I loved making this video. It's one of those deep breakdowns that I just adore doing. Wanna help? Share it with someone who might find it helpful. It's probably one of the more important OW vids I have! #freeeducationalforall ~ Tim
I wrote a fight scene where the focus was the gradual change from one character being calm and in control while the other character felt powerless to... .. the character in control fearing for his life while the powerless character loses grip on her sanity.
Rocio Silverroot it would be cool to see the first person fear as a result of the second gaining powers at the cost of her sanity. That would be very interesting.
This was an interesting and informative video, thank you! HOWEVER, one thing concerns me. I think that describing and showing an action scene involving a noose may be a bad play. I bring this up because I know you work on a suicide hotline, so I’m surprised that you would bring up that kind of thing here with no trigger warning. Maybe I’m being too sensitive, but a lot of people are being more sensitive to that kind of thing right now due to being quarantine keeping more sensitive people stuck inside and limiting their ways of coping.
Just saying, a Marvel movie where a guy gets powers and then has to fight someone he has a personal relationship with rules out: Captain America: The First Avenger Iron Man 2 The Avengers Iron Man 3 Thor: The Dark World Captain America: The Winter Soldier Guardians of the Galaxy Avengers: Age of Ultron Ant-Man Captain America: Civil War Doctor Strange Thor: Ragnarok Black Panther Avengers: Infinity War Ant-Man and the Wasp Captain Marvel Avengers: Endgame Spiderman: Far From Home Which leaves: Iron Man Thor Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Either that or make it feel like either a biblical battle (Silmarillion route) or a battle from a medieval epic poem (the Rohirrims' charge to defend Gondor route). You can tell what he loved to read, and the synthesis of it all is so glorious and (literally) epic!!!
I think that is almost a trope by now. It does work in some cases but it also makes you feel like you missed something. In general I don't like it too much but it has its place.
Me: *reads the hobbit to learn how to write battle scenes* surely TOLKIEN knows how to do it. The Hobbit: *Knocks out the perspective character in the opening moments and wakes him up after* Me: ..... got it.
@@incanusolorin2607 Theoden going through the Haradrim is one of my favourite examples of sparsely described but evocative as all hell action. It's almost impressionistic, giving you the feeling of the action and letting your brain fill in the rest.
I feel like it depends on the story, but it's hard to justify it. The 2015 Macbeth earns it, because it's all about the two characters... and I really need to watch The Princess Bride.
thats because neither of them is actually trying for the most part, theyre having fun. towards the end of each beat when they sart overpowering the other, the diaogue is more strained and short, only returning to full sentences when montoya is disarmed and falls to his knees, and by that point the fight is over.
The Princess bride scene is engaging and entertaining, but it's not particularly suspenseful. I'm not constantly in fear of one of these characters dying, it's not a frantic fight for survival or a climactic duel between enemies built up over the whole movie because that's not the tone it's going for.
Me, going back through my manuscript for edits: "God I hope these fight scenes don't suck." Fight scenes: S U C K Me, giving up and jumping on youtube: "Well I guess it can wait till tomorr-Oh my gosh he didn't!" You're always saving the day, friend.
Seriously. Both the books and the TV show are excellent in portraying space battles that are still (somewhat) scientifically accurate but also engaging.
While I love The Expanse, the space battles are deeply focused. If you want EPIC space battles done right you need to read the second, and to a smaller degree the third, book in Elliot Kay's Poor Man's Fight series.
While I love The Expanse, the space battles are deeply focused. If you want EPIC space battles done right you need to read the second, and to a smaller degree the third, book in Elliot Kay's Poor Man's Fight series.
While I love The Expanse, the space battles are deeply focused. If you want EPIC space battles done right you need to read the second, and to a smaller degree the third, book in Elliot Kay's Poor Man's Fight series.
While I love The Expanse, the space battles are deeply focused. If you want EPIC space battles done right you need to read the second, and to a smaller degree the third, book in Elliot Kay's Poor Man's Fight series.
Just a tip, you should think of D&D is a form of collaborative writing rather than as a game. After all, the goal of a game is to win, but the goal of D&D is to make a good story.
Writing skills like this video teaches is important for DnD too, since you are narrating the story to your players to explore. Fight scenes work better when you can naturally narrate what's happening quickly and evocatively.
I have use a lot of experience on dnd to write fight scenes, it can also teach you certain important lessons like keeping the position of the characters in space and how do they move
I never realized how much overlap there is between writing and DnD until my partner, who does not write, started DMing. We talk about writing and worldbuilding all the time now, and it’s awesome. We’ve each helped the other get better.
Hey, there! These days I was writing a fight scene, but with little consequences (it was kinda a training between two characters, and it serves to kinda foreshadow the relationship between them - don't know how to explain better) and after hours of research, seeing videos about sword fight and establishing how skilled they are, I struggled to put the scene into words. Your video is just perfect to explain what is happening in the writing. PS: I'm not used to commenting on your videos, but you answered me on twitter and I'm trying my best, cause I've been watching your channel for over a year. And in case you don't remember, I've said that every day I wish I can find your content in portuguese, so I've could share with some fellow writers that can't understand english. Amazing work! (I'm truly sorry if my english is bad, can listen and read just fine, but writing and speaking are not my forte)
For what it's worth, I didn't even think that you might not be a native speaker until I read your apology at the end. You write English better than many native speakers I could name :)
Don't worry about your English. I wouldn't have guessed you weren't a native speaker without tou saying something. Most people who speak English natively don't even bother with grammar on the internet, so even if you did mess up no one would have made a big deal about it as long as they can understand what you are saying.
I'd like to bring up _Worm._ It has plenty of fight scenes between characters with a wide variety of superpowers, often involving several separate superpowered combatants. However, he makes it easy to follow through a number of techniques. Some are simple (characters who first appear in a fight scene were previously introduced verbally, mentioning their powers in the process), but what I'd like to highlight is how he handles space. His combatants are mobile more often than not, several have powers or devices that obscure eyesight, and as hinted the big fight scenes can get very complicated. But the protagonist can control bugs, and one of the first things she learns how to do is stick them on people to keep track of them. Even if Taylor is hiding two blocks down the road, she can keep track of every combatant in a fight scene without breaking immersion.
This is the fourth video I watch in your "On Writing" series, and I must say that, so far, they have been some of the most, if not the most, enlightening videos on writing I have watched. Not only do you explain those COMPLICATED elements of writing in a way that is easy to understand, but you so in an engaging and entertaining manner. The examples you use are both diverse and totally spot-on, and I can't thank you enough for always summarizing everything at the end. Excellent work, I'm taking notes and looking forward to watching more of your writing videos!
Well, the main mediums of Avatar is visual in nature, being either animated or drawn in a graphic novel. The only novelized sources I know of are the Kyoshi Novels. Even then, I haven't read the books, so I have no way of knowing their quality.
@Rtkts The problem with that is that it is film, it is not written. And like he explained there are a lot of difference between written scenes and film scenes.
"50% of it takes places inside Paul's head", 50% of the entire book takes place in someone's head. It what makes it such a difficult read, at times. For every thing that happens, we learn two different internal reactions to it. Great, but a hard read.
Me: "Ight, I'm gonna make the fighting based on Historical European Martial Arts cause I want to to feel authentic." Also me: "So...how do I write this in a way that people will actually know what I'm writing and not end up having confusing stuff like Eon and Eona, and feels satisfying cause people actually die when they should die?" Like legit, I feel that if I have the main character managing to kill several enemies quickly rather than having a lot of back and forth my readers will think I've just made an OP main character when he's not.
Though honestly I think I have a way to avoid confusion, which Eon and Eona failed at: explain what the guards look like. A reader won't know what "fifth dragon" is if you just say it. Rather I'll explain what the guard looks like when mentioned so that the reader will know what's happening, and when mentioned later the reader will know what the guard actually is rather than trying to figure out what a high guard of the lady is because I didn't explain it.
Depends on the style you want to go with. People like Tom Clancy became known for "techno-thrillers" where the kit involved in explained. A dogfight between aircraft has each bit explained, each missiles capability noted. This interests a particular type of reader. On the other hand my favourite sword fight to read in the Princess Bride between the Man in Black and Inigo involves them naming "styles" of fighting the other is using. Patrick Rothfuss once noted the scene during a Q&A where he pointed out that you as the reader "don't know what any of it means but it sounds cool." Personally I'd split the difference. Give me the Princess Bride why and just a bit detail as to how. A bit like all horror works best when you don't see the creature allow the imagination to make it more impressive.
Maybe emphasis on some of the details of how the characters make the decision to strike at the very start, emphasis that he is only following his standard training maybe? And that they are in reality quick fights, emphasis on the exploitation of weakness? Early on? The problem is that real fights are none lethal and/or padded out. It has to feal logical, these weakness exsists, when exploited there are risks? Character A is faster than B and thus get a first good strike on B, which causes the fight to snowball just one step, then finish? An issue that happens is that competency equals eliteness, so the character will go thought the mooks like a shredder, but pause at the big guy, so obviously establish early on that rank and file are competent too? Some go down quickly, it did not favour them, but others go on a little longer? Edit: Just let the reader know its a logical progression from A, to B, and finally C.
It depends on how you've set up your main character before the actual fight. If you've properly set them up and showed the readers his realistic abilities and what he can and can't do (and they also know what the enemy can and can't do) and its logical for him to be able to take out several enemies quickly then readers won't find him op. I actually dislike the idea of people thinking op characters are always bad (I understand why they do, badly written op characters can murder a story's tension something fierce). But if you properly set them up and use their op abilities apporiatatly (and give their abilities sufficient drawbacks) then they can really add to the stakes of the story. But if your worried about your main c being op then don't be afraid to rough him up a bit before allowing him to kill the bad guys.
@@TheTytoGaurdian I think on a second thought, this might be the better advice, make sure, that the reader understand before entering first fight, or before the fighting bit starts, that i can be over quickly, even for him, if he misjudges wrong. This way, the follow ups, will feel real, since, its proper stakes, execusion, and pay off. He judges right and things quickly goes his way.
