggers, or unarmed, it all takes less than a minute.
- Let readers use their imagination. You don't need to be specific about which blow went where, how and why. You can use a few general sentences about a character's fighting style, and let the reader fill in the blanks. If you get too technical, the scene starts reading like an Ikea manual.
- Zoom in on important moments. You want the killing blow to be dramatic? Make it the one element you describe. If you give every pass the same detailing, the important one will lose impact.
- Mood. How does your character feel about the coming battle? How does he feel once battle has started? What about after the battle?
- POV. You don't need to be with all the characters on the battlefield all the time. If you have more than one thing going on, you can show one that is happening, and then show that others _have happened_ in the meantime.
- Turn the tables. Things look like they're going a certain way? Why not make everything suddenly change? Surprises help keep up the tension.
- What's important? The details of the fighting might be less interesting than something else happening at the same time. You can switch your focus to that something else.

Also, remember not every fight needs a detailed action sequence. "The Three Musketeers", a novel about sword-wielding soldiers whose favourite pastime is duelling, has quite a few combats go "they crossed swords, and after a few passes he killed him". In movies it's different - action sequences look great. In writing, a fight is not the written media's strongest suit.

I usually think of it this way: it takes longer to read about drawing a sword than to draw a sword, longer to write about a punch than to perform it. Therefore, fighting in writing is by default happening in slow motion. Since that's the case, the only fighting that should be described is the fighting which warrants the slow motion. The battles that warrant it, and then the specific instances in the battle that really warrant it. If that's not the case, press the fast-forward instead, or focus briefly on something else (feeling, thought, dialogue).

Original score: 2