How to write action sequences

A few minutes ago I would've just said "BAM" and include a link to chapter 3 of MS, but since that is no longer possible I must think of an alternative...

Hm... It struck me for a moment to say "Go read as many erotic novels as you can", but that's totally inappropriate. :P

I'll just tell you what Endless told me (hope he doesn't mind):

[QUOTE="iloveflash"]

Yeah so I heard from one of my sources that you're pretty good at RP. Heh. Well... *scratches chin* I'm here to make you an offer you can't refuse.(-.-)

Seriously though, I've been working on a story with lots of action and I'm having trouble describing fight scenes. You say you're pretty good at that stuff so I'd like to learn some of your jutsu, if possible.

EndlessGame

I'm glad that news of my talent carries on the wind. I'd be glad to help. My jutsu is complicated and takes practice, but if you learn the handsigns and concentrate your chakra properly it should be no problem. (Naruto )

Fight scenes are the matter at hand? Well, there can be a large difference in vocabulary used in fight scenes as well as sentence structure depending on the setting. I tend to use shorter sentences and more technical terms in futuristic/modern fights (one would expect the technical-ness really. ) but more drawn out old fashioned language in medieval/magic eras. (A blend of magic and technology can make for an interesting styIe as well lol.) So what type of story are you working on? (It may not fit into the two types I've mentioned.) Or would you prefer to work on everything in general?

P.S. My W,S, and E keys are acting up, so if there are any of those letters left out in strange places in my messages, that's why.

Digest the sensei's words...

A few minutes ago I would've just said "BAM" and include a link to chapter 3 of MS, but since that is no longer possible I must think of an alternative...

Hm... It struck me for a moment to say "Go read as many erotic novels as you can", but that's totally inappropriate. :P

I'll just tell you what Endless told me (hope he doesn't mind):

[QUOTE="EndlessGame"][QUOTE="iloveflash"]

Yeah so I heard from one of my sources that you're pretty good at RP. Heh. Well... *scratches chin* I'm here to make you an offer you can't refuse.(-.-)

Seriously though, I've been working on a story with lots of action and I'm having trouble describing fight scenes. You say you're pretty good at that stuff so I'd like to learn some of your jutsu, if possible.

iloveflash

I'm glad that news of my talent carries on the wind. I'd be glad to help. My jutsu is complicated and takes practice, but if you learn the handsigns and concentrate your chakra properly it should be no problem. (Naruto )

Fight scenes are the matter at hand? Well, there can be a large difference in vocabulary used in fight scenes as well as sentence structure depending on the setting. I tend to use shorter sentences and more technical terms in futuristic/modern fights (one would expect the technical-ness really. ) but more drawn out old fashioned language in medieval/magic eras. (A blend of magic and technology can make for an interesting styIe as well lol.) So what type of story are you working on? (It may not fit into the two types I've mentioned.) Or would you prefer to work on everything in general?

P.S. My W,S, and E keys are acting up, so if there are any of those letters left out in strange places in my messages, that's why.

Digest the sensei's words...

That's really not all that informative.

[QUOTE="iloveflash"]

A few minutes ago I would've just said "BAM" and include a link to chapter 3 of MS, but since that is no longer possible I must think of an alternative...

Hm... It struck me for a moment to say "Go read as many erotic novels as you can", but that's totally inappropriate. :P

I'll just tell you what Endless told me (hope he doesn't mind):

[QUOTE="EndlessGame"][QUOTE="iloveflash"]

Yeah so I heard from one of my sources that you're pretty good at RP. Heh. Well... *scratches chin* I'm here to make you an offer you can't refuse.(-.-)

Seriously though, I've been working on a story with lots of action and I'm having trouble describing fight scenes. You say you're pretty good at that stuff so I'd like to learn some of your jutsu, if possible.