How you block the fight scene also can massively affect the balance between action and internalized monologue. A lot of tension can be built if you set up the stakes for making an attack and then focussing on how a character analyzes their opponent and/or their environment. Engaging and disengaging is underutilized and is especially useful if the fight starts with enough unknowns
5:20 yes that's actually my problem in writing sword fights adding it with an immortal character, instead of showing the blow-by-blow action I just throw out verbs. Readers had a hard time swallowing everything that's happening.
My favorite fight scenes in fantasy is surprisingly from the Wheel of Time series. I love how Jordan, a writer notorious for being descriptive with his writing manage to write such elegance with fight scenes that go by quick especially in the famous war battle: Dumai Wells. It doesn't help that Jordan is also a Vietnam War Veteran.
Much as I love Robert Jordan, I found Jordan's description of swordfights to be lacking. There are only so many times I can read a strange metaphor matched with another strange metaphor before I just lose patience and start skimming through the scene, though people loved it. Dumai's Wells, on the other hand, was far and away one of the most intense, high-impact battles I've ever read. The words "Shaido meat grinder" still haunt me. You know whose fight scenes were just outright terrible in every regard? L.E. Modesit. I trudged through his first three books, and I vaguely recall that they got a little better. But that first one, man...it was all sound effects and cheesy lines of screaming dialogue.
@@luciddreamer616 dumai well's show Jordan skill as a writer especially when he uses his war experiences, which makes the chapter ever so intense. L.E. Modesit writing always felt cheesy and his fighting are awfully lackluster. It also doesn't help that the books (Magic of Recluse) are repetitious as hell especially when there are 20 or so books in the series. Like Jordan has 14 books, but at least the story is interesting along with its lore and characters, which I got none of that with MoR. But honestly I'm comparing a great home meal (WoT) to a unhealthy fast food (MoR).
Lucid Dreamer I really enjoyed reading the sword fights, especially when you would see forms reoccur throughout the story and actually began to felt like you understood how different moves could be matched with one another. That being said, to each their own - that’s the beauty of literature
I love how Robert Jordan wrote his fight scenes to maximize the reader’s imagination. Instead of describing sword strokes in detail, he gave moves abstract names like “Herron wading through water” and “Grasshopper jumping over a mountain”. Just evocative enough to give you an extremely general idea of what was happening, but forcing you to imagine 90% of the actual detail. This draws you into the fight by making you invested, and the overall effect is that when the fight is over you feel like you’ve watched a movie even though surprisingly little description was actually given.
Best fight scene advice I've found! As soon as it was over, I opened up a story I'd written with a fight scene in it, and rewrote it. 1000% immediate improvement. Thank you!
I wish I could 'like' this video multiple times. Seriously, this is one of the most relevant videos to my own writing struggles I've ever found! A thousand thank-yous, good sir! (And I will definitely be watching this one a few times for study)
A day will come when HFM makes a video without one single reference to or clip from Avatar but it is not this day. Or any other day really. Nor should it, for Avatar is awesome.
Viewing this video inspired me to meet the request of "looking forward to read your fight scenes in the comments". Hope my stab at it was decent :3 *Another on the List* She hardly managed to look through the open window, before hearing the light steps behind her. She quickly turned to face her assailant, both hands firmly gripping her sword. The cloaked figure responded by flinging a small open bag towards her. The thick dust made him but a blur, ruining her vision far more than her helmet ever could. Now being forced to fight her breath and eyes, just as much as the one in front of her, she jerked her body forward, making a desperate stab at her foe. With a quick swing, he bashed her sword to the side, granting the opening he needed. He plunged his blade effortlessly between the plating, into her throat, blocking the scream before it could escape her lips. As the poison flowed through her blood, and her blood began to flood her lungs, her sword fell to the floor, and she was soon to follow. But he caught her, and gently brought her down to the floor. And like a parent putting their newborn to the crib... he gently held her, whispering comforting nothings to her as he looked in her eyes, till they slid shut and the sleep took her. And with that, he had brought another on the list to rest.
Try writing out how the battle unfolds before writing. The geography, where the enemy is, tactics, POV, the goal of the scene. For me, this makes writing a battle much easier.
One of my WORST fight scenes was in my first story I ever wrote. I was ten at the time, and so determined to write a violent story as PG as possible, that I kept saying people were “defeated” when I meant killed. The result was something that sounded like color commentary on a turn-based war game.
I`m not a writer and i`m on a Major D&D kick lately . i would recommend with all my heart that you would listen how Mattew Mercer describes a fight scene in his Critical Role D&D campaign . IT IS AMAZING ! maybe you would get a new idea
Thank you so much hello future me for everything you do. I recently picked up your book and have been fallowing your channel for many years now and have finally started writing my own fiction novel the day before this video came out. coincidentally I am opening the novel with a fight scene so this couldn't have been a better timed video for me.
Actually structure like react-pause-act is really used in animation, where, for example, animating punch will be like: prepare for action - moving fist slightly backwards, then anticipation - some still frames and after that the action itself - quick burst of movement resulting in punch.
Is there a good rule of thumb for bigger fights? I noticed the Order of the Phoenix Fight was mostly centered around, well, Harry and co with everything happening in the background, but is there a good way to do a fight like Tony Cap and Thor vs Thanos? How would a fight like this diverge from the tips given in this video? Was still an insightful video thou, fight scenes are so bad I wish that a Wizard Did It
You just have to write things on a grander scale. Broadly described the overarching battle (or peices of it-depending on how you are structing it) and then focus in on specific spots and scenes within battle, while keeping in mind that a war is still happening around those specific scenes you are focusing on. Make sure you choose wisely what to focus on though (mainly just stick with the scenes that either drive your story forward or present important character development for a certain character in your story.) Otherwise you run the risk of dragging the battle out and making it boring for your readers.
Explain the tactics involved, at least that’s what I do, I suggest you study modern and historical tactics. I don’t recommend this for most people, it’s just one way to do it.
I'm with TheTytoGaurdian... in part. BUT this also basically goes back to the part of the video where he was speaking to "generalities" when there's no shift of power/balance... and getting "gritty details" when the shift of power/balance was important. With larger fights, it just requires a bit more on the "broad strokes" narrative, and care with when exactly you shift power or try to narrow in on an important Character moment... Too much and you risk a quagmire of details slowing everything down, and a fight that shouldn't take its own novel to disclose... Not enough, and the "psychic distance" that results between readers and Characters is too much to expect further investment... It can make even a vital battle seem "unimportant", and we can't have our Characters (and certainly not Heroes) fighting all unimportant battles and wars. You can study tactics and strategies through the ages... It's probably a good idea, so you have some useful terminology and don't rush to print something utterly mistaken and flawed... BUT you don't have to be a remarkable general to tell a decent battle well. You should probably know about things like a Phalanx as it evolved through the ages... or what different armies from different parts of the world advanced the use of a chariot specifically for. Romans, for instance, often added blades and spikes to their wheels for a brutal crowd crushing weapon. Celts on the other hand, actually used their chariots to move fresh troops to front lines and injured/spent troops to the rears, keeping a constant supply of actively strong and fighting troops pouring pressure on their enemies... It's no big mystery how the Romans struggled against them... and the Celtic chariot was one of a VERY few chariots constructed with an active suspension system of any kind. Things like that are useful for you to know as a writer. You can even base certain things in a completely fictional setting on them... BUT you can't expect your audience/readers to know everything. Some of it, you may have to "teach" along the way. Do that well, and you'll gain popularity... Bore the shit out of readers with an info' dump every other page or chapter, and you probably won't. ;o)
I think there are a few options there, but The TytoGaurdian puts it very well. It depends on what you're angling for and what you want the scene to say. Your intent should dictate the technique.
This reminds me of a book I once read. It’s called The Day I Died, can’t remember who wrote it. It’s written slowly, so slowly. The entire story is written as a flashback, almost as if the main character is seeing their life flash before their eyes in that one moment before everything ends. But it works. The whole mystery of the story is how did they die. And it’s an amazing story to read. I won’t spoil the ending here, but I will say that it has stayed with me years later.
Holy crap! Finally! A video that gives ACTUAL SPECIFICS AND EXAMPLES on how to fight instead of just "its needs to be fast-paced" or "show don't tell." Your video is the first that actually provides insight on how to improve on writing fight scenes. Yes, fight scenes are complicated, but it is always helpful when good advice on how to write them is found. You have no idea how I've been searching for something like this! Thank you very much for this video!
I really liked you talking about a micro stuff. Not many people talk about it & it’s the most important part of the book as prose is the thing that publishers look for. If you ever hear a writer talking about how they wrote 5 or 6 books over 10 years until a book was excepted (10 years seems to the the average regardless of book count because for the average person it takes that long to work on their prose to a professional level
I needed this right now and I got this right now. Edit: The edited fight scene, I wanted to express the main character's expertise with the sword as well as her willingness to not bother with causing unnecessary pain: The muggers drew their own swords, mostly without proper hand-baskets, flecked with rust and in one notably grubby rogue’s hand, bent out of shape for two-thirds of the length, and charged her as one. This was hard, because she was now on one side of them. She dropped into a guard position, feinted and slashed one across the leg, downing him screaming in a very unmanly fashion. The next one she simply sidestepped and tripped, dropping to one knee and stabbing the third in the thigh, holding her buckler up to block any cuts at her wrist. She dropped and rolled forward, careful to keep her bow, slung over her back, as unaffected as possible, leaping halfway up a yard from where she previously was and smashing her sword lengthways, supported by her buckler, into the ankles of the last two, who were probably expecting her to be somewhere else. After they had fallen to the pavement, assisted by their forward momentum, she hit them both in the head, for good measure. She looked up at Homber, whose movement for the whole altercation had been minimal and who was watching the fight with that kind of disconnected interest of one who knew the outcome when it started. The leader, who had apparently regained some semblance of consciousness, groaned, “Homber… kill the fucker…” Homber shrugged to Lerussa - not worth it - and walked off down the street. Lerussa smiled, stood, dusted off her hands and left the groaning would-be gang in the middle of the Via, either to be picked up by the Guard or by one of the gangs that shared it.
