The Fight Scene Writing Method I Stole From Kung Fu Movies

[@Crimgon]

Using Ip Man as the template for fight scenes is genius, and it's only now that I really notice that smash bracket fights do feel similar to the fights in those movies.

[@Soomueel]

Love how consistently youve been uploading so far. Its motivating to watch other writers talk about their writing process and give advice!

[@JacobPenrodWrites]

Thank you so much!

[@finaldusk1821]

If there's one thing I like to see in a good fight, it's not just stat vs stat clashes or a checklist of gear and abilities to show off, but how characters make the choices they do in battle, how their strategies adapt over the course of a fight. The pacing layout you've described here is a great way to facilitate that, with pacing breaks to let the audience breath before raising the tempo. To use Samus VS Pit as an exhaustive case-study of this, they start fighting at mid-to-close range, whereupon Pit realises this range isn't ideal for him (his twin blades aren't effective against Samus' armour and he struggles to avoid her arm canon while in melee), thus he takes flight. As Pit's flight and projectile barrier complicate the fight, Samus grapples him into an enclosed space where he's forced to return to melee, cloaking to leave him hesitant to charge out the entrance where he'd logically assume she's waiting for him, only to instead ambush from behind. At a disadvantage, Pit gives melee a valiant second attempt, this time going for a heavy club to see if it performs any better. It doesn't, he gets blasted point blank, subsequently trapped and incinerated, having to pull a death-fake out to escape. Once Pit escapes back into the open, his wings are damaged and his flight power exhausted. Samus wants to close the gap again and he knows this, thus he draws her in, witholding his ace at the last moment, successfully blindsiding her with the GST's massive power-spike. She exploits his offer of surrender (not sharing the sense of honour and naivety she observed from him during her prior offer of surrender) to regain control of the fight, overclocking and destroying her armour in a desperate bid to destroy Pit's lopsided gamechanger. And by the end, both fighters have played their aces, their armour is gone, and they're completely exhausted. With their options and stamina running low, both fighters race to land a finishing blow with the swiftest weapons they have left. It's not just a stat comparison or ability showcase. Both fighters' personality, training, and experience influences the fight, from their overarching game-plan tactics, to their split-second reactions, to even their mistakes. If the fighters' choices boiled down to "I've got to hit harder!" or "Just gotta move faster!", it'd make for a boring fight. Strong character writing showcased through the choices they make mid-battle can be seen in several of Smash Bracket's fights, particularly the ones that are either longer or newer, with Link VS Ridley (rematch) and Fox VS Sonic coming to mind as great case-studies in their own right.

[@everlastingcomet]

Ive been writing a story for a couple months now, and Fight scenes in a words only book was very hard until my friend showed me this video... And i gotta say, this will help alot, Thanks for being a bro.

[@tristanbowles7258]

Thanks for this video Ink. I’ve actually been working on a script for Alear vs Lucy (Fire Emblem vs Fairy Tail) on and off for awhile now. I’m looking at my script and I actually think it lines up pretty well here. My fight is a bit longer, so I think I have a third break and exchange moment, arguably 4 but I think the fourth is just a mini break. My main difference I see in my script is that I have the Complication and All is Lost swapped. Where they are both dealt a near lethal blow and need to go all out, THEN the stakes and battlefield are inrevokably changed. I’ve been caught up on a scene for a couple months. I know generally what I want, but I don’t want it to drag as it’s the first half of the third exchange. I hope this video helps push through that writers block. I’m mainly hung up on wanting to incorporate all of Lucy’s spirits while staying within the bounds of Alear’s power system and have her keep up. It’s mainly me wanting a moment for Alear to heal herself after a combo then get back into the fight smoothly. I know the general fight before and after, it’s just transitioning from the mini break of Alear healing back into the fight. I’m rambling and don’t want to reveal everything in my script. I hope to have it done by October at the latest.

[@user-ICY-Andreid]

"Fights are like donuts" The most Forest Gump phrase Ink has ever said

[@thesilentshadow1256]

In my novel, I've found that my years of experience with real-life sword fighting have helped bring immersive and realistic detail into the fight scenes I present. I've been fighting in armor in the ACW/ACS scene for over two years now. This means I have experience with fighting in knight armor and hitting people with metal swords in an MMA style. I also have experience with archery, fighting with sabers/rapiers, Shuni, Kendo and many other forms of European martial arts. Real-life experience means you know exactly what you're talking about when describing it, and not only does this emerge the non-educated reader subconsciously, but also gains the respect of the person who actually knows how to sword fight. If you don't have experience, make sure to do some research!! I promise it WILL improve your writing in a variety of ways. My point with this is, depending on your fiction, sometimes description and realism can be key in *diverting the audience's expectation in a pleasant and intriguing way. I like the idea that not all fights have to be climactic in the same way they are usually portrayed in media. A fight can be effective without a step-by-step purpose if it serves intent! I think the first three steps you list are very valid, but each fight should be different in a completely different way. A fight isn't just a fight, it's using that medium to describe how your characters would handle that situation- but even more than that, if your character within the fight doesn't know how to, then they should logically lose immediately. Additionally, I find it more interesting when you introduce skill gaps that completely dwarf the idea of a fight that is fair or climactic. A fight could be a single paragraph long and speak more words than a five-page essay on their intents, beliefs and thoughts while trying to merk each other. I think following a format for a fight generally is what takes the magic away for me personally, but that's because I'm a stickler for realism. Speaking of realism, poses and attacks that don't actually look like they're intended to hit the person (i.e, lots of kung fu movies) turn me off when watching something. I think my favorite fight in cinematic history is thefirst knight fight in "The King" on Netflix. I HIGHLY recommend you watch it. I understand that a lot of the time, a fight's entertainment is based on its story value, especially for something like Smashbracket, where the entire fight is about making that fight look and feel dazzling to the viewer, but when you're in a book, and it's on a page, a fight can benefit from a different take.

[@JacobPenrodWrites]

@@thesilentshadow1256 i definitely agree with a lot of this!

[@Seq15]

I recently started writing vs battle scripts so this will help alot