Ok, so I'll admit last time I did this it went terribly.
This time though I'm going to use a bit more of a relaxed approach based on the whole SOTF based AMA thing I did in chat because I had fun doing it and I think people found it interesting.
The general idea is that you ask a question that is SOTF related (it can be Main or Mini based) and I'll give an answer and it can be based on any aspect of writing SOTF, the whole thing is that I'll get to give better long form answers as I am not on a train using my phone. The way we'll work it is that when someone asks a question I'll give an answer and then others can weigh in after that with their own thoughts and we can get a discussion going. Once we think that the topic has been fairly well-discussed I'll open things up for a new question.
The questions can be about preferred ways of doing things, advice on how to do stuff, dialogue use, symbolism etc.
So we'll trial it out and someone can give us a first question.
Deamon Discusses SOTF
new forum who dis?
Wow nobody jumped in on this? Fools
What do you like to see in fight scenes from an internal perspective? Not everyone feels like they do strong action scenes, so what kinds of things can those people apply other strengths to if they have trouble with the usual aspects of a fight?
What do you like to see in fight scenes from an internal perspective? Not everyone feels like they do strong action scenes, so what kinds of things can those people apply other strengths to if they have trouble with the usual aspects of a fight?
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jimmydalad
- Posts: 294
- Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 3:35 pm
Hello Mr. Daemon, I have a question!
How do you approach the weapons that are assigned to your kids and incorporate them into their narrative, if at all? How important are weapon roles and are there things people should be thinking about when writing with them?
How do you approach the weapons that are assigned to your kids and incorporate them into their narrative, if at all? How important are weapon roles and are there things people should be thinking about when writing with them?
What do you like to see in fight scenes from an internal perspective? Not everyone feels like they do strong action scenes, so what kinds of things can those people apply other strengths to if they have trouble with the usual aspects of a fight?
From an internal perspective, I like to see people considering their movements on a basic level and good use of emotions. I'm not as keen on having detailed essay's on what their plan for the fight is or why everything matters by the same token. Quick, clear and easy to understand sentences are the order of the day I find and anything that muddies the prose is clutter. So metaphors probably aren't recommended.
These posts that I quickly grabbed show pretty well what I'm talking about in terms of what I like to see (I used my own stuff here mainly because it's just easier for me to grab). In SOTF, with most characters, you aren't going to get people who know how to fight, so most of the fights should be quick, scrappy affairs with a general lack of developed tactics. Proper feints and set-ups will be entirely missing for example and including those details will be unrealistic and worse, clutter your prose. You can still get a good emotional range even with shorter sentences which I think the example shows as well but it's delivered more through word choice and character actions rather than an exploration of the characters emotions.
If you have trouble with fights I'd say to focus on word choice and readability. In Blood Meridian and No Country for Old Men, Cormac McCarthy writes brilliant visceral descriptions of action and violence in very few words. It's all achieved through efficient but descriptive word choices, clear descriptions of the action and good scene setting beforehand. I'd say if people are struggling with writing their fights, take the time before your big scene to block out the environment you're in, a good environmental description of the arena gives people an easier time visualizing what's happening and as a bonus it will give you a better idea of what you're working with.
Another thing people can do is consider their characters goals. I know a lot of people like to figure out what their character is trying to achieve on the island. If their goal is to find their friends for example and a player has cornered them in a room with only one way out, they may fight over to the door and then run as soon as they get the chance. This can help you with your fight scene as that goal informs everything your character does in the fight. They would be less likely to try and tackle their attacker for example, as that would make it harder for them to get away.
If you feel like you do better with emotions this can still be worked in you'll just want to give simpler action descriptions and focus on your characters thoughts. Although still keep in mind we don't want to get long sentences of their feelings about the situation.
That's something I just wrote as an example of a more emotion-driven passage of a fight. It's still descriptive and clear in the action, but we have more of an internal focus which is also a viable option.
In the end, if you can write a good description or have a good understanding of your character you can write a good fight scene. The important thing is being clear and concise but there is room to play around and add in character emotions to make it that much more memorable or impactful for the reader.
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And that's our first question done! If people have anything they'd like to add to what I've alreay said the floor is yours.
I'll probably look at answering Jimmy's question sometime next weekend so we have until then to see if we can get a discussion going.
From an internal perspective, I like to see people considering their movements on a basic level and good use of emotions. I'm not as keen on having detailed essay's on what their plan for the fight is or why everything matters by the same token. Quick, clear and easy to understand sentences are the order of the day I find and anything that muddies the prose is clutter. So metaphors probably aren't recommended.