Good thing I started my morning with this video! I just got to a fight scene in my story today and this advice really helped me edit it down. Plus, if I need a break I can always come back to that quick-cut of Boromir taking arrows lol
i really think this is one of the best writing classes channels...really informative, no excessive joking, straight to the information but at a pacing that makes it easy to follow and internalize.
me: having a book idea that revolves heavily on fights but dose not want it to be boring or read like an instruction manual on how to fight this video: got you covered bro
This has to be one of the best writing videos on youtube; we need more writing vids focused on the micro aspects of writing. Although each writer has their own style, there are still certain general mechanics and tools that everyone should be aware of.
I will take up that challenge, so here is a fight scene I wrote along time ago (and recently updated a week ago) from a novel I'm in the process of writing: “Aivas!” she yelled. The suddenness of her voice caused him to turn towards her as an arrow that surely would have found its mark, instead caught him in his left shoulder. He stumbled, clutching the shaft and falling to his knees. Drop. Without hesitation she dropped to her stomach as another arrow shot over her head where she was standing. A soft thud followed as it impacted the ground meters from her face, “Ambush!” Despite the cry, her outburst had drawn everyone’s attention away and they were caught off guard. She watched as a soldier in front of her took an arrow to his throat. He clutched at it and gurgled blood from his mouth as he dropped to his knees. The cry of at least dozens of voices rang out as men wearing animal skins and bones dropped out of the trees, brandishing simple made hatchets and spears. Arrows seemed to appear out of the canopy and rained down on them. She looked to where their team leader had been standing and found Niko holding the dying man in his arms, three arrows protruding from their leader’s chest. The look of shock on Niko’s face snapped her mind into focus. “Defend yourselves!” cried Aivas, breaking the arrow shaft at the base, and readied his blade to face an oncoming attacker. He deftly parried an incoming blow from his assailant, and countered with a knee to his opponent's stomach, dropping the savage to the ground before scything his blade across the attacker’s back, deep enough to sever the spine, a spray of blood covering his arm. Eklypsia’s heart was pounding. Shield up, keep your footing. Brace and react. She got to her feet and took up her stance, scanning the battlefield. She saw a fur-covered man bearing down on Niko. Without a second's hesitation, she readied one of her javelins and launched it. It flew over Niko’s shoulder finding purchase in the attacker’s shoulder, knocking them off their feet and causing them to spin in the air. Niko dropped their leader and quickly scampered over to the downed man and brought his sica down into the opponent's chest to finish him. He looked back and nodded a thanks, then pointed violently back her way. She turned around as a crazed-looking man wielding two hatchets came screaming at her. She brought her shield around and braced. Hit after hit came crashing down on her. It was all she could do to follow his movements and deflect each blow, so unrelenting were his strikes. Spittle flew from his mouth as he wailed a barbaric war cry. She found herself giving ground, eventually dropping her javelin and using her other arm to help support her slowly cracking shield. The man was big, but his savagery made him seem like a giant. Her courage began to fail as she felt tears well up in her eyes like liquid fear. Strength waning, a deflect turned into a full block, and the man’s axes found purchase in her shield, the blades breaking through centimeters from her face. Her eyes widened at their proximity and she froze. Pulling with all his might the barbarian wrenched the shield off her arm. She felt something pop in her shoulder and pain exploded. Before she could fully cry out he kicked her square in the chest, knocking the wind out of her and sending her onto her back. A hard crack rang through her skull as her helmet met a log and her vision began to swim. He stood over her, panting, eyes wild with both hatred and excitement for the kill. For a brief instant she was reminded of her childhood with the man in the market standing over her when she’d defended the slave boy. She knew she should move, run, escape. Instead, she was frozen, struggling to breathe and her eyes barely able to focus on the man as she held an arm up as if to ward him off. He raised his axes high into the air and roared one last wild scream. She gripped her eyes tight in fear. A loud thud turned his cry into a gurgle. She opened her eyes to find a spear sprouting from his chest. Shock spread across his face while rage still boiled in his eyes as he fell backwards like a freshly chopped tree. She gasped for air as her breath returned and shuffled back, propping herself up on her elbows against the log behind her. Taking in the sights, her eyes darted back and forth unable to focus on any one thing for long. It was a pure melee. Individual fights raged on as one man fell to another and the victor moved on to find a new target. At least a dozen of her number had fallen already. The cries of the wounded came as an onslaught to her ears. It was as if all her senses were coming back to her at once. She couldn’t even focus on their faces, her eyes constantly drawn to their wounds, friend and foe alike. One was clutching a stump where his hand had been, another trying to hold in his entrails. She watched another lop the head off his opponent before a set of arrows found themselves embedded in his body. A wave of dizziness came over her and she saw nothing more but black.
This is solid work my friend. I really like the last paragraph were your character takes in the scene as she catches her breath after such a intense difficult struggle. Showing the realistic need to breath and come to terms with the violence being witnessed does wonders for pulling me as a reader into the scene and making me feel the struggle. Well done.
@@keenanmclean9916 Thank you very much. That's exactly what I was trying to go fro was that sense of visceral over stimulation as it's the characters first battle.
Very well done, just try to use a little more sinonyms instead of just repeating words several times in the same paragraph, it adds some quality to the writing
I have bought NUMEROUS books on writing fight scenes. They were a waste of both money and time. This video is all any writer (both newbie and professional) will ever need.I tip my hat to you, Sir. 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
i was looking for this video last night, i genuinely thought you’d already filmed this before??? and now i wake up and you just uploaded the exact video i needed!!! wild shit!!! 👌👌👌
"You don't need to only write short sentences for fight scenes." Praise the lord! Also, Tim, you emotionally wrecked me with all those shots of Sirius' death 😭
The Red Rising trilogy has the BEST fight scenes I’ve ever read. Easy to follow, action-packed, emotionally impactful…they’re amazing. I’m surprised you haven’t mentioned anything from those books.
This is such a fantastic video! Fight scenes have always been something that I struggled with and it never seemed like anyone focused on the micro stuff! TY so much!!!
I absolutely adore your On Writing series (and the accompanying book) and I get so much out of it! Would you ever consider one day doing similar dives into the comic medium? While so much of what you teach in these videos is still enormously relevant to that medium, a huge deep-dive into handling something like a fight scene in a comic would be incredible. Slowing it down enough to keep the reader engrossed in the action (and aware of what's happening - comic fights can get REALLY confusing) while keeping it fast paced enough that they don't get bored and start to skim the illustrations is a hell of a balancing act. The story I intend to write will be a graphic novel series, and I want it to be a deeply engrossing story and world, something to be digested slowly - unfortunately, many graphic novels are very surface-level. It's hard to find compelling exemplars which reflect that. The kind of advice I long for on writing a still-picture visual medium is hard to come by as well. Often, if it is available, it's more suited to shallower, action-based, fast-paced superhero style comics, rather than a slow-to-medium pace. There's surprisingly little out there (that I've found, anyway) and you'd be an amazing person to fill that niche.
That was awesome, really something I've wondered a lot about in the past. Incredible video as always, honestly it's almost mind boggling how high the standard is for these videos when you stop just taking them as given. Legitimately, I wouldn't know half of what I do about writing if it weren't for your essays, so thank you again.
I have a couple of fight scenes and while shit, they have some decent structure. I also won't be able to watch the entire video right now. But I'll be back in a few hours. "None of her words are wasted on description." *Reads the descriptions of one of my characters* Red hair, similar to my MC, eyes like rings of honey topaz, curved eyebrows like a plank of warped wood. A small, almost cute nose, wide hips... Meanwhile, they are at a party with hundreds of people. And I've not described a single thing at the party. I think I'm compensating for the fact that I take in the environment IRL, and barely notice people exist until someone talks to me.
Could go for the first person vibe, or maybe use the lack of description to try and convey the claustrophobic environment, maybe she doesn't know anyone and thus only gives basic descriptors with few land marks being described. As if she's lost in a huge maze of people when in reality it's like 30 in a single room.
This video among your many great videos is one that I have found most useful, personally, at least it of your more recent posts. I don't write many fight scenes but I've often struggled while reading them and this helped me understand why. I'll definitely be referring back to this in the future.
And my dad is a retired firefighter who now works at a medical care center, so I can just ask Dad if something kills! Also, my dad used to hunt a lot and grew up on a ranch, so I can also ask what kills animals (so I can make sure the dog, cow, goat, or whatever creature who did no wrong and deserves better doesn't die).
Dude, you are so awesome man I'm trying to put a story together and all of your videos are so well put together, informative they all really help make it clear how important the small "side" details of a book are what make it.
This will be real helpful for my books. My first book has a lot of fighting (sword fights, mostly). Later books will have magical fights and such, so I’m glad to have an official On Writing for this topic.
I really like the way the sword fights in The Wheel of Time are described. They're abstracted in a really unique and evocative way, with broad descriptions, just esoteric names really, of moves and countermoves that makes you want to visualize what's going on in detail yourself. It really sells sword fighting as an artform, as something you master. It's also used quite effectively in non-action-scene contexts as well in a few cases, where sword fighting moves are used to convey physical motion really effectively by getting you used to creating imagery to the names.
Fight scenes are something Matthew Reilly does really well, he makes absolute certain the reader understands the the layout of the evironment. He even implements diagrams of the setting and as a result it's easy to visualise the action.
Yes! It was so good! Perfect subversion of the expected tropes and the high stakes of it all - The Moon Door being certain death for both fighters and also Tyrion's life hanging by a thread, him Just being able to watch everything unfold, robbed of all agency, a bystander of his own fate being fought over by two strangers - *chef's kiss*
fight scenes are unique in that they fall under the topic of conflict but allow the reader to step back from it. A basic description of a scene follows a hierarchy of importance usually based on what stands out for the characters. but a fight scene deconstructs those subjects of importance so there's no hierarchy to descriptors required in events. this lets the reader reflect while the writer maintains flow and tension. good video 👍
I have my own advice. The how of a fight scene depends entirely on the PoV. It's not the same if you're viewing the action from a neutral, ghost spectator view, from the perspective of a character not involved in the fight, the perspective of a combatant who is unskilled, a combatant who is skilled, etc. An unskilled or panicking fighter would see the action as a blur, a skilled fighter might not actually think about the actual fight going on, but actually be thinking about what his opponent is doing, where to strike, timing, cover, where the exits are and so on. "She began moving sideways to prompt an action from her opponent, spear in overhand grip. His eyes glanced at her right thigh, so she moved her shield rightwards, catching and glancing his trust to the side and stabbing at his inner elbow in one motion."
