As a reader, a gamer, and a movie/TV-show/anime fan, nothing gets me more excited than a fight scene.

Captain America and Bucky vs. Iron Man. Luke vs. Darth Vader (the first time). Goku vs. Vegeta. Fight scenes are some of the most rewatchable, impactful, and culturally-iconic moments in any piece of fiction, serving as the point when rising tension and long-standing grudges finally take center stage.

They’re my favorite thing to write. Most stories I write have some elements of one-on-one action, but it makes sense to find out that others struggle writing them. Structure, tone, length, complexity, plot-relevance — so many elements go into writing a good fight scene, and that doesn’t even mention the choreography itself!

However, once you figure out a few key secrets, writing any polite conflict between your characters can become leagues easier. The first secret is to… 

Establish Key Elements Early

Before two characters even start really duking it out, the key, basic details of the fight need to be clear to the audience, and they need to be clear fast. As the title says, those basic details are the four W’s and the H: Who, What, Where, Why, and How.

Who is Fighting?

The audience can’t invest themselves in a fight scene if they don’t know who in the world is fighting. It’s fine to have one mystery character in the brawl, sure, but if they don’t know anything about either of them, why should they care? Establishing their character(s) doesn’t have to be complex, but the audience just needs an idea of the personality, goals, and motivation that’s relevant to the fight.

What Are They Doing?

This goes hand in hand with Why Are They Fighting, but it’s different enough to warrant its own question — and Who, Where, and Why wouldn’t look natural without What squeezed in there. They might be fighting, of course, but a situation where they’re fighting is different from training, or escaping, or arguing, or protecting, or whatever fifth action verb fits the scene. 

As I said, once you clarify the motivation behind the fight to the audience, this will likely come along with it, but it’s good to keep it in mind as the writer.

Where Are They Fighting?

Never ignore the potential for the setting of a fight to influence the action itself, because I’d say it’s the second most important element of a fight scene. Not only does it make it easier for your audience to imagine the fight with a tactile backdrop, but consider ideas like Chekhov’s Gun. When Johnny gets hit over the head with the chair by the dining room table, wouldn’t it be easier to imagine if you mentioned the kitchen before he started brawling?

Like with that example, the setting should always influence the fight. A battle taking place in a subway car, for example, is gonna turn out a lot different than a fight in the World Tournament Arena from Dragon Ball. One is a tight space with no room to run, but plenty of poles to dodge around, while the other is a wide open arena with an elimination zone and a nearby crowd — possible hostages or casualties. 

Working the setting of a fight into the action gives it a certain kinetic flair, too, as your characters use the environment around them to their advantage or work around a disadvantage.

Why Are They Fighting?

This is the most important detail to figure out yourself and establish early on to the reader, because fights should never just be empty action — they’re part of the story, and with story comes motivations and goals. What’s accomplished if Person A wins compared to Person B winning? What’s lost? What is Person B trying to do?

An individual character’s goals should influence their actions in a fight, as someone trying to capture their opponent is gonna behave differently than someone trying to quietly assassinate their enemy. Not only that, but establishing each character’s motivations and setting up the stakes gives your audience a reason to care about the fight, and audiences that care are the ones who are gonna tear through a book/movie/show in a night or two.

How Are They Fighting?

While the past few sections might’ve focused on the fight in more of a narrative sense, the How is where you get down to the nitty gritty of the action itself. Personally, I always like outlining each character’s plans and understanding how they carry themselves in a fight, along with how they stand in comparison. Who’s faster? Who’s smarter? Who has a mean right hook that they overuse? Who prefers to run and use ranged attacks instead of fighting up close? 

How in-depth each character’s plans are really depends on the story you’re telling. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventures or the Mistborn series would have deeper, more complex plans than something like Dragon Ball Z, for example, or Jade City. No matter what flavor of fight you’re going for, if you have these in your mind before you start thinking about the action, things become a lot easier to write. It lets you see the action as how two battle plans clash with each other and adapt, which gives the fight a distinct push and pull. When Person A realizes that Person B can’t see from his right eye, does she try to attack that way? Does Person B flee to get a better angle so Person A can’t attack from her blindspot? What if Person A uses that confusion to trip Person B? If you follow a train of thought like that, before you know it, you’ll have the entire fight’s action planned out!

TLDR.

Who is fighting? Where are they? Why are they fighting? How do they plan to win? Before the first punch is thrown, it’s important to answer these four questions of Characters, Setting, Motivations, and Plans for your audience to set up the fight’s position in the narrative and to give them a reason to care. As the writer, it’s also important to understand What They’re Doing, as it’s probably deeper than just fighting, but you don’t need to make it as explicitly clear to the audience.

Follow these tips, and you might even write the next Luke VS. Darth Vader (the first time)!

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