Someone told me this years ago, and it kinda works. Watch professional wrestling. The play by play on commentary has to be short, punchy, to the point, and sell the action your watching. Plus with Covid these guys have gotten creative AF. I recently watched a wrestling match that involved Vikings, motorcycle ninjas, a recreation of the compactor scene from star wars, and the loch ness monster. In one single match.
For those who have been asking the match was The Street Profits vs. The Viking Raiders at WWE Backlash 2020. I could not find the match to pin to this comment sorry. But I have pinned probably one of the greatest fight scenes of all time here. Now I maybe attributing the wrong person here, but I believe Rowdy Roddy Piper ounce said, "a fight is a conversation with fists." This is probably one of the best examples of that. ruclips.net/video/dN8Z7y_QcwE/видео.html
I mean, if you want to keep that a consistent part of Hanna's character but still have variety, you could write fights where someone else goes for the kill.
You can do a number of stuff I say like: - Vary the difficulty/obstacles of the throat kill (have armour, well trained/experienced fighter etc.) - Some fights can be a very short description if w/e is killed is basically fodder (normal man, weak soldier etc.) - Sometimes have her kill not by throat, but other attacks (can be mistake or the likes etc.)
me: literally about to start writing a fight scene Jenna: posts how to write a fight scene (ok but seriously I just wrote about the upcoming events leading in to it)
Just remember when talking about pain: Adrenaline still exists, so chances are the character will be too caught up in the moment to notice every wound on their body. It's not until after the fight when they start to feel the repercussions.
As a wattpad writer in training, I wanna add some more ideas to help those with fight scenes. 1: USE THE ENVIRONMENT TO YOUR ADVANTAGE. Classrooms, bedrooms, bathrooms, office rooms, have characters use the things around them to their advantage or their antagonist's disadvantage. Jump on top of equipment, use it as cover, throw random things to make it harder for the villain, adjust your fighting style, setting could make a big difference, especially with the weather. 2: Have characters get their weapon broken and force them to improvise 3: Each character needs to have their own fighting style: one could be sword, another a lance, the muscle with brass knuckles, the smart guy uses things around him, the love interest could have a defensive or unconventional fighting style or weapon like drunken boxing or an umbrella. When those interact, anything can happen. 4: Make your character's personality fit their fighting style. Shy character, defensive nature. Loud and outgoing character, hard hitting and offensive characters. 5: If there's an magic system and fighting style, show the pros and cons. In Avatar the Last Airbender: Waterbending is flexible but defensive, Earthbending is slow and focuses on control, Firebrending is about agressive and power at the cost of defense, and Airbending is fast, but not too defensive. Unless you're Zaheer and Tenzin, who are really well balanced. 6: Have team fights. 1 on 1 fights are always hype. Having a friend to back you up in a fight can do so much, especially if there's an antagonist the MC can't defeat on their own. You get to use your supporting cast more, you don't have to pull a deus ex machina, and it gives you an opportunity to write fun ways for character and fighting dynamics. Rivals team up, Battle/Power Couple, different factions working together briefly to deal with a mutual enemy. 7: Think about it. If someone was coming after you with a weapon, look at yourself, visualize what's around you, and ask yourself "how do I defend myself" or what would someone do in this situation. 8: You can use fights to progress the story. A tournament where your MC gets a device to help them move forward on their journey. Fighting the member of a village to hope they're an ally on your quest? Parent is in an abusive relationship and there's boiling hot water in the stove you can use to stop this domestic abuse? 9: Don't be afraid to make your character's retreat. Sometimes your MC can't do everything alone or allies can't help. The villains might leave to "finish them off another time", but the heroes can try to escape to. Look at Miles in Spider Verse. 10: Have fun. Fights are supposed to be entertaining. Cut loose and don't restrict yourself. Anyone want my wattpad link?
@@mosscoveredfrog155 Ehhh...I don't have all my stories ready, especially not my action ones just yet. But I've got a few that have it. www.wattpad.com/user/SalexanderWorkshop
I always wanted to know how to write fight scenes better. I didn't want it to look like text in an RPG Hero attacks. Enemy took 50 Damage! That would get boring
Buuut it could be really cool if the character is very invested in video games. I mean imagine: The group is in a really tense situation and they have just been injured and someone asks: ''Are you okay?'' And they are like: ''Yeah, just took 50 damage.'' And they do this because they try to downplay the immense pain and panic and force a laugh.
Then you don’t want to take inspiration from Hunter X Hunter (the writer is a jrpg gamer). You want to learn from Hajime No Ippo (the writer is a boxing coach).
I'm finally part of the "Jenna read my mind!" club. I was literally just thinking yesterday about how much I struggle to write action and fight scenes, and the story I'm working on now will need a lot of them lol This is going to help so much! Thanks Jenna!
Jenna: You don't see snails fighting! Some author out there: FINALLY, I was waiting for inspiration! (c'mon, would anyone be surprised if this happened lol?)
SLUGTERRA!!!!! This is an actual thing. In the show slugterra they characters fight each other with alien slugs that have superpowers which they then shoot out of guns at mach speeds. Writers can do anything want, it seems.
#8--"Unless your character has some kind of healing power..." Well, mine actually does, but he can still be wounded, and being seriously wounded affects his ability to heal. In one scene, he gets stabbed in the stomach, then afterward has to try to heal his friend who's been electrocuted. Imagine how hard it would be to try to heal someone else while your own body is trying to heal itself. I have to give my co-author credit for this idea, though--originally I had written it where his throat got cut, not deeply enough to kill him, but still it was a bit much. She noticed it was sounding too superhero-ish and suggested I dial it back a bit. The scene turned out much better as a result. So yeah, Jenna, even if your character has a healing power, this applies to them too! lol
Onomatopoeia is one of the creepiest, most underutilized villains in the DC roster, and I can't believe Warner Bros. has been leaving him on the table. Hell, he might be the one character Zack Snyder could do justice (no pun intended) to, but nada. We don't even get him on the CW shows. And to think, he was created by the guy who wrote Mallrats.
