#howtofightwrite

[howtofightwrite]

Hi fight writer! Longtime follower, I always enjoy seeing your work and the situations people put their characters in. X3 Could I ask you to look over an element of character backstory for me, to see how realistic it is?

Character is an itinerant-knight sort of fellow, fantasy setting, elven. He's missing a chunk of his ear on one side, having lost it in a fight -- but not in the usual way of getting it sliced. It's the reason he swears by using a helmet and will not let any of his students go ahead into battle without head protection. The premise I had was that somebody gave him a blow to the side of the head and the helmet he was wearing crumpled from the force, pinning the ear between skull and metal. When the helmet was peeled off, a chunk of the ear came with it, or was basically so pinched off and dead that it had to be amputated anyway. (It also gave him a whopper of a concussion, of course. ^^;) But if he hadn't been wearing the helmet? It wouldn't have just been the ear, it would have been the whole top of his head. Wear your helmets, kids.

Do you think the helmet would have had to be damaged in some way beforehand for this to happen? Or be of shoddy make? Or would the opponent have to be supernaturally strong? Thank you!

So, this question has been sitting in the inbox for a bit, and part of that is that I've had difficulty parsing the question. There's a few reasons for this, but a major element is how much of the above comment isn't part of the question.

I get that most of this is a setup for a simple, “what do you think of my idea?' and those are questions we generally avoid, simply because, “thumbs up, it works.” Or, if there are serious problems, it feels like punching down.

So, in answer, “it's fine.” You don't even really need to justify it with other factors. Someone swinging a hammer at your head can result in your head protection failing. I think we can safely scratch off the supernatural strength option, simply because that's more likely to turn the character's head into an improvised golf ball, rather than taking out an ear. This is a weirdly specific injury, but it's also the kind of injury that could, potentially, happen on the battlefield.

Ironically, the weakest part to this concept is just that a combat veteran wouldn't automatically value head protection unless they'd suffered a disfiguring injury which would have been dramatically worse if they weren't wearing a helmet.

Helmets get into a weird place for a lot of writers. A lot of visual media hates putting characters in helmets (even when they really should be wearing one), because it hides the character's face. There is a legitimate concern here (specifically in visual media), because if multiple characters are wearing uniform helmets, they will become visually interchangeable, so skipping the helmet is about keeping the characters more recognizable. This creates a situation where, in a lot of cases, a helmet is treated like an alternate haircut option, completely glazing over the part where it's extremely important safety equipment.

To a certain extent, the treatment of helmets as cosmetics also extends to the entirety of a character's armor. You see this anytime you have partially armored characters going into battle. In some cases, there may be legitimate reasons for omitting specific armor pieces, and not having the resources to be fully armored is always a real possibility, but skipping the head or torso armor are extremely questionable decisions.

The, “pinched off,” comment always struck me as a bit strange. It sounds like the ear was held away from the skull, with part of the helm inserted between the ear and skull, rather than held up against the head. This would be a bad idea, and a structural weakness, though depending on the exact physiology of your elves, it might not be possible for them to pin their ears against their skull. In which case their armor would need to be specifically designed around their physiology. That might mean a much broader helmet structure. For example similar to something like large flared guard on Japanese helmets, or even the ACH. Depending on the overall tech level, it's possible that the best solution would to simply have ear holes in the helmet, though this could result in a situation where ears could be cut off on rare occasions.

I suppose there'd also be some consideration for rigidity and how uncomfortable it would be to bind down their ears under a helmet. So there might be some kind of structural cutout to accommodate their ears, but again, you really wouldn't want your ears being encased in metal away from the head. Even in the worst case, with horizontal ear tips, you'd probably see helmet designs that fit over the ear, possibly even leaving the underside exposed for better hearing, rather than full metal encasement.

Ironically, having just brought up the ACH, the one place where fully encased ears wouldn't surprise me is with electronic headsets. Though, again, that's more likely to be plastic and softer materials, and would likely fit over the ear and seal against the scalp, rather than just encasing the ear itself.

Also, he'd be partially deaf in that ear. This is not, “deaf by human standards,” but impaired hearing by elven standards. Unless their ears really are just magical, and the tips are performative, it's extremely likely that their ear structure would result in improved hearing, and that's something he would lack if most of the external ear had been destroyed.

-Starke

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[unboundprompts]

Hii!! I came across your blog and immediately followed since I thought I might needed some help with my fanfics, and if there's one thing I'm bad at is describing fight scenes with like guns or magic, I've been struggling to write it and did some practices and didn't like how they came out, I'm hoping if you can do some fighting prompts, I hope this isn't too much!!

How to Write Fight Scenes

-> check out @howtofightwrite , they are an excellent resource for writing realistic fight scenes.

Set the Stakes Early

Why are they fighting? Establish the stakes of the fight clearly before it begins. If the reader understands what’s at risk, they’ll feel more invested. Stakes could be personal (revenge, survival), emotional (protecting a loved one), or strategic (achieving a mission).