This helped a lot. I realize I have a habit of getting lost in the details of fight scenes instead of just letting the reader's imagination do the work. I have more of an idea of what to look out for now.
Just finished writting my exam in Econ, hoped I could watch some Hello Future Me videos to unwind. Litteraly less then one minute into the video: Micro and Macro dimension Why is the life so cruel? :(
Thank you! I watched this video hoping it would help me understand how the webserial Worm has such well-written fight scenes (and there are LOADS of them so the author really knows what he's doing), and I think the most important aspect may be 13:06 "Show early on in the fight how each weapon moves through space - make them vivid and visceral... then you're free to focus on the character's actions and reactions." Replace the word "weapon" with "superpower" and you may have the secret to Worm's fight scenes; they feel incredibly visual because you know exactly how each power works, (or you don't and you join the protagonist in trying to use clues to work out what the hell she's up against and think of a way to counter it). He also always spends some time to set up the environment they're fighting in, which not only helps you to visualise, it also makes the fight feel very satisfying because the terrain is often relevant in some way to how the (apparently underpowered but VERY versatile and creative) protagonist ends up beating the odds. Finally, you get an excellent sense of consequence to every single action; you already know who is tough and can take big hits, who is vulnerable and can't, how heavy each hit is, and thus you know the stakes for each move each character makes. This also works on the macro level, as unlike a lot of superhero stories, Worm has real consequences and characters have to live with them.
This is from a book I am writing that I am about to send to a publisher. It was one of my favorite fight scenes. I hope anyone who reads this likes it. Through the door, the thumping of the lumbering giant could be heard coming down the hall from the direction of the stairwell. Looks like I got here just in time. I slouched behind the half wall divider from his living area and his kitchenette. I could hear him unlock the door, swing it open and walk in. I readied myself as silently as I could. There was a pause. I couldn’t see him or his shadow. Did he hear me? What was he doing? After sometime I heard the door click behind him. He didn’t make a sound with his feet. Before I knew it, I saw him standing at the end of the divider. I started to raise my gun almost at the ready, but it was as if his arm were a bolt of lightning. It quickly struck down on my arms sending pain screaming its way into my head. I dropped the gun. A mistake I couldn’t afford to make. Scrambling the rest of the way to my feet he was turned to me. He recognized me right away. His eyes seemed to turn to slivers as his mouth twisted with glee. Either he was excited for another kill or he was happy that he was finally getting to kill me in particular. Either way I needed to act fast. Faster than I could think his other arm came around his orbit and landed on my stomach pushing out what air I had in my lungs. My arms flew to my gut trying to suppress the pulsing pain. I had to get control. I had to think fast. It can’t end here. My hand was already near my waist. With a quick grab I pulled the knife up and out in self defense. His next punch came for my face. My knife was in the way. The blade of the knife sunk itself into his fist down to his wrist splitting between his pointer and middle finger. This didn’t stop him. Expression unchanged he raised his other hand and brought it down on my head pushing me to the ground with its impact. The knife was stuck in his right hand and was able to support my weight. I made sure to not let go. I couldn’t let go of another weapon. Lifting his wounded fist he pulled me to my feet. This had me on my tip toes and a little off balance, which wasn’t good. I realized I was not fighting a man at this point, but a genuine monster. And this monster had me in his sights to kill. There was a hunger in his eyes that fiended for my blood, more than he already had. That one punch left a cut in my head that was already bleeding onto the floor. I didn’t want to have to clean this place. That’s if I survive through this night. He pulled the bleeding hand back to rear up for a punch, but I still wasn’t going to let go of the knife. Not until I could focus long enough to grab the gun. I could feel the grip of his fist tighten around the blade of the knife. With his hand raised above his head, he brought me close enough to wheeze what he had to say into my face. It seemed he was just enduring the pain to try and show me how weak I was. How age has started to define me. I couldn’t let that happen. “Ever since the day I met you, I’ve been looking forward to killing you.” His Russian accent was very thick but his english was better than most native speakers. “They said you were dead, but now I’m happy to know that you survived so that I can kill you myself.” “Don’t get your hopes up,” I spat in his face. There was some blood in my spit. “I thought you would be more of a challenge considering your training and experience. I wish you were still in your prime, Comrade.” Then I could see that chat time was over. His fist came down on the top of my head but all I could feel was the blunt edge of the knife hitting me in the side of the head. The blood from his hand splash onto my face. I couldn’t tell just by feeling alone if my blood was also running down my face. But considering the injuries I’ve taken on I was more than certain I was going to lose consciousness soon if I couldn’t change the tide of this fight.
20:00 I actually always loved Robert Jordan's fight scenes because by using these description of moves we have no idea how they look we get to fill in all that ourselves. It is also really cool that depending on the character who's perspective we see the fight from its either described in these terms or not. Fights described from the perspective of someone who's got sword training use these move phrases, the fights of other martial characters (like Matt and Perrin) is more like what you have described in the rest of the video, and from the perspecitive of a non swordtrained channeler, they pretty much only give vague desription on how the overall balance of the fight seems from a distance, and often skipping crucial moments. Like in New Spring when we see or rather don't see Lan killing Ryne, Moirane, who is our perspective character for the chapter, missing the crucial moment of that fight and Lan actually ends up tellign her in vague terms how he finished his part of the duel. Also the strong theme of dualism that goes through the wheel of time is present here where the swordmoves of the usually male swordmasters constrasting with the weavings of the atleast intially mostly female aes sedai. They are both described in these symbolic terms, flows of air, the river undercuts the bank, from the perspective of characters who understands (or can even see) these things, but being described in much more general terms by those who merely witness such a fight without understanding (or even being able to see) it.
![On Writing: First Person! [ Twilight | Handmaid's Tale | Edith Finch ]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/eRGfs7iOUDE/mqdefault.jpg)
![On Writing: First Person! [ Twilight | Handmaid's Tale | Edith Finch ]](/img/tr.png)
![On Writing: Killing Characters! [ Harry Potter | Stephen King | Terabithia ]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/treB4kuyMHk/mqdefault.jpg)
I loved making this video. It's one of those deep breakdowns that I just adore doing. Wanna help? Share it with someone who might find it helpful. It's probably one of the more important OW vids I have! #freeeducationalforall
~ Tim
Hello Future Me Will you do more HTTYD Theories Videos?!?!
I wrote a fight scene where the focus was the gradual change from one character being calm and in control while the other character felt powerless to...
.. the character in control fearing for his life while the powerless character loses grip on her sanity.
Rocio Silverroot it would be cool to see the first person fear as a result of the second gaining powers at the cost of her sanity. That would be very interesting.
This was an interesting and informative video, thank you!
HOWEVER, one thing concerns me.
I think that describing and showing an action scene involving a noose may be a bad play. I bring this up because I know you work on a suicide hotline, so I’m surprised that you would bring up that kind of thing here with no trigger warning. Maybe I’m being too sensitive, but a lot of people are being more sensitive to that kind of thing right now due to being quarantine keeping more sensitive people stuck inside and limiting their ways of coping.
Just saying, a Marvel movie where a guy gets powers and then has to fight someone he has a personal relationship with rules out:
Captain America: The First Avenger
Iron Man 2
The Avengers
Iron Man 3
Thor: The Dark World
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Guardians of the Galaxy
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Ant-Man
Captain America: Civil War
Doctor Strange
Thor: Ragnarok
Black Panther
Avengers: Infinity War
Ant-Man and the Wasp
Captain Marvel
Avengers: Endgame
Spiderman: Far From Home
Which leaves:
Iron Man
Thor
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
I like Tolkien's solution: nock the view point protagonist out and explain afterwards.
Either that or make it feel like either a biblical battle (Silmarillion route) or a battle from a medieval epic poem (the Rohirrims' charge to defend Gondor route). You can tell what he loved to read, and the synthesis of it all is so glorious and (literally) epic!!!
nock? ohhh, knock
I think that is almost a trope by now. It does work in some cases but it also makes you feel like you missed something. In general I don't like it too much but it has its place.
@@horseenthusiast9903 even the children of húrin works wonderfully
Or you make the fight a contest of songs and tell it as a poem.
Me: *reads the hobbit to learn how to write battle scenes* surely TOLKIEN knows how to do it.
The Hobbit: *Knocks out the perspective character in the opening moments and wakes him up after*
Me: ..... got it.
I got it! You briefly introdzce a completly new character and let him defeat the villain.
@@incanusolorin2607 Theoden going through the Haradrim is one of my favourite examples of sparsely described but evocative as all hell action. It's almost impressionistic, giving you the feeling of the action and letting your brain fill in the rest.
It's a children book though, that may explain it.
Exactly hahha I was literally disappointed after reading that. It's like I missed something important 😅
hobbit is a kid's book, so it made sense not to show the battle
It’s almost like writing in general is complicated. 🤔
Nahh, that'd be silly
\*Frustrated author noises\*
I wish my guardians understood that. /c:
That’s why a Wizard usually does the writing.
WRITING IS COMPLICATED!
"I don't know if you've been in a fight before, but there's usually not this much talking." -Sam, Captain America Civil War
I understood that reference.
-Captain America
“Sam, Captain FALCON Civil War”
If you ever need someone to read a passage from Name of the Wind, I think I can do a really annoying Kvothe.
HA
My dad read it to me, I can’t imagine his voice any other way
That book is long- I really get demotivated to finish it. But it sounds like a great book
Well said bag man
Heeey you're also here
Ik I'm late but, *heeeeeeeeeeeey*
So normal Kvothe then?
I was literally searching "tips on writing fight scenes"...then I got a notification about this video posting 9 minutes ago. Fate.
And it was fate that your comment only had 68 likes when I (an immature hooligan) found it. :)
“Do you believe in destiny?” Phyrra Nikos, RWBY
Zero
Glitch in the matrix
Venus and Bluebells it’s beautiful.
"If characters have time to monologue, it feels boring."
The Princess Bride fencing scene: AM I A JOKE TO YOU
I feel like it depends on the story, but it's hard to justify it. The 2015 Macbeth earns it, because it's all about the two characters... and I really need to watch The Princess Bride.