@@arklestudios According to the excerpt of Kevin Smith's 2007 interview on the wikipedia page: "it [a character focused on onomatopoeias, and who says them in conversation] works great in print & comics, but it wouldn't translate well to film/tv."
About #5: I had a writing professor who actually said the opposite. Of course, not every sentence should be super long or super short, but his point was about building tension. Instead of "he pointed the gun at the villain's face and fired," it can be more impactful to draw it out. IE: "He raised his arm until the gun was level with the villain's head. His arm was shaking from the fatigue of the fight so he had to focus on keeping his aim steady. He couldn't afford to miss. Taking a deep and steadying breath, he braced himself and squeezed the trigger." They both say the same thing, but one raises the tension and suspense and keeps the reader on the edge of their seat.
agree. i noticed that the length of your words can really set the pacing of the action. that the shorter your words are, the more tension there is. 3 sentences just to write one action is just exhausting!
Goddamn, that was so dope. I particularly like it when fights are worded this way. Do you think the tips in this video could help me write in this manner?
I guess one can actually use both in the same book. It's a great way to tell how a character feels about killing. A person not used to fights caught up in action finally getting the upper hand, maybe with the knowledge that they have to end it to help others survive, will be affected differently. He would more likely have all the stuff described in the long drawn example going on in their head. A seasoned veteran or stone cold killer might just shoot. Not describing any emotions on his side or any thoughts about his exact movement can put emphasis on how used they are to killing. As a reader one will definitely be on the edge of the seat routing for the normal guy thrown into action but showing them how blasé a character is about killing by going from a somewhat tense situation to 'bang, that guy got shot in the face'.
The fights in TSC are adrenaline-fueled, bloody, and epic. My favorite being the one in the rain, that was frantic, fast, and OMG so brutal. Like a moshpit but with more blood. Going to be writing fight scenes very soon so this is perfectly timed. Thank Jenna Good Luck with the launch. Can't wait to read TSS
Omg, thank you for this! I suck at writing fighting scenes or just violent scenes in general, so this has helped me so much. I literally stopped writing for a few days cause everything I wrote sounded stupid. Do you have a video about how to convey strong emotions?
On the issue of pain, when in fight-or-flight mode, the body has a lot of stress-hormones (adrenaline and cortisol) pumping through the body. These work as painkillers. It's all down to specific circumstances, of course, but it is very common for people in an emergency situation to get injured and only realize it once they get a chance to wind down. Pain is not a given in a fight, even if you are injured.
All i can think of is anime-like fighting scenes, which are a damn nightmare to write down in just words. I need severe help to simplify it and this video helps.
I'm first writing out my story then planning on adapting it into a comic into the future. What's your story about? (yes it has been 2 years, i'm aware)
#2 is very important, The word “Strike” has a certain weightiness that “Hit” can’t convey. Also #1 should be used throughout the story not just during fight scenes.
@@acasualuser1617 yup. If you find yourself going over seven for a single sequence then you’re probably overdoing the choreography and it’s time to take a step back and go into more broad stroke details about the fight. Worst comes to worst you just reuse them a bit more than you’re usually comfortable doing, but they provide a decent way to know when you’ve gotten too into the details for too long. Fights generally shouldn’t be precise choreography’s anyway. Let the audience fill in the gaps themselves between different beats. Going hard into details regarding choreography should be used sparingly when there’s a shift in the fight, before resuming the more summarizing approach. Or at least that’s how I approach it.
Jenna Moreci - I really have to thank you for these videos. I have always written down story ideas for decades. But I never tried to actually write them. Your witty and sarcastic videos have been a joy to watch. I have found tools that work well for me and I have actually begun writing my book. It is a slow start but your videos have been amazing to watch for tropes and advice. I have made changes to characters now thanks to your sound advice and I feel like they are more believable now. Thank you for all the hard work you put into these videos! They have been inspiring for writing, I even did what you did which is play music to scenes I am writing and it is just awesome for keeping those creative juices flowing. I hope everything is going well for you and your family!
Greetings, I am a novelist trying to gain inspiration from fellow writers. I would love to be a Beta reader for any projects you're working on currently. May I read your work?
Another thing is characterization. An example: My main character is left-handed, which is a important detail about him because of his superpower, and throughout the book I charactarize that by *showing* him using his left hand instead of the usual right one. Because of that, the times he got into fist fights, I *didn't need* to say he was using his left hand. I asked all of my beta readers and they imagined it as such. So another example would be: a character who likes to lift weights will probably default to punching, while one that likes to run might rather kick instead. It all comes to who they are, and their experiences in life. Trust your characters. Trust your readers. They're smart.
Jenna, Thank you so much for these tips! They really do help I am currently trying to right a story based on one of my DnD characters and it so far has been going slowly. These tips of yours will help immensely! Keep em' coming!
Okay, I needed this because fighting scenes were kind of put on hold because I didn't want to write them until I knew how to bring it to life? also make it compelling and etc... You helped me... :D Now I will rewrite one.... and edit... it wasn't to my standards so thank you. You are my hero.
Thank you. I was writing a fight scene between Spongebob Squarepants and Gumball Watterson but I have no experience writing them at all so this was very helpful 🙌
Good thing I had no struggle with that. I kept it simple and to the point. As a kickboxer, I have a solid understanding about fights and have been told my violent fights/battles are engaging.
I was about to write my first fight scene, which eventho I planned to keep very simple, was extremely intimidated to do, this video helped me a lot to solidify my ideas!
I remember the first video you did on this topic and it really helped me do great fights in my WIP. I consider it my wheelhouse. I like your music idea. One thing I did to prepare was take a movie fight or WWE match and pretend to be giving the color commentary. That really helped. For my sword fights I used either Jedi duels or the swordfighting in Highlander (movies and series). Thank you for being so Awesome Jenna
Good stuff. Thank you. Let me just add that the most important part of a fight scene is not the fight, but the drama leading up to it. The set up is what most makes us care about the fight. How much the reader cares about the outcome has everything to do with how effective the scene is The stakes. The revenge factor. The showdown we've been hoping for... just like in professional boxing, it's all the hype leading up to the fight that makes it special.
