The Art of the Fight (Scene)

As hard as it may be to believe, I read violent material.  I know, you're shocked to hear it, but I've also written some pretty bloody stories.  One of the often-overlooked aspects of said novels and stories is the ever-popular fight scene.  Two (or more) toughguys (or ladies) slugging it out to prove dominance/prove a point/defend someone/defend their own lives is just the thing to get a reader's adrenaline flowing, if it's done right.  If it isn't done right, it can put the reader into "skim" mode, or worse, "sleep" mode.  As an avid martial artist for around twenty-five years (black belt in Northern Shaolin Kung Fu, third degree black belt in Kajukenbo Karate), I've seen my share of dust-ups, and thought I'd share a few things that can help make your fight scene a good one.

• Avoid Technical Terms and Jargon - Sure, I know what a nukete strike, a wazari, and a tominage are, but generally speaking, the reader isn't going to know that the above means a knuckle strike, a throw, or a stomach-throw.  If you throw in a great deal of jargon to show off your massive martial-arts vocabulary, you're going to lose your reader.  Remember that, for the most part, your reader wants to be in the action, not taken out of it while they rush to look up words. 
• Be Realistic (Part 1) - Most fights do not work the way they do in UFC.  They also don't work the way they do in Kung-Fu movies.  The former is a sport with rules, the latter is pure fantasy.  While I love both, they just aren't the reality of the street.  Most fights are over in a span of seconds, and most manage to end up on the ground with both combatants rolling about.  In a real fight, the experienced fighter rarely kicks above the waist (because it puts him off balance and, if the other fighter is skilled, a flying kick will get him snatched out of the air and introduced to the pavement.  Most fights are brutal and enjoy such fun as biting, scratching, improvised weapons, and both combatants trying to make a point and get the hell out.  
• Fighting Hurts - One of the reasons I love Jackie Chan is that, in his fight scenes, when he hits a person, it hurts his hand.  That's reality.  The whole idea of bare-knuckle punching a guy and walking away with a smile is pure horsefeathers.  There's a reason while fighters wear gloves, and it isn't to protect the other guy...It's to protect the tiny bones in the fighter's hands.  Also, getting smacked in the side of the head is one thing, but I can tell you from experience that a good head shot doesn't just hurt for a moment...it lingers.  Same thing for a good old-fashioned head-butt.  The fact that you have a hard head not withstanding, it still has a lasting effect.  
• Not Everyone is a Kung Fu Master - Having a fight scene between to average Joes that erupts into something akin to a Golden Harvest film is, to say the least, laughable.  
• Weapons - The trouble with a weapon of any kind is that, sure they're deadly, but they can also be taken away, dropped, and used against your characters.  Keep that in mind.  Also, keep in mind how much skill it takes to use one.  One of my favorite examples of this principle is the feared Nunchaku, made famous by Bruce Lee.  They look awesome and they're fun to swing around, but do you know what happens if you actually contact a solid object (like a wall or a head)?  They ricochet back at you.  And that sucks. 
• Be Realistic (Part 2) - To go along with my usual unorthodox style of doing most things, I suggest that, if you're writing a fight scene, you walk through it with a partner.  I'm not suggesting you go out to a bar and start a scrap, but you should work out the movements with a partner to see what works, what doesn't, what's physically impossible, and what seems just damned silly.  Choreograph your fight for the real world, then translate it into simple language so your reader can "see" what you're talking about. 
• Be True to the Characters - For some characters, fighting is the last thing they should do.  Running away seems more in character for them.  For others, a simple fight will not even begin to work for their level of sadism.  Try to put yourself into your character's head to find out what that character would do.  Would he flail in an attempt to get away, screaming like a wounded chicken the whole way?  Would he humiliate his opponent, then go in for the kill?  Would he act out of animal instinct?  Remember that if it's right for the character, it's good.  

These are just basic suggestions, and they're my opinions of how things work.  As always, the golden rule is "If it's right for the story, it's good."  If you have no experience with fighting and are trying to write a fight scene, visit your local Dojo and talk to some of the students.  Explain who you are and what you're trying to accomplish, then ask them to role-play for you and write out what they're doing.  Don't ask them for the technical terms, but write what you see.  Try your best to describe the action so that anyone could understand what's going on, and you'll keep your audience's attention.  

Until next time...

That Doesn't Work! Common misconceptions

Since my last rant, I got to thinking about other things that annoy me in fiction.  Things that denote not only lazy writing, but also that the writers spend little time actually reading or researching and get all their information from watching episodes of A-Team or 80's action flicks.  Here are a few of my favorites:

