How to write REALISTIC FIGHTS
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 ก.ค. 2024
- Fight scenes are super fun to write, but how do you make them exciting AND realistic? How much description can you use without slowing down the pace of the fight? What makes Hollywood fight scenes feel unrealistic and sloppy? Today, authors Kate and Abbie are grappling with these tough questions using their own experience in martial arts as a guide. So whether you're wrestling with writing a tricky fight scene or you just want to know what makes a fictional brawl hold your attention, this podcast is for you.
Want to support the show + get a shout-out? Visit / thekateandabbieshow
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Connect with Kate on Instagram (@lonehawkwriter) or her blog: www.heretocreateblog.com/
Connect with Abbie on Instagram (@makeyourstorymatter) or her blog: www.abbiee.com/
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This is similar to people jumping out of moving vehicles, I'm stupid enough to have actually jumped out of a moving vehicle so know how it feels when you hit the floor
😂😂 "fine, ill do it by myself."
My debut novel is a fantasy and obviously it will have Fight scenes. I at first found it really very tricky to describe exactly what's happening there. It needs to bring that EMOTION IN. I read many articles but couldn't find the easiest and BEST WAY. THANK YOU Kate and Abbie!! You really did it very well!!
I was irrationally excited that you guys mentioned you have martial arts training. I've been training in taekwondo for years, so it's cool to have two of my passions being discussed simultaneously. Great video, as always!
This podcast improves with every episode! Loving it! Your personalities really shined in this one
Fantasy: mix of blades, and contact magic, elemental magic.
Love this!! I always try to focus on how the character is feeling emotionally, sweaty, tired etc. But it does need to be a good mix of emotion and fast paced
I'm writing a Star Wars fan-fiction, so very obviously there are going to be a LOT of fight scenes, especially when the main characters are training! This is going to help me SO much. Thank you Kate and Abbie for all the writing help 🥰
I don't think someone who hasn't sparred can really understand hand to hand fights. I only did a year of mma off and one (like 3 months of actual training) and I learned so much. Especially the effect ranges of different blows and what angles they can be executed from. By far the best way to learn is to try throwing said blows at a moving opponent.
I actually *just* watched Abbie's pacing video yesterday!
am I the only one who gets excited when I remember writing something that has the things they say? like does that even makes sense?
In my YA SciFi books I’m working on, there’s fight scenes, especially the second book on, but for most of the fights that take place my characters are on this super power serum and heal quickly with super healing. They also get super strength. BUT. Not invulnerability. I love this limitation that I gave it, so they can take a beating, and it hurts like hell, and they can bleed a lot, and if they don’t heal fast enough they can actually die. Anyway, I had all the MCs fighting in a holodeck type thing and they created a dojo program and they did some sparring and I found myself researching some martial arts stuff. But like you said I didn’t get bogged down in a lot of detail, I mostly just said “kick” or “jab” or “punch” etc. And I think I wrote some pretty good fight scenes. I hope lol
I don't really get into fights outside of sparring but it's crazy how much adrenaline effects your mindset when fighting. I remember one time with my brother it started out with my us just trying to push and choke each other. Tunnel vision, nothing really going on inside of your head outside of hurting someone It was only when he had me in a headlock for like five seconds before I really realised what was happening. Only then did I have the fight IQ to actually do anything that a fighter would do in that situation.
Amazing as always!
Could you maybe do a topic about character flaws? And how to not make the character annoying, when giving them flaws?
Several scenes in my book include gunfights where my characters that are part of the US Army fight armed gangs and militias. The military trains you out of the freeze response and into the fight/react response, but that doesn't mean one's first experiences with combat have them perform perfectly. This video helped me a lot with filling in those gaps and bringing so much more emotion and character flaws into my fight scenes. Research is so very important, I spent many days researching US Army structure, weapons, and strategies to make my fight scenes believable.