An ad popped up during the part on onomatopoeia right as you said, "my high school English teacher used to refer to them as-" and then ad started with, "all natural pullups." 😂😂
The Spice Of Life one is something I needed to hear! I think that's what I tend to lean on without realizing because I love the same fight set up I have in my head, with the same characters and weapons. But you're right, after a while it's not interesting. Thank you!!
I always try to find the middle ground between making it impactful and adding a little more detail to the moves the characters are performing. I try to keep the sentences short to keep the momentum up.
Where have you been all my life? As a martial arts master I can tell you that that does not help at all right a fight scene. It is taking decades for me to finally come across the advice I need from you. Thank you so much. Well in my book my character has healing abilities he can still feel the pain of being injured and I can still cause him to suddenly stop. Also, even though the body can heal if he takes too many wounds it does drain his physical strength. I'm so happy for your advice again. Thank you so much. I can finally rewrite those fight scenes properly
Another thing people tend to do in fight scenes is when the people fighting have this whole conversation during the fight. I remember in my creative writing class in college, we had to write a short story about anything and then read everyone else's story and then give our thoughts that are both things we did well and things we need to work on. When it was my my turn, everyone was saying how well the fight scene was and some people even admit they can't make a short story solely on fighting. It shocked me because I thought fight scenes were normal lol. Aside from working on another character to make them more than a love interest (romance isn't my strong suit), one of the criticisms I got was that there was too much dialogue during the fight and I realized that I did that. An improved version of that story was one of our final assignments and I ended up rewriting the whole thing because I thought of more ideas that could fit better and felt I needed to start over from scratch. That short story now is published on a magazine website
I was taking a long walk last night envisioning a fight scene to, among other things, Riptide by Beartooth. Thank you for validating my choice of scoring.
You're not wrong about words like riposte, parry, roundhouse, etc., but I still think they have a place in good fight writing. If your characters are fighting for their lives, then yeah, avoid those words, but if your characters are sparing with a friend or ally, I think that sort of language can be a great way to convey the fact that sure, this is a fight, but it's a less urgent, more educational sort of fight.
This was incredibly helpful, I really appreciate the advice. I’m a martial artist so whenever I write fight scenes I get way too technical which makes it sound like a court report. Thanks for the help.
8:34 YES, I'm so happy to know I'm not the only one who uses music to inspire fight scenes. Honestly I blame "The Fifth Element" for the connection myself, but it's so handy for me when I run across a song and it helps me figure out a fight scene for my story. Music has also helped me figure out some of my characters personalities when I realize they'd be the one singing said song, and helped me discover plot points I'd not considered before (i.e. How exactly two of my characters fell in love, or the childhood of another character). Most of the time I'll imagine these in a music video-esc concept in my head when I listen to the song, but music is so super helpful in a lot of ways for me with writing. Highly recommend! Also recommend having these songs saved in a playlist somewhere that's specific for them only. Helps to access them faster when you need to imo.
I have never been more thankful to come from a descendant of fighters. My father taught me how to use a sword numb chucks and my own body as a weapon, which makes writing books much easier!
This is great, thanks for laying it out so well! I'm making a big video on how to Write Fight Scenes for Scripts, and I will link back to this once it's posted!
One possibility i once tried in a short story is to describe the fight by the reactions of its audience. In my story two characters went into a swordfight, cheered up by their comrades. "Two hours later they were still fighting, while their audience had gone away or to sleep or playing dice".
Yessss, I love doing this! Gives me an excuse to listen to various music while writing! Although, I'm also a fan of the lyrical dissonance trope as well- if its a cheesy love song or dancy pop ballad chances are I'm gonna associate it with one of my characters horribly murdering someone 🤣
For anyone who has issues listening to lyrical music and writing (like me) Two Steps From Hell is wonderful! They do score music and it's very epic and powerful. Helps with the fight scenes!
Dear Jenna, I'm new to your channel, and have always wanted to become a writer. But have been terrified to do so, because, well human emotions Lmfao. Ive never actually read anything you wrote, so i may have a unique opinion, for the most part.. However, your style of teaching on RUclips has inspired me! My goal isnt to make a living with writing, but to enjoy it, for the story telling pleasures. I only found your channel a few weeks ago, and ive watched so many of your videos, even the 5 year old ones. Goes to show, past efforts make ripple effects forever! I apprciate your teaching style, and you've shown me ways of looking at this task ( writing any story ) that I've never seen before. I am greatful, please keep up the phenomenal work! I am in love with your content, and the way you portray it on your channel! Thank you for being such a beautiful soul to the writing community!! I can't put into words how much motovation and entertainment you have brought me through your years of RUclips work, in these past few weeks I've had. The only question I have, is how do you go about writing your verbal scripts for RUclips, V.S. how you write for your books? The fundementals may be the same, yet the product much different, do you use a different mental outlook when writing a script for a video V.S. a novle? P.S. I am truly grateful! One love!!
I have the opposite problem, after like ten years writing the same story, with spin-offs, my battles and fights have become stagnant, it doesn't matter if I put my protagonist trough hell to win a battle, because I care more about technique than "power levels", it not matter how powerful you are, but how you use that power, now my story have become stagnant, maybe I should change of genre, more easy to say than done.
@TheKeyser94 that should be so frustrating. Maybe pausing to do another thing and then come back to it helps, but I'm writing my first story, so I can not talk from experience Hope you find what to do next.
@@jesusromanpadro3853 Yeah, but so far I not have been easy, I have some ideas for some fantasy histories, but I not have no idea how put it into the page, basic narrative structure, meanwhile I have other ideas to continue one of the spin-offs, but that is continue what I was writing, and I not want to take another sabbatical, that was a disaster, seems that everyone had forgotten about me, and took six months to people catch up who and what I was writing, if people forget about who you are, any kind of stories fade into the collective memory, and then when you come back writing again is like if were writing your first draft, no ones cares or no ones knows you, it really took a while to people to remember, but didn't reach the peak that was five years ago.
