#writing action

[dallasgallant]

What are some “porch activities” for lack of a better term, good portion of my Darry-Ponyboy fic takes place on the porch one night. I need some general hangout activities for the porch.

Already thinking of things like- watching the street/people watching, the radio, reading, drinking, smoking etc

Or physical stuff I guess, stuff that’s not just talking.

This’ll be useful for future ideas generally, think it’s as much a hangout spot as the living room or the lot.

[bodhrancomedy]

Eight Minutes: Edda the elderly barbarian rescues her best friends with benefits, Elder North-East (AKA Jorah) - Bodhrán M.

Part 1

The raiders crashed through the bracken, not even bothering to disguise the comet tail of destruction in their wake.  They’d hit the Great Tree hard, and they’d hit it fast – smoke billowing out of the secluded glade behind them.

Every available hand would be turned to fighting the fire or defending the western entrance where the other two thirds of the small company were making as much noise in retreat as possible. With every druidic eye focused there, the Red Magpies had been free to conduct the true mission: seize as many members of the Circle as they conceivably could and get them back to controlled territory as quickly as possible.

Which they’d succeeded thus far, Nero thought mildly grudgingly. He’d been confident in securing at least two Elders (perhaps even three!) but the oldies had been frustratingly competent in their own defence. For a bunch of peace-preaching relics, they’d been quick to go for deadly retaliation. It was one thing to practice against magicians of your own clan and another to cross a room actively trying to rip off your limbs.

He'd been right, however, that they just needed to get with arm’s reach and then it was like any other snatch. Slap on a magic sealing cuff and even the smallest member of his crew easily outclassed the strongest Elder. Just a damned pain that they’d been organised enough to barricade themselves behind the altar and then the Magpies had to waste half their time smashing through a regrowing door.

If the Second Squad had just been a little faster with the torches… Nero would have had seven sitting ducks and not just one.  

As if to accentuate his frustration, their captive chose that moment to completely forget how to use his legs and pitched himself into the ferns with a yelp of shock.

[kaylinalexanderbooks]

It's kinda insane how much work I have to put in for a fight scene. Like, idk if this is just me, but I have to outline beforehand like crazy. I have to put in generally what happens, then split it up into multiple active and reactive events, escalations, de-escalations, etc...

And then when I get to writing I have to figure out choreography???

It's usually worth it in the end, and I've gotten decent action out of it...just wish it didn't take so long

Last time, it was, like, a whole group training scene I had to write. It took, like, a month to write that chapter. In all fairness, there was a scene before that, but I think most of the time was the training scene. This is a 1v1 sparring session, which is much easier

It's like 1am but whatever, I made progress! I'll hopefully be able to write the scene tomorrow... Can't wait. Both genuinely because I legitimately want to write the scene but also choreography is hard.

[secretly-larry-daley]

I’m so proud of myself! I wrote one page of my fanfic today 😄😄😄

Maybe if we’re lucky, we’ll make it to two!!!

[ancientroyalblood]

The Dos and Don'ts of Writing Action Scenes

Action scenes are the pulse-pounding, heart-racing moments in a story where characters face danger, make split-second decisions, and confront conflict head-on. Whether it’s a thrilling swordfight, a high-speed car chase, or a tense standoff, writing action scenes can be a challenging but rewarding endeavor. In this exploration of the dos and don’ts of writing action scenes, we’ll share best…

[quinloki]

With practice, just like with art, you’ll start to learn when and where you can break these rules and suggestions, and when to even apply them entirely.

RDJ’s Sherlock narrated his fights, he thought about the strategy during the fight. This breaks one of the previously mentioned pieces of advice.

But! His narration was clipped, quick and concise, which falls in with one of the other pieces. The fight was visually slowed so we as the audience could perceive the speed at which Holmes was thinking. This works because it’s in line with the character and the theme of the story.

Conversely, in My Hero Academia, Midoriya constantly got in his own way. His theories and tactics were tripping up his physical growth. He needed to think first, then act - his clumsy physical growth was accented by heavily muttered tactics, but as he grew the muttering tactics diminished, and his physical skills matured.

Think about your genre and theme too - describing a fight in an action story is going to be more detailed and realistic than describing a fight in a romance story or a comedy.

