Fight Scenes: Consistency and perception.
With my book filled almost to the brim with fighting and bloodshed, I've done a measure of research in the realm of how a fight scene should be produced. The two elements I'm focusing on here: consistency and perception, are key to making a believable, thrilling, and compelling combat scene.
First, consistency. Simply, this is keeping the scene in line with the action and characters. It's not often that you have a simple soldier breakaway from battle to look over the field and comment on the movements of troops, or on the weather, or reminisce about the life he left when he joined the army. This man is going to be concerned with one thing: staying alive. (And possibly killing, though that goes hand-in-hand with staying alive). This man is not going have space in his head to ponder anything other than swinging a blade, or keeping close to his comrades for safety of numbers. Not much else will pass through his mind. He can have all his thoughts once the fighting dies down--if he's managed to survive that long. The musings in war are often left to the leaders watching the carnage from afar, where they are in little direct danger. Let them wax philosophically on life and death, and how they control the lives of so many men and women. The scene should follow consistently with the attitude of the character. This breaks down if, during the fight, the soldier steps away and starts thinking, or has all these ideas inside his head while he thrusts and chops at other men's skulls.
If you want quips and playfulness intertwined with fighting, let the point of view come from a character that would reasonably say or do things out of the ordinary. This is perception. Who the scene is being seen by.
We'll call this character a level 50 sellsword. He's seen fighting before, seen friends fall, and fell friends. His skin is probably thick and scarred, and his heart cold. Death means little to him, his own or that of those who come against him. Maybe he has developed a grim outlook on life, one reflected by a dark humor and seeing comedy where ordinary men would see gore. We'll call him Shawn the Bloody.
Shawn the Bloody is enmeshed in a war, having been offered a hundred gold coins for his effort. Shawn the Bloody likes coins, and he knows Hell has no taverns or skirthouses, where he's likely to spend his money. So he fights, but not in the thick of battling men. He hangs around the edges, picking off opposing men one or two at a time (20 years of fighting and he's more than capable of taking on numerous foes). From his vantage, Shawn the Bloody might comment on how the effort is going. Maybe his side is getting beaten to a red pulp, and he remarks on how men are slipping on the blood and entrails of other men. 'A pity, that,' he might say, knowing that if his side loses there's little chance in repeat business. Or, he may see the green boys, youths and men more familiar with sheep and shovels, pissing themselves, wherein he can recall the first time he fought a man, and how warm the urine was running down his thighs.
Perhaps Shawn the Bloody cuts a man open. He bends over the man sniffing. 'Two,' he counts, noting those who've failed to hold their bladders.
Let's distance ourselves a bit more and take a look at the battle from the perspective of a general or king. Here would come vital information. This man would observe Shawn the Bloody and sneer at the sellsword's lack of courage. But his eye would only momentarily be distracted by the dirtied man smelling corpses. He'll be studying the war, understanding that his left flank was falling in. He would need to send in the horse to shore up the problem. With his men losing their footing on the bloody ground he might call for a retreat, putting his forces on secure earth while the trailing enemy takes the uncertain ground. The disadvantage becomes an advantage.
Then, in seeing victory or defeat, the general can consider what led to the outcome, and what would come about because of it. This is a man with a working knowledge of how war molds men and nations.
Another consideration in this regard, which I use heavily in my books, is the one-on-one confrontation. With swords or daggers or axes, these fights usually come down to death. The participants know this. Sometimes they are fearful, others they are arrogant. Often this depends on what they know of their opponent. Other times this is what they know of themselves. And then other other times, it depends of how much alcohol they've imbibed. Here, it gets tricky in the consistency aspect. Some men, of course, will make idle chatter before the fight in order to unman a foe, or to instill a sense of superiority. Example: Shawn the Bloody would say something along the lines of 'You, sir, remind me a woman I once slew. Though, admittedly, your lips look far more kissable.' Incensed the man might fly at Shawn the Bloody in a rage, and Shawn the Bloody would dispense of him easily.
In the midst of a fight, though, while men are evenly matched, we come back to the issue of the simple soldier. There is death waiting alongside these men, waiting for the first to make a mistake. Certain thoughts would be polite enough not to interfere, thoughts such as 'Did I remember to douse my campfire? I'd sure hate it if that portion of the forest went up in flames.' or 'I should have bought a larger size of trousers, I'm starting to chaff with all this sweating.'
Thoughts that might come up during a fight: 'Damn!' 'Shit!' 'Oh shit!' Damn! What the shit!' and 'Damn this shit, I shouldn't have said making love to his mother was the same as plunging into fresh manure.' Regret often pops up at times like these.
What I'm saying is keep it real (street). The last thing you want to do it have two men pause in their swordfight and say anything along the lines of: 'By God's polka-dotted socks this weather's not fit the season.' Yeah, incongruous. I've shaken my head at some lively banter because the men shouldn't have had their wits about to formulate anything worth anything when another man was actively seeking to cut them down.
