On Writing Fight Scenes

I’m working on re-writing a fantasy thriller, so I revisited some well-known literary fight scenes to prepare for the fight scenes in my novel. 

Fight scenes in books are not Marvel comics. There are no special effects, no visuals of any kind. There’s a simple beauty in only having words to convey an epic action scene. 

Fun fact: I bought this copy of Ivanhoe in a used book store in Guatemala of all places.

The fight scene itself is usually pretty short. Two examples are the scene in Return of the King when Eowyn fights the nazgul and the witch king and in Ivanhoe when Ivanhoe defends Rebecca in trial by combat but ends up fighting against the knight who has fallen in love with her. Both fight scenes are relatively short—only a few paragraphs. What makes a fight epic is the anticipation leading up to the scene and the investment we have in the characters who participate.

We’re experiencing more than a fight scene. We’re experiencing characters reaching the brink of their anger at injustice. Eowyn and Merry are two often overlooked members of society—a woman and a Hobbit. Both are in disguise. To defeat the most feared and deadly monster on the battlefield, they use what is considered weakness to topple the king who has never been defeated. 

Both Ivanhoe and the Templar knight are in love with Rebecca. The Templar is required to fight on behalf of the church in Rebecca’s trial. Ivanhoe arrives just in time for the trial and is still wounded from previous battles. The Templar has a reason for winning and a reason for throwing the match. In the end, he dies from a broken heart without even crossing swords with Ivanhoe. 

In literary fiction, fight scenes are still very much a part of the story. They serve the plot and the characters the way any other story element would. They are not merely for entertainment or to show off a character’s prowess (though this might still further the character development). 

Fight scenes are about so much more than a fight scene. What happens before the fight scene is just as important as the scene itself. Have we been waiting for this moment? What outcome is import for the characters? How will the outcome impact the rest of the story? 

With only our words to create anticipation and investment in characters, a fight scene can be an important moment in the plot and development of a story.