Even then, if your action story is futuristic or fantasy, how you describe things may change. Horror stories can easily go whole hog and beyond to drive home the horror itself, but your action comedy might hold back for the sake of quips and tropes.

For what it's worth, I edit and rework my action scenes way more than anything else I write. More than dialogue, even more than steamy smut scenes. There's chaos in action, and balancing technical vs theatrical vs emotional without getting lost in the chaos takes practice.

Remember, have fun out there, sometimes writing the Super Hero Landing is the best part XD Even when we know--

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. 

If your sword is sharpened down to a fine edge, the rest of the blade can’t go through the cut you make. You’ll just end up putting a tiny, shallow scratch in the surface of whatever you strike, and you could probably break your sword. 

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. 

[lousyglitch]

The wildest thing about Ben 10 is that it took until 2005 for someone to have the idea "what if a kid could turn into a bunch of aliens" like this isn't obviously the coolest and most marketable premise for anything ever. Each design is a new toy. A new powerset. Come on.

But to prove that it wasn't a fluke, they continued to have the best ideas for every aspect of it. How does he transform? A cool watch you can also sell as a toy. That watch's name? Omnitrix. Say it. It's so satisfying. How many aliens? Ten. Nice round number. The kid's name? Ben. The show's name? Ben Ten. His full name is Benjamin Tennyson, a normal, plausible name, but he also turns into 10 aliens.

Bigger brands dream about this synergy. Better writers would kill for this coherence. So holistic. So intuitive. The identity alone!!! The retro alien sound motif? Chilling. The green? Any other color would be wrong. The kirby krackle pattern? It seems so obvious in retrospect. The roadtrip format? Genius. Lesser writers would've done the spider-man high school thing. His arch nemesis being Cthulhu darth vader? Inspired, iconic, intimidating!

The execution has its highs and lows, but the idea??? Game changing. So self-evident that it seems inevitable. If Ben 10 didn't exist, it would be necessary to invent him.

[noodles-and-tea]

Continuation of this

[raynewolferune]

Batmobile Conversations as Heard by a Fast-food Drive Thru Cashier

Batman: "No."

Red Robin: "But what if -"

Batman: "No."

Red Robin: "But I could -"

Batman: "No."

Red Robin: "What if I -"

Robin: "Cease this Neanderthal behavior at once! You cannot be a Red if you are dressed entirely in Green!"

~*~*~

Red Hood: "You're not my fucking father!"

Batman: "The paperwork says otherwise."

Red Hood: "Fucking where, Bitch! I'll burn them!"

Batman: "You'd still be grounded and for even longer if you did."

~*~*~

Batman: "Please tell me you have a Signal action figure now?"

Drive Thru Cashier: "I'm afraid Riddler high jacked the truck they were supposed to be on. We haven't got any in yet."

Batmn: *long heavy sigh* " Of course he did."

~*~*~

Red Hood, driving the batmobile for some reason: "I need 10,000 of one of literally anything you carry other than the Night Wings. I literally don't carry what it is."

Signal: "And one order of Robin Nuggets."

Red Hood: "And one order of Robin Nuggets. We Are Robin limited edition version if you have it."

~*~*~

Nightwing, driving the batmobile for some reason: "I need 6 orders of Night Wings, please."

Red Robin: "There are only two of us? And I don't want Night Wings?"

Nightwing: "Nah, that just cause Hood's trying to steal my lead. I'll get you anything you want other than the Caped Crusader Sandwhich though."

~*~*~

Batman: "No, you may not borrow the Batmobile."

Robin: "It's a right of passage!"

Batman: "You are too young to have earned that right yet."

Spoiler: "Ha! He called you a baby!"

~*~*~

Spoiler, driving the batmobile for some reason: "Do you guys have any glitter?"

Drive Thru Cashier: "Ma'am, this is a fast food restaurant."

Spoiler:

Spoiler: "How many packets of ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise can you legally give me?"

Drive Thru Cashier:

Drive Thru Cashier after checking with the manager: "50 packets of each."

Spoiler: "I'll take them!"

~*~*~

Robin, driving the batmobile clearly without permission: "I require 2 Robin Meals. One vegan."