• Gunshot Impact - I love it when I read that a character, wielding a .22 calibre pistol, shot a guy and the impact knocked him backward.  Even funnier if the bullet knocked him through a window.  Folks, a .22, while perfectly lethal, doesn't pack that much of a punch.  In fact, I've read several reports in which people shot with them don't even realize they've been shot until after the fact.  Reasearch people.  Research. 
• Exploding Cars - Unless you're driving a Pinto, cars don't usually explode on impact.  ANY sort of impact.  They just don't.  They're designed not to.  Get over it.  Sure, explosions are big and exciting, but they don't happen all that often.  Include them in your work at your own peril and at the risk of being called a hack.  Sure, rig them up with explosives, stash nitroglycerine in the trunk (good luck finding that if you're writing modern fiction, by the way) or hit them with a surface to air missile and they'll explode.  But slamming into a wall?  Not likely. 
• Throwing Knives/Stars - Do you have any idea how difficult is is to stick a perfectly-balanced throwing knife into a stationary target, much less a moving one?  Moreover, how next to impossible it is for the random untrained dipstick to throw an unbalanced 10-inch chef's knife and hope that it hits with the pointy end?  I've read enough passages where people "buried the knife up to the hilt" in muggers, intruders and monsters that I'm starting to believe that America is populated with nothing but circus performers.  Folks, it doesn't work.  Throwing stars work basically the same way.  The other tines on the star would actually prevent it from penetrating very far.  They're more an annoyance and a distraction than they are lethal.  Plus, most folks seem to want to aim for the head or the chest, ignoring the fact that the body has a wonderful protective system for such things.  It's called bone.  Look it up.  Fairly tough stuff. 
• Knockout - I've been knocked out a few times.  I've also taken more than my fair share of hits to the head (no comments, please).  I can tell you beyond any uncertainty that knocking a person out isn't as easy as the UFC fighters make it look.  Also, getting hit in the head with a board will generally not knock you out, but you will get a nasty concussion, a severe headache, and be disoriented for a while.  
• Amnesia/Regaining Memory - Amnesia is the result of a few specific types of trauma to the brain, either physical or psychological.  There is no "hit him in the head and it'll all come back" situation.  It just doesn't happen.  

The point here is simple, and one I've tried to make before:  Research.  If you've seen it in the movies, that doesn't mean it's true.  Most of the time, it means no way on Earth could it happen.  If you're thinking of using a clever plot device, do the leg-work and make sure it's possible.  In some situations, try it out yourself to see if it works (and no, I'm not advocating blowing up cars, throwing knives at people, or attempting other acts of random stupidity).  If you want your work to be believable, show things that can be believed. 

Common Stereotypes (that drive me up a friggin' wall)

As readers, we see hundreds of thousands of the same idiot-formed stereotypes in what we like to call "popular fiction."  Characters that are cookie-cutter cliches and paper-thin do nothing to advance the art and are indicative of bad writing.  Yet, they still happen.  Pick up five random paperbacks, I'd bet that four of them have some kind of stereotyped characters.  Moreover, the stereotypes are based on ill-informed prattle, hearsay, paranoia, and are oftentimes racist, sexist, and just plain wrong.  It irritates me to no end that such stereotypes exist, and that so-called "artists" continue to put them forth.  Here are a few of my least favorite stereotypes:

• Satanists - Check the news and you'll see hundreds of reports of "Satanic Cults."  Lots of books play into the same hysteria and paranoia.  But guess what folks:  There is a Church of Satan, and they don't do what people say they do.  They were founded by a fellow named Anton LeVey and they don't go around kidnapping babies, sacrificing kittens, or most of the other things ascribed to them.  In fact, they pretty much leave everyone else alone unless they're provoked.  "Do as thou wilt shall be the whole of the law" (which was actually said by Alestair Crowley) is pretty much their guiding force, but they don't just go on random ritual killing sprees.  The people who do that are called serial killers.  
• Minorities - We like to think we've moved past this, but I can't count the number of times in the past couple of years that I've seen books containing ignorant black thugs, lazy fat Mexicans, money-grubbing Jews, Oriental bad drivers and tech geniuses, noble Native Americans, and Russian/German militant bad-guys.  Come on, people.  Haven't we gotten past this?  Can we please?  People, no matter their skin color, nationality, religion, sexual preference, or hat size, are just people.  They are products of their environment, upbringing, moral code, nutrition, and hundreds of other factors.  All people, no matter what, deserve to be treated with respect.  Period.  When you belittle someone for being different, you reveal yourself to be small minded. 
• Witches - Not evil, not insidious, and not out to recruit everyone.  It's not like they win a toaster for converting x-number of non pagans.  They're generally not premiscuous (or any more so than any other religious group), nor are they "out of touch" or "living in a fantasy world."  In fact, chances are, there's one working next to you right now and you'd never know it. 
• Gays/Lesbians - How many times have you seen the stereotype of the flamboyant, cross-dressing fag or the Burkenstock-wearing, granola-eating, man-hating dyke?  Gay men and women are just like everyone else.  They love, they laugh, they cry, they make decisions and they need to pay the rent, just like everyone else.  They don't all run around wearing the opposite gender's clothing, nor are they all "lipstick lesbians" or "boy-toys."  They come in all shapes and sizes, all races, and all backgrounds.  Build a good character, not a good stereotype. 
• Christians - I'll probably catch flack for this one, but I'm sick of seeing the "God-Warrior," the militant ignorant bigot who does everything because "God says so."  Not all Christians are assholes.  In fact, the vast majority of them are kind and accepting of other people.  Just because the psychos get all the press (as they do in any religion) doesn't mean they're all like that.  It has become somewhat fashionable to portray Christians in a negative light, and that's tragic.  For every dipshit who tells the world that "God hates fags," there are a hundred others who reject his hate-filled doctrine.  

What I'm trying to put forth here are words that someone much smarter and much more talented that I once said:  "Good writing is truth."  Don't perpetuate bigotry.  Build real people.