The subject of action scene writing is a fairly large one, and I'll be adding multiple video's for illustration, so I'm going to split it into two post. The first will deal with my general philosophy of action writing and later I'll get into specifics. In brief, action scenes, should advance the plot in some way. There is pacing of course, any action scene will add energy to a story when it begins to lag, but that action scene should serve a purpose.
As with writing Love scenes, there are questions the writer should ask and answer when deciding how the scene should play out. The most basic of these is what kind of story are you telling? A funny Jackie Chan style fight where he beats up the bad guys with a priceless painting doesn't belong in a bloody Tarentino heist flick like Reservoir Dogs. A brutal fight club style beating doesn't belong in an action comedy where Jack Black is tapped as the new James Bond. Another question is what are the consequences of the action scene? Does the hero get hurt, and if so how bad? Will his or her injuries come into play later in the story like when Sherlocke Holmes injured shoulder put him at an untenable disadvantage to Moriarty? Does the action sequence lead to an advantage or disadvantage for the hero going into the next scene? For instance the car chase was a setup and the hero cop is led into an ambush. A hijacked garbage truck plows into his car and throws him over an embankment. When he comes to the witness he was protecting has been taken. Now the clock is ticking and he needs to find where they the bad guys took her. This leads to the next scene where he intimidates an informant into telling him about a ship leaving the docks at midnight. Also, does the action escalate from the last scene. It's a well known principle of action writing that the danger gets worse as the story goes on, and the greatest threat is generally the one at the climax of the story.
Another thing to think about, is whether the action sequence has a greater meaning? Is the fight a metaphor for something else? Or perhaps an act of catharsis? There are a lot of things that a fight can be beyond the exchanging of fist and bullets. For Example;
The Metaphor here is pretty much outright stated. The fight is a physical manifestation of his internal struggle to find the will to keep going after his wife died.
And this scene has an undercurrent of poetic justice. Alan Rickmans character from Quigley Down Under fancies himself an old west style gunfighter. But he doesn't get the epic Dodge City showdown with his nemesis that he thought he deserved. Quigley casually guns him and his cohorts down as easily and with as little glory as Rickman had killed the unarmed aborigines.
This one is simply a peace of art. The silence and the muted colors and rain belie the intense emotions here. Tom Hank's mob hitman Michael Sullivan has been driven to the point where he must kill the man who has been a father to him to avenge his family. Paul Newmans Irish mobster character is fully aware of the implications and accepts his fate.
I suppose the point is that everything in your story should have a reason for being there. If your instincts are telling you that your story needs a fight or a chase in this chapter or act, take the time to think it all out. Even a fight can be art. Figure out all the why's and hows and what it all means. Next time I'll talk about the actual writing of fights from melee to large scale battles.
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