Funny thing, I saw a video on the concept of fight scenes and action scenes, and how the two are actually rather different from one-another, and that got me thinking a little bit more about fight scenes in writing. Even though it's more anime/cinematic-oriented, I'll link it anyway because of the number of valid points brought up.
Good video, though I think his definitions of "fight scene" and "action scene" are kind of odd and limiting. I'd define an action scene as any scene defined by physical actions more than by spoken words, and a fight scene as any kind of action scene that revolves around fighting, irrespective of the numbers involved. What he's talking about in particular in that video are what I'd call "duels." That said, he raises excellent points about fight scenes working as a non-verbal dialogue between characters, and on "technical narrative" and "emotional narrative."
Chibi said:
What are some ways you keep the action snappy, without getting mired in description?
(Take my advice with many grains of salt). What I tend to think is that going out of your way to keep the action "snappy" is more of a pitfall than a good direction to take. In my experience, its not usually the
volume of words that makes a fic's fight scenes feel too slow, but rather how relevant they are to what's interesting about the fight in the author's head. You can't make the written word as fast as anime; so instead of trying to do that you need to find the gripping idea behind a moment in a fight,
really flesh it out, and cut as much of the rest as you can. The main idea behind a moment can be a character motivation, a logical gambit, or even just a physical sensation that makes the reader squirm (one of my favorites). Take your really interesting moments and slow them down so that you get that main idea front and center in the reader's head. Let the visceral and sensory aspects of the fight sink in. My philosophy on fights is that if they feel too slow, it's usually because the focus is on the wrong thing, not because the pace itself is too slow.
If I can share my experience on the subject from my own writing, it'd be from the climax of
WSSTK?, in which...
[spoil]Jason takes Russo's last Pokemon out of the battle with a Rocket Ball, and tears a ligament in his throwing arm in the process.[/spoil]
... I think the passage worked pretty well as action-writing, and the physiological element drew some strong reactions from readers in the way I wanted. If you look at that scene though, it's not snappy at all--
[spoil](no pun intended)[/spoil]
--but rather really, really drawn out. Every thought in the character's head gets elaborated upon and when the pain hits the narrative stews in it. And even the other fight scenes leading up to the big moment aren't exactly fast--the sentence structure and pace are (I think) pretty similar to the non-action parts--but I think when they work it's because they're "on-topic" to what's compelling in my head about the fight. You lose the reader's energy in a fight scene by adding extraneous details, but I also think you lose it by subtracting gripping details.
There's a balance of course: you need enough of the less-important details so the reader can visualize and has a sense of the physical space a fight is occupying, and if you dwell too long on any one thing they'll forget about the rest of it and it will no longer make sense. But I try to err on the side of letting the reader fill in the blanks for the stuff that doesn't matter, and devoting a healthy amount of language to what defines the fight.
Hope that all makes sense. And bear in mind it's coming from someone who really wants to improve their fight scenes and is far from an expert on the subject.
Ambyssin said:
I think I've found my footing a little bit and I'm working to try and incorporate non-Pokémon elements into some of the fights.
Yes to thinking a lot about the non-Pokemon elements. At the end of the day there are only so many ways to describe a Hyper Beam for example, but when you open the fight up to everything in the world outside of Pokemon you give yourself a much better chance to come up with something novel. (Of course, this makes it all the more impressive when someone finds a way of using the Pokemon elements by themselves in a way nobody's thought of!)