@betsy have fun storming the castle :)
“Now you’re just stalling.”
thats because neither of them is actually trying for the most part, theyre having fun. towards the end of each beat when they sart overpowering the other, the diaogue is more strained and short, only returning to full sentences when montoya is disarmed and falls to his knees, and by that point the fight is over.
The Princess bride scene is engaging and entertaining, but it's not particularly suspenseful. I'm not constantly in fear of one of these characters dying, it's not a frantic fight for survival or a climactic duel between enemies built up over the whole movie because that's not the tone it's going for.
Me, going back through my manuscript for edits: "God I hope these fight scenes don't suck."
Fight scenes: S U C K
Me, giving up and jumping on youtube: "Well I guess it can wait till tomorr-Oh my gosh he didn't!"
You're always saving the day, friend.
now we just have to watch more of his video's and not waste time writing. It counts as research after all.
"But what about space battles?"
_The Expanse appears_
"Ah, well done."
Seriously. Both the books and the TV show are excellent in portraying space battles that are still (somewhat) scientifically accurate but also engaging.
While I love The Expanse, the space battles are deeply focused. If you want EPIC space battles done right you need to read the second, and to a smaller degree the third, book in Elliot Kay's Poor Man's Fight series.
While I love The Expanse, the space battles are deeply focused. If you want EPIC space battles done right you need to read the second, and to a smaller degree the third, book in Elliot Kay's Poor Man's Fight series.
While I love The Expanse, the space battles are deeply focused. If you want EPIC space battles done right you need to read the second, and to a smaller degree the third, book in Elliot Kay's Poor Man's Fight series.
While I love The Expanse, the space battles are deeply focused. If you want EPIC space battles done right you need to read the second, and to a smaller degree the third, book in Elliot Kay's Poor Man's Fight series.
The only thing I "write" is d&d but I found this really useful.
Just a tip, you should think of D&D is a form of collaborative writing rather than as a game. After all, the goal of a game is to win, but the goal of D&D is to make a good story.
Writing skills like this video teaches is important for DnD too, since you are narrating the story to your players to explore. Fight scenes work better when you can naturally narrate what's happening quickly and evocatively.
I have use a lot of experience on dnd to write fight scenes, it can also teach you certain important lessons like keeping the position of the characters in space and how do they move
And D&D can't write for shit.
I never realized how much overlap there is between writing and DnD until my partner, who does not write, started DMing. We talk about writing and worldbuilding all the time now, and it’s awesome. We’ve each helped the other get better.
Tim: "Let's get down to business"
Clip: "To defeat"
Me: "THE HUUUNNNS!!"
Twinkeltoes Avatar yup
Did they send me daughters when I asked for sons
you're the saddest bunch i've every met
But you can bet before we're throughhh
@@sophialin1802 Mister I'll make a man out of you
Merphy!!! I love hearing her narration; I’m so glad you included one of the books she narrated in your video!
Oh my gosh, I know right? Her narration was incredible!
~ Tim
She shad, but nope!!! But, thats not it right,,, lolmam XD it was the bebst of book, not that much thought.
Dude! How did you know I was just writing a fight scene? Get your cameras out of my study!
No. I like watching you.
~ Tim
@@HelloFutureMe That's either wholesome or weird stalking
@@thexenosaiyan definitely the latter, the former depends on the genre
I am also part of the “How did you know I was writing a fight scene today?” club XD
I'm about to write part of a tourney, so I guess I can jump in here too.
F A T E N S T U F F
Hey, there!
These days I was writing a fight scene, but with little consequences (it was kinda a training between two characters, and it serves to kinda foreshadow the relationship between them - don't know how to explain better) and after hours of research, seeing videos about sword fight and establishing how skilled they are, I struggled to put the scene into words. Your video is just perfect to explain what is happening in the writing.
PS: I'm not used to commenting on your videos, but you answered me on twitter and I'm trying my best, cause I've been watching your channel for over a year.
And in case you don't remember, I've said that every day I wish I can find your content in portuguese, so I've could share with some fellow writers that can't understand english. Amazing work!
(I'm truly sorry if my english is bad, can listen and read just fine, but writing and speaking are not my forte)
Recognised your profile! Glad to know it has helped. Your English is perfect. I'm sorry my Portuguese isn't better.
~ Tim
For what it's worth, I didn't even think that you might not be a native speaker until I read your apology at the end. You write English better than many native speakers I could name :)
Your English is way better than that of plenty of native speakers. You have no reason to apologize.
Haha, Brazilian here. Don't worry, your English is perfect, as far as I'm concerned at least.
Don't worry about your English. I wouldn't have guessed you weren't a native speaker without tou saying something. Most people who speak English natively don't even bother with grammar on the internet, so even if you did mess up no one would have made a big deal about it as long as they can understand what you are saying.
Daniel Greene: "he'd slapped her. he'd SLAPPED her."
me, a 35 year old, professional internetter for 20 years: HOW CAN HE SLAP
You must be 38 by now....
Of course Daniel Greene was the one to read the Wheel of Time excerpt lol
Well, he wasn't going to read any of the kingkiller franchise
"Screaming, I grabbed the lever and yanked hard."
ANyone gonna say it?
...
ANYONE?
...
*ᵗᴴᵃᵀ'ˢ ʷʰᴬᵗ ˢʰᴱ ˢᵃᴵᵈ*
Dammit, the both of us.
69 likes, nice
WRONG LEVER
I'd like to bring up _Worm._ It has plenty of fight scenes between characters with a wide variety of superpowers, often involving several separate superpowered combatants. However, he makes it easy to follow through a number of techniques. Some are simple (characters who first appear in a fight scene were previously introduced verbally, mentioning their powers in the process), but what I'd like to highlight is how he handles space.
His combatants are mobile more often than not, several have powers or devices that obscure eyesight, and as hinted the big fight scenes can get very complicated. But the protagonist can control bugs, and one of the first things she learns how to do is stick them on people to keep track of them. Even if Taylor is hiding two blocks down the road, she can keep track of every combatant in a fight scene without breaking immersion.
Who's that by?
@@unknowndevilmmd2023wildbow
This is the fourth video I watch in your "On Writing" series, and I must say that, so far, they have been some of the most, if not the most, enlightening videos on writing I have watched. Not only do you explain those COMPLICATED elements of writing in a way that is easy to understand, but you so in an engaging and entertaining manner. The examples you use are both diverse and totally spot-on, and I can't thank you enough for always summarizing everything at the end. Excellent work, I'm taking notes and looking forward to watching more of your writing videos!
Not. Enough. Avatar references.✊
Along with ALLof the fighting in Avatar
Well, the main mediums of Avatar is visual in nature, being either animated or drawn in a graphic novel. The only novelized sources I know of are the Kyoshi Novels. Even then, I haven't read the books, so I have no way of knowing their quality.
The Kyushu Novels are okay, the fights scenes though, they are interesting. Some of them are good, others are.............. yeah ok
@Rtkts The problem with that is that it is film, it is not written. And like he explained there are a lot of difference between written scenes and film scenes.
LeAvEs On ThE vIiIiIInE... 🤣 Sorry, couldn’t help myself lol
three minutes in and already better than everything I've watched/read on fight scenes. THANK YOU
Loved the clip from "Make a man out of you" because literally every time I say or hear "let's get down to business" I immediately think of that :D
"50% of it takes places inside Paul's head", 50% of the entire book takes place in someone's head. It what makes it such a difficult read, at times. For every thing that happens, we learn two different internal reactions to it. Great, but a hard read.
that is the main reason I couldn't get into Dune.
Me:
"Ight, I'm gonna make the fighting based on Historical European Martial Arts cause I want to to feel authentic."
Also me:
"So...how do I write this in a way that people will actually know what I'm writing and not end up having confusing stuff like Eon and Eona, and feels satisfying cause people actually die when they should die?"
Like legit, I feel that if I have the main character managing to kill several enemies quickly rather than having a lot of back and forth my readers will think I've just made an OP main character when he's not.
Though honestly I think I have a way to avoid confusion, which Eon and Eona failed at: explain what the guards look like. A reader won't know what "fifth dragon" is if you just say it. Rather I'll explain what the guard looks like when mentioned so that the reader will know what's happening, and when mentioned later the reader will know what the guard actually is rather than trying to figure out what a high guard of the lady is because I didn't explain it.
Depends on the style you want to go with.
People like Tom Clancy became known for "techno-thrillers" where the kit involved in explained. A dogfight between aircraft has each bit explained, each missiles capability noted. This interests a particular type of reader.
On the other hand my favourite sword fight to read in the Princess Bride between the Man in Black and Inigo involves them naming "styles" of fighting the other is using. Patrick Rothfuss once noted the scene during a Q&A where he pointed out that you as the reader "don't know what any of it means but it sounds cool."
Personally I'd split the difference. Give me the Princess Bride why and just a bit detail as to how. A bit like all horror works best when you don't see the creature allow the imagination to make it more impressive.
Maybe emphasis on some of the details of how the characters make the decision to strike at the very start, emphasis that he is only following his standard training maybe? And that they are in reality quick fights, emphasis on the exploitation of weakness? Early on? The problem is that real fights are none lethal and/or padded out. It has to feal logical, these weakness exsists, when exploited there are risks? Character A is faster than B and thus get a first good strike on B, which causes the fight to snowball just one step, then finish? An issue that happens is that competency equals eliteness, so the character will go thought the mooks like a shredder, but pause at the big guy, so obviously establish early on that rank and file are competent too? Some go down quickly, it did not favour them, but others go on a little longer?
Edit: Just let the reader know its a logical progression from A, to B, and finally C.
It depends on how you've set up your main character before the actual fight. If you've properly set them up and showed the readers his realistic abilities and what he can and can't do (and they also know what the enemy can and can't do) and its logical for him to be able to take out several enemies quickly then readers won't find him op.
I actually dislike the idea of people thinking op characters are always bad (I understand why they do, badly written op characters can murder a story's tension something fierce).
But if you properly set them up and use their op abilities apporiatatly (and give their abilities sufficient drawbacks) then they can really add to the stakes of the story.
But if your worried about your main c being op then don't be afraid to rough him up a bit before allowing him to kill the bad guys.