K the visualization one is so me. I always do that periodt. This helped so much, and I feel as if I k ow just how to go about my fight scenes now. I will drop a sub now
Well one thing I learned was that many don’t know terms. But I’m sorry it’s easier to write “fool’s guard” instead of trying to describe where the sword is. Hey if ppl can drop random latin or foreign words I can use proper terms. God I love HEMA
Charo Gaming see you could do that. And to an extent that makes sense. However not everything needs to be Chekhov’s gun. Awhile back I was reading a novel and the cast had to “Ford” the river or something. I gathered what they were doing but just as easily could’ve looked the word up. I’m not a fan when an audience is treated like children. For better or worse. (This spans a number of things mainly involved in films)
It may be easier for you to write, but it's not easy when readers constantly have to look up new words every few pages. It totally kills the immersion.
@@KatieMaddalena Do you inherently know what a shotgun is? Do you know what a trigger/pump is? Do you know what a firing pin is. It's not every page and are actual terms. It doesn't kill immersion to use "big" words. Readers have a brain they aren't stupid.
@@Darek_B52 I didn't say that big words kill immersion. I said that constantly looking up terms you don't know kills immersion, which is why it's better to use more general language for these things.
As a hobbyist writer some of the most fun I've had is planning out fight scenes. I don't know if it was the best fight I ever came up with but the most fun I ever had coming up with a fight involved a big duel in a coloseum between two characters that both used a sort of "mechanical magic". The MC had a robot familiar that would transform into a suit of armor in combat. The adversary was much more grandiose. His familiar was a mass of machinery made from war machines he had defeated. It kept changing forms and tactics. Dozens of man sized robots, a couple misshapen monsters, one giant centipede, sometimes just swarms of debris. The whole time we are in the MC's head who has no idea how strong his opponent is or why the nobles set up the fight. At first he thinks they are trying to get him killed but the longer he hold his own the more he starts to think they are using him to kill the other guy.
![Noob To Max With DRAGON REWORK In Blox Fruits [FULL MOVIE]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/LnBMOinoOvA/mqdefault.jpg)
Someone told me this years ago, and it kinda works. Watch professional wrestling. The play by play on commentary has to be short, punchy, to the point, and sell the action your watching. Plus with Covid these guys have gotten creative AF. I recently watched a wrestling match that involved Vikings, motorcycle ninjas, a recreation of the compactor scene from star wars, and the loch ness monster. In one single match.
Where can I find such wonders? I'm specially interested in the motorcycle ninjas
Please share the link to that masterpiece
Can i also have the links 🙏🙏🙏🙏
For those who have been asking the match was The Street Profits vs. The Viking Raiders at WWE Backlash 2020. I could not find the match to pin to this comment sorry. But I have pinned probably one of the greatest fight scenes of all time here. Now I maybe attributing the wrong person here, but I believe Rowdy Roddy Piper ounce said, "a fight is a conversation with fists." This is probably one of the best examples of that. ruclips.net/video/dN8Z7y_QcwE/видео.html
Thanks for this tip!
“You don’t see snails fighting, and there’s a reason for that.”
Flail-snails: ;(
I would not be surprised to see someone chuck a snail at someone as a weapon.
I was going to say this as well, well played.
@@sxwriter8569 That's the best way to "end them rightly" ;D
Except in medieval manuscripts.
I was just about to comment that XD.
"Vary the ways your characters kill each other."
My character Hanna, who goes for the throat 95% of the time: "Awww..."
I mean, if you want to keep that a consistent part of Hanna's character but still have variety, you could write fights where someone else goes for the kill.
You can do a number of stuff I say like:
- Vary the difficulty/obstacles of the throat kill (have armour, well trained/experienced fighter etc.)
- Some fights can be a very short description if w/e is killed is basically fodder (normal man, weak soldier etc.)
- Sometimes have her kill not by throat, but other attacks (can be mistake or the likes etc.)
@@michael3032 What if she goes for the neck by accident? lol
@@EagleZtoTheGrave
I mean like the video mentioned, mix things up. Could actually be fun to have a throat kill that was actually an accident.
Why fuck with what works?
me: literally about to start writing a fight scene
Jenna: posts how to write a fight scene
(ok but seriously I just wrote about the upcoming events leading in to it)
BUILD THAT TENSION AND STAKES, SON!
Same
Just remember when talking about pain: Adrenaline still exists, so chances are the character will be too caught up in the moment to notice every wound on their body. It's not until after the fight when they start to feel the repercussions.
As a wattpad writer in training, I wanna add some more ideas to help those with fight scenes.
1: USE THE ENVIRONMENT TO YOUR ADVANTAGE. Classrooms, bedrooms, bathrooms, office rooms, have characters use the things around them to their advantage or their antagonist's disadvantage. Jump on top of equipment, use it as cover, throw random things to make it harder for the villain, adjust your fighting style, setting could make a big difference, especially with the weather.
2: Have characters get their weapon broken and force them to improvise
3: Each character needs to have their own fighting style: one could be sword, another a lance, the muscle with brass knuckles, the smart guy uses things around him, the love interest could have a defensive or unconventional fighting style or weapon like drunken boxing or an umbrella. When those interact, anything can happen.
4: Make your character's personality fit their fighting style. Shy character, defensive nature. Loud and outgoing character, hard hitting and offensive characters.
5: If there's an magic system and fighting style, show the pros and cons. In Avatar the Last Airbender: Waterbending is flexible but defensive, Earthbending is slow and focuses on control, Firebrending is about agressive and power at the cost of defense, and Airbending is fast, but not too defensive. Unless you're Zaheer and Tenzin, who are really well balanced.
6: Have team fights. 1 on 1 fights are always hype. Having a friend to back you up in a fight can do so much, especially if there's an antagonist the MC can't defeat on their own. You get to use your supporting cast more, you don't have to pull a deus ex machina, and it gives you an opportunity to write fun ways for character and fighting dynamics. Rivals team up, Battle/Power Couple, different factions working together briefly to deal with a mutual enemy.
