Brandon Sanderson Lecture 11: Three Rules for Fight Scenes (3/7)

[@-Honeybee]

Confuse the character, not the reader... Brilliant advice.

[@idontneedaname318]

I love singular pieces of advice like this that go a LONG way considering their .brevity. Like "Show don't tell." So simple, yet it encompasses so much.

[@jonrice4093]

When he said “hey, Mark,” mid-sentence, I just thought of that classic scene from The Room Great lecture series he’s doing here.

[@nikolaigriggs4060]

1. show dont tell 2. blow by blow 3. clarity is king 4. Blocking - where is everyone, concrete, metaphors

[@AbsolemLNG]

If Sanderson's books were translated page by page into film and staying true to the books, I'm pretty sure they would get an R rating, most of them anyways.

[@jaidengarcia980]

I think Rick Riordan does a good job with his fight sequences, he follows one character and their progress and also adds in reminders here and there of what the other characters are doing, I absolutely love reading Rick Riordans fight scenes

[@remnantsoftware149]

It's not that often that you run across videos that are this helpful. Thanks.

[@mrjason6066]

R.A. Salvatore. I love his blow-by-blow fight scenes.

[@ShorkGamer]

Brutal fights are the most fun to write for my personaly. For me nothing is important but the brutality, it also developes the character conflicts.

[@jokerryt2503]

Fun to write but comes of as edgy if not done properly

[@guardianofthetoasters2323]

@@jokerryt2503 wholeheartedly agree to that one

[@trikebeatstrexnodiff]

@@jokerryt2503 but how to get it done properly? I want to do the same but unfortunately still have no idea about where to even start 😔

[@blandpot8o]

Makes me think of a scene in the Wheel of Time, one of the earlier books (can't remember which), where Mat was the one we followed. Jordan very effectively showed Mat getting disoriented, but still kept a very real, visceral sense of the battle as a whole, from the inside

[@NanaelSoloer]

Only worth using blow by blow if every blow will cause devastating damage and something DURING the fight has important information about a character. A bit of gore can make them a lot more interesting.

[@SatanLiterally]

I can't imagine skipping fight scenes

[@moniquedurant32]

Cormack McCarthy writes some of the best fight scenes I've read in All the Pretty Horses. Knife fight. Also some of the best scenes of men working with horses.

[@ilovenationalanthems]

Hey, I found this lecture informative and stimulating. You have excellent charisma as a professor and explain things very well. You might have had this before, but you sound a lot like Quentin Tarantino, which is great!

[@rasaecnai]

The jungle scenes in Clear and Present Danger by Tom Clancy. It felt like you are actually in the field during the fire fight.

[@vert1go481]

I would love to have this teacher

[@elizabethbrown8833]

Getting what you want to express on paper is a battle in itself 😱🥀

[@johnlance529]

One of the hardest things for writers to describe accurately is the amount of grappling that happens in a real fight. People tend to grab their opponent in a melee, usually to the point that a lot of fights end up with both combatants on the ground (the Gracie family used to claim that 90% of unarmed fights end up on the ground. I don't think it's that high, but it happens a lot). Grappling is hard to describe, it involves a lot of shifting of weight and balance that is hard to translate to pen and paper (I wrestled in high school and college, followed by submission grappling and MMA and I still have a hard time telling people how the grappling part works). Movies tend to avoid this aspect of fighting as well (one of the notable exceptions is the final fight in the first Lethal Weapon movie. Rorion Gracie was the fight choreographer for that one and it shows). Overall, I've been pretty happy with the fight scenes in Sanderson's work, especially the Mistborn series. It may not have been 100% realistic, but I think he got pretty close and he did it in a way that really drove the story.....

[@someguyyouknow6420]

5:25 "I did not hit her, I did not... Oh hi mark."

[@petersenior5432]

I was struggling with writing a fight scene in my fantasy story. Fantasy Writers Reddit wouldn't help me (cause a mod said it wasn't explicitly fantasy or some BS) and I was thinking I would do the chaos blah blah crap up until he said don't do that. Very helpful, now I know who to focus on

[@someguyyouknow6420]

Brandon is the love child of Tarantino and Steve Jobs, fight me!