Use the Environment

Incorporate the setting to add depth and realism. Are they fighting in a cramped alley, an open field, or a crowded city street? Describe how the environment affects movement, line of sight, or weapon use.

Vary Sentence Length for Pacing

Short sentences create tension and speed, while longer sentences allow for brief moments of reflection or description.

Incorporate Sensory Details

Highlight the senses beyond sight to ground the reader in the fight. Describe the smell of sweat, the metallic taste of blood, the weight of a sword, or the deafening roar of a gun.

Example: “Her ears rang as the blast reverberated around the alley. Smoke filled her nose, thick and choking, but she ignored it, tightening her grip on her weapon.”

Focus on Key Moments, Not Every Movement

Avoid blow-by-blow descriptions. Instead, highlight critical moves, reactions, and turning points to keep the scene flowing and avoid overwhelming the reader.

Show Physical Strain and Fatigue

Fights take a toll, especially over time. Show characters struggling to keep up, panting, sweating, or even stumbling as exhaustion sets in.

Example: “Her arms ached, each swing feeling heavier than the last. Her breathing came fast, ragged, but she couldn’t stop now.”

Capture Emotions and Mindset

Mix action with glimpses of your characters’ thoughts and emotions. This adds depth and reminds readers why the fight matters.

Describe Injuries Believably

Injuries impact the pace and intensity of a fight. Showing injuries realistically adds tension and makes victories feel hard-won.

Example: “She hissed as pain flared in her side where his blade had grazed her. Her vision blurred, but she forced herself to stand, one hand pressed to the wound.”

Build Up to a Climax

As the fight progresses, increase the stakes and bring tension to a peak. This could be a devastating blow, a risky last-minute decision, or a surprising twist.

Example: “He was backed against the wall, nowhere left to run. She raised her hand, a final spell crackling in her palm, the light casting a fierce glow in her eyes.”

Conclude with a Realistic Aftermath

Show the immediate aftermath of the fight: physical exhaustion, injuries, and the character’s emotional response. If they won, are they triumphant, relieved, or traumatized? If they lost, what happens next?

Fight Scene Prompts (with Magic)

-> feel free to edit and adjust pronouns as you see fit.

As they crept down the dim hallway, the flash of gunfire exploded from behind, forcing them to dive to the ground, bullets ricocheting off the walls around them. She barely had time to pull her weapon, pressing her back to the wall as footsteps drew closer. With a steadying breath, she waited for the right moment, then spun, firing off two rounds that hit their marks with surgical precision. The hall fell silent, the smell of gunpowder hanging in the air.

Electricity crackled around his hands as he stalked toward his opponent, energy building in his fingertips. She mirrored his stance, blue flames licking up her wrists as her gaze narrowed. He made the first move, sending a bolt of lightning in her direction, but she countered with a quick flick of her wrist, sending the flames forward like a living shield. Sparks flew as their magic collided, the force of it rattling the metal beams around them.

He ducked behind the dumpster as gunfire erupted, bullets pinging off the conjured barrier that surrounded him. He gritted his teeth, feeling the strain as his shield flickered with each impact. His opponent advanced, shouting taunts over the noise, but he focused, raising one hand to push the barrier outwards, turning it from defense to offense. With a growl, he flung the shield forward like a battering ram, the force slamming his opponent back against the alley wall.

They ascended into the night sky, wind whipping around them as spells flew between them like streaks of fire. He could barely keep up, dodging her relentless attacks as the city lights twinkled below. Finally, he unleashed a burst of energy from his hands, the force spiraling outward in a shockwave. She managed to deflect it just in time, retaliating with a beam of light that sliced through the night like a comet, forcing him into a desperate mid-air roll to avoid it.

[writingquestionsanswered]

hiya! for writers who are complete beginners, kinda sorta maybe write at a high school level, can't describe to save their lives, have overall bad flow (as in they can't decide what little moments scenes to think up and even write, if they do, they're no good), have been told countless times to write daily and just read more but that doesn't cover the basics or foundations of creative writing, not like they can learn from a book bc they're a hands on learner anyway and p.s they're super broke so can't afford writing classes and no library near them offers free ones ---- aka me :( --- do you have any advice? lol i feel kinda doomed and that maybe writing isn't for me, but I don't wanna get my hopes down!! with the right tools, it's possible.

Free Resources for Learning How to Write

I want to start with addressing why you've been told so often "to write daily and read more" as a way to learn how to write. It's very difficult to learn and excel at a craft if you have no experience with said craft. You can read all the information in the world about how to forge a sword, but that doesn't mean you'll be able to pick up a hunk of metal and be able to forge a beautiful sword. You need to spend a lot of time watching other people forge swords, and spend a lot of time actually practicing each step yourself if you want to get good at it. Writing works the same way. Reading lets you experience what fiction should be, writing lets you practice each step for yourself.

