Fights, and the sadder consequences thereof.

[Dream]

So I write Neopets, Pokémon and Digimon (a little) as my fandoms. Nor will I hear a word said against them. They're all full of interesting possibilities and characters.

But they've left me lacking in one area of expertise, and it's just come to light.

I don't know how to write a serious, losing fight.

Digimon fights are generally between one supermonster and another, with the human characters standing back to watch. They may go badly for a few minutes, but before long either the partner's Digimon will digivolve (effectively rising above the opponent's level) and win, or something else will break up the fight. Nor did I ever write even THAT kind much, and it was a long time ago. If a Digimon is defeated absolutely, it dissolves into multicoloured pixels that return to a place called Primary Village, where the monster is reset to its lowest possible level. Pokémon battles are generally play-fights to exhaustion, one-on-one or two-on-two, with trainers supervising to make sure nothing gets out of hand (there are battles with Team Rocket, which WOULD be more serious if TR didn't freak out and run at the sight of trouble). Defeated Pokémon faint and are nursed back to health at special medical centres, or given healing herbs or medicine to revive them. Neopets? Well, they just play-fight, to be honest. Most of the weapons they use seem completely trivial, as do their abilities (generating Neggs, splashing water, throwing pebbles.) And they, too, fight one opponent at a time. When defeated, they sit and sulk wearing bandages until the Water Faerie heals them.

So now I've got TLF, which is fanfiction, and involves Neopia, but which I hesitate to call a Neopets fic. And for the first time I can remember, I'm having to write conflicts between large groups of combattants, some of whom are human. There aren't any turns-- a fairly alien concept to me-- and there aren't any rules.

And "our" side doesn't always win.

I've mentioned death in stories before, but ALWAYS either peaceful, implied or off-page. While that works, I wish I had a less limited style.

Like I said, I love my fandoms, but the child-friendly nature of them has left me poorly equipped for darker (if still exciting) scenes. Does anyone else here have the same problem? Any advice?

[Yugo Ryan]

Well, when I was writing DRX (which I still need to reformat, by the way. Friggin' writing style!), I ended up writing in a three-way fight. As in one v. one v. one. Realistically, you won't be able to cover everything that's going on. What you're talking about would require, in my opinion, a lot of bouncing around. Now, I've only really got two ideas for what you could do that would make it fluid, they're just suggestions, so if you come up with something better, by all means, go with that idea.

1) As the battle's going on, you could have everyone pair off with an opponent, and when you want to switch over to a different set, have a different pair come close by, and follow that set around for a bit. Rinse and repeat.

2) Let the characters just go nuts on each other. This is the way the three-way dance ended up going, by the way. Since battles are rarely ever organized in the least, and it's highly unlikely anyone'd stick with the same target until the end, have a couple of 'em go at it, have one get knocked away, and the other blindsided.

Personally, I recommend the second one. Or you can combine the two into another idea. It's up to you.

As for the deaths, well, you'll just have to get outside your comfort zone, I'm afraid. The best way to learn is by doing.

Hope that helped, at least a little bit.

[Deleted]

I basically agree with Yugo here, but he forgot to mention one thing. You have to think about the character's personality when (s)he is battling/fighting. If the character is normally very aggressive, they would most likely be more on the offensive than someone who is just trying to stay alive. It's really all about personality and situation.

Take, for example, this situation. A man is fighting to protect his daughter, and, although he's normally non-violent, his love for his family has driven him to protect her. I would expect this man to be rash and reckless, and to always be thinking for his daughter's safety rather than his. So I might write something like this.

SPOILER: Click to show

Three men advanced toward him, and he put up his fists, eyeing his opponents determinedly. Without another second's haste, he rushed forward, jabbing the one in the middle. A bead of sweat dripped down to the floor as he spun around to block a hard blow from another one. All of a sudden it was a flurry of attack and defense, with him trying to get as many hits as possible. He could feel something wet trickle down the side of his chin, but he didn't have the time to check if it was sweat or blood. Tripping one of them, he felt a sharp punch to the side, but he remembered what was at stake, and barely faltered.

Or, maybe someone was caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Let's take a young woman for example, who is caught in between a fist fight between two gangs. Lost in the confusion, she would most likely keep her safety as top priority. So I might write something like this:

SPOILER: Click to show

The two groups of men rushed at each other then, blood-curdling cries issuing from some of their throats. She took a wavering step back and ducked quickly as a punch was thrown at the man behind her. Throwing herself into a clearing, she managed to evade a stray leg, kicking at an unseen enemy. Almost blind with fear and adrenaline, she raised her purse to parry off a blow thrown by another gang-member, and frantically looked for a way out. The mass melee was too much for her, and, even as she felt a fist brush her shoulder, she would not stop moving, desperately searching for fresh air.

That's my take on everything, anyway.