Lazay727

I'm glad that news of my talent carries on the wind. I'd be glad to help. My jutsu is complicated and takes practice, but if you learn the handsigns and concentrate your chakra properly it should be no problem. (Naruto )

Fight scenes are the matter at hand? Well, there can be a large difference in vocabulary used in fight scenes as well as sentence structure depending on the setting. I tend to use shorter sentences and more technical terms in futuristic/modern fights (one would expect the technical-ness really. ) but more drawn out old fashioned language in medieval/magic eras. (A blend of magic and technology can make for an interesting styIe as well lol.) So what type of story are you working on? (It may not fit into the two types I've mentioned.) Or would you prefer to work on everything in general?

P.S. My W,S, and E keys are acting up, so if there are any of those letters left out in strange places in my messages, that's why.

Digest the sensei's words...

That's really not all that informative.

Well, that's because this isn't info. These are just questions you should ask yourself. What kind of fights are you planning to write about? What kind of language will you use when describing them? Fight sequences range across a very broad spectrum, so you should probably decide these things beforehand, before getting into developing your own styIe. It's not just "Here's how to do a fight scene." As with all writing, there are specifications unique to each writer.

Check out some of the stories around the board if you can't/don't want to start there, or just want a template to base your styIe on. But note that language, tenses, wording, vocabulary--all of these and more are vital factors that need to be honed before they can be used.

One general piece of advice I would give is to put yourself in the middle of the fight for the most amount of detail, but again, you may very well find a way to use the opposite as a technique, so don't take that advice too seriously.

Now digest, dammit!

Okay one thing is run them in your mind first. It will be mostly punches, kicks if it is unarmed combat.

And it'll be swords, shields, maces, etc. characterized by swings, parry, strike, dodge, hook, thrust, block, etc. if it's melee combat.

For ranged combat use guns(name the guns, if you know them, like using the words colt, uzi, sig, etc., will give a more realistic appeal than just revolver, gun, machine gun. But be sure you know how it looks and how it fires.).

Then in case of fantasy you have magical attacks. There's no hard and fast rule of how you should go about describing them. Imagination is the limit.

Use a mix of these. When it comes to the writing part use synonymous words instead of the same words and just go about describing what's in your head

1) Find a good book with good action sequences and analyze.

2) Watch a good action movie, and then find a good action scene. Practice describing the scene on paper. Do this several times and look at how youchange your wording. Do this with writer friends to see how everyone compares.

3) My little brother has a lot of lego action figures lying around the house; I sometimes steal them and then coreograph the entire scene.

Try those out.

2) Watch a good action movie, and then find a good action scene. Practice describing the scene on paper. Do this several times and look at how youchange your wording. Do this with writer friends to see how everyone compares.

gbarules2999

That did the ticket for me.

Action scenes! My forte. :D (Even if I do say so myself. ;) ) Cool to see flash posted one of my messages to him (I don't mind, of course.) since we were talking about how to write action scenes a few months ago.

There are of course a lot of different ways of describing fight/action scenes. Some people stay much more hands-off than others, leaving a lot of the action for the reader to interpret in the way they feel fits best. The other major one would be to get down to every last minute detail of the sequence. I'm more toward the latter, I attempt to describe basically every movement within a single battle. My writing experience also comes a lot more from taking a characters' perspective in a roleplay, which was largely combat based, so I've had a lot of practice.

People have suggested describing movie action scenes, and that's definitely a great way to practice. I would recommend Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children as a good movie to do this with, since it has an entire array of fantastic action sequences.

Variety in your vocabulary is important in all writing, but action scenes definitely put the limits of those variations to the test. A lot of fighting does result in repetitive actions and so describing them and keeping it interesting is a challenge.

As has been pointed out, considering the setting of your fight is important, and it usually helps to involve the characters' environment in the exchange. There are a lot of specifics for different types of combat, but it's also important to develop your own style from practice rather than parroting other works.

Short stories are great opportunities for action scene practice, since you can basically make one giant action scene out of them, whereas longer pieces definitely require much more depth to their characters, locales, etc. which you aren't necessarily concentrating on.

