Saber Shadowkitten's Fight Writing Guide

or

Saber's Guide to Blood & Guts in Action Sequences

In response to a cry for help from Lynn of "Secrets and Lies" fame, Saber

gave her good ideas for planning her big bloodbath of a fight. As Saber

says, "It's kinda funny, but can be used with any vampire/fight combination.

Just replace the name "Spike" with your main fighter. Enjoy!"

1. Ok, first you need to decide the number of bad guys. Personally, I've

stuck him up against eight before (Snow Angels) in hand to hand and had it

still be believable. If he's gonna go the 'manly' route and use a weapon,

there could be more. Oh, and men & women, or just men? (or women <G>?)

2. Dos, where is the shindig going to take place? Alley? Living room? Empty

warehouse? Note the surroundings and what can be used. If they're going to

do it at the mansion in the main room, picture the furnishings. Spike can be

bouncing all over them and the fireplace can always come in handy while

singing 'Chim Chiminey' in a bad Dick Van Dyke, Mary Poppins accent.

3. How many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie roll pop?

Three - what is Spike wearing? What are the others wearing? This may seem

trivial, but it is important. Duster or not? Does he have his shoes on? Are

the others in regular clothes, or do they have something he could grab onto

and toss them across the room. This will affect how he moves and the

descriptions.

4. Gimme a four! Attitude. Is he going to be knee deep in rage or will he be

furious, but in a whimsical way which leads to witty banter that the others

can't keep up with? Will he show a deadly calm or will we see a vamped out

Spike not in control of his emotions?

5. Five. Choose the types of death you want to use. Fire? Stake? Beheading?

Neck snapping for later stakage? Sunlight?

6. Sex....er, six. Layout. How is he coming into the room? Or is he already

there? Where are the others in position to him? Where is the

furniture/dumpster/cars/metal columns in regards to him? How about in

regards to the baddies?

7. Lucky seven. Stand up, sit down, fight, fight, fight! Spike seems to be

kinda good on the martial arts stand point, but I see him doing more dirty

street fighting. Hair grabbing, knee to the nuts, ear pulling, eye gouging -

especially if there's a large number of foe. I doubt he'd care about playing

'fair' when under attack. He doesn't have any cool acrobatic skills, other

than the rolling easily to his feet after a throw, so no flips and stuff. He

could jump over someone if he used a couch or dumpster to start from, but

not on his own. He'd also probably grab whatever was handy and use it as a

weapon. I know I brought it up earlier as a choice, but he seems the type.

Even a chair pillow can make a good destractor if thrown at someone's face.

The hardest part of doing fight scenes is labeling the bad guys. Vamp #1,

#2, #3, etc. If they could have a distinguished scar or clothing on, it

makes it easier to describe then continuing to use numbers. (e.g. Spike

grabbed Bug-eye's tidy whities from behind and yanked up, giving the vampire

a wedgie to end all wedgies.)

The last vamp standing (Darius in Lynn's case) should always be the

'special' one. Have him do an 'ut-oh' when he realizes he's odd man out.

Decide if he should request his brown pants or go out fighting. If fighting,

have Spike grab whatever weapon and disarm him in a second. If he's not

using a weapon, have him catch his arm/leg and hold it while he gives Darius

the evil eye. Then rip his throat out. Or stake him. Or use whatever weapon

on him. Or give him the kiss of death and let him go, then throw a stake at

him so he dies running out the door. Or skewer him to the wall, like Rutger

Hauger did in Ladyhawke. Or...

You get the picture.

Still stuck?? Get out your action flicks and watch them. I'd recommend

Batman/Batman Forever. The characters are 'human' and have human

limitations, that's why I like these two.

=====

Thus endeth Saber's Guide to Blood and Guts. I hope it comes in helpful for

any of you struggling to write an action scene...and was just interesting

for the rest of all ya'll (I brought some Texas back with me).

meow