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Fight scenes!

Chibi Pika

Stay positive
Fight scenes are a staple of action and adventure stories, but seeing as our fandom is a little more combat-oriented than most, Pokemon writers often end up writing more fight scenes than most others, regardless of genre. What are some things you do to get in the mood to write some action? Do you have any sources of inspiration? Do you prefer one-on-one fights, or big melees? What do you do when you're having trouble with a battle, or when the action just won't flow? What are some ways you keep the action snappy, without getting mired in description? Do you prefer to outline the choreography first, or just let it all spill out onto the page?

Feel free to ask for advice if you're struggling with any fights in your story.

Edit: Also feel free to post any fight scenes you're proud of and talk about how you went about writing them, or fight scenes that you're struggling with and you'd like someone to look over!
 
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Ambyssin

Winter can't come soon enough
For what it's worth, I'm still relatively knew to the idea of writing Pokémon battles in detail. Prior to that, I was doing CYOAs where battles were literally RPGs where everyone had HP/MP numbers and it was simply "X did Y to Z for # damage." Nothing more, really. Making the shift for Guiding Light has been... interesting. I think I stumbled out of the gate about (Cutlerine pointed out there wasn't really a lot of description as to what was actually happening). 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.

For me personally, I really like listening to an appropriate piece of mood music. Typically a video game soundtrack of some sort.
 

Kutie Pie

"It is my destiny."
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.

What Makes a Fight Scene Interesting

Now before that came along, for me, personally, I kinda do have problems writing out action/fight scenes since I tend to overthink the choreography and stuff, and that takes up too much time and energy (mentally) that I just struggle to write them and it takes me ages to do. This is kind of the reason why I have hesitated trying out my own journey fics for so long, but also because I'd just end up spending too much time (and getting distracted multiple different times in the process) studying up on Pokémon battles and learning how to distinguish between how they work in the anime and games depending on what I'm going to use.

As for how I could get into the mood for a fight scene, the context behind it determines what kind of music I'm using for inspiration. I try to use as many pieces of music that have been used for action scenes as possible, but again, that still depends on the kind of mood I'm going for. Like I know action music from something like One Piece is more adventurous and fanatical, so I can't entirely use it for a scene where it literally means life or death for the characters unless I know the exact soundtrack that fits the scenario best. However, something from Higurashi (at least from the sound novels, an example or two) would fit that concept better.
 

icomeanon6

It's "I Come Anon"
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. :p

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!)
 
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DeliriousAbsol

Call me Del
I used to have a lot of difficulty with fight scenes, namely keeping them a believable length, and where they could go one of two ways to keep them interesting. I think I prefer writing large melee scenes than one on one, simply because it's fun to get the chaos across. Both can end up quite different, especially when the character is focusing on a lot of things at once. Thinking about ones I've written, I tend to focus on senses especially in melee fights. Pain, sound, sights. They're all important, imo.

Writing style plays a part, too. Short and choppy sentences portray anxiety or intensity, and longer ones can create a sense of chaos. I'm probably best posting an example.

Three fire types surrounded them and Macro’s muzzle pulled back into a sneer. Great. They’d found a friend. He eyed the combusken with caution hidden behind a mask of disgust.

“I think I’d quite like forty thousand credits. What about you, boys?” The monferno laughed and tossed his glass into a nearby dumpster. “Let’s show this runt who’s boss around here, eh?”
He smirked and balled his paws into fists. Heat radiated from them and Macro took an unconscious step back right into the emboar.

“Would ya look at that?” the pig pokemon scoffed with mock surprise. “The little pirate’s scared!”

“How about we settle this?” The monferno flashed his sharp canines. “Fair fight. No guns.”

Macro tutted and flexed his claws against his laser’s handle. No guns… then it wouldn’t be a fair fight.

“Back off, bro,” Anchor growled. “We’re here on a job. We’ll soon be out of your fur.”

He steered Macro from the group, but the emboar reached down and grabbed the mawile by his horn. Macro yelled and whipped out his laser, firing a blue beam right into the emboar’s stomach. The large pokemon released him as he went rolling backwards down the street, bowling over a pair of scraggy and a mankey who let out screams of protest.
Macro couldn’t help but chuckle as the small, ragged white monkey leapt onto the emboar’s head and stamped his lanky feet.

“Oi!” The monferno snarled. “I said no guns!”