7: Think about it. If someone was coming after you with a weapon, look at yourself, visualize what's around you, and ask yourself "how do I defend myself" or what would someone do in this situation.
8: You can use fights to progress the story. A tournament where your MC gets a device to help them move forward on their journey. Fighting the member of a village to hope they're an ally on your quest? Parent is in an abusive relationship and there's boiling hot water in the stove you can use to stop this domestic abuse?
9: Don't be afraid to make your character's retreat. Sometimes your MC can't do everything alone or allies can't help. The villains might leave to "finish them off another time", but the heroes can try to escape to. Look at Miles in Spider Verse.
10: Have fun. Fights are supposed to be entertaining. Cut loose and don't restrict yourself.
Anyone want my wattpad link?
Oooo, with tips like these, your writing sounds super interesting and engaging! Please drop that Wattpad username, your work sounds so cool!
Sure, I make stories on wattpad too
Brilliant
@@masonroland6396 Whoa...that's a lot. That's pretty interesting, I'll follow you.
@@mosscoveredfrog155 Ehhh...I don't have all my stories ready, especially not my action ones just yet. But I've got a few that have it. www.wattpad.com/user/SalexanderWorkshop
Jenna be looking like her last name is Addams and I love it.
???
@@sxwriter8569 As in the Addams family
Archlector Yarvi oh..yeah I can see that.
Lmaooo Wednesday could NEVER
Jenna Addams. Nice
I just had an image of snails fighting with Lightsabers.
Just some snails sorting out their beef with lightsabers while Duel of the Fates plays in the background 🤣
@@pLanetstarBerry **Conductor slows down the pace of the song**
Wtf me too....
The way Jenna said “slice” who did not immediately think of Megara from Hercules?
"Waterbending slice!" ~Sokka
"It's been a real sl-LICE"
One of my mc's literally has to have a fight to the death with her enemy so I needed this thank you
Good luck! Go all out and have fun with it.
Cilantro Ozai it and just have her imprisoned and de powered.
@Cilantro Avatar gang, a person of culture
I always wanted to know how to write fight scenes better. I didn't want it to look like text in an RPG
Hero attacks. Enemy took 50 Damage!
That would get boring
Do you use discord? I actually developed a system that uses that but makes it smooth.
Well, it will be with that attitude.
Buuut it could be really cool if the character is very invested in video games. I mean imagine: The group is in a really tense situation and they have just been injured and someone asks: ''Are you okay?''
And they are like: ''Yeah, just took 50 damage.'' And they do this because they try to downplay the immense pain and panic and force a laugh.
@@jh.4761 ok that’s pretty good
Then you don’t want to take inspiration from Hunter X Hunter (the writer is a jrpg gamer). You want to learn from Hajime No Ippo (the writer is a boxing coach).
This video: **exists**
Me, who’s currently rewriting a superhero series: **taking notes down like there’s no tomorrow**
Same
Me: *writes a fight scene between snails* take that Jenna
I'm finally part of the "Jenna read my mind!" club. I was literally just thinking yesterday about how much I struggle to write action and fight scenes, and the story I'm working on now will need a lot of them lol
This is going to help so much! Thanks Jenna!
Jenna: You don't see snails fighting!
Some author out there: FINALLY, I was waiting for inspiration!
(c'mon, would anyone be surprised if this happened lol?)
I've seen a few snail monsters pop up in Kamen Rider, but those are more in the Heisei seasons.
kamenrider.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Snail_Monsters
I had an idea of a story about a zoologist who travel around to study fantasy animals, fighting snails could be in this story. Oh yeah
@@sxwriter8569 "Category: Snail Monsters"
This, I love that this is a thing that exists.
SLUGTERRA!!!!! This is an actual thing. In the show slugterra they characters fight each other with alien slugs that have superpowers which they then shoot out of guns at mach speeds.
Writers can do anything want, it seems.
I would 100% read that, ngl.
"'Parry' doesn't sound visceral enough"
*Gwyn, Lord of Cinder is typing...*
*PLIN PLIN PLON*
@@ASmartNameForMe Ow, my heart
Sounds like someone just had as much fun as me...
#8--"Unless your character has some kind of healing power..." Well, mine actually does, but he can still be wounded, and being seriously wounded affects his ability to heal. In one scene, he gets stabbed in the stomach, then afterward has to try to heal his friend who's been electrocuted. Imagine how hard it would be to try to heal someone else while your own body is trying to heal itself.
I have to give my co-author credit for this idea, though--originally I had written it where his throat got cut, not deeply enough to kill him, but still it was a bit much. She noticed it was sounding too superhero-ish and suggested I dial it back a bit. The scene turned out much better as a result. So yeah, Jenna, even if your character has a healing power, this applies to them too! lol
“Use lots of onomatopoeias!”
Fallout Equestria: “Too much? Nah!”
Fallout Equestria?... * drags cigarette * I haven't heard that name in years...
Onomatopoeia is one of the creepiest, most underutilized villains in the DC roster, and I can't believe Warner Bros. has been leaving him on the table. Hell, he might be the one character Zack Snyder could do justice (no pun intended) to, but nada. We don't even get him on the CW shows.
And to think, he was created by the guy who wrote Mallrats.
@@arklestudios According to the excerpt of Kevin Smith's 2007 interview on the wikipedia page: "it [a character focused on onomatopoeias, and who says them in conversation] works great in print & comics, but it wouldn't translate well to film/tv."
@@UGNAvalon Yeah, that's fair.
"You don't see snails fighting!"
Me: "Does no one remember Slugterra?"
Someone should tell her about their mating habits.
That unlocked a childhood memory I had forgotten about
Oh I loved that cartoon!
