Guest Post: Writing Sword Fight Scenes 101
She holds a college degree in publishing management and a masters degree in creative writing. Currently, she edits the Ten Tales series of multi-author short story anthologies: Bites: Ten Tales of Vampires, Haunted: Ten Tales of Ghosts, Scared: Ten Tales of Horror, Cutlass: Ten Tales of Pirates, Beltane: Ten Tales of Witchcraft, Spells: Ten Tales of Magic and more.
Her short onlineclasses for writers intense with plenty of personal feedback. Writing Fight Scenes, Writing Scary Scenes, Writing about Magic and Magicians, The Word Loss Diet and more.
For more information about Rayne Hall go to her website.
Readers love swords, especially in historical and fantasy
fiction. Even if you've never wielded a sword, you can write a great sword
fight scene.
How much realism?
Real sword fights are short and violent, with blood and
gore. Fictional fight scenes don't necessarily reflect this reality. They can
be more entertaining: The fighters clank swords for a long time without
spilling a drop of sweat, let alone blood. They perform acrobatic feats, swing
from the rigging, slide down banisters, dangle from balconies, and leap across
gorges - and all the time, they exchange taunts of sabre-sharp wit.
You may choose to reflect gory reality, or to entertain the
reader with a sanitised skills display. You can also mix elements from both.
This depends on the genre you write, as well as on your personal taste. Often,
our task as writers is to create not reality, but an illusion of reality. If
you inject enough realistic elements, the readers can suspend their disbelief
about the rest.
Where does the fight take place?
To make your fight scene entertaining, choose the weirdest
possible location: How about a duel in a wine cellar, in a cow shed, in a
kitchen, in a lady's boudoir, in a steam bath, in a rowing boat, in a bakery?
Let your fighters jump onto tables, duck under hurdles, leap across gorges,
dangle from balconies, balance on standing stones, climb masts, and somersault
across hedges. You can add a measure of realism by having them pant for breath.
Stairs are a popular location for sword fights. The fighter
who stands higher up and fights downwards has the advantage, so your characters
probably jostle for that position.
For inspiration, watch the famous sword fight scene from Scaramouche
(highly unrealistic, but entertaining, and full of creative location use).
What are the spatial restrictions?
To keep your sword fight realistic, consider the space,
especially for indoors scenes. Is there enough room to swing the sword? Is the
ceiling high enough to raise the weapon overhead? If there isn't room, this can
actually make the scene more interesting - but you have to write it
accordingly.
Medieval castles were designed for defence, and the
spiralling staircases wound in the direction which favoured the defenders. The
right-handed fighter facing downwards had room to swing his sword - the
right-handed fighter facing upwards had not.
Can they talk?
In a real fight, the fighters don't waste breath on
conversation, and are too focused on the action to think out witty repartees.
However, readers love dialogue, especially in entertaining scenes. Create the
appearance of reality by using very short, fragmented sentences. This conveys
the breathlessness of the action. Cut every superfluous word. Delete any
utterance which isn't funny or profound.
This sword fight scene from The Princess Bride is
famous for its entertaining dialogue. The fight is highly unrealistic, but this
doesn't stop audiences from loving it.
Creating excitement
Here's a psychological trick for making a scene exciting:
use sound effects. In a sword fight scene, this is easy. Insert sentences like
>The bladed hissed through the air.<, >Steel clanked against
steel.< or >Metal chimed.<
Speeding up the pace
The sword fight is probably the fastest-paced scene of your
novel. Adapt your writing style to the pace of the action.
Use short paragraphs, short sentences, and short words. Instead of >Immediately, he endeavoured to
take measures to prevent the occurrance by executing a blocking motion<,
write >At once, he tried to stop it with a block.<
Use adjectives sparingly, and try to avoid adverbs.
.
How technical?
Even if you're knowledgable, avoid getting bogged down in
technical details. Blow-by-blow accounts are boring.
Describe the first few movements of the fight, and make sure
they are feasible for this type of sword and the space.
After that, focus on the direction of the fight e.g. >He
drove her closer and closer to the cliff.< >Simon's strength seeped away,
and he struggled to block the blows.< >She moved fast, using her speed
against his size.<
The moves which end the fight need to be specific again.
Do they carry shields?
Sword fighters often carry a shield in their other hand, to
deflect their opponent's blows. This is especially important in battle scenes.
What kind of sword?
If you have experience of sword fighting, use it to make
your fight scene ooze authenticity. Write about the type of sword you're familiar
with. You can even create a fight in which the opponents wield different
swords.
If you're not a sword expert, you can bluff your way. You
need to avoid three gross blunders:
1. Inventing a fancy-shaped sword. Most swords invented by
writers wouldn't work in reality.
2. Using a sword which didn't exist in that historical
period.
3. Using a sword which can hack, slash, cleave, stab, slice,
pierce, thrust, cut through armour, split bricks and whirl through the air.
Different swords can different things. No single sword can do everything.
To make your sword plausible, simply base it on one of these
three types:
The thrusting sword
This sword is straight, often thin, maybe lightweight,
always with a very sharp point. It is a good choice for entertaining fight
scenes, duels, non-lethal fights, non-gory deaths, and swashbuckling adventure,
especially in Europe from the rennaissance onwards. The typical user is slim,
with good aerobic fitness, and may be female or male. It's best for thrusting,
piercing, stabbing. In a lethal fight, the aim is to pierce a vital organ. The
typical injury involves seeping blood, and blood stains spreading across
garments. It cannot hack through skulls or slice through or armour. Examples:
the rapier, the gladius.
The cleaving sword
This sword is broad, straight, heavy, solid, big - sometimes
it's so huge that it needs to be held in both hands. Both edges are sharpened.
Choose a cleaving sword for historical novels set in medieval Europe, for
brutal fights and for battles. Its main actions are cleaving, hacking,
chopping, cutting and splitting, and it can cut through armour. The typical
user is a tall brawny male with broad shoulders and bulging biceps. The main
type of injury is an amputated limb, and the aim in a lethal fight is to hack
off a leg or to decapitate the opponent. The disadvantages are its size and
weight. It's too big to carry concealed, too heavy to carry in daily life, and
too slow to draw for spontaneous action. Examples: the greatsword, the
claymore.
Watch in action:
The slashing sword
This sword is curved, often slender, with an extremely sharp
outer edge. It's a good choice for shipboard fights, cavalry charges, and Asian
or Middle Eastern settings. The typical user is a pirate, a sailor, a mounted
warrior, a cavalryman or an executioner. This type of sword excels at slashing,
cutting, slicing. The typical injuries involve lots of spurting blood. In a
lethal fight, the aim is to slash a vital artery (e.g. on the thigh). If you
want a sword which serves the hero in non-combat situations - slashing rigging,
zropes, fabric and leather fetters - this is the one to choose. However, it
can't cut through armour and it won't split bricks.
Examples: sabre, cutlass, saif
Watch in action:
In reality, the lines are often blurred: Some slashing words can also stab, some
slashing swords can cleave, and some cleaving swords can deliver a thrust. To
avoid blunders, stick to one main function.
Questions?
If you have
questions about writing sword fight scenes, just leave a comment. I love
answering questions and will respond.
Comments
.......dhole