riting the Fight Scene-Part 1 (Understanding the Character

Motivation)
Everyone is an expert in at least one thing. We bring that expertise to the stories and
articles we read and to the movies and television shows we watch. Speaking for myself,
when I see or read something that is clearly wrong I want to shout, "That's wrong!"
Often times I fight myself from stopping my enjoyment of the story and moving on to
something else. Watching or reading a fight scene is one of those things that catches
my eye and often makes me groan (to say the least). Often times, friends do not want to
go to a movie with me if there are a lot of fight scenes--or at least not ask me what I
thought of them. Often times, the look on my face says enough. Why am I this way?

I started studying Martial Arts over thirty years, about the same time I started writing. I
have dabbled in a few different fighting styles, including fencing, Iaido, and various hand
to hand styles. At the time of this blog I hold a third degree black belt (Sandan) in
Tracy's Karate, which has always been my foundation in training. I have spent much of
my life, in one way or another, studying how to fight and how not to fight (including when
to run like the devil was after you). Despite all of this, even I catch myself writing a fight
scene wrong.

How do I write a fight scene, as an expert in fighting, and how do I correct it when I go
wrong? While I would imagine there is a book on how to write a fight scene, I haven't
seen it. So, I am going to tear apart the process as best as I can over the several
months. Before I begin to outline it, let me be very clear: Writing is an art. Martial Arts is
an art. There is no one way to do anything. Take from this what works for you, knowing
that, like all writers and marital artists, we all walk our own path.

The first thing I do with writing a fight scene is to understand who is involved. When
people fight in real life, everyone has a set of skills, a way they think, and a motive to be
in the fight. Let's work this backwards and start with motive. Why does your character
want to fight?

Let's think about your character and about fighting. Fighting is dangerous and
painful. How dangerous? Allow me to share with you a true story. How many times
have you been somewhere . . . a park or a bar . . .where some people break out in a
fight and you hear the spectators cheer on, calling to the world, "Fight! Fight!" The story
I am about to share is not about one of the combatants but one of the spectators. As
the spectators gathered around to cheer on the drunken fight, one of the bar room
warriors pulled out a knife and swung it blindly at his opponent. Instead of cutting or
stabbing his opponent, he slit the throat of one of the spectators--someone who had
gone out for a few drinks left his life's blood pooled out like a pool of sticky dark blood all
because he wanted to watch two morons fight over . . . what? What were these drunks
fighting over and what had been worth so much for someone to die?

Someone can be beaten to a proverbial pulp or lose their lives over trivial issues--like a
pair of shoes, a spilled drink, or (as a guy I once knew discovered) looking at someone's
girlfriend the wrong way. In St. Louis, Missouri a game among teens has developed
where they go up to complete strangers and try to knock them out. Fights can start over
imagined slights, being drunk, forced to protect yourself or a loved one, property and so
forth.

Why is your character willing to fight?

Before you decide to turn your character into a super hero or the next Jet Li, let me
break down the motivation a bit. There was a story my Master Instructor once told me
that I have never forgotten.

A man, who was studying Martial Arts and had grown so confident that he felt like he
was bullet proof, was once asked what he would be willing to fight for. He was asked, "If
ten men were leaning on your car and causing trouble, would you fight them?"

He replied with confidence, "Of course I would beat the . . .." You can fill in the words.

His instructor then asked, "What if they all had chains and baseball bats and you were
unarmed?"

The student thought about it and agreed he would not fight them.

The instructor then asked one final question, "Take these same men, armed the same
way, and now they are raping your wife. Would you fight them?"

His answer changed.

The circumstances in real life and in our fiction writing are what will determine if
someone will be willing to risk their lives in a fight. What are you willing to fight for and
lose your life over? If you answer that quickly, I personally ask--plead with you--to think
about it a little more. What is your character willing to fight for? What is their line in the
sand?
In writing the fight scene part 1, I discussed the motivations of your characters—or even
yourself—as to why they would want to engage in a fight. Once you have that figured
out, the next question is to ask—how does my character fight?