Fortunately, there are lots of ways to read fiction for free. You can borrow books from friends, family members, and members of your community. You can check out books and e-books from your local library if you have one. You can look for Little Free Libraries in your neighborhood. There's also a lot of legally free fiction available online. Project Gutenberg, Planet E-Book, Bartleby, Literature.org, Classic Literature, Classic Short Stories, Wattpad, Archive of Our Own, Library of Short Stories, Levar Burton Reads, and sites like Kobo, Amazon, and Audible often offer freebies of both e-books and audio books.

Other free ways to learn how to write:

1 - Follow bloggers and vloggers and authors on social media who talk about the craft of writing. Some of my favorites are: Joanna Penn/The Creative Penn, K.M. Weiland, Liselle Sambury, Abbie Emmons, Hannah Lee Kidder, Brittany Wang, Alyssa Matesic, Bethany Atazadah, Lindsay Puckett, Alexa Donne, Shaelin Writes, Ellen Brock, The Writing Gals, and Sincerely, Vee.

2 - Follow writing craft blogs here on tumblr: (some suggestions) @writingwithcolor, @howtofightwrite, @heywriters, @cripplecharacters, @lgbtqwriting, @fixyourwritinghabits, @wordsnstuff, @yourbookcouldbegayer, @lizard-is-writing

3 - Watch writing craft videos on YouTube: If there's something specific you want to learn about, say, "how to structure a scene," type it into YouTube and many different videos will pop up that walk you through how to structure a scene. Just look for one that strikes you as appealing!

4 - Look for free writing resources online: many authors (especially indie authors and writing gurus/coaches like Joanna Penn, K.M. Weiland, Bethany Atazadeh, Brittany Wang, and Abbie Emmons) offer free writing resources on their web sites or by signing up for their newsletters. Often you'll see writers participating in free online writing summits/workshops which you can sign up for and either watch the videos live or via video playback that is offered for a short period of time (like 24 hours.)

5 - Do a Google Search: believe it or not, there's not a single thing you could want to learn about writing that you can't find for free on Google. If you want to learn how to improve your grammar, go to Google, type in "tips for improving grammar" and you will get a million articles that will tell you how to do just that. Want to learn how to improve your story's flow? Google "how to improve story flow" and you'll have your answer. You can even search for free worksheets, guides, and workbooks on just about anything you want. "Free character development worksheet" brought back a ton of nice looking free worksheets. "Free worldbuilding workbook" brought up several free workbooks and worksheets to help you with worldbuilding. Everything you could want to know is out there.

And, bonus: you can always read through the posts in my WQA master list to get help with a wide variety of craft and writer-related issues.

Happy learning! ♥

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

♦ Questions that violate my ask policies will be deleted! ♦ Please see my master list of top posts before asking ♦ Learn more about WQA here

[cripplecharacters]

do you happen to know of any tumblrs that do what you do, but for other... types(?) of people? i'm struggling to find an active LGBT writing guide blog specifically at the moment but it'd be nice to have a masterlist of any blog of this variety, since tumblr's search is remissfully unhelpful..! tysm

Hi lovely asker!

So there used to be a whole lot of blogs that were labeled "Scriptx" blogs and of course others too. Good thing is a lot of them were archived! So while they're not open for new questions you can still use the search and use the information provided to other asks they answered. So I'm gonna tag the other active blogs or the ones that are just on hiatus and then I'm gonna link all the archived ones!

Active:

@yourbookcouldbegayer

@scriptlgbt

@fuckyeahasexual

@writingquestionsanswered

@scriptmedic

@blindbeta

@askablindperson

@writingwithcolor

@creatingblackcharacters

@howtofightwrite

@script-a-world

@scriptstructure

Not active/Archived:

scriptservicedogs-blog

actuallyservicedogs

scriptshrink

scripttorture

scriptveterinarian

scriptautistic

asexualadvice

scripttraumasurvivors

scriptpharmacist-blog

scriptpolitics

scriptpublishingindustry

scriptfirefighter

writenavy

scriptwitchcraft

scripthacker

scriptcriminaljustice

scriptgenetics

scriptflorist

scriptlawyer-blog

scriptastronomer

scriptchemist

scriptmyth

scriptspoonie

scriptkink

scriptequestrian-blog

scriptsocialwork

scriptbrainscientist

fantasticallyfactualforensics

scriptaccountant

scriptballerina

scripthistory

scriptlibrarian

scripteconomist

scripteducator

scriptlinguist-blog

I briefly scrolled through a few of these that I personally wasn't aware of but I can't vet and scroll through each and every individual blog in its entirety because well it would take a very very long time. Also of the active blogs some don't have their ask box open and/or some are on small hiatus'. Please be respectful of that, pretty please, everyone puts in a lot of time and effort and yeah.

~ Mod Virus 🌸

[heywriters]

Hey so I am sort of new, or more like re-introducing myself after so long a way I may as well be a new person, to writing side of tumblr. Do you have an recommendations on people or tags that be cool to follow?

