Story Conflicts 2 - Fights scenes

I love sword fights in movies and on TV. As a kid, I watched every episode of Zorro (Guy Williams), and those duels excited me so much, I couldn't sit still. I was carried away by the movement. I can't remember any of those fights (except his carving his signature Z), but the duel on top of the train in The Seven Percent Solution and the duel on the ice in The Four Musketeers are both locked into my brain.  My favorite sword fight is from The Princess Bride, and happily it includes some of the elements of a good fight.

Athleticism. Like a good kung fu battle or a boxing match, a sword fight includes startling exhibitions of physical prowess. And these occur within elegant choreography.

Disadvantage. Because a weapon is involved, the loss of a weapon offers an immediate opportunity for a character who might succeed otherwise to be challenged. This possibility makes power shifts believable and easy for the writer to include in dramatic moments. While any sort of fight can offer something like this (guns can jam, limbs can be broken), with swords, the advantage can be quickly restored.

Just as there are shifts in power that occurred during an argument, there can be shifts in a sword fight. Ideally, these escalate, becoming more and more excruciating for audiences with each turn.

Conversation. While there may be a few words shouted back and forth during a gunfight or grunted comments between blows in a boxing match, neither offer the believable option of fairly normal dialogue. The grace of a sword fight is such that, though at one level we know the fighters are somewhat breathless, it appears that both the distance and postures make it seem as normal as talking to a dance partner.

Time. Anyone who has watched Olympic fencing expecting exciting duels has been disappointed. Points are scored with amazing speed. Real sword fighting is nearly as quick. (Michael York, who is an expert, had to be slowed down for the musketeers movies.) As it happens, audiences are trained to allow for extended fight sequences. (No real barroom brawl with last as long as most in films.) So cheating is accepted.

But sword fights can cheat and add interest by having them occur in a setting that has many obstacles, which is done in an exaggerated way in The Princess Bride. As a note, it includes the classic spiral staircase. It turns (as is true in real structures all the time) in a direction that disadvantages right-handed fighters headed up versus right-handed fighters headed downward. Interestingly, this is the only portion of the battle where Montoya (fighting right) and Roberts (fighting left) battle with opposite hands, nullifying any advantage.

Spectacle. Any physical battle is visually interesting. Gunfights can be dramatic with rushes to cover and desperate moves to reload guns. Boxing matches are close in, with both characters and frame at the same time, and become very personal with consequences for each blow. But sword fights include strategic positioning and can have both characters in frame.

Now, while I believe that sword fights have natural advantages, all of the above are worth considering for whatever physical conflict (including those with person against nature) fits into your story. (Man against himself conflict with the physical dimension is fairly rare. But Mr. Smith Goes to Washington does combine argument and Jefferson Smith working to keep himself going hour after hour during a Senate filibuster.)

A point on describing the conflict: There is a temptation to focus on the moves of the characters (especially the protagonists), but the interesting part is the effects of their actions. Stating that a character throws a left jab is not as compelling as what that jab does — say, break the opponents nose. The writing comes alive more effectively when the impacts of each initiative are clearly described.

The preparation should be mentioned, too. Visually, it can be fun to see the choices the character makes and, the information in terms of how people put on protective equipment, bind their joints, choose their weapons, etc. can be fascinating. While there is not a lot of that in The Princess Bride, it does have a memorable conversation that fits in nicely and naturally provides the back story for Montoya.

I don't pretend to be comprehensive in this post. But I hope some of the elements here will provide helpful reminders of what makes a good physical conflict scene.