I do and I'm pissed Nexflix took it off
*Memory unlocked*
Your dog deserves its own channel; you could milk her cuteness for 💰
About #5: I had a writing professor who actually said the opposite. Of course, not every sentence should be super long or super short, but his point was about building tension. Instead of "he pointed the gun at the villain's face and fired," it can be more impactful to draw it out. IE: "He raised his arm until the gun was level with the villain's head. His arm was shaking from the fatigue of the fight so he had to focus on keeping his aim steady. He couldn't afford to miss. Taking a deep and steadying breath, he braced himself and squeezed the trigger." They both say the same thing, but one raises the tension and suspense and keeps the reader on the edge of their seat.
agree. i noticed that the length of your words can really set the pacing of the action. that the shorter your words are, the more tension there is. 3 sentences just to write one action is just exhausting!
Goddamn, that was so dope. I particularly like it when fights are worded this way. Do you think the tips in this video could help me write in this manner?
I guess one can actually use both in the same book.
It's a great way to tell how a character feels about killing.
A person not used to fights caught up in action finally getting the upper hand, maybe with the knowledge that they have to end it to help others survive, will be affected differently. He would more likely have all the stuff described in the long drawn example going on in their head.
A seasoned veteran or stone cold killer might just shoot. Not describing any emotions on his side or any thoughts about his exact movement can put emphasis on how used they are to killing.
As a reader one will definitely be on the edge of the seat routing for the normal guy thrown into action but showing them how blasé a character is about killing by going from a somewhat tense situation to 'bang, that guy got shot in the face'.
"we dont see snail fighting"
well fun fact, snail do fight... but only during mating... and yes, as you can imagine, it is pretty slow..
The fighting? Or the mating?
Both
Me writing a intro: "Hmmm well guess I'll multitask."
Me writing my first chapter and starting off with a fight scene
The fights in TSC are adrenaline-fueled, bloody, and epic. My favorite being the one in the rain, that was frantic, fast, and OMG so brutal. Like a moshpit but with more blood. Going to be writing fight scenes very soon so this is perfectly timed. Thank Jenna
Good Luck with the launch.
Can't wait to read TSS
Gouged his eyes out...contains detailed technical jargon AND a powerful emotional response!
Leave it to Jenna to upload EXACTLY the topic I needed. That's why you're the GOAT 🐐
Omg, thank you for this! I suck at writing fighting scenes or just violent scenes in general, so this has helped me so much. I literally stopped writing for a few days cause everything I wrote sounded stupid.
Do you have a video about how to convey strong emotions?
She does, actually
ruclips.net/video/4EQSreyG_eE/видео.html
Nicollas Val
Ah, thank you for sharing the link 😊
Thank you for the subtitles! I've got autism and they help me a lot to follow along
On the issue of pain, when in fight-or-flight mode, the body has a lot of stress-hormones (adrenaline and cortisol) pumping through the body. These work as painkillers. It's all down to specific circumstances, of course, but it is very common for people in an emergency situation to get injured and only realize it once they get a chance to wind down. Pain is not a given in a fight, even if you are injured.
All i can think of is anime-like fighting scenes, which are a damn nightmare to write down in just words. I need severe help to simplify it and this video helps.
8:34 I didn’t realize I did this with pretty much all of my scenes until you said this.
I feel like you can't imagine how helpful your tips are to everyone who puts 'em to use!!!💕
I'm planning to make my story a comic (in which I can literally just draw what's happening) but I still think this is very helpful.
I'm first writing out my story then planning on adapting it into a comic into the future.
What's your story about? (yes it has been 2 years, i'm aware)
@@hyprdontia same here. I was gonna use any sales towards adapting it
I was literally just talking to my sister yesterday about struggling with fight scenes. Thanks for all the tips!
"no mom, I can't readd"
I love it lol
I tried doing it this way with basic words. But i think some high vocabulary in key points makes it better.
have no idea what you said. Been staring at Buttercup
"You don't see snails fighting"
I've seen enough Medieval artwork to know what a Knight jousting against a snail looks like, tho
"I use music"
Immediately hears it echoing in my mind: MORTAAAAAL KOOOOMBAAAAAAAT
You indeed know the Way
"This is the Way"
Crowd of Mandalorians:
"This is the Way"
I have spoken
Agh, you beat me too it!
It's nice to know I'm not the only one who listens to music for inspiration in my writing.
#2 is very important,
The word “Strike” has a certain weightiness that “Hit” can’t convey.
Also #1 should be used throughout the story not just during fight scenes.
I'm stuck with "charge", "lunge", "slam", "jab", "slash", "thrust" and just recently "strike". 7 verbs aren't enough to write choreographies tbh.
@@acasualuser1617 almost like you aren’t supposed to go into detail with choreography lol
@@Grunk369 You mean 7 is enough?
@@acasualuser1617 yup. If you find yourself going over seven for a single sequence then you’re probably overdoing the choreography and it’s time to take a step back and go into more broad stroke details about the fight. Worst comes to worst you just reuse them a bit more than you’re usually comfortable doing, but they provide a decent way to know when you’ve gotten too into the details for too long. Fights generally shouldn’t be precise choreography’s anyway. Let the audience fill in the gaps themselves between different beats.
Going hard into details regarding choreography should be used sparingly when there’s a shift in the fight, before resuming the more summarizing approach. Or at least that’s how I approach it.
Jenna Moreci - I really have to thank you for these videos. I have always written down story ideas for decades. But I never tried to actually write them. Your witty and sarcastic videos have been a joy to watch. I have found tools that work well for me and I have actually begun writing my book. It is a slow start but your videos have been amazing to watch for tropes and advice. I have made changes to characters now thanks to your sound advice and I feel like they are more believable now.
Thank you for all the hard work you put into these videos! They have been inspiring for writing, I even did what you did which is play music to scenes I am writing and it is just awesome for keeping those creative juices flowing. I hope everything is going well for you and your family!
Greetings, I am a novelist trying to gain inspiration from fellow writers. I would love to be a Beta reader for any projects you're working on currently. May I read your work?
thanks jenna. this really helped
Another thing is characterization. An example: My main character is left-handed, which is a important detail about him because of his superpower, and throughout the book I charactarize that by *showing* him using his left hand instead of the usual right one. Because of that, the times he got into fist fights, I *didn't need* to say he was using his left hand. I asked all of my beta readers and they imagined it as such.