Yep, sure do!

@writingquestionsanswered

@fixyourwritinghabits

@keepcalmandwritefiction

@wordsnstuff

@writingwithcolor

@theliteraryarchitect

@thewritinghole

@the960writers

@bookishdiplodocus

@thewritersspotblog

@questionprompts

@writtentelepathy

@the-write-type

@elumish

@insanitysilver

@howtofightwrite

@jstor (below blogs are inactive/on hiatus but good references)

@scriptshrink

@scriptmedic

@scriptcriminaljustice

I also have a side blog to this one @hey-writers for writer promos and the occasional posted fiction or poetry. I don't update it often, but it is there if you want to peruse other writeblrs.

Followed tags are touch and go as people will "tag spam" things that aren't relevant, but check these out anyway!

#writers on tumblr

#writeblr

#writing

#creative writing

Make use of the "Latest" and "Top" categories when checking tags.

Welcome back!

[open-to-the-sky]

Cool people I follow: A guide for my friend

The Great Storytellers: (stories from their lives)

@gallusrostromegalus I feel like this person has lived their own version of the Odyssey. They have LORE, their parents have LORE, their DOGS HAVE LORE.

@thebibliosphere a romance novelist who lives in a cursed body in a cursed home.

@biggest-gaudiest-patronuses how am I supposed to describe this blob of pink slop? Amazing cursed writings and stories.

@bunjywunjy CURSED BIOLOGY!

@hellenhighwater a rare ADHD goblin who has no (evident) executive disfunction. Names all her pets after crimes.

@hedgehog-moss the adventures of the great escaping llama Pampe.

@tkingfisher Author of Digger, and so many other magical stories.

Wizard Roleplayers:

@wizard-council-bureaucrat

@evilwizard

@the-unseelie-court-official

Cool comics:

@yamujiburo writes a really cute and sweet Jessie/Delia comic! Featuring Ash's face-blindness.

@skycowboys so many kinds of pegasi !

@lxgentlefolkcomic the league of extraordinary gentlefolk! Cryptid Jonathan, slightly vampire Mina, Irene Norton (nee Adler) and her trophy husband, and Quincy Lives!

@linkeduniverse All the Links! what more could you ask?

@eldritch-anthology the DND adventures of an EXTREMELY NORMAL AND HUMAN teen as he searches for info on what who he is.

@pocketss goblin-core goblins

@fishtrouts Baby Dragons!

@pterribledinosaurdrawings self evident!

@thepigeongazette fun autobiographical comics!

@foxes-in-love So cute!

@figmentforms A Zelda/Ganon comic! Featuring Queen Zelda's adopted daughter Rinku (Link).

@thesuperheroesnetwork texts from superheroes!

Cool people (that have awesome advice that pertains to writing):

@blumineck archery guy!!

@howtofightwrite writing help for fights and so cool!

Writers: (stories not from their lives) (I hope)

@the-modern-typewriter writes really good stories about the dynamics between heroes and villains. Also wrote a lot of prompts before stopping and you can find them in the archive!

@microsff short but cool stories

@elsewhereuniversity so many cool stories and ideas, plus the adventures of the Archivist!

@unpretty Accountant by day, Certified Dick Wizard by night. Writing a really fun BOTW ~adjacent~ web novel, and has written many, many unhinged Batman fanfics. Highly recommend looking them up.

@caffeinewitchcraft Amazing short stories based on prompts!

@elidyce Also amazing short stories!

@marlynnofmany many Humans Are Space Orcs stories! and starting a novel on teachers at a magical school!

@yourheartonfire superhero stories!

@gingerly-writing more superhero stories!

@dduane THE Diane Duane.

[livums]

Oh this is so fucking helpful tysm !!! This is exactly the kind of thing I was wanting to know.

Hi all! I’m looking for some advice… it’s kind of general but for writers who have experience writing a smart, tactical strategist sort of character, how do you go about doing it?

I think that’s a role that one of my characters really should be playing in the story, but I’m not very confident in my ability to like. Make logical Plans that don’t, in some way, sound quite foolish. Because I don’t want this character to end up looking silly, ofc…. Lol

[humanperryfic]

i'm coming here from perryverse and just like. how do I get as good at writing as you are? what's your secret?

Awww thank you! Crazy that you're saying that since I think I've actually improved a lot since writing that fic.

Obviously the number one answer I have is going to be to just write, a lot. I got good as fast as I did because I bingewatched Phineas and Ferb in the first three days of the original Covid lockdown in March 2020, and then wrote a ton of fic because I was lucky to just be insanely bored.

So write. Write a lot. Write when you can. Slap it all out there on the internet. See what sticks.

Answer number two is going to be read, a lot. But not just passively. Read great fanfiction. Ask yourself why it's great. Read terrible fanfiction. Ask yourself why you hate it. Read real books. Ask yourself about what's going on that you like or don't like, especially between the two mediums of print and fic (because they are different! Also, "real" books tend to use a broader variety of vocabulary, which is always good). Read fic written by people who write English as a second, third, fourth+ language (assuming you're a native english speaker). Ask yourself why you would write/rewrite things to flow a certain way.

