Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Action - Writing a Fight Scene

Writers often draw on personal experience to help bring their writing to life. Fight scenes can be hard to write for those of us who don't have that experience in our personal arsenls.al. Today's writing prompt is designed to help hone those skills.
 
 

In my book Beyond the Fifth Gate I needed several fight scenes. For me it was a challenge, but I found help from stuntman and actor Teel James Glenn in his book Them's Fighting Words. He recommended watching a movie fight scene for inspiration. This worked for me. I watched more than one fight scene. As I did, I paused it, wrote, sometimes rewinded, as I captured moves that happen so fast you often don't think about it. But on paper, you need those quick moves to show your reader what is happening. This is only one way to develop an understanding of all that's involved in writing action/fight scenes. 


Pumping Your Muse Writing Prompt

For today's writing prompt, watch a movie fight scene. I recommend a scene that uses skills you what to describe. For instance, if your character will be using a sword, then a sword fight. If a staff, a fight scene that incorporates a staff. Write out the action. Don't be surprised...you'll need to do some research to complete this prompt in order to know what to call moves, weapons, etc. But the final product will make your fight scene come alive.

  • Watch a fight scene. 
  • Research what moves are called. 
  • Watch the fight scene again and write out the moves. 

About Dragonborn by Donna Sundblad

A captivating story of love, magic, and adventure for readers young and old. In this epic tale of sacrifice for the greater good, Dragonborn and their dragons become seeds of change traveling through time to change the future.

Dragonborn is available on Kindle, paperback on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo (Christian fiction), Smashwords Apple and Google Books. When you read it, be sure to leave a review! Thanks for your support.

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Photo credit: mikemol

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