I'm using a strategy I call intense-relaxed. I switsh between intense, like for instance: "Link spins around and swing his blade towards the moblin, then fall to his knees to avoid a strike from the other moblin" and relaxed, where I'm more like describing the situation over time. Example: "The enemies just keeps coming and coming. Link kills enemy after enemy, but he swings his sword more desperatly for each kill. His arms are starting to get tired, and he knows he can't keep them away much longer."

When I look at my action scenes from two years ago or so, I find that my biggest problem is that I write intense for too long.

Also I think it is helpful to picture the scene you're describing the way it would be in a movie, then try writing it with words.

@Endless: You have to be careful recommending Advent Children to people; you forget how absolutely insane it is.

Good movie, though.

Yeah, Advent Children is a pretty crazy movie to try and understand, but the plot's in there lol. While a lot of people mightn't like it for its "disregard" for reality, that's what makes me like it. And it also makes it a good writing exercise. Very well done fights in that movie, and they're boxing a demo of FFXIII with its blu-ray release. :D

And waZelda makes a very good point. Switching between the direct blow for blow and a more general fighting picture is a good way of making the sequence last longer in the reader's mind's eye. The more distant perspective is also very useful for describing fights involving large numbers of characters on both sides. It's also an almsot necessary voice to use when describing clashes between large armies, as describing individual actions wouldn't purvey the scale of the conflict as well as a more all-encompassing view. While visualizing fights and action scenes, I always have a camera angle in mind, and the "intense" perspective would correspond fairly well to zooming in. ;)

1) Find a good book with good action sequences and analyze.

2) Watch a good action movie, and then find a good action scene. Practice describing the scene on paper. Do this several times and look at how youchange your wording. Do this with writer friends to see how everyone compares.

gbarules2999

Exactly. Reading more books and watching a few action scenes will help, but emphasize more on the reading part. That's where you get to know how to put your scene in writing. As far as I know for books with a lot of action scenes you can go back to stuff like Hardy Boys which has plenty. The novels, even tho have quite a few just give a taste of how the action scenes work out. You need to analyze a number of such scenes before you will get the hang of it.

3) My little brother has a lot of lego action figures lying around the house; I sometimes steal them and then coreograph the entire scene.

gbarules2999

:lol:

I'm insulted no one came to me about this!!

But I think Endless pretty much nailed it. It's about varying the vocabulary to portray the same actions over and over again but keep it interesting and not repetitive. The reason I feel I have perfected the writing of action scenes is because of how I approach them. I'm a very visual, imaginative person. I envision everything in my mind's eye right down to the most minute details, not just with the fight, but everything going on around too. Then I write down everything I see, and then I refine it. Make it more concise while keeping the same level of detail, make sure I'm varying the words up, and also make sure it's not dragging in pace. The goal for me is that I describe it to the point where there is no room for the interperation of the reader; they imagine the exact same scene that I do.

It's hard to be sure if that really works or not, but I don't rest until I'm pretty sure it's dead on. I hope that helped, and if you need to read action oriented stuff to get the hang of it, check out my member portfolio. There's a lot of short stories, and you can count on them being graphic.

I think your special forces story had quite a few examples of good action descriptions. :)Foolz3h

That one and all the other ones? :P

[QUOTE="Foolz3h"]I think your special forces story had quite a few examples of good action descriptions. :)irmeleeman5995

That one and all the other ones? :P

Especially that one. :P

[QUOTE="irmeleeman5995"]

[QUOTE="Foolz3h"]I think your special forces story had quite a few examples of good action descriptions. :)Foolz3h

That one and all the other ones? :P

Especially that one. :P

Ah yes of course :twisted:

What books would you recomend? That have good plots as well. I want plot tweests!Lazay727

You could try a few Tom Clancy books. I've read a few and they were good.

what books do you guys reccomend? I really like world history and philosphical things. I don't really like nerdy sci fi honestly. Not trying to be cynical I just like real human stories.Lazay727

To Kill a Mockingbird.

