A good fight scene spices up any piece of writing. A good fight scene can be one of the best parts of your story – fast, brutal, exciting, with edges of pain, panic and humor thrown in the edges. Read on for some quick and dirty hints on how to write fight scenes quickly and dirtily!

Stay present. Fights happen in the here and now. When your characters are in a fight, they aren’t going to be worrying about what started it, or what’s going to happen afterwards. All their attention will be focused on the present. Make sure yours is, too.

Stay sharp! Make your sentences shorter. This speeds up the reader’s pace and quickens the scene. You can still vary lengths. Overall, shorter is better.

Shift focus. When fights happen, the fighters’ focus crystallizes. Your attention closes in. Peripheral vision narrows. Objects and people directly in front of you will seem more important. Fighters in a brawl will notice things close to them.

Know pain. If a fighter gets hit, know how it’s going to feel. If you’ve never been in a fight before, get someone to hit you in the guts. It’ll hurt.(Remember, life is pain. Anyone who says otherwise is selling something). Pain will shock the unwary and the unschooled into inaction. Some pain is hot and galvanising. Other pain is sharp and electric. If a fighter is wounded while fighting, think about how that’s going to make life harder for them. Make it visceral. Make it real.

Don’t always win. Not every fight should be a victory. Through defeat, challenges arise and are overcome. If you have an invincible fighter, write from another point of view.

Create problems. No fight goes according to plan. People trip, miss their footing, are a fraction too slow. Equipment bends, breaks, blows up, snags, cracks. Sleepiness, drunkenness and being drugged all inhibit fighting skill. Friends can leap in at the wrong moment. Bystanders might not be helpful, or might help the wrong party. Problems make the scene interesting. Forced improvisation is the most effective.

Have competent opponents. Fighting someone who knows what they’re doing is hard. A respected opponent makes for a good fight. Mindless goons getting mowed down gets boring, fast. Have the opponent pull surprises.

Fight real, fight dirty. The Marquis of Queensbery is dead. Real fighters don’t stop to make speeches at each other. Most fights don’t leave enough breath for talking. Swearing is common, instinctive and often violent. Experienced grapplers know that blows to the groin ends fights fast and easily. Swordsmen who like their organs inside their bodies keep a second blade handy. Every object can be made a weapon. Never turn down an opportunity. Never pass up an advantage.

Be aware of protocol. Fights in different environments will have their own protocols. A formal duel will have certain rules. Tavern fighters might expect to settle their argument with fists and boots, not blades. Consider what might be expected by the combatants and observers. You and your characters don’t have to follow the rules.

After-effects. Coming out of a fight, a character’s going to probably be high on adrenaline. Aggressive. ‘Pumped’. Angry people aren’t rational. They’ll be less inclined to tact, maybe saying and doing impolitic things. As adrenaline wears off, the body makes its’ problems known. Wounds need attention. Fatigue kicks in.

Combat systems. Different fighting styles will have their own languages. Fencing uses very technical terms for attack and defense and has it’s own styles. The same with all martial arts. Guns have their own bevy of technical terms. Research, use and abuse them. Make up your own schools of training if you want. Use you own words if you want. It’s better to know, and choose to break the rules, than to be totally ignorant.

Real fighters avoid fights. Real fighters – professionals, mercenaries, brawlers – know that fights are dangerous, chancy things. Bravado and conceit fade in the face of realism and experience. The inexperienced are far more likely to want to start fights.

Fighting well needs training. Enthusiastic amateurs will routinely get demolished by those with experience and training. If you want a character to be good at fighting, give them a history that justifies it. An actual fight is nasty, brutish and short. Even training often doesn’t prepare people for their first ‘real’ fight. Exploit this in your stories where you can.

Summarize. Not every piece of combat needs a whole scene. Some opponents aren’t worth the time or attention. Some fighters won’t notice what’s going on, acting on autopilot. It’s fine to say ‘Belarus skewered the man, tore his blade out, and kept walking.’

Choreograph. Sketch a scene out, especially a longer one or with multiple combatants. Get up and move like your character. Don’t worry, nobody’s watching. Notice how your weight shifts. What happens when you move? Where do you expose? What’s made vulnerable? When do you over-extend? What feels powerful? Stepping through the paces, however ungainly, lets you make your actions flow. Fighting is often about maintaining momentum – keeping blows hammering on your opponents. Feel how the fight will move.

Don’t choreograph. Don’t fall into the trap of “He did, she did”. Blow-by-blow descriptions, if that’s all there is, get damn tiring damn fast. Remember this isn’t a movie (yet!). Your readers will fill in the blanks that you leave. Not every flailing elbow and roundhouse kick needs to be described in exquisite detail. Fight scenes you’ve seen in movies aren’t realistic. If you put someone through a window, they’ll die. If a real swordsman fights ten ninjas, the ninjas will win.

Don’t write the scene at all. Cut out just before the action starts. Join back when the loser comes to. Skip to a visit in the hospital.