Activating the Action

I think it's safe to say every writer has one (or multiple, maybe) things they can't stand writing. Specific things that may or may not be necessary to any given storyline, things you want to avoid if at all possible. If you're like me, and your writing pet-peeve happens to be action scenes. These are the scenes that, were they in a movie, would likely be carefully choreographed by a professional, maybe a few stunt-doubles.

Seeing as I'm not a professional choreographer, I spend half the time writing the scene, and the other half slamming my face into the keyboard trying to figure out how to write it.

Having slaved over these scenes time and again, I can offer at least some suggestions for anyone else in the same boat. (And maybe some of you might have suggestions for me. Please? Pretty please?)

I plot out every action scene, be it a fight or a chase of some kind, and replay it over and over again in my head. Envisioning it as if it were a movie to ensure the motions my characters are going through make sense and can be visualized. I don't want something so unrealistic the reader has to pause and think "how did that knife/leg/face/fist/foot/giraffe get there?!"

Sometimes I'll draw out a sketch of the scene, say, a bedroom. I sketch out the furniture, windows and doors, and use the visual to write. If so-and-so moves this way, what might there be for them to interact with? Often, I see action scenes that don't incorporate the characters' surroundings, as though they're moving about in a big, empty room in clumsy and uncoordinated gestures.

In other words, keep in mind where your characters are at all times; utilize their environment to enhance the scene.

Regarding fights, study such scenes in some kind of visual medium, be it movies, comic books/manga, or cartoons. Write down the scene to get a feel for the wording you might use. You're likely to pick up details from this study that you otherwise might have missed. The way a body moves, the way a person swings a punch and leaves themselves wide open to a hit.

Also, short, clipped sentences often work best in faster-paced scenes as opposed to long and drawn-out ones. They help promote a sense of urgency. (I always recall one exception to this rule being SHUTTER ISLAND, whose fast scenes involve a lot of very long sentences, few commas, and a lot of "and"s. This is more a stylistic thing of the author and it worked for him, but it's way too easy to do wrong.)

Don't get me started on things like sword-fights and magical abilities, because I still want to cry when faced with those. Maybe that's something one of you can give me hints on.