I'M NOT KIDDING. The few action sequences that exist are fantastic.

[QUOTE="Lazay727"]what books do you guys reccomend? I really like world history and philosphical things. I don't really like nerdy sci fi honestly. Not trying to be cynical I just like real human stories.gbarules2999

To Kill a Mockingbird.

I'M NOT KIDDING. The few action sequences that exist are fantastic.

Don't. Listen. To. Him. My works are better than anything in that god awful book, and have more of what you're looking for.

http://www.gamespot.com/pages/unions/forums/show_msgs.php?topic_id=26021380&union_id=11557

Find my portfolio and read anything there. Pretty much all of it is action, except one or two.

My works are better than anything in that god awful book

irmeleeman5995

Not only did he just say that To Kill a Mockingbird is a bad book, but he said he's better than it.

Did I hallucinate, or does this post really exist? He actually thinks he's better than one of the greatest social dicussions of the segregation era?

No, just, no. Just stop talking.

Yeah, Advent Children is a pretty crazy movie to try and understand, but the plot's in there lol. While a lot of people mightn't like it for its "disregard" for reality, that's what makes me like it. And it also makes it a good writing exercise. Very well done fights in that movie, and they're boxing a demo of FFXIII with its blu-ray release. :D

And waZelda makes a very good point. Switching between the direct blow for blow and a more general fighting picture is a good way of making the sequence last longer in the reader's mind's eye. The more distant perspective is also very useful for describing fights involving large numbers of characters on both sides. It's also an almsot necessary voice to use when describing clashes between large armies, as describing individual actions wouldn't purvey the scale of the conflict as well as a more all-encompassing view. While visualizing fights and action scenes, I always have a camera angle in mind, and the "intense" perspective would correspond fairly well to zooming in. ;)

EndlessGame

[QUOTE="irmeleeman5995"]

My works are better than anything in that god awful book

gbarules2999

Not only did he just say that To Kill a Mockingbird is a bad book, but he said he's better than it.

Did I hallucinate, or does this post really exist? He actually thinks he's better than one of the greatest social dicussions of the segregation era?

No, just, no. Just stop talking.

:lol:

1) TKAMB is a hell of a lot better than "Vehicle Battle". :P

2) meleeman must never be told to stop talking. In his continued silence he has earned over a hundred days' worth of the privilege. Speak AWN!!

3) TKAMB isn't all that great. Aside from what it stood for, it is pointless (what irony). That's just imo though.

And on a final note, meleeman, you really need to edit your old work. :P

[QUOTE="gbarules2999"][QUOTE="irmeleeman5995"]

My works are better than anything in that god awful book

iloveflash

Not only did he just say that To Kill a Mockingbird is a bad book, but he said he's better than it.

Did I hallucinate, or does this post really exist? He actually thinks he's better than one of the greatest social dicussions of the segregation era?

No, just, no. Just stop talking.

:lol:

1) TKAMB is a hell of a lot better than "Vehicle Battle". :P

2) meleeman must never be told to stop talking. In his continued silence he has earned over a hundred days' worth of the privilege. Speak AWN!!

3) TKAMB isn't all that great. Aside from what it stood for, it is pointless (what irony). That's just imo though.

And on a final note, meleeman, you really need to edit your old work. :P

The thing about TKAMB wasn't that it wasn't an influential piece of literature, it was that from every single literary standpoint, the BOOK SUCKED. The plot was awfully developed, and none of it mattered until like 2/3 of the way through. Until that point, it was a convuluted mess of Scout running about doing one thing and another with NO sequence of events. It was also really boring in its story telling. It didn't make me interested at ALL, and by the time I was, it was over.That's not how a good writer works. Fact.

While we're bashing old classics, One Day In the Life of Ivan Denisovich is supposedly one of the best novels of the last century. Can I tell you a secret? The book was terrible. It made zero sense, and once I took a test on it and had classes on it for a week, I still barely appreciate it. I'm not ignorant. It just wasn't good.