[@musicalknight4900]

I can imagine the blow by blow righting in the Mortal Kombat Arrmagedon intro

[@M3rtyville]

I have an idea for a fight scene but I can't describe it in writing. I drew the steps that I want to convey on a piece of paper

[@SethPentolope]

I’d classify myself as a “fight skimmer”. I read it at the speed I imagine stuff is happening. If there is a sentence that seems like it’s going to be explanatory rather than action I usually skip it on my first read through because it takes too long to read it (since time isn’t moving that slowly in the book).

[@meinasalon]

We read the ending first so we can follow how the story is constructed as we read it. It makes for a better study of the read.

[@Faeree]

Is that why I do it? I read the last sentence and it has to be good for me to be excited but I think you are right that's exactly why I do it I just never thought about it lol

[@ammonnakai453]

Thank you for the captions!

[@Skelldr]

06:04 who lives and who dies

[@Haexxchen]

Blow by blow really can be fun. But the fights need to be short and very individual for that. (The Alex Verus books are a great example, because the protagonist is a diviner, who can see blows coming and adjusts. The fights are really dynamic and narrated a lort inside Alex' head. Great writing.) I lilke Sanderson not being absolute with his guidelines. Therre is NOTHING worse than fixed rules to take your motivation as a new writer.

[@jgamer2228]

I’m going to use this in my writing

[@joyeckert6112]

Haha! I love fight scenes. Bloody ones where bones crunch, and guts come out. However, I skip a lot of sex scenes.

[@MrEar1983]

A lot of urban fantasy has those blow-by-blow action sequences Brandon mentions. Usually by girls in leather with a katana (yes, Kate Daniels, I'm talking about you). I get really bored of them although I love the rest of the book

[@azuarc]

This is actually a big part of why I read UF. You don't get those blow-by-blow accounts elsewhere. I want to *see* the fight scenes, not just get the broader strokes of the action.

[@ahmadfarhan6306]

I'm like that with endings xd

[@venr8595]

Thank you so much for this, it was super helpful! :)

[@Mr100pic]

Oh that Mark...

[@rainerbloedsinn182]

Wait, what? They go into a room an Mary throws a grenade? If that's not a really large room, that sounds somewhat suicidal to me...

[@prashantkumarparmanu]

Portray the narrative through 'one character' memoir.

[@Happymali10]

We once had a homework assignment in school where we'd read a book and were supposed to write our own ending. Most who did that handed in maybe 2-2.5 pages, at most. I handed in 21, in tiny writing on a college block. My teacher was impressed, and suggested "trying that with your own story".

[@ahmadrashideh]

i have got a problem , in my book there is a sword between the main charcter and the villian , i have no idea how to describe it without a blow by blow method

[@kennethfender3518]

One thing I like about Sanderson's Mistborn books is that the fight scenes usually start with a straight blow by blow, then shift into about 70% characters thinking about the fight (their fears, plans, even witty banter) and then 30% blow by blow. This gives us an idea of what is going on while the character is thinking, but still moves the focus onto the character. Of course, I'm no writer, this is just what I find works for me in a lot of books.

[@JeffPenaify]

@@kennethfender3518 I actually dislike that, you dont have time to think in a fight you can only run off instinct and muscle memory if youve trained, it depends on how competent you character is with a weapon/fighting, who took the initiative in the fight, and how your character reacts to narrow windows of life and death.

[@deg2272]

I’m trying to write a bayonet scene where the main character jumps into the trench, but I have no knowledge on how to write it without being boring.

[@guardianofthetoasters2323]

I have a suggestion. You can start it as chaos ensues the field like artillery bombardment and the ringing in their ears. You can add how he is feeling before and during the charge. How fast his heart beat. How much fear there is in his eyes as the enemy fires back at them. All of those human emotions. This my own words however so do take it with a grain of salt

[@Ne3xuz]

anyone know what class is this?

