Writing combat

[Necroben]

I've been looking through some of the books I have in the hopes of writing a better fight scene.  It might just be me, but it seems that authors who have actually been in combat don't add too much description of...setting, for want of a better word.  What I mean is; besides what the view point character is doing/having done to them, everything else seems kind of sparse.

My question is this:  Am I imagining things?  Does this seem to be true?  Could this be why combat always seems to go by in a flash?

[Reaves]

Generally authors do that on purpose; make it fairly sparse. In a fight you're not thinking about the color of the grass or that cool architecture down the street - you're fighting. Unless your characters are actively interacting with setting as they fight, you might want to try and keep descriptions of it to a minimum. (or zero.)

Also, and I read this on a blog by author Matthew Stover who has like 20 years of martial arts training, is fights take about thirty seconds max. The most somebody will ever be fighting straight is about thirty seconds. In my own (limited) fencing experiences its far less. So basically if its a long fight your characters will do a lot of pausing the action; catching their breath, taking a breather, etc.

[Silk]

Yeah. I mean, it partly depends on who your character is for the POV fight - a trained fighter might notice more about the setting in terms of how to interact with it during a fight than somoene who has never been in a fight before and only knows that OMGsomebody'sthrowingpunchesatme.

So yeah, I'd imagine a lot of authors make it kind of sparse on purpose, and I think that it makes sense. And yeah, as Reaves pointed out, actual fights just don't last that long.  I'm in boxing, and while I've never actually stepped into a ring we do a lot of friendly sparring. Friendly, not-going-all-out-sparring. And let me tell you, there's a REASON those rounds only last three minutes.  It's exhausting, even though you've probably only spent half of it actually throwing punches.

So yeah, combat doesn't last that long on paper because .. .well... it doesn't last that long.

[Reaves]

Oh yeah, Raethe made me think of something else too.
Also, (and again I get this from Matthew Stover; the man is just amazing) you have to consider how someone is going to fight. Really combat is just another expression of their personality; no two people will ever fight the same way. And I don't mean techniques, karate vs. kickboxing, I mean how the person thinks, how their brain works.

Lets say someone does throw that punch. Are you going to dodge it? Are you going to block it? Are you going to walk forwards and just take it because you really are that badass?

I don't know if I'm explaining this right. Do you know what I mean?

[Necroben]

Yes. 

I was in wrestling all through High School so I know that 3 min. can be the longest time of your life.  Then do it 3 more times, for just one match.  You've got 4 more matches to go, yeah!  Pooped is not the word!

And not only how their brain works but in their natural instincts as well.  Fight or flight?

Mainly I was worried that I wasn't putting enough in some of my fight scenes.  I've been in fights and can't remember small details after the fact, let alone notice them during.  I had noticed that some author's don't really use this approach though.

[Silk]

Haha, yeah, exactly. Just when you think you've lived through the longest three minutes of your life, suddenly it's time for round two.

Again, I think that's something personal.  Some people aren't going to remember anything except a vague bundle of sensations and some people will remember a fight literally blow-by-blow. I wonder if we don't see so much of the former 'cause, well, it's hard to make "wicked cool action scene" out of, "uhh, I remember some stuff happening?"

[SarahG]

I like how C.S. Lewis portrays battles from the perspective of the inexperienced.  I can't remember if it's Shasta in The Horse and His Boy or Eustace in The Last Battle - possibly both - but Lewis says something like "and I'm not even sure that his eyes weren't closed" and I loved how that conjured an image of a clueless, helpless boy whacking away and somehow, luckily, getting in a few vital blows.  Lewis's fight scenes definitely give you a picture of chaos and a sense of things happening too fast to describe or even notice.

[Dount Cooku]

If you want to see a verbose description of battle scenes, read something by R.A. Salvatore.  Some of his fights go on for pages.

[GorgonlaVacaTremendo]

Yeah, I've been doing various martial arts for over a decade, and I've never been in a sparring match or fight that wouldn't have been over in thirty seconds if people weren't pulling punches.  It takes two good hits, one to stun and one to down, and you're done, or one good lock if you're the wrestling type.

Even in Judo, which is a very structured sport, a lot of matches last three or four seconds.  If they last the full time it's mostly sitting around, with lots of unsuccessful throw attempts of lots of semi-successful holds.  This situation wouldn't happen if punches and kicks were thrown, too, because people wouldn't wait around for a successful throw.

And when you're in a fight, it goes by fast.  Everything is a flash, and (especially if you're trained) you don't really remember what happened afterwards.  At least that's my experience, and I've met many others with similar experiences.  It's all just reflex and muscle memory.  So, when I read long fight scenes, with the exception of magical fight scenes or gun battles, etc. I find it less interesting than long dialog, usually.

[deckacards]

The biggest problem I have when writing combat is keeping track of all the characters involved without writing a detailed manifesto...balancing pace with description and enough chaotic content is difficult.

by the way...I'm new here...

[Shaggy]

My biggest problem when writing combat is not letting it turn into a list. [Person A threw a punch, Person B blocked it and sidestepped, Person A shot himself…] You know, stuff like that.

Personally, whenever I have a fight (even just an argument) with anyone I can't remember anything afterwards–not who started it, not why, not who did what first.…Then again, that might just be because I have a horrible memory. 

[Rane]

I think that everybody's different in how much they remember of a fight.  Some people's brains work so that they remember everything, and other people's brains block what happened.  I've only ever been in one fight in my life, and I can remember the details, and the feeling, and I know I wasn't focused on anything except ending the smack talk, but I can remember exactly what happened, down to exactly where it was.

[Shaggy]

As I have already stated, after a fight, I feel kind of the opposite of how Rane feels.…Which is horrible because whenever my brother and I have a fight and my parents ask what happen, I always come out looking like a liar because (1) I can't remember what happened (not that they believe me) and (2) my brother always corrects my mistakes in what I DO remember, which makes me seem like, again, a liar.  Haha I'm kinda venting here.…

[Renoard]

I like the way rigney handles combat. Matt has a stream of consciousness that seems to skip like a greasy CD, while Rand is fairly calm and collected and even has time to notice some details of setting. Perrin smells...

I'm new too, and the discussions in this Group are entertaining and surprisingly flame retardant. 

[Writerainge]

I would read "On Combat" by Dave Grossman.  He talks about the psychology and physiology behind all types of combat spanning from the Samaurai to modern day Law Enforcement.  Fascinating read.