I don't understand how these "classics" were judged, but from my standards, they were neither interesting nor compelling, and that IS NOT because they lacked violence or sex, I'm not a simpleton like that. It's becuz they were bad books, and that's just the way it is. So don't talk to me about TKAMB being a CLASSIC, becuz maybe they decided it was back when it was published, but stuff like that just paved the way for social reformation, not literary genius.

irmeleeman5995

Just stop talking. Honestly, you're embarassing yourself.

Hahah what a mature, educated response!

But no seriously, I'm only 15. I'm almost positive you're older than me. Most of you guys are. But unless you're in or past college and studied up nice and hard on literature and all sorts of fanciful subjects such as thus, then please, I urge you to rain down fire on my head and make me smarter for it. But somehow I don't believe you can or will; if you could, why didn't you already? No, you'll post another picture of...wait, what is that first one supposed to be illustrating? Well, whatever, point is, I made my case...and you didn't make yours. You just insisted you're right and won't even get your hands dirty.

Hahah what a mature, educated response!

But no seriously, I'm only 15. I'm almost positive you're older than me. Most of you guys are. But unless you're in or past college and studied up nice and hard on literature and all sorts of fanciful subjects such as thus, then please, I urge you to rain down fire on my head and make me smarter for it. But somehow I don't believe you can or will; if you could, why didn't you already? No, you'll post another picture of...wait, what is that first one supposed to be illustrating? Well, whatever, point is, I made my case...and you didn't make yours. You just insisted you're right and won't even get your hands dirty.

irmeleeman5995

By jove you are fearless.

Well, here it comes... :roll: *takes out umbrella*

[QUOTE="irmeleeman5995"]

Hahah what a mature, educated response! \

But no seriously, I'm only 15. I'm almost positive you're older than me. Most of you guys are. But unless you're in or past college and studied up nice and hard on literature and all sorts of fanciful subjects such as thus, then please, I urge you to rain down fire on my head and make me smarter for it. But somehow I don't believe you can or will; if you could, why didn't you already? No, you'll post another picture of...wait, what is that first one supposed to be illustrating? Well, whatever, point is, I made my case...and you didn't make yours. You just insisted you're right and won't even get your hands dirty.

iloveflash

By jove you are fearless.

Well, here it comes... :roll: *takes out umbrella* I'm singing in the rain

I'd post a smiley here, but flash thinks the world will cave in every time I do. (Ah, well, what the hell, :D)

And why should he be scared of the internet? What am I going to do? He ain't no elemeltdown, that's for sure.

Sure, you could say that the book's plot is a little disjointed. It really has two main plot threads running throughout; the racism one, which climaxes in the court case and peaks at the chase scene in the dark, and the Boo Radley one, which climaxes also at the dark chase in the woods. They aren't really together until you reach the end.

And yet, that really didn't bother me, especially because Harper Lee's writing is so amazingly spot on that it ropes anyone in as they read. Not only that, but after you read the thing a few times those two plot threads do kind of interwine through symbolism and foreshadowing. After you really get in deep, it makes more sense.

I have taken a "schooling" on the book, but to describe all the symbolism, ties, foreshadowning, and social themes throughout the book as well as the ties to the two main plots would take months (which is what we did in that "schooling" for so long). I'll spare you as well as myself; I'm tired and had to edit several times to get the spelling on this post right.

I understand why you don't like it, but to be honest your points are about as interesting and well thought out to me as that picture of the horse's mouth. And you still claim to be better than said book, which by far is the dumbest things I've ever read in my life. You have to understand my tone at this point; a 15 year old claiming that his fan fiction is better than TKAM is, to be completely honest, quite hilarious and only deserves to be laughed at.

EDIT number 4: Nicer now. And then five, because I forgot something. I am edit king!!!

