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nepentheI asked my Twin what she wanted for our birthday and her response was: GIVE ME ALL YOUR SDCC NOTES. SHARE ALL YOUR INSIDER INFORMATION. LINK ME.
I attended several informative panels at SDCC. Typically, I'll hear a lot of the same stuff repeated, but this year I hit up some good ones where new insight and perspectives were shared. And since I wrote up about 2600 words, I ought to share that insight.
The notes I took during 'Anatomy of a Fight Scene' are:
Notes Taken During Maxwell Drake’s “Anatomy of a Fight Scene” SDCC 14
Opening Salvo:
· There are no Villains (Only Heros whose stories aren’t told)
o Make characters, not petty obstacles to show off a hero’s prowess.
1. This will establish real, visceral stakes (answering reader’s “why do I care?”)
2. Emotionally invests readers in more than one character.
3. If the hero only ever fights straw/pathetic villians, s/he looks like a weak, pathetic, arrogant little shit.
· All the Characters are YOU
o If you cannot see some part of yourself (even the deepest, darkest places) in the characters, your readers can’t see themselves there, either (and won’t emotionally connect to them).
o HOWEVER
o Not everyone is like you, so don’t make character who all share your opinions/likes/religious views/political opinions.
§ Men, you do not know how to write women. White people, you do not know how to write black people/anyone not white. Rich people, you don’t know how to write poor people. If you are a poor black woman, congrats. You know how to write more believable characters than all these other idiots.
§ You must learn to view things from another person’s perspective: You must be able get inside a mind that isn’t your own, understand how someone else can come to a different conclusion than yo and do it sympathetically (no one is a villain in their own mind).
· Fighting is a game where everyone looses
o Every. One. Loses.
o There are two ways fights service a story:
1. An obstacle to overcome
a. Basic plot-get through x to reach ultimate goal of y.
2. A chance to progress the Character(s)
a. Violence is pure emotion.
b. It can provoke empathy (Maybe someone does something HORRIFIC, but if you show everything leading up to the horrific event, the readers might just join the tie-that-fucker-to-the-bed-and-set-him-on-fire bandwagon.)
c. Raise the stakes and shows how far a character is willing to go
i. Are they underlings who showed up for a paycheck and stand aside or are they a True Believer fighting to the death?
BIG THINKING POINT 1: Design/Set-up of a Fight
1. Have a reason
a. No violence for the sake of violence. Every action must be motivated
2. Understand how your character fights
a. Physically, what are they capable of? How big, small, male, female, human?
b. Are they trained to fight? What are they capable of physically? What weapons are they able to use? Are they tacticians?
c. Watch MMA for examples of REAL fighting (other fights sports have RULES, wresting or tae kwon do, etc, but in REAL battle, ANY MEANS NECESSARY to win will be taken—take any and all advantage)
3. Non-human characters DO NOT FIGHT LIKE HUMAN CHARACTERS.
4. Do not forget about the environment
a. How do characters move from one room to another/outside?
b. How can the characters utilize their environment to their advantage.
5. It is ALWAYS choreographed
a. Yes, you want it to seem real, but the best fight scenes in movies are choreographed because they tell a story, too.
6. Motivation should be the driving force
a. Ask the story what the character needs.
i. If the character gets what they want you are writing a tragedy.
ii. If the character doesn’t get what they want but what they need, you are writing a heroic story.
iii. (Give the Hero what she needs).
7. Inflict Physical and Emotional damage
a. Violence always leaves a mark. Always.
b. Wounds stick around. If their leg is broken, it stays broken. They suffer pain, but don’t forget they also need to suffer a handicap to their fighting capability.
c. There is always an emotional toll.
8. Violence Shows Growth
a. Research and understand what physical and psychological horrors can do to people: how they are traumatized, galvanized, and numbed to its horror.
9. Men and Women do not fight the same way/respond to violence the same
(Personal caveat: He did not go into the social construction as to WHY men and women end up viewing violence in different ways and that in a fantasy construct, you should take how you world build your society/patriarchy/matriarchy/egalitarian rule into consideration when developing your fighters )
a. Maxwell posited that men view violence as ‘a thing that happens’. He gives the example of how he and a past college roommate hated one another until one night they beat the shit out of each other and the next day, they were friends and decided to room for a few years (I sorta found this a bit homoerotic, but whateves)
b. He posited that women might have a verbal argument that gets out of hand and if one of them slaps the other (even if it’s not very hard) women won’t have anything to do with one another from there on out, holding grudges. (in this instance, I would say that it has more to do with the fact that women who so often suffer abusive violence/threat from men view a fellow woman as a safe haven from that violence and if that women turns back on that contract of safe haven they are instantly no longer useful as a friend/family/support system. There are plenty of other women who won’t hurt you).
