How to Start Your Fight Scene (FightWrite™)

Sometimes the hardest part of a task is the start. Take this post, for example. I am not sure how to get this cart rolling. But I know where it’s going; I know the goal. And that is a great way to get your fight scene moving. In this post with FightWrite™ on the WD Blog we are going to look at how to start your fight scene by focusing on where it’s going: Begin with the end.

(Innocent Until Proven Guilty: Using Direct and Indirect Evidence in Your Stories (FightWrite™))

When a fighter prepares for a fight, they create a gameplan for the bout. That gameplan is based on the fighter’s strengths. Those strengths lead to a particular injury.

Here’s what I mean.

Let’s say I am competing in a jiujitsu tournament and I am very good at armbars. (As a technique, armbar is one word rather than two.) Though my gameplan might be to achieve an armbar, that won’t be my focus. Instead, I will take one step back from the armbar and focus on positions I need to be in to accomplish it. The armbar technique is singular. But the positions from which I can achieve it are many. 

The strategy for your fight scene is the same. It begins with your injury goal for the fight. From that goal you will take one step back. That is the moment you will work toward. Not the injury itself, but the moment that leads to it. The injury is singular. But the options that lead to that preceding moment are many.  

Before you can get to the moment that leads to the injury goal, you have to have that goal in mind. Don’t have one yet? No worries, you know where you’re going. Everything you need to find an injury goal is in your story.  

Step one: Ask yourself the most important question of all. What does the story require? The writing adage “story trumps all” is an adage for a reason. It is true. We must serve our story. Will the fight change the story? Will the fight bring about a change in the character mentally, physically, emotionally or socially? Will the fight leave evidence that is integral to the story? If the answer to any of these is yes, note those crucial details.

Step two: Look at the next scene the injured character is in after the fight. How much time will pass between those two scenes? How active will the character need to be in that next scene? How much time will the character have to heal? It may be that there is plenty of time for recovery. If that is the case, you have latitude in your injury choice. However, if there is little recovery time, that narrows down injury options. 

Step three: Look at the fight scene itself and ask yourself two questions. First, how broken/incapacitated do you want the character? Second, how bloody do you want them to be? Knowing the answer to those two questions helps you narrow down an injury goal further.

With those three things in mind, write down two injuries that achieve the level of physical damage and blood flow that you want. Yes, you may be able to think of ten injury options. Just write down two. Of those two injuries, choose the one that best accomplishes what the story needs, what the follow up scene requires and what the fight scene itself calls for. If another injury comes to mind later, weigh it against this choice.

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Once you have an idea of the injury you need, decide how that injury will happen. That moment will be the injury goal. Now take one step back from it. How can you get to the movement that leads to the injury goal.

Let’s say we are creating a fight scene and we want a little blood. We also need the character to be completely mobile the next day without visible injury. That need for mobility eliminates serious wounds such as bullet wounds, broken bones, some levels of concussion, and deep lacerations. We also want to be able to hide the wound. So, whatever it is, it doesn’t need to impact the face, ears, neck, or hands. Anything else is easily covered with clothing.

If we cut a character’s leg, pants will cover the wound. However, legs can be kind of, well, meaty. If the cut reaches the muscle, the pain might cause a limp, which makes evidence of injury visible. So, maybe no leg cut. Let’s put a cut on the character’s arm. Since the underside of the arm is more blood rich, let’s cut the top side of the arm. We can cover the injury with sleeves. Because arms don’t generally have to move as much as legs, any pain that limits movement won’t be so noticeable.   

How can we make a cut on the arm? A knife is a logical option. Let’s not over complicate it. What position does the character need to be in to cut with a knife? Again, don’t over complicate it. How would you cut a loaf of bread? You would reach out. That’s what our assailing character will need to do: Reach. Now, all we need to do is write our way to that reach. Don’t worry about the cut. Get to the reach. Achieve that position. If you find yourself still stuck, just keep walking backward. What might happen before a reach? A step, a lunge, a push? Write your way to that movement.

Whenever you feel stuck on how to begin your fight scene, go straight to the end and the intended injury. Decide how you will inflict that injury. That movement, the one that creates the injury, is what you want to aim for. The roads leading to that precursor movement are likely more plentiful than the ones to the injury itself. But if none of those roads present themselves and you are still struggling with fight movement, remember this: Your fight scene doesn’t have to be absolutely, 100 percent true to life. It just needs to be believable. Lean on the sensory details. That will take the focus off of the minutia of movement and place it instead on that moment in time. 

I hope this helps. I go into finding the best injury for your fight scene as well as the question of blood at it relates to genre and audience in my second book, Fight Write, Round Two. Give it a look as well as my Writer’s Digest book, Fight Write. Also, I will be in the Big Apple next week at Thrillerfest. Swing by my class at Craftfest and say hello! If you have any questions about fighting, I would love to answer them. And, of course, if any of you need some coaching with your fight scenes, you can book an appointment with me right here through Writer’s Digest.

Until the next round with FightWrite™ on the WD Blog, get blood on your pages.