I'll certainly be doing my research, but would you say that keeping fight descriptions simple apply to fights with weapons?
Also, would it make sense for a character to go from one "f" to another? (eg. MC frozen from shock but comes to their senses and either fights or flees).
Thanks for the advice! (I think the people behind Mulan could learn something from you guys 😝)
i was about to comment on how starting karate has definitely improved my ability to write and analyze fight scenes, and then you guys beat me to it about the martial arts 😂
Thank you so much this was so helpful! You guys are awesome ❤️
Just found this while looking for vids on how to write fight scens. Hope to see what else you two have on the site
You guys are amazing, I'm learning so much from your podcast. It really improved my writting :)
I did 5 years of tae kwon do when I was younger so I cant stand unrealistic fight scenes!
Me too!😫
I love how you use he to start so many sentences, new writers always feel they gotta have a different word to start ever sentence but its just not the case👍🏼
Some people sometimes don't feel the pain until they try to stand up. It really is about the particular person.
OMG I NEEDED THIS THANK YOU
OMG Kate is soooo fun, I love her! Also, her style is lit in this video! SHE'S SO CUTE! AAAAAAAAAAHHH!
I've attempted historical fantasy and portal fantasy so far, and I have written several fight scenes in my portal fantasy that were very poorly written because I was about 9 or 10 years old when I wrote them. XD Hopefully I'll be a little bit better going forward, haha.
I love fist fights !! I mean watching contemporary fist fights... and I am training shotokan karate as well .... i owned the green belt before the pandemic started😀😀
The ground rushed up, no, my legs gave out. That little bastard is quick. Light blooms. Pain drips down my jaw. Jacob lowered his leg and raised his hands.
" And the crowd goes wild," Jacob clasped both hands together and imitated the sound of cheering fans. Little prick turned to me. My legs wobbled like wet noodles in an earthquake. I spit copper flavored, red-dyed saliva.
"Time for the finisher," Jacob sprinted forward, a blonde blur kicking up plumes of parched dirt.
I reached behind, fingers wrapping around the woodgrain handle. I jump back, falling, aiming, squeezing.
The blur, carried by momentum, flew over me, painting my face with warm droplets.
Jacob skidded like a stone thrown over a pond.
"Sorry kid," I crawled on my hands and knees, pebbles sticking to my palms. Jacob's body lay crumpled, his legs lay in unnatural poses. His face, his smile, frozen forever. He never saw it coming, but then again who would. Boomsticks were ancient, museum husks stiffened by rust. Not this one though, maybe the iron ball stuck in his forehead, but not my boomstick.
"I'm not much for fistfights," I cover his eyes, my palm sliding down, closing the blinds on the windows of his soul. I pull my dagger out from my bootstrap and claim my bounty, one neck muscle at a time, gotta be professional with the proof, don't want them asshole's back at townhall claiming it ain't the one just cause of damages and contract stipulations.
This is great.
I just clicked and I already know that this is going to be motive me 💪
Love you're hair in this one kate, you both look amazing and fresh
edit: anyone know how many scenes in each act to put??
I think I'm addicted
Awesome
💜
This video was great. Such good reminders. Thanks guys. Writing a high medieval times fantasy
Hi, I'm here
Training martial arts is my dream but right now I am not capable to do that😕
No but i hate when every author does that whack in the head thing to knock a person out instead of recognizing that knocking someone out is not that easy and whacking a person’a head is the worse way to make some unconscious unless you want to kill them!!
omg omg i
Just because you know karate well, doesn't mean you know all martial arts. You can totally get knocked out in one punch. Boxing is much more effective than karate, or any Eastern martial art for that fact. Boxer vs karate guy 10/10 the boxer wins. This is not just my opinion, this has been PROVEN time and time again on the internet.
Really, in the big picture, karate ain't shit. You're still gonna get mugged. Your crescent kicks on their own aren't gonna protect you. I'd recommend you learn how to box.