Three Writing Modes:
1. Narration
2. Dialogue
(these are dealt with in normal lit classes)
3. Motion
(vital to a fight, but you probably NEVER discussed it in class)
BIG THINKING POINT 2: Crafting a Fight
· Are you going to speed up time or slow it down?
· The outcome of the fight determines the events of the fight: what does the reader/characters need to come away from this fight with?
· ACTION IS NOT PASSIVE. Do not use the passive voice in a fight. The subject of a sentence should be the one doing the action
o Active: The dog (subject) bit (action) the boy.
§ Why is this active?: What did the dog do? It bit, so it’s the one taking an action. What did the boy do? Nothing, he’s passive. The subject, the dog, is the one taking the action. That is an active sentence.
o Passive: The boy (subject) was bitten (action) by the dog.
§ Why is this passive?: What did the boy do? Nothing, he just stood there. What did the dog do? It bit. The subject, the boy, isn’t the one taking action in this sentence, therefore, this is a passive sentence.
o Active: John (subject) loves (action) Jane.
§ Why is this active?: What does John do? He loves. What does Jane do? Nothing (that we know of). John is the subject, he takes an action, therefore this is an active sentence.
o Passive: Jane (subject) was loved (action) by John.
§ What does Jane do/how does Jane feel? Nothing/no comment. What does John do/how does John feel? He loves her. Jane is the subject, but takes no action, therefore this is a passive sentence.
· Verbs are the most important words you will choose
o “The man walked out of the bar and put his gun in its holster as he asked for the sheriff”
o V.
o “The man swaggered out of the bar and slammed his gun into its holster as he demanded the sheriff.”
· For every action there is a reaction
o Do not force the reader to think through the motions of a fight. It will stop them from seeing the event in their minds. .
· Short sentences move scenes faster. Long sentences will adjust the pace, making the action slow down. Commas can work.
· Make sure readers know where the characters are in the environment (refrain!)
· Don’t skimp on details.
o Do we need to know every shade in the curtain’s pattern? Probably not. But a few, well placed details (paisley curtains in wild colors v. stately grey curtain trimmed in velvet) will paint a picture that can fill in gaps.
· DO NOT INFO DUMP IN FIGHT SCENES.
o Yes, we often need anchor characters to ask questions (Luke Skywalker asking everyone around him questions: “what’s that flashing?” “what is the Force?”. However, fight scenes are NOT the time or place.
o Plant the seeds of your plot devices IN ADVANCE of the fight.
· Break up Narration any chance you get.
· Do. Not. Head. Hop.
o Pick of point of view to tell the battle from.
o Congrats: THAT IS THE POV YOU TELL THE BATTLE FROM
· If it is a group battle/war scene: let us know she’s bashing in all the skulls, but SUMMARIZE. There is no need to tell us how each head caved in, every limb was severed otherwise it will run on and on and on and now the impact is lost due to overload and no one is reading.
Q&A:
· You will not publish the first novel/book you write. You are not JK Rowling. Accept this. You will not publish the first 3-8 books you write. Accept this.
o IT DOES NOT MEAN YOU ARE A BAD WRITER, IT MEANS YOU ARE PROFESSIONAL.
o If you have spent more than 2 years on a book, put it in a box under your bed and DO SOMETHING ELSE. It is a sign neither your or your story is growing.
o If you spend more than 2 years shopping a book or novel, it cannot be sold. Direct your efforts into more productive uses of your time.
§ You can always pull it back out in a few years and redo it. (He promises that in 5 years, you will put it out, read, and RECOIL IN HORROR)
· You will not choose your book’s title. You will not choose your book’s cover art or even the artist. You will have no control over film/screen adaptation rights/foreign rights. Frankly, your publisher/editor will make many choices about your book which are beyond your control until you ‘make it big’ and even then, probably not.
· MONEY UP FRONT. There is a 1 in 10 million chance you are the next JK Rowling and a deal that pays you money on the back end pays off spectacularly. For the other 999,999 authors, GET YOUR MONEY UP FRONT. The chances of your first book being the next ginormous smash hit are almost zilch. Your agent should be able to negotiate a legal, fair price for you upfront. It is up to the publishers to take on the immense risk/gain involved with printing, marketing, shelving, selling.
o 80% of books published fail outright. (Let the publisher take the risk, not you!)
o Unless there is a second run—it is a good idea to add a clause that you get a bonus if the book does a second run or percentage of its earnings.
o For your second book, do what your agent/lawyer advises you.