Superboy the 2nd: "Oh! I want a Red Hood toy!"

Robin: "What?! Absolutely not! We will take the current Robin toy! A Nightwing if that's not available!"

Superboy the 2nd: "NOOO! I WANT RED HOOD!"

Red Hood, apparently in the back seat of the batmobile: "Dear God. MAKE IT 4 ROBIN MEALS, PLEASE, ANS GIVE THEM BOTH WHAT THEY WANT SO THEY SHUT UP."

Superboy the 2nd happily: "As long as I get my Red Hood."

Robin grumbling: "Ridiculous. Stop acting so thirsty for it."

Red Hood: *strangled, choking noises*

Superboy the 2nd: *mortified squeal* "ROBIN! That is NOT what that MEANS!"

[regaliasonata]

Gimme✨✏️✨✏️

How do you write a fight scene without becoming repetitive? I feel like it just sounds like "she did this then this then this." Thanks so much!

I watch her as she fights. Her left leg flies through the air – a roundhouse – rolling into a spin. She misses, but I guess she’s supposed to. Her foot lands and launches her into a jump. Up she goes again, just as fast. The other leg pumps, high knee gaining altitude. The jumping leg tucks. Her body rolls midair, momentum carrying her sideways. She kicks. A tornado kick, they call it. The top of her foot slams into Rodrigo’s head, burying in his temple. Didn’t move back far enough, I guess.

His head, it snaps sideways like a ball knocked off a tee. Skull off the spine. His eyes roll back, and he slumps. Whole body limp. Legs just give out beneath him. He clatters to the sidewalk; wrist rolling off the curb.

She lands, making the full turn and spins back around. Her eyes are on his body. One foot on his chest. I don’t know if he’s alive. I don’t know if she cares. Nah, she’s looking over her shoulder. Looking at me.

The truth twists my gut. I should’ve started running a long time ago.

The first key to writing a good fight scene is to tell a story. The second key is having a grasp of combat rules and technique. The third is to describe what happens when someone gets hit. The fourth is to remember physics. Then, roll it all together. And remember: be entertaining.

If you find yourself in the “and then” trap, it’s because you don’t have a firm grasp of what exactly it is your writing. “He punched” then “She blocked” then “a kick” only gets you so far.

You’ve got to get a sense for shape and feeling, and a sense of motion. Take a page from the comic artist’s playbook and make a static image feel like it’s moving. Try to remember that violence is active. Unless your character is working with a very specific sort of soft style, they’re attacks are going to come with force. So, you’ve got to make your sentences feel like your hitting something or someone.

“Ahhh!” Mary yelled, and slammed her fist into the pine’s trunk. A sickening crack followed, then a whimper not long after.

Angie winced. “Feel better?”

Shaking out her hand, Mary bit her lip. Blood dripped from her knuckles, uninjured fingers gripping her wrist. She sniffed, loudly. “I…” she paused, “…no.”

“You break your hand?”

“I think so. Yeah.”

“Good,” Angie said. “Think twice next time before challenging a tree.”

Let your characters own their mistakes. If they hit something stupid in anger, like a wall or a tree then let them have consequences.Injury is part of combat. In the same way, “I should be running now” is. When the small consequences of physical activity invade the page, they bring reality with them.

People don’t just slug back and forth unless they don’t know how to fight, or their only exposure to combat is mostly movies or bloodsport like boxing. Either way, when one character hits another there are consequences. It doesn’t matter if they blocked it or even deflected it, some part of the force is going to be transitioned into them and some rebounds back at the person who attacked.

Your character is going to get hurt, and it’ll be painful. Whether that’s just a couple of bruises, a broken bone, or their life depends on how the fight goes.

However, this is fantasy. It is all happening inside our heads. Our characters are never in danger unless we say they are. They’ll never be hurt unless we allow it. A thousand ghost punches can be thrown and mean absolutely, utterly nothing at all to the state of the character. This is why it is all important to internalize the risks involved.

The writer is in charge of bringing a dose of reality into their fictional world. It is much easier to sell an idea which on some level mimics human behavior and human reactions. The ghost feels physical because we’ve seen it happen on television or relate to it happening to us when we get injured.