These posts that I quickly grabbed show pretty well what I'm talking about in terms of what I like to see (I used my own stuff here mainly because it's just easier for me to grab). In SOTF, with most characters, you aren't going to get people who know how to fight, so most of the fights should be quick, scrappy affairs with a general lack of developed tactics. Proper feints and set-ups will be entirely missing for example and including those details will be unrealistic and worse, clutter your prose. You can still get a good emotional range even with shorter sentences which I think the example shows as well but it's delivered more through word choice and character actions rather than an exploration of the characters emotions.
If you have trouble with fights I'd say to focus on word choice and readability. In Blood Meridian and No Country for Old Men, Cormac McCarthy writes brilliant visceral descriptions of action and violence in very few words. It's all achieved through efficient but descriptive word choices, clear descriptions of the action and good scene setting beforehand. I'd say if people are struggling with writing their fights, take the time before your big scene to block out the environment you're in, a good environmental description of the arena gives people an easier time visualizing what's happening and as a bonus it will give you a better idea of what you're working with.
Another thing people can do is consider their characters goals. I know a lot of people like to figure out what their character is trying to achieve on the island. If their goal is to find their friends for example and a player has cornered them in a room with only one way out, they may fight over to the door and then run as soon as they get the chance. This can help you with your fight scene as that goal informs everything your character does in the fight. They would be less likely to try and tackle their attacker for example, as that would make it harder for them to get away.
If you feel like you do better with emotions this can still be worked in you'll just want to give simpler action descriptions and focus on your characters thoughts. Although still keep in mind we don't want to get long sentences of their feelings about the situation.
That's something I just wrote as an example of a more emotion-driven passage of a fight. It's still descriptive and clear in the action, but we have more of an internal focus which is also a viable option.
In the end, if you can write a good description or have a good understanding of your character you can write a good fight scene. The important thing is being clear and concise but there is room to play around and add in character emotions to make it that much more memorable or impactful for the reader.
----
And that's our first question done! If people have anything they'd like to add to what I've alreay said the floor is yours.
I'll probably look at answering Jimmy's question sometime next weekend so we have until then to see if we can get a discussion going.
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NotAFlyingToy
- Posts: 321
- Joined: Sat Aug 25, 2018 4:49 am
- Location: Burlington, Canada
- Contact:
Fight scenes are a very fair bugbear to latch onto, because I think the idea of needing to script out this big, drawn-out affair tends to intimidate people. One thing that I love to point out is that most fights - that is, your garden variety two-untrained-people-coming-to-blows - are over very very quickly, and are not super drawn out. So, if you find yourself needing to do a fight scene, there are a few avenues that you can take.
One of my favourites is adding to the unease and questions about where people are by legitimately muddying the playing ground. Smoke, dust, mud - have environmental scenic factors that result in confusion as to where the fighters are located in relation to each other. This allows you to play up the confusion internally while being able to muddy the external scene-setting, and can even allow for a great tension building device.
There's also the quick-and-brutal route. Often, when we think of 'good' fight scenes, we think of fight scenes that last ten to fifteen posts of teeth-gritting action where two fighters slug it out. What's just as effective is a fight that is over basically before it starts - some messy, bad death that takes two seconds to do but a lot longer than that to resolve. Use injuries to your advantage - broken limbs or being blinded can ramp up the character's internal writing without having to do as much heavy lifting on the external side of things.
One of my favourites is adding to the unease and questions about where people are by legitimately muddying the playing ground. Smoke, dust, mud - have environmental scenic factors that result in confusion as to where the fighters are located in relation to each other. This allows you to play up the confusion internally while being able to muddy the external scene-setting, and can even allow for a great tension building device.
There's also the quick-and-brutal route. Often, when we think of 'good' fight scenes, we think of fight scenes that last ten to fifteen posts of teeth-gritting action where two fighters slug it out. What's just as effective is a fight that is over basically before it starts - some messy, bad death that takes two seconds to do but a lot longer than that to resolve. Use injuries to your advantage - broken limbs or being blinded can ramp up the character's internal writing without having to do as much heavy lifting on the external side of things.
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The Bearded One
- Posts: 23
- Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2019 6:24 am
- Location: USA
New topic: What is the general view of using different colors of text in posts for the main SotF? My prior experience was only on Mini, and while I got a few kudos for my writing, I also got a few slightly critical comments regarding my use of different colors in the narrative. Is it considered bad form to use non-default color on the main SotF? Why or why not?