Pian Pian

Writing an Action Scene

Writing an Action Scene

— Seiji Asaki

1. Do not overwrite it. Give the frame and let the reader imagine the minute details. Expressing the exact angle of every limb of even one person involved can absolutely kill a scene; a one legged pose with palms pressed together over her chest gives the imagery easily enough. It hinders the flow of the scene. Which brings me to...

2. Pace it well. Make sentences short, giving 1-2 lines to a paragraph even. It tricks the eye to moving quickly which can increase the physical reaction of the reader and pull them into the intensity of the moment. Which is seen by...

3. Pick a perspective to view it from. Get into one involved character’s head and describe the scene from their point of view. Focusing on one persons perspective can keep the reader sucked into the moment, invested. Describe one persons side and do it well, but remember...

4. Use strong verbs, not adverbs. Instead of hitting his opponent very hard, have him slam his fist into his jaw. Rather than having her struggling hard with her opponent, have her grapple them. Sink your teeth into someone when others might bite hard. Don’t punch someone hard, slam your fist into their face. As important as it is to tell the action strongly, you also want to...

5. Give the physical sensations a voice. The sting of sweat in the eye, the taste of blood on a lip, the sound of fabric ripping or gravel crunching underfoot. Sweat as it permeates the air with the stench of fear. And with all of these things it is still ever important to...

6. Don’t overwrite it! So important it’s said twice. Really, you can describe an action scene to death. It is understood easily enough to say someone perched on one leg and held their arms ready for combat instead of describing the angle of the leg, the exact positioning of the arms, the tilt of the neck. All it does is bog down and slow your reader, and no action is slow.

I’ll also add to stay in the moment. An action scene is not the time to flash to past situations or anything that draws the reader from the here and now. This is where the danger is, going anywhere else mentally will kill the scene.

With this in mind, even though it seems like a lot, you can write one hell of a fight/action scene. So much goes into crafting a scene that could only take a minute to read, but done well? The impact is important. Good luck!