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Dalton_Reutlinger I also have extreme difficulty when it comes to writing fighting scenes, but I taught myself a tip that makes it a bit easier: pretend that it's a fight out of Naruto. Or any other shonen anime, really. Anyway, I hope this helps, and someone more competent can give a better answer than me.

LinYang See, that's exactly what I try to do, but it ends up being weirdly written when I go back to read over it.

I struggle with this too. I don’t know if this will help you, but this is what I do.

First picture the fighting scene in you head. Then on a separate page, write down everything you pictured (forget about grammar and write in bullets. Make sure you jot down all your notes). After that, read what you wrote and think of a way to make it into a paragraph. Write that paragraph out a few times until it sounds right and add that back into your story when satisfied. Keep doing that until you improve and can skip all those steps.
You can also use reference from fighting scenes seen in shows, movies, and books.

RJMidnight Okay, that's actually a very clever idea. How the heck did I not think of doing that?! I'll definitely start using that method from now on.

That being said, I'd still like to get an answer from someone who writes fighting scenes really, really well.

Dalton_Reutlinger

Well, I can't say I'm a pro. But I wrote a fighting scene in every chapter for A Martial Odyssey as fighting is the theme.

But it seems readers like one punch man instead >.<

Dalton_Reutlinger

This is difficult. In general, action doesn’t translate as well to written stories as anime or shows. I do have some tips, but I’m not a great action scene writer.

• You don’t have to explain everything that happens. Peoples imagination can fill in a lot. For example, if I say “he swings a sword” you have a mental image of how that works. I don’t have to explain that he swings it over head in a chopping motion unless that is critical to the story. It will be something I repeat, but the less words you use the better.

• keep things fast-paced. This means two things: use less words, and use good grammar/sentence structure so that it flows quickly. Knowing how to use things like commas, semi colons, and colons becomes important. See the below example.

He swings his sword at me. I block.

Vs

He swings his sword at me; I block.

Or

He swings his sword at me, and I block.

The period is too slow for this example (in my opinion) because all of that happens in one instance. Separating the attack and the block feels strange. However, you have to avoid something like the following:

He swings his sword at me I block he attacks again I block again this run on sentence hurts my eyes.

• Strong verbs are important! This is huge. Remember, fewer words lead to a faster pace which is necessary for your combat seeming interesting. A strong verb uses one word to say something very specific. The alternative is a weak verb and an adverb. An example is below:

He picked up his sword and held onto it tightly.

Vs

He clenched his sword.

Both of the above say basically the same thing. One of them is roughly half the words. I’ll do one more example because this is important:

He swung the sword really really hard over his head downward at his opponent and split him in half.

Vs

He cleaved his opponent in two.

Which sounds more exciting to you? More words don’t mean a better description in combat. They just take more time to read.

• Keep it short. Keeping it short should be obvious. A long fight scene might be cool in the movies, but there is only so many ways you can describe a battle before it just flat out gets repetitive.

• Focus on the characters. How do you make a sword swing sound really cool in a book? Trick question, you can’t do it. Your characters are what separates your book from the countless other combat scenes written. Make sure your characters personality shows up in their fighting style. Their quirks and traits need to come into play. It can be how they move or how they think, just don’t make a generic fight scene where you try to describe a slow motion fight fight. It won’t have the same effect. I’ll try to make an example, but I’ll make no promises to how it comes across.

Boring focus on the actions:

The attacker threw a dagger, but Kyle blocked it with a cane. Drawing his sword and charging forward, he thrust into the cloak; the assassin leaned backwards and dodged the sword. Hairs flew off of the assailants beard because the sword got that close. Kyle threw a dagger while the man was in the air, killing him before he hit the ground.

Now, we focus on the character:

A gleam in the dark alley alerted Kyle to something headed his way. With a grunt, he managed to position his cane between himself and the incoming dagger. Unable to stand on his own yet, Kyle leaned against his scabbard while he unsheathed his sword. Wincing, he forced his broken leg to carry him forward and lunged toward his attacker; pain shot through his entire body as his assailant leapt into the air to evade him. Unable to continue the fight, Kyle flung a dagger toward his assassin and killed him before he could reach the ground.

end example

You will notice that I did use more words for the second example. This is because I was adding specific details about my character to make it more interesting. The actions are roughly the same, but I think the second is much more intriguing.

Again, I’m not great at this, but I hope this helps!

shadowdrake27 Interesting. It's difficult to write a fighting scene in a novel, especially whenever you've never actually read one that focused specifically on action - more specifically on hand-to-hand combat or swordplay.

Here's an example of a fight I had written towards the end of volume 1 of my novel:

Floris had been hiding his knives out of view as he ran and opened his first attack by throwing one of his knives at Flare at almost point-blank range. Flare's eyes widened a little, and he dodged the knife before it hit its intended target - his heart. The knife went past him and landed in the dirt behind him, but Floris was still closing in. He tossed the knife in his left hand to his right and aggressively started slicing and cutting at Flare with every intention to either kill him or severely wound him.

Flare dodged and blocked Floris' attacks with ease, but played with him to see what he could actually do. He blocked every attack sent his way, blocking Floris' wrists with the palms or backs of his hands, and even catching the knife between his fingers. However, Floris had managed to move Flare to a position where he could roll off to the side and grab his second knife he threw earlier.

Flare's eyes widened again, knowing full well that both knives were poisoned. He had done his research on his students and knew just how deadly even the slightest scratch from one of Floris' poisons could be. There was now some seriousness to the fight, but he couldn't help but be impressed by what he was seeing. He remained silent as he continued to block and dodge Floris' attacks, keeping a close eye on Alvis and Kathrina to see what they were doing.

Kathrina's magic was definitely helping, and Floris was starting to adapt to it fairly quickly. He spun around to his right, then quickly changed direction to his left, aiming his knife at Flare's gut.

Flare dodged it, but Floris quickly flipped in the air and nearly nailed Flare in the face with a sideways kick.

Flare barely managed to dodge Floris' kick and was amazed by what he had seen. Floris had no combat experience and certainly no martial arts training or experience with magic, but his natural ability to adapt to situations had already kicked in. He had already learned how to balance himself with Kathrina's magic, signifying the potential for extremely good teamwork down the line. However, he could also see Floris was already starting to tire from the fight, giving him an opening.

As Floris went in for another attack, Flare grabbed his wrist and held him in the air. He then punched him multiple times in the stomach and chest and slung him through the air over to Kathrina. Floris landed on Kathrina, knocking her off her feet, incapacitating her and canceling her spell.

Floris glared at Flare with anger in his eyes and tried to stand back up to continue the fight, but too much damage had already been done to his body. Now that Kathrina's spell had worn off, he was feeling the stress that he had put on himself rendering him immobile. He lowered his head back down to the ground and breathed heavily, trying to catch his breath.