Intro
I’m just going to go right out and say that I love writing action scenes. Whether they’re fight scenes, chase scenes, or anything in between, they’ve always been one of my favorite things to write. They pretty much guarantee excitement and also often serve as a great place to show how characters act under pressure.
Action scenes are one of those things that intimidate a lot of writers, and for understandable reasons. There’s a lot to keep track of, such as basic physics, how long it would logically take something to happen, how many hits a person could actually take, and so on.
Fortunately, I’ve got some basic stuff that I try to keep in mind when I’m writing these sorts of scenes. Whether you’re here looking for tips for writing action scenes, or are just curious to see what goes through my head when I’m writing scenes like this, read on!
How Time Passes in an Action Scene
One thing that I think a lot of people don’t really think much about when they’re writing action scenes is the passage of time. In reality, most fights happen fast—like, really fast. They often don’t even last more than a minute, especially if one combatant obviously has the advantage. (Which usually becomes apparent within the first few seconds.)
When writing a fight scene—or any type of action scene, for that matter—you pretty much have no choice but to slow things down at least a little if you want the reader to clearly be able to imagine what’s going on. I typically think of it like I’m writing it in slow motion: For example, the fight might last two pages and take roughly two minutes to read but, in the reality of the story, it’s actually over in half that time, or maybe even less.
But, even with this sort of slow motion mindset, you still want to convey the idea that it’s happening fast. The easiest way to do this, I’ve found, is by using short, choppy sentences when possible, and to avoid pretty much all description while the action is actively happening. (I mean, realistically, if someone was trying to stab you, you probably wouldn’t be paying much attention to their eye color or what they’re wearing or something; you’d be focusing on not getting stabbed.)
The biggest reason why it’s important to keep how fast an action scene happens in mind is because you’re sometimes faced with situations that are very dependent on time and how long it would realistically take something to happen. Take a chase scene, for example: Let’s say our heroes are being chased by a couple of monsters, and they’re trying to duck into some sort of bunker that they know that the monsters won’t be able to follow them into. But the door’s locked, and they need a minute to get it open. The monsters are fast and have been hot on their trail for almost the entire chase, and it’s been a struggle for our heroes to stay ahead for as long as they have. Now, as our heroes stop at the door to the bunker, the monsters are rapidly closing in.
If I was writing this scene just like this, with no other factors coming into play, I’d say that there’s no way that our heroes would be able to get the door open before the monsters get them. It’s already been established that the monsters are fast, and that our heroes have only barely managed to stay ahead of them for this long. So, the second they stop, naturally the monsters would catch up, and then it would be game over. It wouldn’t make any sense if, all of a sudden, when our heroes stop to open the door, the monsters start moving in slow motion for no apparent reason other than to give our heroes time to get inside.
This is the sort of situation I’m talking about. Because, with the knowledge that things are happening fast, you know that, if you want our heroes to make it into that bunker, you’re going to have to add something else in there to either slow the monsters down or speed our heroes up. (Or even a bit of both.) Maybe there’s someone inside the bunker who’s able to open it for them faster, or one of the characters has to distract the monsters so that their companions can get inside. The possibilities are really limitless.
Make It Believable
As a sci-fi/fantasy writer, pretty much nothing I write is supposed to be realistic. I like to embrace the fact that fiction is fiction, and that it’s supposed to be fun. It doesn’t have to be a perfect mimicry of reality. But I also believe that, if you really want to pull readers in, you have to put some effort into making what happens in the story seem possible, at least within the pre-established world of that story.
This is especially true in an action scene. Keeping time in mind is one way to make it seem more believable, but other ways include things like thinking about how physically possible what you’re describing is, how many hits a person could take or how fast they could run given their current physical state, how evenly matched two combatants are, and so on.
