Fights Editor: Robert Waltz 
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Fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity.
― George Carlin
Use only that which works, and take it from any place you can find it.
― Bruce Lee
Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.
― Friedrich Nietzsche |
Conflict is an essential part of storytelling. Your protagonist wants something, but there are obstacles. Sometimes, those obstacles are other characters who want something very different, or at least to stop the protagonist from getting what they want.
Contrary to lofty proclamations otherwise, often, violence solves stuff, so the conflict becomes physical.
Even the simplest fights, though, require careful description. It can be tricky to balance all the action with the characterization and emotion of the moment. Complicating things further, fights aren't always simple, and there's always the question of just how graphic you want to get. And in Fantasy, we have other considerations as well.
For one thing, fights are hard enough to describe when it's two humans going at it. Add more humans into the mix, and things get complicated fast. In Fantasy, moreover, some of the combatants may not be human, and their own physiology and psychology need to be considered.
Then, there's weapons and defenses to consider. A fight between an unarmed, unarmored person and a giant mech unit (or, say, a dragon) might be considered one-sided, and for the underdog to win, they'll need some other advantage, one that feels realistic. It can be very satisfying for David to fell Goliath, but there needs to be good reason for it; if the advantaged side simply falls down or surrenders, that can be anticlimactic.
Fighting is also not limited to personal combat, and here again, Fantasy elements make things more complicated. Maybe you have orcs riding venom-spitting lizards in a pitched battle against elves on unicorns. Or you've got spaceships blasting each other in a debris field. Neither of those scenarios can draw much on real life, but they still need to be described in a believable way.
Some of the greatest battles, however, are internal, and in my view, fictional fights can be a metaphor for the internal struggle. It doesn't always translate well into visual media, and that's where the written word can really shine.
Violence may not solve everything. But it can get you out of some plot holes. |
Some Fantasy, with or without fights:
| | | Etched in Stone [13+] #2165035 Faybiss Cascade is going to retrieve his amulet. And he thinks a dragon is his best bet. |
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Last time, in "Reason and Purpose" , I described the difference between those two motivations.
It seems no one had a reason, or a purpose, to comment on it.
So that's it for me for May! See you next month. Until then,
DREAM ON!!! |
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Fantasy: May 27, 2026 Issue [#13757]