@@TheTytoGaurdian I think on a second thought, this might be the better advice, make sure, that the reader understand before entering first fight, or before the fighting bit starts, that i can be over quickly, even for him, if he misjudges wrong. This way, the follow ups, will feel real, since, its proper stakes, execusion, and pay off. He judges right and things quickly goes his way.
"The character who clearly has the upper hand in the fight is... the Viper... for a while." Why did you bring that up? That shit still hurts.
I still miss oberyn
How you block the fight scene also can massively affect the balance between action and internalized monologue. A lot of tension can be built if you set up the stakes for making an attack and then focussing on how a character analyzes their opponent and/or their environment. Engaging and disengaging is underutilized and is especially useful if the fight starts with enough unknowns
5:20 yes that's actually my problem in writing sword fights adding it with an immortal character, instead of showing the blow-by-blow action I just throw out verbs. Readers had a hard time swallowing everything that's happening.
My favorite fight scenes in fantasy is surprisingly from the Wheel of Time series. I love how Jordan, a writer notorious for being descriptive with his writing manage to write such elegance with fight scenes that go by quick especially in the famous war battle: Dumai Wells. It doesn't help that Jordan is also a Vietnam War Veteran.
R.A Salvatore writes good fight scenes as well
Much as I love Robert Jordan, I found Jordan's description of swordfights to be lacking. There are only so many times I can read a strange metaphor matched with another strange metaphor before I just lose patience and start skimming through the scene, though people loved it. Dumai's Wells, on the other hand, was far and away one of the most intense, high-impact battles I've ever read. The words "Shaido meat grinder" still haunt me.
You know whose fight scenes were just outright terrible in every regard? L.E. Modesit. I trudged through his first three books, and I vaguely recall that they got a little better. But that first one, man...it was all sound effects and cheesy lines of screaming dialogue.
@@luciddreamer616 dumai well's show Jordan skill as a writer especially when he uses his war experiences, which makes the chapter ever so intense. L.E. Modesit writing always felt cheesy and his fighting are awfully lackluster. It also doesn't help that the books (Magic of Recluse) are repetitious as hell especially when there are 20 or so books in the series. Like Jordan has 14 books, but at least the story is interesting along with its lore and characters, which I got none of that with MoR. But honestly I'm comparing a great home meal (WoT) to a unhealthy fast food (MoR).
Lucid Dreamer I really enjoyed reading the sword fights, especially when you would see forms reoccur throughout the story and actually began to felt like you understood how different moves could be matched with one another. That being said, to each their own - that’s the beauty of literature
Not even 3 minutes in and there’s an ATLA reference. Nice.
I love how Robert Jordan wrote his fight scenes to maximize the reader’s imagination. Instead of describing sword strokes in detail, he gave moves abstract names like “Herron wading through water” and “Grasshopper jumping over a mountain”. Just evocative enough to give you an extremely general idea of what was happening, but forcing you to imagine 90% of the actual detail. This draws you into the fight by making you invested, and the overall effect is that when the fight is over you feel like you’ve watched a movie even though surprisingly little description was actually given.
It's also nice metaphors that he uses by using insect/mammals of eastern/western sword fighting mixed together.
Ehhhh that tactic quickly outgrew its welcome and seemed lazy by the end
Best fight scene advice I've found! As soon as it was over, I opened up a story I'd written with a fight scene in it, and rewrote it. 1000% immediate improvement. Thank you!
I wish I could 'like' this video multiple times.
Seriously, this is one of the most relevant videos to my own writing struggles I've ever found! A thousand thank-yous, good sir!
(And I will definitely be watching this one a few times for study)
A day will come when HFM makes a video without one single reference to or clip from Avatar but it is not this day. Or any other day really. Nor should it, for Avatar is awesome.
Viewing this video inspired me to meet the request of "looking forward to read your fight scenes in the comments". Hope my stab at it was decent :3
*Another on the List*
She hardly managed to look through the open window, before hearing the light steps behind her. She quickly turned to face her assailant, both hands firmly gripping her sword. The cloaked figure responded by flinging a small open bag towards her. The thick dust made him but a blur, ruining her vision far more than her helmet ever could. Now being forced to fight her
breath and eyes, just as much as the one in front of her, she jerked her body forward, making a desperate stab at her foe.
With a quick swing, he bashed her sword to the side, granting the opening he needed. He plunged his blade effortlessly between the plating, into her throat, blocking the scream before it could escape her lips.
As the poison flowed through her blood, and her blood began to flood her lungs, her sword fell to the floor, and she was soon to follow. But he caught her, and gently brought her down to the floor. And like a parent putting their newborn to the crib... he gently held her, whispering comforting nothings to her as he looked in her eyes, till they slid shut and the sleep took her. And with that, he had brought another on the list to rest.
Try writing out how the battle unfolds before writing. The geography, where the enemy is, tactics, POV, the goal of the scene. For me, this makes writing a battle much easier.
One of my WORST fight scenes was in my first story I ever wrote. I was ten at the time, and so determined to write a violent story as PG as possible, that I kept saying people were “defeated” when I meant killed. The result was something that sounded like color commentary on a turn-based war game.
I`m not a writer and i`m on a Major D&D kick lately . i would recommend with all my heart that you would listen how Mattew Mercer describes a fight scene in his Critical Role D&D campaign . IT IS AMAZING ! maybe you would get a new idea
Just listen to him in general. His descriptions of everything are incredible. The Chroma Conclave attack on E'mon is etched into my memory forever.
Thank you so much hello future me for everything you do. I recently picked up your book and have been fallowing your channel for many years now and have finally started writing my own fiction novel the day before this video came out. coincidentally I am opening the novel with a fight scene so this couldn't have been a better timed video for me.
Actually structure like react-pause-act is really used in animation, where, for example, animating punch will be like: prepare for action - moving fist slightly backwards, then anticipation - some still frames and after that the action itself - quick burst of movement resulting in punch.
Is there a good rule of thumb for bigger fights? I noticed the Order of the Phoenix Fight was mostly centered around, well, Harry and co with everything happening in the background, but is there a good way to do a fight like Tony Cap and Thor vs Thanos? How would a fight like this diverge from the tips given in this video?
Was still an insightful video thou, fight scenes are so bad I wish that a Wizard Did It
(pleasing saxophone)
You just have to write things on a grander scale. Broadly described the overarching battle (or peices of it-depending on how you are structing it) and then focus in on specific spots and scenes within battle, while keeping in mind that a war is still happening around those specific scenes you are focusing on. Make sure you choose wisely what to focus on though (mainly just stick with the scenes that either drive your story forward or present important character development for a certain character in your story.) Otherwise you run the risk of dragging the battle out and making it boring for your readers.
Explain the tactics involved, at least that’s what I do, I suggest you study modern and historical tactics.
I don’t recommend this for most people, it’s just one way to do it.
I'm with TheTytoGaurdian... in part. BUT this also basically goes back to the part of the video where he was speaking to "generalities" when there's no shift of power/balance... and getting "gritty details" when the shift of power/balance was important.
With larger fights, it just requires a bit more on the "broad strokes" narrative, and care with when exactly you shift power or try to narrow in on an important Character moment... Too much and you risk a quagmire of details slowing everything down, and a fight that shouldn't take its own novel to disclose...
Not enough, and the "psychic distance" that results between readers and Characters is too much to expect further investment... It can make even a vital battle seem "unimportant", and we can't have our Characters (and certainly not Heroes) fighting all unimportant battles and wars.
You can study tactics and strategies through the ages... It's probably a good idea, so you have some useful terminology and don't rush to print something utterly mistaken and flawed... BUT you don't have to be a remarkable general to tell a decent battle well. You should probably know about things like a Phalanx as it evolved through the ages... or what different armies from different parts of the world advanced the use of a chariot specifically for.
Romans, for instance, often added blades and spikes to their wheels for a brutal crowd crushing weapon.
Celts on the other hand, actually used their chariots to move fresh troops to front lines and injured/spent troops to the rears, keeping a constant supply of actively strong and fighting troops pouring pressure on their enemies... It's no big mystery how the Romans struggled against them... and the Celtic chariot was one of a VERY few chariots constructed with an active suspension system of any kind.
Things like that are useful for you to know as a writer. You can even base certain things in a completely fictional setting on them... BUT you can't expect your audience/readers to know everything. Some of it, you may have to "teach" along the way. Do that well, and you'll gain popularity... Bore the shit out of readers with an info' dump every other page or chapter, and you probably won't. ;o)
I think there are a few options there, but The TytoGaurdian puts it very well. It depends on what you're angling for and what you want the scene to say. Your intent should dictate the technique.
Oh my gosh, FINALLY a guide on the details of writing and not vague, subjective, and general rules
This reminds me of a book I once read. It’s called The Day I Died, can’t remember who wrote it.
It’s written slowly, so slowly. The entire story is written as a flashback, almost as if the main character is seeing their life flash before their eyes in that one moment before everything ends. But it works. The whole mystery of the story is how did they die.
And it’s an amazing story to read. I won’t spoil the ending here, but I will say that it has stayed with me years later.
Holy crap! Finally! A video that gives ACTUAL SPECIFICS AND EXAMPLES on how to fight instead of just "its needs to be fast-paced" or "show don't tell." Your video is the first that actually provides insight on how to improve on writing fight scenes. Yes, fight scenes are complicated, but it is always helpful when good advice on how to write them is found. You have no idea how I've been searching for something like this! Thank you very much for this video!
I just want to thank you for this. Often, I can only find writing advice on the macro parts, but what I need far more often is micro writing advice.
I really liked you talking about a micro stuff. Not many people talk about it & it’s the most important part of the book as prose is the thing that publishers look for.
If you ever hear a writer talking about how they wrote 5 or 6 books over 10 years until a book was excepted
(10 years seems to the the average regardless of book count because for the average person it takes that long to work on their prose to a professional level
I needed this right now and I got this right now.
Edit: The edited fight scene, I wanted to express the main character's expertise with the sword as well as her willingness to not bother with causing unnecessary pain:
The muggers drew their own swords, mostly without proper hand-baskets, flecked with rust and in one notably grubby rogue’s hand, bent out of shape for two-thirds of the length, and charged her as one. This was hard, because she was now on one side of them.
