Combat/Fist fights/Weapons/sword fights

I've got a whole range of stories and ideas that I want to write, but the greatest set back is not being able to write certain scenes.

For example.

Sword Fights, Pirates, Star Wars that sort of thing
Gun fights: War stories
Fist fights, a punch up in a bar, or something stupid like that.

Mike

Wait we can't write bar brawls? Well there goes the opening to my next chapter.

blurred said:

I've got a whole range of stories and ideas that I want to write, but the greatest set back is not being able to write certain scenes.

For example.

Sword Fights, Pirates, Star Wars that sort of thing
Gun fights: War stories
Fist fights, a punch up in a bar, or something stupid like that.

Mike

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You have trouble writing those scenes, or do you feel like Literotica would reject them?
Violence in the flow of the story is fine. Gratuitous sexual violence is what's unacceptable.

When I can't (or don't want to because it will slow down the flow of the story) describe a fight or a battle, I shove it off stage and pick up at the aftereffects phase. (Doing that with the Battle of Saratoga today.)

As others have said, if you believe such violence is against Lit content rules, you're wrong. You have to really go crazy with non-sexual violence to even cause a blip on the radar.

And that's in "real life" stories. Get into the realm of fantasy worlds, and they don't bat an eyelash at slowly crushing someone to death and describing each successively larger bone snapping under the pressure. Go into the horror category, and I think you'd have trouble trying to get rejected for non-sexual violence.

So gun fights, sword fights, burning people to a crisp with fireballs... those are all no worry.

Notice that I keep saying "non-sexual" violence. As soon as violence is involved in a sex scene, the waters get murky, and it's entirely possible that something which initially passes and posts can be rejected after the fact when someone reports excessive sexual violence.

If your problem is not being able to describe such fights, take a page from George Lucas. If you hunt around, you'll discover that the Falcon vs. Tie Fighter scene in New Hope is built scene for scene from old war movie footage.

Find a movie that has a good fight sequence similar to what you want, and describe the series of moves. Don't forget sound, the shock of banging metal things together, etc.

I'll make another pass at what I'm suggesting. Are you planning to put the combat scenes in because they further the plot or for wordage padding or just for the thrill of having a flashy mostly irrelevant scene (like many of the action films showing in the theaters)? If for furthering the plot, I'd still suggest making them only as long as necessary to do that. If for padding, I'd think five times about having them there at all except in brief passing. This isn't the movies.

Combat323 said:

You have trouble writing those scenes, or do you feel like Literotica would reject them?
Violence in the flow of the story is fine. Gratuitous sexual violence is what's unacceptable.

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It's not violence for the sake of violence, I'm not into torture, sexual or otherwise. Torture should only be included if it is part of the plot and progresses the story, otherwise it's not my cup of tea.

I have several stories that I'm writing that involve fight scenes, historical settings for example, assassin training, or a post apocalyptic story that I have in mind.

RejectReality said:

Go into the horror category, and I think you'd have trouble trying to get rejected for non-sexual violence.

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Even sexual violence gets a fair bit of leeway in supernatural horror. There are quite a few "gruesomely killed while having sex with the wrong entity" stories in EH.

blurred said:

It's not violence for the sake of violence, I'm not into torture, sexual or otherwise. Torture should only be included if it is part of the plot and progresses the story, otherwise it's not my cup of tea.

I have several stories that I'm writing that involve fight scenes, historical settings for example, assassin training, or a post apocalyptic story that I have in mind.

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In that case, brevity is key. Also, avoid left/right, clockwise/ccw etc. Readers will picture the scene in their minds as they read, and the specificity might go against the grain of what they're seeing or make them have to pause to make sure they're picturing it correctly. The other downside to being too specific in this sense is that it makes it much easier to trip yourself up.

This isn't unique to action scenes -- being too specific in character descriptions presents many of the same problems. A couple of unique characteristics, and you're on your way. Readers' minds will fill in the blanks.

What I want is for someone who can actually write the scenes to help me out, someone who understands fights and can help me insert it into a story.

Before you get help from an editor:

blurred said:

What I want is for someone who can actually write the scenes to help me out, someone who understands fights and can help me insert it into a story.

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At the beginning of this thread, you said this:

I've got a whole range of stories and ideas that I want to write...

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The first thing you need to do is stop wanting and start writing. Write a really shitty story with even shittier combat scenes. Take some advice from Ben Stiller's Character in Keeping the Faith and "embrace the suckiness."

If you absolutely cannot even attempt the fight scenes, at least ask and answer some questions about each scene before asking an editor for help. For example:

Who is fighting whom in the scene?

What is each character trying to accomplish?

What does the protagonist learn from the fight? Is the enemy stronger than expected in some way?

In what kind of environment does the fight happen?

Are any new characters or weapons introduced? Why? Will they play a role later, or will our hero have to find a way to render them less effective?

How does the battle change what happens next?

Why is this scene important to the story?

Have a Q&A like this with yourself on paper or your computer screen, so the editor will have something to shape.

I think any writer I've edited for will tell you that I do a lot of creative writing in my edits to illustrate my points. Sometimes, that writing gets pasted into the story almost verbatim, but it all springs from initial creative work on the part of the writer.