by Lisa Beach

Created on: June 25, 2009

There are numerous ways to write a good fight scene, but the style one chooses should depend on the situation at hand. What type book/story is being written? A fight in a murder mystery will differ from that in a courtroom drama, literary, or detective tale.

For example, Dramas usually are about people in dangerous situations: some they get into on their own, and some are more random. How one would write a scene for random danger might go something like this:

The "hero:"is an average Joe working at an investment company, and he gets thrown into a conspiracy due to meeting a stranger the cops have under surveillance. One could either write a chase scene, ending in gunfire, or have the stranger stalk the hero suspiciously.

Actually, there are hundreds of ways to write good fight scenes. But to cut through the jungle, here are 5 of the most important:

1.) Fast:

Fast-paced fights take readers on a roller coaster ride that pulls the rider to ever increasing heights, with the good guy fighting for his life. Scenes change: danger changes, and if the reader blinks s/he will miss something. Fast-paced fights would involve either a gun fight, physical combat, ambush, or one character being chased by another.

The sentences would become short and to the point, the more action involved,:and medium, to longer sentences as a reader is given a break, such as below:

Ethan was sure Allison had the tapes, and that she was headed for the subway: he had to cut her off. Suddenly he saw her red shawl in the crowd. He grabbed Allison around the waist and dragged her into an alcove.

"Give me the tapes. You'll never get away. I can kill you here, and no one will ever know."

He turned the woman to face him. It wasn't Allison. Embarrassed, Ethan slipped into the crowd. With his quarry gone, he needed a new plan - would have to find Todd, and re-con. A subway train whooshed past, and Ethan briefly pictured pushing Allison on to the third rail.

2.) Slow:

Slower scenes that contain fights are more suspenseful. Cat and mouse, the hero tries to out-smart the bad guy, and thinking he has, relaxes. Suspense builds as a reader knows the bad guy is preparing a trap. The reader yells at the character who is about to be ambushed, to wake up and get smart. How gullible can you get?

Such a reader mindset means the writer succeeded. Obviously s/he fell deeply into the fictitious world, and is rooting for the hero. The writer continues to build the suspense slowly, letting the reader know

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