Now if you'll pardon me, I have a few men that need a bit of stabbin'.
First, consistency. Simply, this is keeping the scene in line with the action and characters. It's not often that you have a simple soldier breakaway from battle to look over the field and comment on the movements of troops, or on the weather, or reminisce about the life he left when he joined the army. This man is going to be concerned with one thing: staying alive. (And possibly killing, though that goes hand-in-hand with staying alive). This man is not going have space in his head to ponder anything other than swinging a blade, or keeping close to his comrades for safety of numbers. Not much else will pass through his mind. He can have all his thoughts once the fighting dies down--if he's managed to survive that long. The musings in war are often left to the leaders watching the carnage from afar, where they are in little direct danger. Let them wax philosophically on life and death, and how they control the lives of so many men and women. The scene should follow consistently with the attitude of the character. This breaks down if, during the fight, the soldier steps away and starts thinking, or has all these ideas inside his head while he thrusts and chops at other men's skulls.
If you want quips and playfulness intertwined with fighting, let the point of view come from a character that would reasonably say or do things out of the ordinary. This is perception. Who the scene is being seen by.
We'll call this character a level 50 sellsword. He's seen fighting before, seen friends fall, and fell friends. His skin is probably thick and scarred, and his heart cold. Death means little to him, his own or that of those who come against him. Maybe he has developed a grim outlook on life, one reflected by a dark humor and seeing comedy where ordinary men would see gore. We'll call him Shawn the Bloody.
Shawn the Bloody is enmeshed in a war, having been offered a hundred gold coins for his effort. Shawn the Bloody likes coins, and he knows Hell has no taverns or skirthouses, where he's likely to spend his money. So he fights, but not in the thick of battling men. He hangs around the edges, picking off opposing men one or two at a time (20 years of fighting and he's more than capable of taking on numerous foes). From his vantage, Shawn the Bloody might comment on how the effort is going. Maybe his side is getting beaten to a red pulp, and he remarks on how men are slipping on the blood and entrails of other men. 'A pity, that,' he might say, knowing that if his side loses there's little chance in repeat business. Or, he may see the green boys, youths and men more familiar with sheep and shovels, pissing themselves, wherein he can recall the first time he fought a man, and how warm the urine was running down his thighs.
Perhaps Shawn the Bloody cuts a man open. He bends over the man sniffing. 'Two,' he counts, noting those who've failed to hold their bladders.
Let's distance ourselves a bit more and take a look at the battle from the perspective of a general or king. Here would come vital information. This man would observe Shawn the Bloody and sneer at the sellsword's lack of courage. But his eye would only momentarily be distracted by the dirtied man smelling corpses. He'll be studying the war, understanding that his left flank was falling in. He would need to send in the horse to shore up the problem. With his men losing their footing on the bloody ground he might call for a retreat, putting his forces on secure earth while the trailing enemy takes the uncertain ground. The disadvantage becomes an advantage.
Then, in seeing victory or defeat, the general can consider what led to the outcome, and what would come about because of it. This is a man with a working knowledge of how war molds men and nations.
Another consideration in this regard, which I use heavily in my books, is the one-on-one confrontation. With swords or daggers or axes, these fights usually come down to death. The participants know this. Sometimes they are fearful, others they are arrogant. Often this depends on what they know of their opponent. Other times this is what they know of themselves. And then other other times, it depends of how much alcohol they've imbibed. Here, it gets tricky in the consistency aspect. Some men, of course, will make idle chatter before the fight in order to unman a foe, or to instill a sense of superiority. Example: Shawn the Bloody would say something along the lines of 'You, sir, remind me a woman I once slew. Though, admittedly, your lips look far more kissable.' Incensed the man might fly at Shawn the Bloody in a rage, and Shawn the Bloody would dispense of him easily.
In the midst of a fight, though, while men are evenly matched, we come back to the issue of the simple soldier. There is death waiting alongside these men, waiting for the first to make a mistake. Certain thoughts would be polite enough not to interfere, thoughts such as 'Did I remember to douse my campfire? I'd sure hate it if that portion of the forest went up in flames.' or 'I should have bought a larger size of trousers, I'm starting to chaff with all this sweating.'
Thoughts that might come up during a fight: 'Damn!' 'Shit!' 'Oh shit!' Damn! What the shit!' and 'Damn this shit, I shouldn't have said making love to his mother was the same as plunging into fresh manure.' Regret often pops up at times like these.
What I'm saying is keep it real (street). The last thing you want to do it have two men pause in their swordfight and say anything along the lines of: 'By God's polka-dotted socks this weather's not fit the season.' Yeah, incongruous. I've shaken my head at some lively banter because the men shouldn't have had their wits about to formulate anything worth anything when another man was actively seeking to cut them down.
Now if you'll pardon me, I have a few men that need a bit of stabbin'.
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