The chances that your character is some super-powered sneaky ninja, unless you are
writing about a super-powered sneaky ninja, are rare. The fact is most people, in
general, have no idea how to fight. Nor have they had much practice at it. Your normal
person on the street may have up to four (4) physical fights in their lifetime. Compare
that to those who fight in a ring or train for such types of fights? While a boxer or martial
artist may be sparing, they are spending hours fighting on a constant basis. Allow me to
break it down simply. In less than a half hour of training, these types of fighters have
seen more fights than your normal person on the street ever will.
How does an untrained fighter fight? While I am focusing on hand to hand fighting, the
principles apply to fights with hand held weapons and firearms.

Before we begin, let me give you a little note about the street and bar room brawler.
These fighters are technically untrained. All of the information that will follow applies to
them. The only thing different is that they are experienced.

The first question you should ask yourself is when and where your character grew up. If
you are writing a historical fiction, you will want to do a lot of research on the popular
fighting methods of the day. If you are writing science fiction or fantasy, what are the
popular fighting styles in your universe? Why? The untrained fighter will try to emulate
what is popular.

Let me address the modern day USA, and you will see why what I wrote above applies.
If you are writing a modern fiction, when did your character grow up? The concept of
"how to fight" has changed recently. If they grew up per-2000, then the common fighting
methods mimic boxing and wrestling. Boxing and wrestling (various kinds) have been
popular in the USA for over a century. Those who have not been taught how to fight
(getting advice from your buddy or dad, etc, doesn't count as training) will believe that
they think they know the basics and will try to copy them.

If your character grew up post 2000, the popular fighting style has been changing on the
street. The street has seen the emergence of Mix Martial Arts being added to the
"streets" arsenal of fighting methods. You don't have to be an expert in this style or
boxing or wrestling to write about what the untrained fighter will do. Just watch a little on
TV and you will be as well trained as they are.

Let's move into the fighter's mind. The difference between how the trained fighter and
the untrained fighter thinks is in their level of strategy. To the trained fighter, the fight is
on the level of a game of chess in motion. To the untrained fighter, it is a game of tic-
tac-toe.

The untrained fighter likes to grab. The trained fighter likes to keep their distance until
they have to or are ready to grab. Why the difference? Trained fighters spend hours in
sparring to learn timing and distance control. The untrained fighter has no clue. They
don't know how far away they can be before they can punch. They think, and are right,
"if I can grab you, I can punch you." They also use the tic-tac-toe strategy of strike and
block and strike. The block can be with their arm or leg to block a blow or curl up into a
fetal position. To them it is all the same.

Fear is inside the fighter's mind. The untrained fighter does not know how to control
their fear. It is easy to talk a "good game" about a fight, but in truth there is an element
of fear to any fight. Most untrained fighters do not know how to move past that fear.
They think it is something they can rely on or it is something that will tie them up.

They also do not have any idea of how to control their adrenaline. Adrenaline, which
comes with fear and with a fight, will fill the fighter. In some cases this will make them
super strong or able to take more damage than they could normally. Adrenaline is the
greatest drug in the universe, produced naturally in our bodies. Unless you have spent
time, like the trained fighter, learning to control it and use it, it can be very
overwhelming. The untrained fighter is not prepared for the adrenaline that fills them nor
do they know how to control it. That only comes with experience.

While the untrained fighter, as mentioned above, will strike and punch. (Note: so will
many trained fighters, but I will go into that in the next blog) The untrained fighter will
usually step and strike or they will try to tackle their opponent. The untrained male
fighter will strike with a closed fist. The untrained female fighter will either strike with a
slap, grab, claw, pull or punch with a closed fist. Almost all the targets they will strike at
will be to the head. Sometimes they will strike at the body, but the fact is --at least in the
USA--we tend to be "head hunters." I do not know if that has come from films (like the
old John Wayne knock them out type movies) or where. It is a cultural thing. (Let me
remind the reader, if you are writing in about a different culture, you will want to
research this.)
The first trained fighter we are going to examine is the police officer. Police officers, including federal
agents, undergo a level of training in a preferred martial art. The martial art changes from country to
country, or even police precinct to precinct. This can also change in time as well. For the purposes of this
blog I am going to address the modern United States police system and I am going to use a large
paintbrush to describe it. It does not take into account individual training.