You’ve got five senses, use them. You know what it feels like to get injured. To be bruised. To fall down. To be out of breath. Use that.

Here’s something to take with you: when we fight, every technique brings us closer together. Unless it specifically knocks someone back. You need specific distances to be able to use certain techniques. There’s the kicking zone, the punching zone, and the grappling zone. It’s the order of operation, the inevitable fight progression. Eventually, two combatants will transition through all three zones and end up on the ground.

So, keep the zones in mind. If you go, “she punched, and then threw a roundhouse kick” that’s wrong unless you explain more. Why? Because if the character is close enough to throw a punch, then they’re too close to throw most kicks. The roundhouse will just slap a knee or a thigh against the other character’s ribs, and probably get caught. If you go, “she punched, rammed an uppercut into his stomach, and seized him by the back of the head”, then that’s right. You feel the fighters getting progressively closer together, which is how its supposed to work.

Use action verbs, and change them up. Rolled, rotated, spun, punched, kicked, slammed, rammed, jammed, whipped, cracked, etc.

You’ve got to sell it. You need to remember a human’s bodily limits, and place artificial ones. You need to keep track of injuries, every injury comes with a cost. Make sure they aren’t just trading blows forever.

I’ve seen advice that says fights all by themselves aren’t interesting. I challenge that assertion. If you’re good at writing action, then the sequence itself is compelling. You know when you are because it feels real. Your reader will tune out if it isn’t connecting, and the fight scene is a make or break for selling your fantasy. It is difficult to write or create engaging, well choreographed violence that a reader can easily follow and imagine happening.

-Michi

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[writersramble37]

Having Good Narrative Variation

[cryptixotic]

Be real with me. You're sitting in a bar and a 𝔴𝔞𝔯𝔩𝔬𝔯𝔡 𝔬𝔣 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔰𝔢𝔞 with a massive sword rams into the door. Do you or do you not laugh

[ayatou]

the strawhats & their dreams

[cozylittleartblog]

Columbo and the Knight (1984)

put me in the universe where Columbo ran through the 1980s and had a crossover episode with Knight Rider. I think they deserved it, and I am not just saying that because they're my two favorite Old Shows. @telebeast wrote a little fanfic blurb about it and I HAD to visualize it into a comic (which is also the longest comic I have finished thus far at five pages...), so writing credit goes to them.

Autism W!

[zybilna]

[alinearesque]

I am hoarding posts like these now.

Okay, hey, since this post took off, let me share some other action beats you can use to punctuate the silence when writing a conversation, that isn't sighing.

They… Grimaced. Shrugged. Frowned. Scrunched their nose. Yawned. Fiddled with a loose thread on their sleeve. Ran a hand through their hair. Worried/bit/licked their lips. Hummed. Replied with a rather rude hand gesture. Picked at a hangnail. Gingerly grazed a finger down the length of so-and-so's arm, avoiding their gaze like it would burn. Farted. Kicked a stone. Twirled a lock of hair. Twirled somebody else's lock of hair. Twirled a lock of hair on the disembodied head they'd just plopped onto the dinner table. Stuffed their hands into their pockets. Stuffed their hands into the open cavity at the neck of this dang disembodied head on the table. Feigned interest in their phone. Flipped a page. Flipped the table. Flipped the script and escaped the pages. I repeat, the character has escaped and is in the real world. God have mercy on us all. Pissed themselves.

Their… Shoulders sagged. Brows knit/furrowed. Muscles tensed, tightening and locking up like a key twisting in a rusty lock. (Did you just repeat lock twice in the same sentence? Ew). Muscles relaxed, tension spilling from their skin and pooling like blood at their feet. Stomach dropped. Heart beat slower and slower until it ceased to beat at all, which, frankly, is going to be an issue if they hoped to carry on this conversation. Heart beat faster and faster and faster and faster and faster and wouldn't slow down, aw, shit, please, just slow the fuck down…

And lastly: nothing! Don't write anything. Don't say the character does anything. Not blinking, not sighing, not grimacing, or shrugging. Frankly, you'd be surprised at how little of these small reactions you really do need to write. Allow your readers' imagination to fill in the gaps. Isn't that also part of the fun of reading?

Anywho feel free to add.