So another example would be: a character who likes to lift weights will probably default to punching, while one that likes to run might rather kick instead. It all comes to who they are, and their experiences in life.
Trust your characters. Trust your readers. They're smart.
I've just started a project that'll have a good deal of fighting. Get out of my mind!
Fight scenes are my favorite! I couldn't agree more on these tips.
Jenna,
Thank you so much for these tips! They really do help I am currently trying to right a story based on one of my DnD characters and it so far has been going slowly. These tips of yours will help immensely! Keep em' coming!
Okay, I needed this because fighting scenes were kind of put on hold because I didn't want to write them until I knew how to bring it to life? also make it compelling and etc... You helped me... :D Now I will rewrite one.... and edit... it wasn't to my standards so thank you. You are my hero.
Thank you. I was writing a fight scene between Spongebob Squarepants and Gumball Watterson but I have no experience writing them at all so this was very helpful 🙌
Good thing I had no struggle with that. I kept it simple and to the point. As a kickboxer, I have a solid understanding about fights and have been told my violent fights/battles are engaging.
I’ve been creating a character that is physically invincible, but they are not emotionally stable enough to properly use their powers
I was about to write my first fight scene, which eventho I planned to keep very simple, was extremely intimidated to do, this video helped me a lot to solidify my ideas!
I remember the first video you did on this topic and it really helped me do great fights in my WIP. I consider it my wheelhouse. I like your music idea. One thing I did to prepare was take a movie fight or WWE match and pretend to be giving the color commentary. That really helped. For my sword fights I used either Jedi duels or the swordfighting in Highlander (movies and series). Thank you for being so Awesome Jenna
Oh yeah, commentators are really good at fighting dialogue. We just have to transfer that to being the narrator. Walter, that's so smart!
Good stuff. Thank you. Let me just add that the most important part of a fight scene is not the fight, but the drama leading up to it. The set up is what most makes us care about the fight. How much the reader cares about the outcome has everything to do with how effective the scene is The stakes. The revenge factor. The showdown we've been hoping for... just like in professional boxing, it's all the hype leading up to the fight that makes it special.
Me: ):
Jenna: hello everybodyy
Me: (:
An ad popped up during the part on onomatopoeia right as you said, "my high school English teacher used to refer to them as-" and then ad started with, "all natural pullups." 😂😂
The Spice Of Life one is something I needed to hear! I think that's what I tend to lean on without realizing because I love the same fight set up I have in my head, with the same characters and weapons. But you're right, after a while it's not interesting. Thank you!!
I always try to find the middle ground between making it impactful and adding a little more detail to the moves the characters are performing. I try to keep the sentences short to keep the momentum up.
"They in danger" Thank you very much writing fights with this thought in mind does indeed make me write them with more feeling
This just helped me so much, I’ve been working on a fight scene for a week and couldn’t figure out how
Where have you been all my life? As a martial arts master I can tell you that that does not help at all right a fight scene. It is taking decades for me to finally come across the advice I need from you. Thank you so much. Well in my book my character has healing abilities he can still feel the pain of being injured and I can still cause him to suddenly stop. Also, even though the body can heal if he takes too many wounds it does drain his physical strength. I'm so happy for your advice again. Thank you so much. I can finally rewrite those fight scenes properly
Jenna! I love it when you read my mind
Sokka: Airbending SLICEEEE!
Another thing people tend to do in fight scenes is when the people fighting have this whole conversation during the fight. I remember in my creative writing class in college, we had to write a short story about anything and then read everyone else's story and then give our thoughts that are both things we did well and things we need to work on. When it was my my turn, everyone was saying how well the fight scene was and some people even admit they can't make a short story solely on fighting. It shocked me because I thought fight scenes were normal lol. Aside from working on another character to make them more than a love interest (romance isn't my strong suit), one of the criticisms I got was that there was too much dialogue during the fight and I realized that I did that. An improved version of that story was one of our final assignments and I ended up rewriting the whole thing because I thought of more ideas that could fit better and felt I needed to start over from scratch. That short story now is published on a magazine website
I was taking a long walk last night envisioning a fight scene to, among other things, Riptide by Beartooth. Thank you for validating my choice of scoring.
I thought i was insane for listening to songs on repeat to write scenes omg that feels so nice to know I'm not alone.
You're not wrong about words like riposte, parry, roundhouse, etc., but I still think they have a place in good fight writing.
If your characters are fighting for their lives, then yeah, avoid those words, but if your characters are sparing with a friend or ally, I think that sort of language can be a great way to convey the fact that sure, this is a fight, but it's a less urgent, more educational sort of fight.
This was incredibly helpful, I really appreciate the advice. I’m a martial artist so whenever I write fight scenes I get way too technical which makes it sound like a court report. Thanks for the help.
Butters is absolutely the star of this channel. 😆 Seriously, though, love all the incredible info you share. Thank you!
8:34 YES, I'm so happy to know I'm not the only one who uses music to inspire fight scenes. Honestly I blame "The Fifth Element" for the connection myself, but it's so handy for me when I run across a song and it helps me figure out a fight scene for my story. Music has also helped me figure out some of my characters personalities when I realize they'd be the one singing said song, and helped me discover plot points I'd not considered before (i.e. How exactly two of my characters fell in love, or the childhood of another character). Most of the time I'll imagine these in a music video-esc concept in my head when I listen to the song, but music is so super helpful in a lot of ways for me with writing. Highly recommend!
Also recommend having these songs saved in a playlist somewhere that's specific for them only. Helps to access them faster when you need to imo.
Lol I was just writing a fight scene right now. 😂
I have never been more thankful to come from a descendant of fighters. My father taught me how to use a sword numb chucks and my own body as a weapon, which makes writing books much easier!
This is great, thanks for laying it out so well! I'm making a big video on how to Write Fight Scenes for Scripts, and I will link back to this once it's posted!
