Rule: You want the reader to “feel” like they’re there

         No blow-by-blow descriptions of thrust-riposte techniques,

give a “sense” of what’s happening – a sensorial experience – “feel”

the grit/sweat/blood

– but this isn’t “enough” to write a good fight scene

1. Don’t start with fight scene – may be OK in movies, not in novels –

doesn’t advance the setting of the  plot – must have a fight scene be seen to advance the plot

2. Fight scenes must have tension and stakes, action simply for action’s sake

is irrelevant

3. View a fight scene as a miniature novel

      – Writing to Sell by Scott Meredith – a classic

4. Difference between incident and novel

      – an incident is a series of events without a problem-resolution path

      – A novel is a path between an “insurmountable” problem/roadblock, a

struggle to overcome, and a resolution, has inherent drama

5. A fight scene, like a novel, must have a strong problem as a reason for it

to happen

Example: First Fight: Montoya and Man in Black

         Indigo Montoya helps Man in Black up the cliff to have fair fight

         Asks if he has six fingers because father was killed by six-fingered

Man (Now has empathy)

         But works for Bad Guy, so empathy is also for Man in Black

         Now you are rooting for both combatants – gives initial tension

         It’s the interaction between the two characters in the fight that is

important, not the techniques

         Montoya starts left handed to give the Man in Black a chance before he

kills him – valiant

         Montoya starts to lose, admits he’s right handed and switches, then

starts to win

         Man in Black admits he’s right handed, switches and wins

Example”: Scott Meredith: Chapter 12:

-      Likens to series of sandbags

knocking protagonist to ground, then adding more sandbags pinning him to ground, finally last bag overwhelms him

-      Protagonist –at end of his rope – thinks of another possibility to extricate himself – and it fails

-      Then something happens – a plot twist – and he survives

-      Takeaway: the Hero’s plan can’t win at the first round – or it won’t be a story which requires growth and escalation

-      In this story, Montoya is spared because a bond has developed between the two – they join Forces

No one wants to read a romance where they simply meet, fall in love and marry – there’s no story

● Steps of Fight Scene: Hero must first win, then fail

1. He has to be put through wringer to finally change, grow – and that

produces final win

Ask: where and why do you put a fight scene

2. No matter how many fight scenes you have – only the last one can

finally resolve the base tension

                  Others will build the tension

3. Until the end, the hero must fail to resolve the crux problem – often

through no fault of their own

4. Must not be of hero’s fault - Must raise stakes – Must Serve

Narrative Purpose – i.e., Must resolve problem

Fight scenes exists in the story to resolve story problems/issues – not as

incidental asides

Usually, in a novel, even when the hero wins, all but the last fight will leave

the hero in a worse position

         Alternately, you can have them win them fight, but concurrently lose

something else –and unexpectedly

         Must constantly increase story tension throughout the novel – as well

as scene tension throughout the scene , such as wins the fight, but loses her anonymity because of it

Stakes must be personal to the protagonist

Don’t introduce the story stakes until there is a reason for the reader to care

for the protagonist to win

When choosing protagonist actions, must not violate the “reasonable person”

criteria – would a reasonable person have actually made that type of mistake?