She dropped into a guard position, feinted and slashed one across the leg, downing him screaming in a very unmanly fashion. The next one she simply sidestepped and tripped, dropping to one knee and stabbing the third in the thigh, holding her buckler up to block any cuts at her wrist. She dropped and rolled forward, careful to keep her bow, slung over her back, as unaffected as possible, leaping halfway up a yard from where she previously was and smashing her sword lengthways, supported by her buckler, into the ankles of the last two, who were probably expecting her to be somewhere else. After they had fallen to the pavement, assisted by their forward momentum, she hit them both in the head, for good measure.
She looked up at Homber, whose movement for the whole altercation had been minimal and who was watching the fight with that kind of disconnected interest of one who knew the outcome when it started. The leader, who had apparently regained some semblance of consciousness, groaned, “Homber… kill the fucker…”
Homber shrugged to Lerussa - not worth it - and walked off down the street. Lerussa smiled, stood, dusted off her hands and left the groaning would-be gang in the middle of the Via, either to be picked up by the Guard or by one of the gangs that shared it.
I'm writing a book right now, and by chance the algorythm bought me this video just as I'm about to write a fight-heavy chapter. Thanks!!!
Ok so this might be one of my fave videos from your channel? So informative!
I really appreciate how you go into sentence-level tips here. Those video's can be hard to find.
Hello Future Me: let's get down to business
Literally everyone watching: *TO DEFEAT THE HUNS!!!*
Bro, its a reference to the Disney movie called Mulan
I'm glad you actually know that historical fact though 😂
TO DEFEAT THE HUNS
I gotta say, I really appreciate your thorough academic analysis on these subjects. Well done.
Good thing I started my morning with this video! I just got to a fight scene in my story today and this advice really helped me edit it down. Plus, if I need a break I can always come back to that quick-cut of Boromir taking arrows lol
i really think this is one of the best writing classes channels...really informative, no excessive joking, straight to the information but at a pacing that makes it easy to follow and internalize.
me: having a book idea that revolves heavily on fights but dose not want it to be boring or read like an instruction manual on how to fight
this video: got you covered bro
This has to be one of the best writing videos on youtube; we need more writing vids focused on the micro aspects of writing. Although each writer has their own style, there are still certain general mechanics and tools that everyone should be aware of.
I will take up that challenge, so here is a fight scene I wrote along time ago (and recently updated a week ago) from a novel I'm in the process of writing:
“Aivas!” she yelled. The suddenness of her voice caused him to turn towards her as an arrow that surely would have found its mark, instead caught him in his left shoulder. He stumbled, clutching the shaft and falling to his knees. Drop. Without hesitation she dropped to her stomach as another arrow shot over her head where she was standing. A soft thud followed as it impacted the ground meters from her face, “Ambush!”
Despite the cry, her outburst had drawn everyone’s attention away and they were caught off guard. She watched as a soldier in front of her took an arrow to his throat. He clutched at it and gurgled blood from his mouth as he dropped to his knees. The cry of at least dozens of voices rang out as men wearing animal skins and bones dropped out of the trees, brandishing simple made hatchets and spears. Arrows seemed to appear out of the canopy and rained down on them. She looked to where their team leader had been standing and found Niko holding the dying man in his arms, three arrows protruding from their leader’s chest. The look of shock on Niko’s face snapped her mind into focus.
“Defend yourselves!” cried Aivas, breaking the arrow shaft at the base, and readied his blade to face an oncoming attacker. He deftly parried an incoming blow from his assailant, and countered with a knee to his opponent's stomach, dropping the savage to the ground before scything his blade across the attacker’s back, deep enough to sever the spine, a spray of blood covering his arm.
Eklypsia’s heart was pounding. Shield up, keep your footing. Brace and react. She got to her feet and took up her stance, scanning the battlefield. She saw a fur-covered man bearing down on Niko. Without a second's hesitation, she readied one of her javelins and launched it. It flew over Niko’s shoulder finding purchase in the attacker’s shoulder, knocking them off their feet and causing them to spin in the air. Niko dropped their leader and quickly scampered over to the downed man and brought his sica down into the opponent's chest to finish him. He looked back and nodded a thanks, then pointed violently back her way. She turned around as a crazed-looking man wielding two hatchets came screaming at her. She brought her shield around and braced.
Hit after hit came crashing down on her. It was all she could do to follow his movements and deflect each blow, so unrelenting were his strikes. Spittle flew from his mouth as he wailed a barbaric war cry. She found herself giving ground, eventually dropping her javelin and using her other arm to help support her slowly cracking shield. The man was big, but his savagery made him seem like a giant. Her courage began to fail as she felt tears well up in her eyes like liquid fear. Strength waning, a deflect turned into a full block, and the man’s axes found purchase in her shield, the blades breaking through centimeters from her face. Her eyes widened at their proximity and she froze. Pulling with all his might the barbarian wrenched the shield off her arm. She felt something pop in her shoulder and pain exploded. Before she could fully cry out he kicked her square in the chest, knocking the wind out of her and sending her onto her back. A hard crack rang through her skull as her helmet met a log and her vision began to swim. He stood over her, panting, eyes wild with both hatred and excitement for the kill. For a brief instant she was reminded of her childhood with the man in the market standing over her when she’d defended the slave boy. She knew she should move, run, escape. Instead, she was frozen, struggling to breathe and her eyes barely able to focus on the man as she held an arm up as if to ward him off. He raised his axes high into the air and roared one last wild scream. She gripped her eyes tight in fear. A loud thud turned his cry into a gurgle. She opened her eyes to find a spear sprouting from his chest. Shock spread across his face while rage still boiled in his eyes as he fell backwards like a freshly chopped tree.
She gasped for air as her breath returned and shuffled back, propping herself up on her elbows against the log behind her. Taking in the sights, her eyes darted back and forth unable to focus on any one thing for long. It was a pure melee. Individual fights raged on as one man fell to another and the victor moved on to find a new target. At least a dozen of her number had fallen already. The cries of the wounded came as an onslaught to her ears. It was as if all her senses were coming back to her at once. She couldn’t even focus on their faces, her eyes constantly drawn to their wounds, friend and foe alike. One was clutching a stump where his hand had been, another trying to hold in his entrails. She watched another lop the head off his opponent before a set of arrows found themselves embedded in his body. A wave of dizziness came over her and she saw nothing more but black.
This is solid work my friend. I really like the last paragraph were your character takes in the scene as she catches her breath after such a intense difficult struggle. Showing the realistic need to breath and come to terms with the violence being witnessed does wonders for pulling me as a reader into the scene and making me feel the struggle. Well done.
Honestly, I really like it.
@@keenanmclean9916 Thank you very much. That's exactly what I was trying to go fro was that sense of visceral over stimulation as it's the characters first battle.
Not enough back flips. 1/10
Very well done, just try to use a little more sinonyms instead of just repeating words several times in the same paragraph, it adds some quality to the writing
I have bought NUMEROUS books on writing fight scenes. They were a waste of both money and time. This video is all any writer (both newbie and professional) will ever need.I tip my hat to you, Sir.
👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
i was looking for this video last night, i genuinely thought you’d already filmed this before??? and now i wake up and you just uploaded the exact video i needed!!! wild shit!!! 👌👌👌
These vids are 100x better and more informed than any English or literature class I've ever taken, Uni included. Keep up the great work Tim.
"You don't need to only write short sentences for fight scenes." Praise the lord!
Also, Tim, you emotionally wrecked me with all those shots of Sirius' death 😭
The Red Rising trilogy has the BEST fight scenes I’ve ever read. Easy to follow, action-packed, emotionally impactful…they’re amazing. I’m surprised you haven’t mentioned anything from those books.
Best part of the video is, “Fight scenes are complicated”
*Boromir Arrow Dubstep*
We need an extended version of that if possible.
I've always struggled with the word by word flow of writing fight scenes. Thanks for this! Fantastic break down.
I'm a simple person, I see Sanderson in the tittle and I click.
This is such a fantastic video! Fight scenes have always been something that I struggled with and it never seemed like anyone focused on the micro stuff! TY so much!!!
I absolutely adore your On Writing series (and the accompanying book) and I get so much out of it! Would you ever consider one day doing similar dives into the comic medium? While so much of what you teach in these videos is still enormously relevant to that medium, a huge deep-dive into handling something like a fight scene in a comic would be incredible. Slowing it down enough to keep the reader engrossed in the action (and aware of what's happening - comic fights can get REALLY confusing) while keeping it fast paced enough that they don't get bored and start to skim the illustrations is a hell of a balancing act.
The story I intend to write will be a graphic novel series, and I want it to be a deeply engrossing story and world, something to be digested slowly - unfortunately, many graphic novels are very surface-level. It's hard to find compelling exemplars which reflect that. The kind of advice I long for on writing a still-picture visual medium is hard to come by as well. Often, if it is available, it's more suited to shallower, action-based, fast-paced superhero style comics, rather than a slow-to-medium pace.
There's surprisingly little out there (that I've found, anyway) and you'd be an amazing person to fill that niche.
That was awesome, really something I've wondered a lot about in the past. Incredible video as always, honestly it's almost mind boggling how high the standard is for these videos when you stop just taking them as given. Legitimately, I wouldn't know half of what I do about writing if it weren't for your essays, so thank you again.
I have a couple of fight scenes and while shit, they have some decent structure. I also won't be able to watch the entire video right now. But I'll be back in a few hours.
"None of her words are wasted on description."
*Reads the descriptions of one of my characters*
Red hair, similar to my MC, eyes like rings of honey topaz, curved eyebrows like a plank of warped wood. A small, almost cute nose, wide hips...
Meanwhile, they are at a party with hundreds of people. And I've not described a single thing at the party.
I think I'm compensating for the fact that I take in the environment IRL, and barely notice people exist until someone talks to me.
Could go for the first person vibe, or maybe use the lack of description to try and convey the claustrophobic environment, maybe she doesn't know anyone and thus only gives basic descriptors with few land marks being described. As if she's lost in a huge maze of people when in reality it's like 30 in a single room.
This video among your many great videos is one that I have found most useful, personally, at least it of your more recent posts. I don't write many fight scenes but I've often struggled while reading them and this helped me understand why. I'll definitely be referring back to this in the future.
I’ve just been reading the expanse!