Read with an eye for things you want to do yourself.

Answer number three? Always have a little bit of outside perspectives and advice coming into your mind. The best way I've found to keep learning at this point is following people that give advice on writing particular characters or things. @cripplecharacters, @writingwithcolor, and @howtofightwrite are some of my favorite blogs to read whenever they post, and they have invaluable advice.

You're never too good of a writer to not learn new things or unlearn biases/misconceptions.

Answer number four is to keep things rotating in your mind. Not always at the front. But somewhere back there. Keep a running list of ideas on your phone or whatever somewhere I have a Discord server that's literally just me, where I keep my ideas for various things sorted, as well as a Noteful notebook for just...random ideas and plotting things out.

You never know what kind of random idea could be your most interesting fic idea.

Answer number five: Don't throw out any of your writing. Keep things around in whatever form you write in. Microsoft Word, Google Drive, whatever. Keep things around, even if they suck and all you wrote is a sentence and a half. You never know what you might come back to...and hey, keeping the old stuff is a great way to look back and see how far you've come.

Every scrap of writing tells a story. Keep it.

Answer number six: With that in mind, do try out writing an entire fic, plot bunny to published, in the AO3 editor at least once. You have to finish it in the month timespan. You have to publish it. It's a challenge, best suited for a shorter oneshot (though I've done it with fics up to 16.5k words lol), but it'll tell you something about how you write.

(If you fall short, copy/paste it all into a separate document and finish it. Don't waste your work.)

Answer seven: Plot brackets. Plot your fic out by writing the very very basics of what you want to happen in square brackets (ex. [perry goes home] [candace teases him about having a crush on someone]). Fill it in in whatever order you want. Make the brackets short and sweet. Use meme references. Or whatever. Make them stupid. Whatever gets the plot and vibes out onto the page.

[insert summarizing quip here]

Answer eight (the random stuff that I can't do a whole paragraph on each): Onelook Reverse Thesaurus. Lifechanger. When you can, write with your internet/cell service turned all the way off so you don't fall into a research/distraction rabbit hole. Try to write ten words every single day. Take a look at TVTropes every so often- Tropes are Tools, and you should know what's in your toolbox. Write about things you're obsessed with. Write the bad stuff. Write the dumb ideas. Write for the fandom with ten fics.

It doesn't matter. Just write it.

[cosmichorrorsarestillnicerthanme]

Odd question, but how would you write a knife fight?

Like, one person has a knife, and the other doesn't.

I can't say that I have any real experience in fighting with knives, or any training with weapons in general, just boxing and a really strong interest in martial arts as a whole, and this would probably be a question better sent to the blog centered around writing fights such as @howtofightwrite but I will do my best to try and give you a satisfactory answer.

Also, I should preface this by saying that I will be going off what I would do in a fight as that is what I would typically right with a bit of flair tacked on to make it fit in with the rest of my writing.

Assuming that I have the knife, I would probably keep it in my left hand which is my jab hand while using my right to distract and occupy them before mixing in slashes with the knife and throwing a couple of thrusts into spots that are areas where a lot of blood goes through (Ex. Neck, Stomach, Thighs, etc.). If those are blocked I would try and get in close and use the knife as a defensive tool to cover my advance before getting to where I want to be which gives me a few options that I can think of, those being the following, slipping the knife between or under the guard, knocking them off their feet and then stabbing them, or getting them into a lock where I can get them as best as I can with the knife.

On the other hand, if I am fighting someone with a knife I can only think of two options. Keep them as far away as possible, or get the knife out of their hands as quickly as possible. Seeing as in this scenario only one party has a weapon to fight with, that leaves the second.

To disarm the attacker I would wait for them to try and stab me before stepping to the side of the thrust (This is important and I should say that it would be best to step to the outside as opposed to the inside though that could also work when mixed with a throw of some sort if you are so inclined). I would then grab the attacker by the wrist with whatever hand is closest to it and then grabbing the elbow with my other hand while pulling back on the wrist, preforming a joint lock on the arm. Following this I would try one of two things, breaking the arm and then knocking the blade out of the hand, or forcing the attacker to the ground by either applying pressure to force them down or kicking the back of the knee and then knocking the knife out of the hand. After that, I would more than likely find a way to restrict their movement while choking them out or simply hitting them until they stop being able to fight. The second of those options would probably be better for me if I do not want to kill someone due to improper technique.

[sleepyowlwrites]

Do you have any sources you could point me to for writing a fight scene? I need to write a fight scene with multiple people and weapons and girl who doesn't know how to fight.