He brought a blazing fist down towards the mawile. Macro ducked and hot fire licked at his fur. He fired his laser between the flaming monkey’s legs right at the combusken. The giant chicken leapt aside, but the monferno let out a grunt as electricity coursed along his body and sent him flying in a graceful ark away from Macro and into the opposite bar’s window. Glass exploded in a cascade of flames, the orange hue lighting up the glass shards as they danced along the tarmac floor.

The combusken hissed and launched a flamethrower from his beak, missing Macro by a hair’s breadth as he rolled to the side. His paw struck warm flesh and he stumbled, falling flat onto his back. The emboar grunted and pushed himself up, keeping an eye on Macro as a sinister smile spread across his snout. The mankey was still atop his head, clawing at his flesh as he shrieked profanities. The emboar reached up and flicked the primate aside then turned his attention back onto Macro. Before the giant boar had a chance to ready an attack, Anchor’s fist collided with his head, knocking him back down to the ground. Then the large bulldog threw himself at the combusken, hitting him in mid-air and crashing him into the floor.

“You go get that disk!” he roared. “I’ll deal with this lot!”

Macro tutted and ducked past him. “You have to be kidding me?”

“Nope! I’ll meet you there in like five minutes.”

Macro shot him a leer over his shoulder and bolted down the road towards the square. Two machamp rushed out of a bar and cut him off. The larger of the two looked over his head at the battle and his brow furrowed. He opened his mouth to speak as the other one raised his four fists. Macro grabbed the aggressive one, locking his jaw-like horn around his ankle, and brought him up in an arc over his head. The machamp’s body collided with his brother and the pair of them rolled into a heap of limbs in the middle of the road. A trio of scraggy faltered right behind them, but the two primeape accompanying them bounded over the fleshy obstacle and pounced onto the mawile.

Macro roared as he tried to shake them off. One of them wrapped both arms around his horn, locking it shut and dragging him backwards under his weight. The other primeape fastened his paws around his neck, shrieking incoherently as its claws dug into the flesh of his throat, slowly cutting off his air supply. Macro twisted his arm so his laser nozzle was jabbing into the ape’s stomach. It was still set to water, but it should do enough damage to at least get the offending pokemon off him. He squeezed the trigger and fired.

The primeape flew away from him and Macro’s mouth opened in a scream as his sharp claws raked over his throat. A sizzle of electricity resounded behind him with a sickening thud, and the ragged ape went flying over the buildings ahead of him like a baseball. The other was tugged free and sent soaring after him.

Anchor yanked Macro to his feet and shoved him along, covering his back in a flailing fury of fists and electricity.

Here's another chaotic scene, this one from The End. Given it has a more serious note, I thought it would be a good example, plus I tend to focus on senses more as it was a crazily chaotic scene in comparison to the previous one.

There was a flash next to her, followed by Faith in her mega form. She swung her dual horns at the remaining murkrow, sending them rolling backwards into the ground where they were trampled by frightened Pokemon.

Everything happened so quickly but it seemed to go in slow motion.

Spark's electricity flashed across the square, engulfing a small portion of the flock, and the paralysed murkrow fell to the ground while others flapped about as small sparks of electricity danced across their feathers.

The numbers were vast, too many for them to handle. Cleo kept striking out with the disarming voice, but the murkrow grew wise to this and overwhelmed her with their numbers. Violent beaks struck her body, followed by a surge of electricity as Spark tried to remove them. The murkrow fell away, but Cleo's body jerked uncomfortably as the electricity left her body.

She moved stiffly across the square, taking down more of the murkrow to join those that had been taken out by Spark and Faith.

She could see Mischief cowering under the table with Harlequin and her eyes widened. He wasn't helping?

She opened her mouth to call out to him but all that came out was a pained yell, and her eyes unfocused as something collided with the back of her head. An explosion of cawing filled her ears and she saw a murkrow drop to the ground in front of her, its body broken before it hit the stones.

A flash of lightning lit up the square, bolts flying around in an erratic pattern. Cleo and Faith leapt aside to try and avoid the spectacle, and Cleo turned just in time to see Spark rolling head over tail towards the table. Two murkrow flew at her, their wicked talons spread as they aimed for her.

“Spark!”

Scout shot across the square to the fallen dedenne and waved his paws at the murkrow. He shouted something, but Cleo couldn't make it out over the din of flapping wings and tormenting caws. Their claws aimed for his head, but they were knocked backwards as Harlequin darted from beneath the table. She stood protectively over the Sentret, her canines bared at the murkrow as they turned their eyes on her.