Love the books
I was literally writing my first fight scene THIS morning, thanks man!
Jokes on you, my older sister is in med school, so I can just ask her whether or not something kills
I *am* in medical college so I can decide for myself whether or not something kills
And my dad is a retired firefighter who now works at a medical care center, so I can just ask Dad if something kills! Also, my dad used to hunt a lot and grew up on a ranch, so I can also ask what kills animals (so I can make sure the dog, cow, goat, or whatever creature who did no wrong and deserves better doesn't die).
having medically trained friends is SO HELPFUL i feel that
And how fast it kills.
harshavardhan naidu
Oh you got me there
I cannot stress enough how much time, effort and quality you put into these videos. That's great.
I'm a simple woman, I saw Oberyn, I clicked.
Don't we all?
~ Tim
Im a simple man, I see you and swipe right.
@@rickyvandusen1744 weird.
Dude, you are so awesome man I'm trying to put a story together and all of your videos are so well put together, informative they all really help make it clear how important the small "side" details of a book are what make it.
This will be real helpful for my books. My first book has a lot of fighting (sword fights, mostly). Later books will have magical fights and such, so I’m glad to have an official On Writing for this topic.
Tell Me How You Wrote IT! Cause I Am Really Getting Hard Stuck While Doing Sword Fights
I really like the way the sword fights in The Wheel of Time are described. They're abstracted in a really unique and evocative way, with broad descriptions, just esoteric names really, of moves and countermoves that makes you want to visualize what's going on in detail yourself. It really sells sword fighting as an artform, as something you master. It's also used quite effectively in non-action-scene contexts as well in a few cases, where sword fighting moves are used to convey physical motion really effectively by getting you used to creating imagery to the names.
Hello Future Me talking about Brandon Sanderson!!!!!
Fight scenes are something Matthew Reilly does really well, he makes absolute certain the reader understands the the layout of the evironment. He even implements diagrams of the setting and as a result it's easy to visualise the action.
I think Shad from Shadiversity would like this video.
ReillanS MACHICULASSSHHHHUUUNNNNNNNNSSSSSSAH!
The fight between Bronn and Sir Vardis gave me goosebumps when I first read it. First time it ever happened.
Yes! It was so good! Perfect subversion of the expected tropes and the high stakes of it all - The Moon Door being certain death for both fighters and also Tyrion's life hanging by a thread, him Just being able to watch everything unfold, robbed of all agency, a bystander of his own fate being fought over by two strangers - *chef's kiss*
I've always found fight scenes pretty easy, but I prefer to mix & match sentence length. Cause & effect just seem like common sense.
fight scenes are unique in that they fall under the topic of conflict but allow the reader to step back from it. A basic description of a scene follows a hierarchy of importance usually based on what stands out for the characters. but a fight scene deconstructs those subjects of importance so there's no hierarchy to descriptors required in events. this lets the reader reflect while the writer maintains flow and tension. good video 👍
I am still waiting for anything how to train your dragon.
Me too
I REALLY like the short sentence approach. I think it really catches the mood a real fight has where you are rarely thinking, just doing
I have my own advice. The how of a fight scene depends entirely on the PoV. It's not the same if you're viewing the action from a neutral, ghost spectator view, from the perspective of a character not involved in the fight, the perspective of a combatant who is unskilled, a combatant who is skilled, etc. An unskilled or panicking fighter would see the action as a blur, a skilled fighter might not actually think about the actual fight going on, but actually be thinking about what his opponent is doing, where to strike, timing, cover, where the exits are and so on.
"She began moving sideways to prompt an action from her opponent, spear in overhand grip. His eyes glanced at her right thigh, so she moved her shield rightwards, catching and glancing his trust to the side and stabbing at his inner elbow in one motion."
This codified so much that a lot of us writers (myself in particular) struggle to explain but seem to "get" intuitively. Awesome video, as always.
Daniel Greene reading wheel of time was a masterful choice.
This helped a lot. I realize I have a habit of getting lost in the details of fight scenes instead of just letting the reader's imagination do the work. I have more of an idea of what to look out for now.
I've been reading RA Salvatore for ideas on how to write fight scenes.
Me too. Erin M. Evans too, specially for writing caster actions.
Immensely helpful, thank you! I also deeply appreciate the rain storm audio and visual during the credits, I find it incredibly soothing.
Just finished writting my exam in Econ, hoped I could watch some Hello Future Me videos to unwind.
Litteraly less then one minute into the video: Micro and Macro dimension
Why is the life so cruel? :(
Did you pass?
Thank you!
I watched this video hoping it would help me understand how the webserial Worm has such well-written fight scenes (and there are LOADS of them so the author really knows what he's doing), and I think the most important aspect may be 13:06 "Show early on in the fight how each weapon moves through space - make them vivid and visceral... then you're free to focus on the character's actions and reactions."
Replace the word "weapon" with "superpower" and you may have the secret to Worm's fight scenes; they feel incredibly visual because you know exactly how each power works, (or you don't and you join the protagonist in trying to use clues to work out what the hell she's up against and think of a way to counter it).
He also always spends some time to set up the environment they're fighting in, which not only helps you to visualise, it also makes the fight feel very satisfying because the terrain is often relevant in some way to how the (apparently underpowered but VERY versatile and creative) protagonist ends up beating the odds.
Finally, you get an excellent sense of consequence to every single action; you already know who is tough and can take big hits, who is vulnerable and can't, how heavy each hit is, and thus you know the stakes for each move each character makes. This also works on the macro level, as unlike a lot of superhero stories, Worm has real consequences and characters have to live with them.
This is from a book I am writing that I am about to send to a publisher. It was one of my favorite fight scenes. I hope anyone who reads this likes it.
Through the door, the thumping of the lumbering giant could be heard coming down the hall from the direction of the stairwell. Looks like I got here just in time. I slouched behind the half wall divider from his living area and his kitchenette.
I could hear him unlock the door, swing it open and walk in. I readied myself as silently as I could. There was a pause. I couldn’t see him or his shadow. Did he hear me? What was he doing?
After sometime I heard the door click behind him. He didn’t make a sound with his feet. Before I knew it, I saw him standing at the end of the divider. I started to raise my gun almost at the ready, but it was as if his arm were a bolt of lightning. It quickly struck down on my arms sending pain screaming its way into my head. I dropped the gun. A mistake I couldn’t afford to make.
Scrambling the rest of the way to my feet he was turned to me. He recognized me right away. His eyes seemed to turn to slivers as his mouth twisted with glee. Either he was excited for another kill or he was happy that he was finally getting to kill me in particular. Either way I needed to act fast. Faster than I could think his other arm came around his orbit and landed on my stomach pushing out what air I had in my lungs. My arms flew to my gut trying to suppress the pulsing pain.
I had to get control. I had to think fast. It can’t end here. My hand was already near my waist. With a quick grab I pulled the knife up and out in self defense. His next punch came for my face. My knife was in the way.
The blade of the knife sunk itself into his fist down to his wrist splitting between his pointer and middle finger. This didn’t stop him. Expression unchanged he raised his other hand and brought it down on my head pushing me to the ground with its impact. The knife was stuck in his right hand and was able to support my weight. I made sure to not let go. I couldn’t let go of another weapon.
Lifting his wounded fist he pulled me to my feet. This had me on my tip toes and a little off balance, which wasn’t good. I realized I was not fighting a man at this point, but a genuine monster. And this monster had me in his sights to kill. There was a hunger in his eyes that fiended for my blood, more than he already had. That one punch left a cut in my head that was already bleeding onto the floor. I didn’t want to have to clean this place. That’s if I survive through this night.
He pulled the bleeding hand back to rear up for a punch, but I still wasn’t going to let go of the knife. Not until I could focus long enough to grab the gun. I could feel the grip of his fist tighten around the blade of the knife. With his hand raised above his head, he brought me close enough to wheeze what he had to say into my face. It seemed he was just enduring the pain to try and show me how weak I was. How age has started to define me. I couldn’t let that happen.
“Ever since the day I met you, I’ve been looking forward to killing you.” His Russian accent was very thick but his english was better than most native speakers. “They said you were dead, but now I’m happy to know that you survived so that I can kill you myself.”
“Don’t get your hopes up,” I spat in his face. There was some blood in my spit.
“I thought you would be more of a challenge considering your training and experience. I wish you were still in your prime, Comrade.” Then I could see that chat time was over.
His fist came down on the top of my head but all I could feel was the blunt edge of the knife hitting me in the side of the head. The blood from his hand splash onto my face. I couldn’t tell just by feeling alone if my blood was also running down my face. But considering the injuries I’ve taken on I was more than certain I was going to lose consciousness soon if I couldn’t change the tide of this fight.
That’s Amazing! I Hope you got it published!
YES, thank you! I was never good at writing those, instead resorting to quick death by poison and walking backwards off a cliff
26:16 Using The Princess Bride as an example of what not to do? That's a paddlin'
Wow! This was amazing. Thank you!
It only lacked explicit content about large unit actions (but should be applicable anyways).
Keep up the great work!
I suspect he's left the large unit stuff for a Writing Battles video.
Avengers Endgame: sleeping in their desk
Me: Scribbles notes furiously
20:00 I actually always loved Robert Jordan's fight scenes because by using these description of moves we have no idea how they look we get to fill in all that ourselves. It is also really cool that depending on the character who's perspective we see the fight from its either described in these terms or not. Fights described from the perspective of someone who's got sword training use these move phrases, the fights of other martial characters (like Matt and Perrin) is more like what you have described in the rest of the video, and from the perspecitive of a non swordtrained channeler, they pretty much only give vague desription on how the overall balance of the fight seems from a distance, and often skipping crucial moments. Like in New Spring when we see or rather don't see Lan killing Ryne, Moirane, who is our perspective character for the chapter, missing the crucial moment of that fight and Lan actually ends up tellign her in vague terms how he finished his part of the duel.
Also the strong theme of dualism that goes through the wheel of time is present here where the swordmoves of the usually male swordmasters constrasting with the weavings of the atleast intially mostly female aes sedai. They are both described in these symbolic terms, flows of air, the river undercuts the bank, from the perspective of characters who understands (or can even see) these things, but being described in much more general terms by those who merely witness such a fight without understanding (or even being able to see) it.