I have these three links:

One

Two

Three

And for everything else I find that @/howtofightwrite is a fantastic blog with so many specific fighting answers and explanations

[cardierreh15]

Hmmm, valuable information.. tho I’m walking dead — it’s been proven that enough trauma isn’t enough and a Walker could still crawl itself to you. I think when it starves, that’s when it finally dies. But as far as anything like “Clickers” from TLOU series— that is some serious business. You’d have to choose your weapons correctly because a simple bullet could ricochet off of the fungi. It’s meant to protect the brain. So— I would say it depends on the Kind of zombies. This was an informing read tho! Thanks Starke! 💫

in a lot of zombie stories like The Walking Dead, the only way to kill a zombie is to destroy the brain. Given that the skull is designed to protect one of our most important organs, how hard would this be on average? Would it be easier with bladed weapons like a hatchet vs blunt weapons like a baseball bat? And while killing anything is easier with a gun, I’ve heard headshots can be quite hard to nail. Is this something that can get better with practice, or will it always be something of a crapshoot?

Honestly? Thinking about it, destroying the brain to put down the zombie doesn't make that much sense. The first problem is the brain itself. The skull is pretty good at protecting the brain most of the time, but that's more impressive when you consider just how fragile the brain is. It's very soft tissue, suspended in fluid. It's also one of the first organs to really suffer from decomposition.

Particularly, the brain is the organ you have to really worry about when someone flatlines. It will start suffering serious damage within 30 seconds of being deprived of oxygen. Within minutes of death, it undergoes irreversible chemical changes and starts to break down, so, it follows that, the brain isn't going to be in a usable state by the time the zombie virus tries to claw its way back to the living.

This is a different kind of problem with living “zombies,” such as the 28 Days series or REC. Though, in those cases, the zombies would have a very limited shelf life, as the strain of the virus would kill them long before the second film rolled around. But, in those cases, massive trauma should still kill the zombie, so you don't really need headshots, when a shotgun, center mass, will get the job done.

For clarity, you know there's no way to answer that comment about headshots without sounding like a psychopath, right? The short answer is that, yeah, if you' know what you're doing, and you know your gun, you can hit a small, semi-mobile target at medium range. A sapient being? That's harder, people don't tend to present their head for a convenient bullet, like a video game shooting gallery, but, with practice, you can reliably hit a head sized target at about 30m. Landing that shot against a live person running for cover or shooting back might be a bit tricky, but against a shambling, reanimated, corpse, it should be pretty doable. Obviously, I don't have a lot of first hand experience shooting reanimated corpses, so I'm having to make some educated guesses here.

However, having just said that, I'm immediately reminded of something the Resident Evil 2 remake pointed out: Shooting someone in the head doesn't mean you destroyed their brain. Surprisingly, shooting someone in the head will only kill them about 98% of the time, so I can see some logic in the thought process.

That said, shooting zombies tends to run up against a problem, that doesn't make a lot of sense when you step back and think about it. Generally you don't want to shoot zombies because the sound will attract more zombies, and there are inevitably more zombies than you have bullets. This the exact scenario that The Walking Dead works with. So, I have one small question: How did we get here?

Before we go any further, and spoilers for a comic book that published 15 years ago, but The Walking Dead did answer that. (The TV series and comic have different answers. In the TV series it's a virus from space that reanimates corpses, in the comic book it was a presumably supernatural force reanimating the dead. Though, it might have become a space virus now. I stopped reading the comic when it just got too goddamn depressing.)

When you're looking at a city like Atlanta (from The Walking Dead), and you're facing something north of six million zombies, yeah, that's a serious problem. You can't headshot six million zombies. But how did you get six million zombies? Six million zombies is a problem that can't be solved with brute force. Six-hundred-thousand zombies is a problem that can't be solved with brute force. But, sixty-thousand zombies? That can be contained. Six thousand zombies is an orderly riot. Six hundred zombies can be locked in a building and disposed of. Sixty zombies can be easily contained and neutralized. Six zombies? You can send out animal control and nip that problem in bud before there's an outbreak. And without higher brain function, there's basically no chance of patient zero avoiding detection.

But, I know the answer to this one, “well, they sent cops to catch patient zero, and the cops got bitten, then they turned in the hospital, and...” this would be a lot more plausible if rabies didn't exist. Actually, with the reputation of American police, there's basically no chance a zombie gets within biting distance.  But, even if they did get closer, you know what else likes to bite cops? Meth heads. You know who has more higher brain function than a zombie? Meth heads.

Is there zero chance of a first responder getting bitten by a zombie? No, there's a chance. There's basically zero chance of that zombie biting anyone else, and on the slim possibility that the infected first responder turns and manages to chomp on one of their coworkers, there is no chance that the infection daisy chains out from there.