The two murkrow rose back into the air to swoop at her, joined by one of their kin. One by one they dropped as a shadow ball struck each of them square on.

Spark rose to her feet as another murkrow flew at her. It fell to the ground, struck by another shadow ball.

Cleo looked around at the square, but all she could see were fighting Guild members and flapping wings. Another disarming voice cleared some of her field of vision, but not enough to see through the crowd.

I do feel I could improve in some ways, so I'll have a look at some other suggestions above. Thanks for posting this thread =D
 

Chibi Pika

Stay positive
Thanks for posting that video KP! Even though fights and action have an overlap, drawing on the ways they're different is really important. And I really like the idea of thinking of a fight as a dialogue, because it makes it easier to avoid making characters just trade meaningless blows back and forth.

Ambyssin said:
Nothing more, really. Making the shift for Guiding Light has been... interesting. I think I stumbled out of the gate about (Cutlerine pointed out there wasn't really a lot of description as to what was actually happening). 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.
Having watched your progress on this, I can say that I think you're doing well! Making the transition from "X used Y" is a common pain point when starting out writing Pokemon battles, so it's definitely not just you. Figuring out ways to play with timing, environment, and unusual applications of moves is always tricky, and it's easy to fall into a trap of just going "X used Y" but with prettier description. :p

icomeanon6 said:
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.
You know, this is a really good point that I hadn't considered before. But I think it's one that I've been subconsciously following in all my fights that turned out (imo) well, and for the ones that I struggled with, it was because I wasn't focused on the right thing. Being consciously aware of that rule will make it much easier to follow.

I'm glad you bring up the climax of your fic because that's a moment that would have been absolutely ruined by being fast and snappy. It needed that long moment of rumination to draw on all the thoughts and fears and mix them together with all the themes of the fic. So that's definitely a good illustration of that principle at work.

DeliriousAbsol said:
She opened her mouth to call out to him but all that came out was a pained yell, and her eyes unfocused as something collided with the back of her head. An explosion of cawing filled her ears and she saw a murkrow drop to the ground in front of her, its body broken before it hit the stones.

A flash of lightning lit up the square, bolts flying around in an erratic pattern. Cleo and Faith leapt aside to try and avoid the spectacle, and Cleo turned just in time to see Spark rolling head over tail towards the table. Two murkrow flew at her, their wicked talons spread as they aimed for her.
And on the opposite hand, this is a scene that worked far, far better being fast and snappy like it was.
 

Ambyssin

Winter can't come soon enough
Just out of curiosity, what are your guys' thoughts about banter and/or dialogue in battles? Do you like it? How do you try to balance dialogue with action?
 

icomeanon6

It's "I Come Anon"
Just out of curiosity, what are your guys' thoughts about banter and/or dialogue in battles? Do you like it? How do you try to balance dialogue with action?
Good question. I have a hard time saying whether I like it or not because it so much depends on the tone of the story. A superhero story for example all but needs banter, but when it's used at the wrong time it can make the story less believable.

I try to hold myself to two rules when it comes to battle-dialogue in fiction:

1. Talking is not a free action
2. The reader should never ask, "Why are they talking right now/like this?"

Of course, there are loads of great stories where talking is a free action and they use the idea to great effect. I try to avoid it though because it makes it an uphill battle to keep the reader from thinking, "Yeah, right." I think the key to dialogue in battles is to have an accurate sense of time and situation: dialogue should sound different when shots are being fired and nobody has much time to talk, and when there's a lull because a participant is trying to stall for time or something. This is why standoffs that happen mid-fight are so useful: it's a believable way of getting more words in. You have to ask yourself about the character's state of mind and how that affects their language (fights to death are pretty stressful), how much time they have to say something before they get hit, and how much time they think they have to say something before they get hit.

I guess my answer to the question on balance is that I don't worry about balancing them per se. The wordiness of a fight should derive from the situation and characters involved, so it can vary from one extreme to the other and still work fine. As long as everything said makes sense for who's speaking and what's happening in the fight, it will feel balanced. If a reader says it's boring because there's too much talking, that's usually because what's being said itself isn't as interesting as the action or doesn't complement it, not because you broke some supposed ideal talking:fighting ratio.
 
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