all kinds of death by wytchcroft

BLUE SUN ROOM

all kinds of death

POSTED BY: WYTCHCROFT
UPDATED: Saturday, August 25, 2007 09:35
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VIEWED: 2273
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Friday, August 24, 2007 6:44 PM

then again - another 'verse scene i really admire is in Ariel - when Jayne and the guard fight to the death (near enough) in an ugly, bloody and long confrontation.

camera cuts away to action elsewhere. camera comes back - oh they're still fighting only rolling on the ground - blood and biting and eew!

it actually makes for quite uncomfortable* viewing compared to the cartoon fisticuffs and roustabouts that are the firefly norm. (or Adam's cartoon karate in Angel!) - the desperation of the two combatants is clearly seen.

although it's a tough moment i think it is a key one - never fails to move me, forcing to me to see beyond 'action' and appreciate the animalism and reality and pain of death and survival.

again, bouncing between the two poles of action and finding a consistant prose style is a hard thing to do without being either superficial or else alienating the reader.

(i try to let the tone of a story dictate the tone of a scene but - do normally still end up opting for a sort of stylised BDM take on 'fights' but this may be what joss what would call 'fudging it'!)

what do other writers here do when it comes to violence.

i love how the F.F. show can contain so many different 'takes and approaches to things - who else kicks a man into an engine and make it (genuinely) funny!

*interesting how kissing and killing are two intimates that audiences can find difficult -

spread some shiny

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Saturday, August 25, 2007 9:35 AM

TUJIAOZUO

Ok.. here we go...

I've done alot of violence, not with just this particular fandom (If you've read some ramblings on other threads, I lean towards the more action-y shows), I've just do alot of action, period. Crazy action in some cases. Just as a basic overall view of what I've seen in fics during the past five years or so, alot of people write the romance, and less people write the action (some people I've encountered theorize it takes a certain finesse to write action). But unless you're a fluff writer, you need action in there some way. And as time progresses, you want to make sure your action isn't formulaic and repeating itself. Like romance, you want to be creative. But for violence, instead of going to that happy place, you go to that dark place.

Holding back on some action can either be one of two things, holding back because you don't know how to capture the moment, or you don't want to gross out people with an excessive amount of violent detail. Personally, I favor the detail, simply because I want it to read as tangible as possible. Some scenes you need to get across that it is a berserker fight, and people are dying, or being badly injured. That the adrenaline is so thick in the air you could swallow it, that the blood is smearing Mal's eyes as someone whip kicks him and his head snaps back as he stumbles. It's gritty, it's real, and for your poor character is mentally and physically hurts like hell.

Having a breif study of martial arts before I left the practice and took my fitness training into my own hands, I've fought others in sparring matches. Also, I'm working on getting my gun license, and have dealt with your basic shotguns and handguns. And like anything else you write, having firsthand experiance does give you the edge (I'm not telling you to take a gun class and then have someone beat up on you, I'm just saying). So does prior knowledge of the human anatomy. It's far more direct when you put that the fist smashed into the solar plexus then the chest. (Remember, Google is... how Niska say? Solid. Google very, very solid for writers.)

For me, the more detail with a big fight scene, the better. There's alot going on in a large fight scene, and it's like a dance you have to capture with words. How certain BDHs react, how they fight back, how the enemy strikes and reacts to the counterstrikes. Where the hits land, what weapons are involved, it can get very tedious. I have a battle going on in my new chapter I'm writing and I'm still fine tuning everything just so.

*Rule to the exception for me*** Sometimes just a line will say a thousand words itself. It's short, but poignant, and you don't need alot of detail because it's so abrupt and jolting. It's that shot where there's a sickening sound, and if it was being filmed the camera would zoom out and all of a sudden you would get to see the wound, and just realize, that one simple noise brought death. So in some occasions you just need a line.

I'd go on... and on and on, and give examples, but I won't. And as always, I hope I made sense, and I'm sure there's someone out there who can give a better response.

Your Indian Pirate Lord,
Ash

*EDIT: Of course I was half awake when I wrote this and failed to mention the fact that I was talking about epic battles and not the more humorous fights. Those are a little different, but the same details apply, just not as serious.

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