﹝ warning: mentions of violence ﹞
A majority of readers I talk to all say one thing… they skim or skip battle scenes. Mostly because they’re boring! A battle is supposed to be a climactic, thrilling moment yet it is often over-described and repetitive. Strike, strike, block, dodge, clang, clash, kill, blood, guts… we know. Here are some tips to keep it interesting!
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➳ short sentences
↠ using short sentences creates a fast pace, and battles are filled with quick movements and instinctive life-or-death decisions
↠ readers are less likely to skim over shorter sentences & more likely to be kept immersed
➳ keep it concise
↠ action scenes are not the time to describe the weapons and armor in full detail; keep the action flowing; if it doesn’t move the story forward, don’t add it
➳ dialogue
↠ show some exchanges between characters; add some snarky remarks or expressions of anger; it’ll break up the descriptions and engage the reader’s attention
➳ inner dialogue
↠ show how your character is feeling; we know they’re fighting, but how do they feel about it? wrathful? conflicted? remorseful? scared? nervous?
↠ but remember, no one is going to focus on emotions too much (if at all) when they’re in the heat of the moment; they’ll focus on survival; so try to show emotion through physical action or description
➳ show the motivation for the fight
↠ people fight differently based on their reasoning (aggressor vs defender); during actions scenes readers are generally more interested in the why than the how; we’ve all read enough battle scenes to get the idea of what happens, but what makes this scene special?
➳ the five senses
↠ a great way to be descriptive but not over-descriptive is to write a short sentence for each sense; it’ll paint the picture thoroughly but not bore the reader
➳ strong verbs
↠ avoid adverbs at all costs; it’s the perfect opportunity to use strong verbs
⇨ check out my posts on terms for sword fighting and hand-to-hand combat ⇦