There's also a real likelihood that any growing outbreak will suffer, “a negative biomass shift,” as it tries to expand. That is to say, if someone sends twenty soldiers to contain 100 zombies, and those soldiers are overrun and infected, you're not going to have 120 zombies. You probably won't have 100 zombies, after they're infected and turned. So long as those soldiers drop more than two zombies, the horde will experience negative population growth. Incidentally, it doesn't matter if this is a modern or medical fantasy setting, in either case, the zombies aren't going to be able to put up much of a fight against armed and armored troops. Militaries train to fight against sapient foes, while zombies are going to be little more than training dummies. Even if they are eventually overwhelmed by the hoard, the hoard only gets a few corpses to replace all the zombies it lost. (Note: This doesn't apply if you have necromancers raising undead forces, in those cases, the actual loss of zombies will be minimal, as they reanimate zombies that were damaged enough to break their previous reanimation, but could still be used on the battlefield, so in this specific case, the goal would need to be more egregious destruction of the corpses.)

So how did we get to six million zombies? Any zombie outbreak will be at its most vulnerable when there are only a handful of infected. This even applies, to some extent, when you're looking at non-traditional zombie scenarios, such as fungal infections. Zombies are generally not very stealthy. (Ignoring The Walking Dead (TV)'s ninja zombies for the moment.) So, if you have a biohazard situation like that, unless there's a very long incubation period (which most zombies don't exhibit), then  the danger of them going undetected and reaching critical mass is pretty limited.

Also, once you start looking at urban environments, that's not a great space for zombies to navigate. Things like storm drains and security barriers can effectively stop zombie advancement through an urban environment. Sure, zombies might be a threat to massive glass windows on the ground floor, but how are they going to operate the elevators, or the keycard reader to get into the stairs? Much less climb multiple flights of stairs to find the survivors? They might be able to chase them up the stairs, but getting there under their own initiative? Not so much. Same problem with any structure that puts steel bars on the windows. Zombies can't get in, or out.

After that, there's still the problem of decomposition. Dead bodies don't typically hold up particularly well. Maybe there's an embalmed zombie out there somewhere, shambling around, years after the outbreak, but most of the corpses will, quite literally, fall apart in a couple weeks. (Probably less, if they're chasing after survivors and slamming into walls.)

Having said all of that, I don't hate zombie fiction. Zombies can be a fantastic metaphor. You can even come up with compelling and interesting zombie scenarios. I know I just said it was implausible, but I don't hate The Last of Us's scenario, even if I do have some issues with some of the writing (specifically in the last few levels of the first game, before anyone asks.)

So, would it be hard to kill a zombie? Usually no. You might have some exceptions, such as magically reanimated corpses that really don't need to be intact to continue trying to kill you. Dead Space's necromorphs come to mind as an excellent example of creative zombie assembly.

The issue is usually the volume of zombies, just the sheer number threatening to pour out onto the street at any moment. Which requires that things went exceptionally wrong in ways that don't really make a lot of sense when you step back and think about it.

The issue wasn't shooting one zombie in the head, it was the next ten, and the next hundred, and the next thousand. Because, in those numbers, it doesn't really matter if they're easy to kill, there will always be more.

-Starke

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[writingquestionsanswered]

I'm trying to write a fist fight. Like illegal boxing type deal. Like gashes to the face from the knuckles kinda thing. I wanna make it brutal, but I don't really know how to. What's some words or like action that you would use? I have some ideas, and how to describe it but I don't wanna use boring words. Tysm.

Fight Scenes and Action Scenes with Impact Giving Fight Scenes More Impact

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[heywriters]

i love that no matter how ridiculous the question is, @howtofightwrite will always start with "the short answer is..." before utterly annihilating the question with an epic amount of detailed response and references

[astraygenius]

@howtofightwrite

Helpful things for action writers to remember

Sticking a landing will royally fuck up your joints and possibly shatter your ankles, depending on how high you’re jumping/falling from. There’s a very good reason free-runners dive and roll. 

Hand-to-hand fights usually only last a matter of seconds, sometimes a few minutes. It’s exhausting work and unless you have a lot of training and history with hand-to-hand combat, you’re going to tire out really fast. 

Arrows are very effective and you can’t just yank them out without doing a lot of damage. Most of the time the head of the arrow will break off inside the body if you try pulling it out, and arrows are built to pierce deep. An arrow wound demands medical attention. 

Throwing your opponent across the room is really not all that smart. You’re giving them the chance to get up and run away. Unless you’re trying to put distance between you so you can shoot them or something, don’t throw them. 

Everyone has something called a “flinch response” when they fight. This is pretty much the brain’s way of telling you “get the fuck out of here or we’re gonna die.” Experienced fighters have trained to suppress this. Think about how long your character has been fighting. A character in a fist fight for the first time is going to take a few hits before their survival instinct kicks in and they start hitting back. A character in a fist fight for the eighth time that week is going to respond a little differently. 

ADRENALINE WORKS AGAINST YOU WHEN YOU FIGHT. THIS IS IMPORTANT. A lot of times people think that adrenaline will kick in and give you some badass fighting skills, but it’s actually the opposite. Adrenaline is what tires you out in a battle and it also affects the fighter’s efficacy - meaning it makes them shaky and inaccurate, and overall they lose about 60% of their fighting skill because their brain is focusing on not dying. Adrenaline keeps you alive, it doesn’t give you the skill to pull off a perfect roundhouse kick to the opponent’s face. 

