TSS058: Getting Bad and Breaking Bones: How to Pull off a Good Fight in Fiction

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… twisted here and then he leaned back and thumb punched him there, and then he did this, and his left hand did this and right foot to this and whatever … that completely ruins it.”  — Taylor

This week’s show is all about getting bad and breaking bones in our fiction. Or, to put a slightly different spin on the topic, this episode is about writing kick-ass fight scenes. Taylor has her own particular way of writing these scenes that allow readers to go deep into the mind of Vanessa Michael Munroe while she’s fighting.

How does she do it?

As she explains during the interview, she writes fight scenes that take place very slowly. The faster the scene moves, the more she slows it down. When she’s asked how she makes the violent scenes feel so real to readers, her typical response is that she removes the details to allow the reader to visualize the scene.

Taylor shares two words that authors should never use in fight scenes and explains why eliminating the words enables the reader to see your scene as a seamless transaction of movement.  The two words Taylor wants us to remove for our battle scenes are “as” and “suddenly.” As she puts it, “there is no suddenly in suspense.”

Taylor and Steve discuss the importance of accuracy and details in fight scenes, and how that importance changes, based on your background and what you bring to the table as an author. Then the get into a discussion on the importance of reader satisfaction with these scenes, especially those that are part of the book’s final few scenes.

The show closes with Steve asking Taylor to share her favorite fight Munroe fight scene, but she claims not to have one. She does admit to a favorite book, and it’s because of the presence of Munroe’s rage throughout the story. If you’ve read THE VESSEL, you know what she means when talking about the rage.

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