Basically, I take some time to think about all the variables—or, at least as many as I can—that could potentially impact how the scene would logically play out. If I’m not sure about a more scientific-based variable (usually something physics-related when it comes to action scenes), then I do some googling. And, if that logical approach doesn’t match up with what has to happen for the story to keep moving in the right direction—like, if I realize that the hero is outmatched against a particular opponent that they have to beat for the plot to advance in the right direction—then I think of ways I could turn the logic in my favor, usually by adding a variable that either helps the party I want to succeed (like having an ally show up to help them) or by adding a variable that hinders the party I want to fail (like having them get badly injured). Other ways to make a situation like this make sense would be by doing things like building the hero up over the course of the earlier parts of the story so that they’re more of a match for this powerful adversary, having them exploit a weakness of their opponent that they discovered earlier, and other stuff like that.
It does get a little complicated sometimes, as you can probably guess but, while I’m in the drafting phase, I try not to worry too much about how accurate everything is; if there’s something I’m unsure about, I usually make a note to look at it again while I’m editing to see if something still seems off or if I want to double check something.
Keep the Characters’ Personalities in Mind
When writing an action scene, it can be easy to disregard the individual differences between characters and how different characters would react to certain situations. When faced with an incoming enemy, for example, some characters would rush to fight them head on, while others would try to run to escape confrontation, while others still would take a more thoughtful approach and try to think their way out. No method is wrong—as long as it suits the character I’m writing about.
Sometimes it takes me some time to figure out what exactly a character would do while they’re under pressure (as they almost always are in an action scene, at least to some degree), because it’s not always particularly obvious. Like, if I have a character who is supposed to be smart and reasonable, but also fiery and considerably less reasonable when they get angry. If I put them in a situation where they’re outmatched by an enemy that they really, really hate, would they give into their anger and stubbornly keep fighting, or would they manage to resist their impulses and try to find a different way out of it?
In this sort of situation, I try to keep in mind what has to happen in order for the story to progress the way it needs to, and how I can make the characters move in that direction in a natural way that makes sense for both plot purposes and the characters themselves. In the sort of scenario I mentioned above, for example, I know that the character is having strong feelings about this adversary they’re faced with, and that it would probably be difficult for them to see reason at the moment on their own. So, probably the easiest way to get them out of this alive would be to make sure that they have at least one companion with them—preferably one that they trust and care about, so that they’d be more likely to take their focus away from their rival for a minute. The companion can either talk some sense into them, or maybe gets into some sort of trouble and needs the character to stop fighting in order to save them, snapping the character from their raging long enough to fully appreciate the depth of the situation. Either way, the character would be drawn out of the fight and given much-needed the chance to run.
Action scenes are ultimately all about impulses, or the characters’ abilities to resist those impulses to do what they need to do. Things happen fast, as I mentioned before, so that means that the characters have to act fast—which often means that they act impulsively, because there isn’t usually time to think it over. They could teach themselves to have better impulses—that’s what the more mental side of things like combat training do, after all—but especially people who aren’t used to these sort of high-pressure situations might not have the greatest impulses at first, let alone much of an ability to resist them.
This is important to remember when writing an action scene featuring a character who has seen little or no action in their lives before this point. Lots of action/adventure stories star a character who is pretty much just a normal person at the start, but learns to be a fighter and/or survivalist as the story goes on. And you can’t exactly have your character who has never even held a sword before suddenly be a master swordsman when trouble comes around.
There are plenty of ways to help a newbie character like this out, but I’ve found that the easiest way by far is to just make sure that they have someone more experienced around to help them out, whether it’s a mentor, a friend, a love interest, or even a magic talking weapon. Anyone who can help the protagonist and get them out of their first encounter with the enemy alive so that they can move on to learn to hold their own in the future.
Outro
So, that’s basically what goes through my head when I’m writing action scenes. It might sound like a lot, but it’s actually not as complicated as it might seem, especially after some practice.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this look at this part of my process. Thank you for reading, and be sure to check back later this month for a new book recommendation!