Swords WILL bend or break if you hit something hard enough. They also dull easily and take a lot of maintenance. In reality, someone who fights with a sword would have to have to repair or replace it constantly.

Fights get messy. There’s blood and sweat everywhere, and that will make it hard to hold your weapon or get a good grip on someone. 

A serious battle also smells horrible. There’s lots of sweat, but also the smell of urine and feces. After someone dies, their bowels and bladder empty. There might also be some questionable things on the ground which can be very psychologically traumatizing. Remember to think about all of the character’s senses when they’re in a fight. Everything WILL affect them in some way. 

ARCHERS ARE STRONG TOO. Have you ever drawn a bow? It takes a lot of strength, especially when you’re shooting a bow with a higher draw weight. Draw weight basically means “the amount of force you have to use to pull this sucker back enough to fire it.” To give you an idea of how that works, here’s a helpful link to tell you about finding bow sizes and draw weights for your characters.  (CLICK ME)

If an archer has to use a bow they’re not used to, it will probably throw them off a little until they’ve done a few practice shots with it and figured out its draw weight and stability. 

People bleed. If they get punched in the face, they’ll probably get a bloody nose. If they get stabbed or cut somehow, they’ll bleed accordingly. And if they’ve been fighting for a while, they’ve got a LOT of blood rushing around to provide them with oxygen. They’re going to bleed a lot. 

Here’s a link to a chart to show you how much blood a person can lose without dying. (CLICK ME) 

If you want a more in-depth medical chart, try this one. (CLICK ME)

Hopefully this helps someone out there. If you reblog, feel free to add more tips for writers or correct anything I’ve gotten wrong here. 

[alirhian]

about the lack of sci-fi in dragon age, this reminds me of a post i read on tumblr about how dragon age and its lore are heavily inspired by warhammer (and get by just on luck and "bioware magic" or whatever its called. howtofightwrite()tumblr()com/post/175391920866/qa-good-writers-steal-da-poe

To be honest, I don't know much about Warhammer except a few lore things but I agree, DA has many similarities with it. Warp and Fade, Inquisition (the order serves the Emperor and fought heretics, just like the original Inquisition served the Church for the same purpose), psykers, blood magic, demons, and more. As I recall, someone even found a direct reference to Warhammer in Veilguard.

But there's also many things from fantasy books, different cultures and dnd. Many settings were created that way drawing on almost the same material. If we're talking about elves, on whom DA world is heavily centered and to whom the actual sci-fi complaints are directed, they always seemed to me to be mostly a reworking of the Forgotten Realms elves, especially since DA was created by dnd fans. Elvhenan is similar to Arvandor, which was wrested from the titans. Arvandor aside, they are also from the Feywild, and it's a chaotic, magic-filled plane that amplifies the emotions of the creatures living there, and elves themselves are originally changeable, emotional beings. It's easy to see the Fade, elvhen and spirits in this. Dragon Age also has a significant amount of Christian references. As the story of the FR elves is the story of the fall into sin, the Sin of the Elves, when their divine father punished them by banishing from Arvandor for doubting the elven way, taking away their immortality. Original Sin, loss of elven immortality, and the Maker, who punished his children and trapped the Old Gods underground.

I think Warhammer was one of the main inspirations but not bigger than Martin (as I remember, they said that Dragon Age mostly inspired by A song of ice and fire), Tolkien and dnd, at least before DATV. In Veilguard it's not just the influence that led to something new, they took ideas without trying to make it fit the DA world. For example, Nadas Dirthalen with pathways instead of thoughts is clearly Asuryani Path, the codex local high elves follow. Even if paths in general originally came from them, it took on a different meaning in DA, so archives don't fit. I wrote about it recently but it was more trying to fix the lore than actual explanation.

In the past, they've taken fantasy elements from a variety of settings but reworked them to create their own world. Now even fantasy elements (like speak with dead spell; Gaider did it better in fic about Dorian speaking to his dead father btw) are poorly adapted, not to mention sci-fi.

[caveat-scriptor]

Looking for lawyers and law students!

Are you a lawyer or law student who would be interested in helping out fic writers who want to include legal elements in their story? Consider being a mod for Caveat Scriptor!

About

Caveat Scriptor is a resource (similar to the blog @howtofightwrite) for fic writers who want to include elements of the legal system (or law school) in their stories. By becoming a mod, you would be volunteering your time (as much or little as you like) to helping writers bring some legal verisimilitude to their stories.

Why

It's fun to engage with creative hobbies even if you don't have the time or energy to write yourself. And you can consider it the opportunity to consider areas of law that you may not usually get to interact with but without the pressure of having to provide legal advice (nothing said on the platform is or should be considered legal advice). The aim is some semblance to reality rather than strict legal plausibility.

How

Send an ask with your preferred method of contact!