…
One possibility i once tried in a short story is to describe the fight by the reactions of its audience. In my story two characters went into a swordfight, cheered up by their comrades. "Two hours later they were still fighting, while their audience had gone away or to sleep or playing dice".
I plan on writing a tournament story so this is pretty helpful
Great personality !
Thank you for the video. It was as entertaining as it was educative .
The music tip is awesome. Never thought of that - I love it.
Yessss, I love doing this! Gives me an excuse to listen to various music while writing! Although, I'm also a fan of the lyrical dissonance trope as well- if its a cheesy love song or dancy pop ballad chances are I'm gonna associate it with one of my characters horribly murdering someone 🤣
I would rather write A N Y T H I N G other than fight scenes so this is really going to help!! I can't wait to rewrite my fights now!!
For anyone who has issues listening to lyrical music and writing (like me) Two Steps From Hell is wonderful! They do score music and it's very epic and powerful. Helps with the fight scenes!
Yes they help me a lot!
I think that original video on fight scenes was how I found you in the first place haha. What a throwback
"Are you the star? Are you star? Thank you
Dear Jenna, I'm new to your channel, and have always wanted to become a writer. But have been terrified to do so, because, well human emotions Lmfao.
Ive never actually read anything you wrote, so i may have a unique opinion, for the most part..
However, your style of teaching on RUclips has inspired me! My goal isnt to make a living with writing, but to enjoy it, for the story telling pleasures.
I only found your channel a few weeks ago, and ive watched so many of your videos, even the 5 year old ones. Goes to show, past efforts make ripple effects forever!
I apprciate your teaching style, and you've shown me ways of looking at this task ( writing any story ) that I've never seen before.
I am greatful, please keep up the phenomenal work!
I am in love with your content, and the way you portray it on your channel!
Thank you for being such a beautiful soul to the writing community!! I can't put into words how much motovation and entertainment you have brought me through your years of RUclips work, in these past few weeks I've had.
The only question I have, is how do you go about writing your verbal scripts for RUclips, V.S. how you write for your books?
The fundementals may be the same, yet the product much different, do you use a different mental outlook when writing a script for a video V.S. a novle?
P.S. I am truly grateful!
One love!!
Great video! Very good advice!
Thank you for your advice
Thanks so much these made great notes
This is really helpful for me. Thank you so much! Your dog is adorable, must be said! All hail the puppies! 🐶 ❤
wow like wow this is such a good video i might watch it again
this will make my Diamond man final project a lot more fun
Personally, my tip on fight scenes is to listen to Pirates of Caribbean on repeat and try to write with the vibe, it works, most of the time
Thanks. I struggling with a fighting scebe right now. Needed this.
I have the opposite problem, after like ten years writing the same story, with spin-offs, my battles and fights have become stagnant, it doesn't matter if I put my protagonist trough hell to win a battle, because I care more about technique than "power levels", it not matter how powerful you are, but how you use that power, now my story have become stagnant, maybe I should change of genre, more easy to say than done.
@TheKeyser94 that should be so frustrating. Maybe pausing to do another thing and then come back to it helps, but I'm writing my first story, so I can not talk from experience
Hope you find what to do next.
@@jesusromanpadro3853 Yeah, but so far I not have been easy, I have some ideas for some fantasy histories, but I not have no idea how put it into the page, basic narrative structure, meanwhile I have other ideas to continue one of the spin-offs, but that is continue what I was writing, and I not want to take another sabbatical, that was a disaster, seems that everyone had forgotten about me, and took six months to people catch up who and what I was writing, if people forget about who you are, any kind of stories fade into the collective memory, and then when you come back writing again is like if were writing your first draft, no ones cares or no ones knows you, it really took a while to people to remember, but didn't reach the peak that was five years ago.
K the visualization one is so me. I always do that periodt. This helped so much, and I feel as if I k ow just how to go about my fight scenes now. I will drop a sub now
Mahalo for the great info. BAM!
Thank you! This is very helpful to my summative assesment!
Well one thing I learned was that many don’t know terms. But I’m sorry it’s easier to write “fool’s guard” instead of trying to describe where the sword is. Hey if ppl can drop random latin or foreign words I can use proper terms. God I love HEMA
Charo Gaming see you could do that. And to an extent that makes sense. However not everything needs to be Chekhov’s gun. Awhile back I was reading a novel and the cast had to “Ford” the river or something. I gathered what they were doing but just as easily could’ve looked the word up. I’m not a fan when an audience is treated like children. For better or worse. (This spans a number of things mainly involved in films)
It may be easier for you to write, but it's not easy when readers constantly have to look up new words every few pages. It totally kills the immersion.
@@KatieMaddalena Do you inherently know what a shotgun is? Do you know what a trigger/pump is? Do you know what a firing pin is. It's not every page and are actual terms.
It doesn't kill immersion to use "big" words. Readers have a brain they aren't stupid.
@@Darek_B52 I didn't say that big words kill immersion. I said that constantly looking up terms you don't know kills immersion, which is why it's better to use more general language for these things.
Katie Maddalena you didn’t answer the question
Jenna always has our back when it comes to writing problems
As a hobbyist writer some of the most fun I've had is planning out fight scenes. I don't know if it was the best fight I ever came up with but the most fun I ever had coming up with a fight involved a big duel in a coloseum between two characters that both used a sort of "mechanical magic". The MC had a robot familiar that would transform into a suit of armor in combat. The adversary was much more grandiose. His familiar was a mass of machinery made from war machines he had defeated. It kept changing forms and tactics. Dozens of man sized robots, a couple misshapen monsters, one giant centipede, sometimes just swarms of debris. The whole time we are in the MC's head who has no idea how strong his opponent is or why the nobles set up the fight. At first he thinks they are trying to get him killed but the longer he hold his own the more he starts to think they are using him to kill the other guy.
Aw that sounds so dope!!
Great, I’ll use these tips thankyou
8:36 girl we need that playlist now XD thanks for the video btw really helpful
I am trying to write a fight scene right now. thank you
I JUST NEED TGIS THANK U JENNAA