:lol:

You must justify your means:

Actually neither have given non-subjective reasons for TKAMB being crap, or great, so you're both terrible writers because you were unable to successfully express your emotions in written or typed word-form.

Assuming, of course, that your emotions are completely un-subjective, and if they were they wouldn't be subjective, so you are both fantastic writers becaues you have managed to successfully express your ermotions in written or typed word-form.

The thing of it is, I see writing in TKAMB that I read and say is terribly boring and uninteresting. When I write, I take what I saw, what I didn't like about it, and make sure that what I wrote does not strike me the same way TKAMB's writing strikes me. And it's not just that. It's a lot of other "classics" that bore me to death and have me slamming the book into a desk yelling "WHY DOES EVERYONE LOVE YOU?" Maybe if I studied up more on the book I'd appreciate it more, but it isn't that important to me.

Meanwhile, the stuff I write neither has significant meaning nor profound impact on any sect of humanity, but that is neither its intent nor what I say it does. I merely say that from a readability and enjoyability standpoint, I believe what I write is more successful and appealing than the musty pages in TKAMB. If I didn't think that, why would I bother arguing it? Do I sound stupid? Yeah...But am I serious? Yup. I think the standards then were different than now. Or, my standards now.

Read above post. Done. I've said what I wanted to say.

What were you saying now, Foolz?

I think our fearless leader needs a little trip down Randian lane. Consider that your punishment.

(three edits. king of edits here.)

Of course what I'm saying is subjective! What the hell is criticism if not an opinion? The closest I can get to facts is if I opened up the book and cited quotes of examples of bad writing. But I would just take the first 2/3 of the book where nothing happens and say "read it yourself" and that would just piss off gbarules and make everyone else laugh. Becuz it's MY OPINION. And frankly, the world is usually wrong, and I've come to accept humanity as a lot of ridiculous people, so you can laugh at my opinion if you feel like it, but you can't prove an opinion wrong.irmeleeman5995

(xkcd)

Hey, i didn't think either of you were wrong! :P

It's ironic that you should bring up Ayn Rand, the philosophy by her that I've read (editorials and letters to readers, which I've been told isn't the best stuff by her) completely fails to justify what she is saying, and makes large claims based on nothing but speculation and ignorance.

Influence gained. Opinion withdrawn, sir.irmeleeman5995

See, that's how you win on the internet. You post funny pictures until they give up.

:D (See flash I did it again!)

EDIT: Yes, foolz, that doesn't make her wrong. That just makes her a bit silly, and very few people take her seriously.

Her ideas are interesting, but I agree; there's no backbone. There are enough modern versions of her to last us a lifetime of explaination, though, so we're okay in the department.

[QUOTE="irmeleeman5995"]Influence gained. Opinion withdrawn, sir.gbarules2999

See, that's how you win on the internet. You post funny pictures until they give up.

:D (See flash I did it again!)

Xkcd and all bets are off :P

Is it over?

*puts away umbrella*

Good show, both of you!

(And so begins the Edit campaign)

Is it over?

*puts away umbrella*

Good show, both of you!

(And so begins the Edit campaign)

iloveflash

I don't get it, do you want me to edit for typos?

[QUOTE="iloveflash"]

Is it over?

*puts away umbrella*

Good show, both of you!

(And so begins the Edit campaign)

irmeleeman5995

I don't get it, do you want me to edit for typos?

No, I was referring to my own post edit. Don't worry about it, this is between me and gba now. :twisted:

What the hell's going on. The poor guy wanted to know the nest way to write action sequences and here we are discussing how good TKMB is.

Okay you could also try LOTR. It's not exactly a plot full of twists nor is it full of action. But it does provide a view of large scale battles. Plus some magical combat's also included. There are some really good points you can draw from LOTR especially if you're writing fantasy. Agreed, the sentence structures are tough and it uses a more complex form of the language. But if you read all that you can read almost anything

But if you read all that you can read almost anything

sandyqbg

Hell yeah.