32 replies to this topic

[ZombieWife]

This is a writer/reader thread.  I love me a good fight scene and lately, I've been eating up Abercrombie's stuff.

Who writes the good fight?

Who does it poorly?

What's essential for a good fight scene?

[Mikael]

Fight scenes are almost like sex scenes to me, they need to be over quick and without too much detail, can't stand car chases either... For instance, the worst scenes in WoK was when the overpowered guys' fights was described in detail, how they were able to jump so high and that they jumped and bla bla bla.

I like Abercrombie's fight scenes though, Nine fingers grins and head butts his enemy to death or some guy screams "wait, just wait!" - hack, slash, done.

[Mikael]

That said, I think I prefer the "unrealistic" neatness and control of Jordan's fights. The whole realism with the exception that the protagonists always actually make it out alive, albeit with some bruises, gets kind of old real quick for me. Bah - I realise that I'm contradictory and whatnot, I'm just no real fan of fight scenes and think that they should be in short supply.

[Howdyphillip]

I am enjoying the over the top style that Butcher uses in Dresden files right now. They are rather exaggerated, and if you think about them too much then kind of ridiculous, but I like them all the same. They kind of remind me of old school Marvel comic fights.

[paddington]

I like them quick and brutual.  Not keen on fight scenes that go on and on.  Lee Childs writes a good fist-fight, can't think of the top of my head who writes a bad one.  I tend to skip them if they bore me.

In that regard they are a lot like sex scenes, get it done quickly.  I skip them almost all the time.

Edited by paddington, 22 February 2012 - 06:31 AM.

[red snow]

I used to really like Richard Morgan's fight scenes they were really cool and badass. Bakker can be ok as well, although sometimes it's really trippy at the same time. I agree they should always be to the point and read quickly and, yes, Abercrombie is very good at a fight/battle scene. I'd have to add there's a big distinction between what makes a good fight scene and what makes a good battle. Some authors are only good at one of them.

[polishgenius]

Howdyphillip, on 22 February 2012 - 05:33 AM, said:

I am enjoying the over the top style that Butcher uses in Dresden files right now. They are rather exaggerated, and if you think about them too much then kind of ridiculous, but I like them all the same. They kind of remind me of old school Marvel comic fights.

Dresden's action scenes are cool and awesome and imaginative but for me what really makes them is the fact that he never loses sight of the character and plot in them. It never goes "story stops, action scene starts" as can often happen, they're all tangled up together.


My favourite fight scene of all time is the one in China Mieville's The Scar (there's plenty of action scenes in The Scar and all of them are good, but I'll presume anyone who's read it will know the one I mean). It's made all the more effective by the fact that Mieville's been building up to that one scene slowly throughout the book. And he's also one who plays to the visceral emotiveness of action, even from the perspective of those watching.

The other author who's action I think is really effective is Steven Erikson, but his full-scale battles are perhaps more notable than the smaller scale - but then his battles are remarkable, his one-on-ones and that still often very, very good.

[Sci-2]

Not a huge fan of most fight scenes, best one I ever read, that got me really excited, was the sword fight in No Present Like Time.

Those books had their hits and misses, but Swainston was really good at making the challenges between her immortals - who are granted eternity b/c they are masters in some field - interesting.

[Gold Storm]

I love how Bernard Cornwell writes fight scenes in his books, it could be Napoleon battle or fighting in a shield wall but he does both great a lot of detail without getting off track or slowing it down.
One of my favorites is in The Lies of Locke Lamora a short but exciting fight.
.

[Ser_not_appearing_yet]

Fight scenes don't take much skill, battle scenes however do. Love a well-written battle sequence (they aren't that common though)

[kcf]

One of the most effective fight/battle scenes I've read was written by Tad Williams in the Stone of Farewell (second book of Memory, Sorrow and Thorn trilogy). It shows Simon in his first ever battle and I think captures things very well.

Edited by kcf, 22 February 2012 - 11:33 AM.

[kcf]

Also, for just bad-ass fight scenes, I don't think anyone tops Matt Stover.

[Talleyrand]

Bernard Cornwell is one of if not the best at doing battle scenes  for me

[Grack21]

When we say fight scenes do we mean battle scnese or 2 dudes trying to kill each other?

Because either way Cornwell wins by a mile.

[ZombieWife]

red snow, on 22 February 2012 - 08:35 AM, said:

I used to really like Richard Morgan's fight scenes they were really cool and badass. Bakker can be ok as well, although sometimes it's really trippy at the same time. I agree they should always be to the point and read quickly and, yes, Abercrombie is very good at a fight/battle scene. I'd have to add there's a big distinction between what makes a good fight scene and what makes a good battle. Some authors are only good at one of them.

I'm interested in this, the battle scene versus the fight scene.  I recently wrote a "fight" scene involving up to a dozen individuals, but since it was on the shoulder of one narrator, that helped me narrow the focus.  That said, geesh.  What a pain in the ass.  I cannot imaging doing something bigger with armies and such.

Then again, Martin does it well in that when we're in Tyrion's POV during the attack on King's Landing, we don't know everything else that's going on, just what's important to Tyrion in that moment.

[Nukelavee]

Honestly?

Drake and Stirling handle both extremes very very well.

Cook has a certain charm with his fight/battles, as well - they are so stripped down and confusing sometimes.

[dbcooper]

Ser_not_appearing_yet, on 22 February 2012 - 11:30 AM, said:

Fight scenes don't take much skill, battle scenes however do. Love a well-written battle sequence (they aren't that common though)

Can't disagree enough with the first part of what you said.  Or rather, a fight scene might not take much skill but a good one does.  The type that makes you clap, cheer or laugh outloud is hard to come by.

Matt Stover's Cain fight scenes are pretty good, though the fights that don't specifically involve Cain can be lackluster.  Lies of Locke Lamora had two really great fights, especially the last one.  Another specfic scene that's fresh in my mind is the end fight in Gone-Away World.  Harkaway is sparse on details but it was a great climax with a killer line at the end.

Spoiler

Ghost Palm of the Voiceless Dragon style, fucker.

[Reek]

Glen Cook has some cool minimalist stuff.

And the one thing I do like about Robert Jordan is all the ambiguously named sword-forms that some of the characters do.  It leaves it up to your imagination to decide what they look like.

[Grack21]

Nukelavee, on 22 February 2012 - 03:00 PM, said:

Honestly?

Drake and Stirling handle both extremes very very well.

Cook has a certain charm with his fight/battles, as well - they are so stripped down and confusing sometimes.

I think thats the idea. Battle are confusing.

[Nukelavee]

I think that's why I said he was good at writing them.