[@The_Novu]

Really wish people would quit fucking conflating realistic and unrealistic with good and bad, as if either can't be good, or even apply to all stories to begin with.

[@jferrin90]

Its frowned upon.

[@uranus2985]

For me when i write fight scenes, first the protagonist met a strong enemy of his, second the protagonist gets beat up badly and nearly died, and third protagonist gets stronger and beat his enemy. Simple i guess..

[@neonzombielama]

+Senor Salty Exactly what I was about to ask.

[@abdulkhan466]

To be fair that is-in anime terms--the basic formula for any shounen fight and can make such scenes feel very lacklustre and repetitive

[@vic.mann1]

Uranus feels a little bit cliche imo. These kinds of fights are everywhere and really cringey. I mean we see the good guy almost killed and then somehow they’re like “and now i’ll beat you because reasons and plot”.

[@MrGamerGuy951]

Something that I think helps with writing fight scenes is actually knowing how to fight. Ive taken Muay Thai for 5 years so when I write a fight, it flows a lot better and makes a lot more sense.

[@lordofdarkness4204]

Doesn’t that apply for everything though?

[@johnterpack3940]

@@lordofdarkness4204 More or less. Writers really should understand what they are writing about. A lot of readers will know what the writer is writing about. If the writer makes stupid, basic mistakes they will alienate those readers.

[@NicoleGrotepas]

I would say that members are counseled to pick their entertainment wisely (many fight me on this). The R-rated idea maybe came from a few General Authority talks and many members ran with it. It's like the caffeine thing. So, yes, lots of members don't watch them. But as a blanket-thing, it's a gross error to do that (IMO). King's Speech was R and it's one of the best, most uplifting films EVER. Loads of PG-13 movies are pure crap, but according to that rule, are fine to watch. LOL.

[@sabrinahwang8843]

Is 'don't' a difficult word to spell?

[@danielrr6079]

Rich evans?

[@subarusumeragikun]

If he'd only given up drinking and watching shitty movies.

[@jamesmochoa]

Patton oswalt doing lectures now?

[@blas_de_lezo7375]

r.a. salvatore might have something to say about this :-)

[@epiphoney]

Rule #1: Never talk about fight scenes.

[@reagame8700]

Is it just me or does he look older than he does now?

[@williambrown2135]

yeah he definitely looks older in this, could be the camera, could just be that he's eating healthier now than he was then.

[@darklands14]

thank's! this helped allot.

[@chapin3206]

#turtlenecksforlife

[@yellodello1221]

It is advised that we don't watch R rated movies. They more often than not have undesirable content whether it be violence or nudity, etc. It's not a set in stone rule, but more a suggestion. There are many members who watch R rated movies and many others who may watch some "classics" like The Matrix or Saving Private Ryan... or something educational/ for school. We won't be kicked out of church, but many believe that it's not worth the unsavory content to watch the movie.

[@callianr6980]

I should probably point out humans have been telling stories with "undesirable content" for centuries. Beowulf involves mass-murder and de-limbing, the story of Cu Chulain involves a guy who sleeps with more women than can be counted (including the wife of a God), the story of Amaterasu and the Cave involves a naked dancing lady, and don't even get me started on Greek Mythology.

[@subarusumeragikun]

@@petersenior5432 Sounds like I need to read this.

[@glomar9982]

I always skip the fight scenes in books XD

[@PoisonedRedBerry]

you're the reason I drink

[@phantasmalemperor8887]

I skip the fight scenes if they last longer than a page and a half

[@kovi567]

7:13 So, josh runned towards enemy, and mary threw a grenade at them... so she technically threw a grenade at the bad guys AND josh, possibly blowing them up... And that is why women shouldn't be in the army!

[@zacharywood9416]

Máté Kovács you’ll be an amazing writer with zingers like that

[@moonlightguardian]

thats me... i skip all the fight scenes xD

[@thatoneuser8600]

WHY?!

[@GamerX1210]

I read the last page first....