Despite being trained, the police officer doesn’t have the extensive training that most gym fighters would
have. They have only a short amount of training and it is usually in Aikido or Judo. These two styles of
martial arts are focused on arm locks and tying up the opponents body, which is appropriate for bring a
suspect into custody. This also defines the strategy that the police officer uses in any fight they are in.

The rest of the training that a police officer undergoes in regards to fighting is with firearms, pepper spray,
and police nightsticks. (Again, there are some other weapons they may learn to use, including “street
weapons” like a baseball bat.) The nightsticks can take the form of their mag-lite, a baton, side handle
batons (that look like and are used the same as the ton-fa), the expandable baton, and the stun baton.
Each of these types of batons has strengths, weaknesses, and move differently. To the common person
you might not see too much of a difference, but if you get the opportunity you might want to talk to a
police instructor to get a better understanding.

One of the things that all these weapons have in common is the target areas the police officer is allowed
to strike. I will talk about target areas in another blog entry, but let me give you a quick list for now. While
accidents can happen, because usually a suspect that has a baton taken to them is resisting and moving
and otherwise being less than cooperative and thus might get hit where they shouldn’t, the police officer
is not allowed to hit the skull, sternum, spine, or groin. Most of these targets would take out a suspect
immediately—sometimes with deadly effects, thus why they are not allowed. What they are allowed to
strike are large muscles and nerve areas.
In the last post on “Writing the Fight Scene,” we entered into the mind, strategy, and fear of the untrained
fighter. In these blogs, I admit that I am painting with a wide general brush. There are exceptions to what I
am writing. But, generally to the untrained fighter, the fight or battle strategy to them is on the level of tic-
tac-toe. The trained fighter has a strategy mentality that is on a higher level. In comparison to tic-tac-toe,
the trained fighter’s strategy is much closer to chess or shogi or even three dimensional chess if they are
very high trained. Before we can begin to understand the strategy of a character who is a highly trained
fighter, we first must understand what their training is.

Trained fighters are trained to fight unarmed against a multitude of weapons from clubs to firearms. Most
trained fighters are also trained to use some if not all of these weapons. Behind this training is a
philosophy of movement, action, and thought regarding attack and defense. When a fighter is trained, he
or she is trained in some kind of martial art. While the term "martial art" usually conjures the picture of
Asian combat, my use of this term does not exclude other forms of fighting. By using the term “martial
art,” I am also referring to boxing, wrestling, fencing, and everything else that requires the person or
character to undergo training in how to fight.

With that said, let us look at who is considered to be a trained fighter, and then how they are trained. A
trained fighter is typically:
Someone who is or has severed as a police officer;
Someone who is or has severed in the military; and/or
Someone who spends hours in a fighting gym (this refers to anything from a boxing gym to a dojo or
fencing club and so on).

Each style of martial arts has a unique philosophy (or mental process) behind its development. For
example, Judo or Jujitsu focuses on throwing, grappling, and holds. Whereas “European” fencing (what
you see at the Olympics under the term fencing) is more focused on movement and striking with in a
narrowly defined fighting area (the strip). Thus each philosophy has a set of “rules” that govern how the
fighter thinks and there is a science of physics behind the fighting style.

In the next entry, I will begin to go into how Police and Armed Forces are trained and what the philosophy
is behind their style of training is. Then I will go into martial arts and try to show the various different
philosophies there. After that we will go into how fighters fight and then return to the chorography of
writing the fight scene and understanding how the setting affects the fight.
How do the trained military fight? Like Law Enforcement, the fighting styles of the military vary
with time and nationality. If you have a character that you are writing about that is in a particular
branch of the military, or in a certain nation, or in a different time period than modern day, I
would highly recommend that you conduct careful research into the martial art style that was or
is used. For the purposes of this entry, I am going to exam the United States military of modern
day. Again, before I start, I remind my readers that I am "painting" with a broad brush.
Individuals may vary from what I describe below.

The military personal of the United States is (one of--to avoid arguments) the best trained
standing forces of the modern world. With that said, most hand to hand combat training that the
average soldier or sailor is given is limited. Depending on the Military Occupation the soldier or
sailor, they may have had only a few days of hand-to-hand combat training. As I described in
"Writing the Fight Scene-Part 2 (Understanding How Untrained Fighters Think)", this amount of
training still limits the level of strategy that they will use in a fight.

Please do not misunderstand me. They are better trained than the untrained fighter, but their
overall training is not focused, nor extensive, in hand-to-hand combat. In my post "Writing the
Fight Scene-Part 2 (Understanding How Untrained Fighters Think)",I discuss how fighters think
and strategize the fight. In that posting, I described the untrained fighter's level of strategy is that
of a game of tic-tac-toe and that of a highly trained fighter to be the equivalent of a chess player.
In the case of the level of training that the average military personal has would fall somewhere
between the two--maybe closer to checkers.

With this stated, each branch of the US armed forces has a different philosophy of martial arts.
Before World War II, the armed forces main focus on hand-to-hand combat was a mixture of
boxing, wrestling, and - - -well, barroom brawling. After World War II, the five main branches
(most think of only four, but for the purpose here and understanding the role of the US Coast
Guard, I have broken it out into a separate branch) of the military went down different roads:
* The US Army and US Air Force hand-to-hand training is based mostly on Judo and Aikido;
* The US Navy Force hand-to-hand training is based mostly on Boxing;
* The US Coast Guard hand-to-hand training is based mostly on Boxing and Aikido;
* The US Marine Corps hand-to-hand training has been recently updated to be based on a mix of
Karate, Taekwondo, Jujitsu, Brazilian Ju-jitsu, Eskrima, and Muay Thai. (I have news for them-
they just tried to reinvent Tracy's Kenpo, which is what I study.)

I used the qualifier of "mostly" on purpose. The reason for this is that the military do work on
and improve their fighting methods. Some of this improvement comes from conflicts with other
forces--in other words, war-- and from the exchange of styles between these five branches and
their personnel seeking training outside of their basic training. Furthermore, I do not describe the
training that Special Forces undergo with their fight training.
The final type of fighter we will explore is the "gym fighter." By this term I am lumping in
all the boxing gyms, the studios, the dojos, and any other type of fight training school
that lasts for more than a few months of training. Generally speaking, no matter the
style, the gym fighter is a man or a woman who may have started to train to fight for
self-defense, to get off the street, or because of the exercise and eye-hand
coordination. Whatever their reason, they trained and trained and may have even
competed. They went past the level of training someone who would have taken the
training for standard self-defense would have gone and have moved in to that insane
level of perfecting their ability and knowledge. These people have chosen the narrow,
rocky, and demanding road called "the warriors' path."

If you think I am trying to make these people (and myself) out to be something beyond
normal, let me use a cliché: Someone enters a karate school to check it out. They ask
the head instructor, "How long does it take a normal person to become a Black Belt."
The instructor answers, "Normal people do not make it to Black Belt." The same adage
could be said with boxers, fencers, and all other trained fighters who have spent years
and continue to train every day. We are not super human or anything. What gives us
our edge in a fight (especially, if we train in street fighting or other combat outside of the
sport ring) are:

1. Endurance Training--we are trained to make it through several rounds

thinking, fighting, talking, and breathing. Each round can last roughly two minutes
(depending on the style). Ask a normal person to do jumping jacks and hold a
conversation for two minutes--watch the results.

2. Strategy training--Because we constantly train and face a new fight every

time (even if it is someone we faced before), we are forced to adapt and change
our approach. We are forced to think moves ahead--like a chess master must
think far ahead in the game to win.

3. Hours of simulation-- In the military and within the police, they spend
hours simulating and training for possible events. Fighter pilots spend time
fighting in dogfights in simulators as well as flying. Cops spend time on shooting
grounds that have "civilian and bad guy" targets to learn not to shoot the wrong
one. Gym fighters have the ring. We will face more hand-to-hand combat
situations in one hour of training than a normal untrained fighter will see in their
lifetimes. Not only does this improve our endurance and strategy training, but it
also improves our ability to read the opponent like a poker player watching for
"the tell" in his opponent. It improves our dexterity and reaction time. Because we
can read the other person, see their tell and predict what is about to happen, it
makes us look faster than we really are. The reason is our time to react is
extended because we know what you plan to do.