In my years of working with writers on writing fight scenes, there’s a few misconceptions that I see in their work or hear them say fairly often. I thought I would dispel a few of those lies about fighting in this post today. I have also done a YouTube video on it. If you haven’t subscribed to my YouTube channel, feel free to hop over and do that now. I’ll wait…
Ok, here we go. Here are ten lies writers shouldn’t believe about fighting. I will include the video at the end of the post.
#1 Women fight differently than men.
Nope. We really don’t. (I’m talking about trained fighters not fights on the street.) Proper technique works because it is based on the immutable laws of physics and science isn’t sexist. Just how it is. Fighters base their strategy on their size and natural abilities and strength. When you are considering a fighting style for your character, there’s several things to consider before you even look at the character itself. But when you look at the character as a being, choose a style that suits how they are built, what they are naturally good at, and how strong they are. Yes, strength matters. (see #5)
Picking a Fighting Style – Era/Culture Picking a Fighting Style – Site How Your Female Fighter Looks How Your Female Fighter Fights
#2 You don’t feel pain when you fight.
Adrenaline diminishes the pain response. How much depends on the injury and the injured. I interviewed folks who had been stabbed and some reported having no idea while others felt the terrible pain of the blade. How ever much pain you give the injured character probably isn’t wrong. Can you get your leg bitten off by a shark and not feel it? Yep. Can you get your leg bitten off and absolutely feel it? Yep. What is true across the board, regardless of the level of pain felt, is that once the adrenaline ebbs, the pain will increase.
#3 Your character will feel fear as they fight.
Crazy as it sounds, you don’t feel fear when you fight. Before the fight, sure. The character may even fear when they recall the event. But, during, there is only a drive to survive. This is yet another function of adrenaline.
#4 You can drive someone’s nose bone into their brain and kill them.
Mercy…this is a hard “no.” The nose has no bone to drive into the brain. It’s mainly cartilage.
#5 Technique always beats strength.
I wish this were so but it’s just not. In a stand-up fight (punching), if the combatants are the exact same size, then, yes, technique will win. Punching is about creating force and force isn’t related to strength. It is the product of mass x acceleration. However, in some non-striking arts, strength can have a massive impact. Even when using correct technique, people can muscle out of things.
So, why bother with technique? Proper technique allows for maximum efficiency, minimal effort. That minimal effort allows the fighter to conserve their energy. So, while the stronger fighter may be able to muscle out of things, they will tire out quicker. There is a saying in Brazilian jiu-jitsu: If you think, you are late. When you are late, you use strength. When you use strength, you tire. When you tire, you die. BUT, sometimes strength can be employed to quickly end or to escape the fight and then being tired isn’t an issue.
It’s kind of like writing. There is good writing technique and there is uneducated, sloppy, lazy writing. And darn it, sometimes the latter outsells the former. Does that mean we should quit being technically sound writers? No. Never lower the bar to meet the ignorance. Is that harsh? I don’t mean to be harsh. I simply have great respect for the work that goes into good writing and fighting technique.
#6 You can lift someone up by their neck and talk to them.
This is only true if you are Darth Vader or possess the power to negate science. Our necks are not made to support the body’s weight like that. Does that mean that lifting someone by their neck will kill them immediately? No. It means that the possibility is there and we shouldn’t try this at home! And, even if the cervical spine holding the weight of the body weren’t an issue, the person being gripped by the neck couldn’t talk. Likely their blood would be cut off and they would lose consciousness.
But, let’s say the neck held fine and the person could talk, it would take an extraordinary amount of strength to hold that amount of weight out in front of you. And even if you had the strength, you would likely topple forward. I looked at a site that discussed the formulas used to create cranes and no matter how strong a crane is, there is a limit to the weight it can hold out in front of its center of mass without falling forward. According to one of these sites, to hold a 165lb person about four feet out in front of you, you’d need to weigh around 400 pounds to stay grounded.
#7 90% of fights go to the ground.
I write about this in my book. That statistic is based on a study of the Los Angeles Police Department and their interaction with criminals. So, I’m not sure it’s fair to compare that to regular old fights on the street. Another study conducted by Dr Akari Bakil, based on CCTV footage, found that, of the fights captured, 42% of fights ended up with both people on the ground and 72% ended with at least one person on the ground.
What we don’t know is what Dr. Bakil considered a fight. We also don’t know how many of those people in the footage were compromised by substances. However, those stats are probably more in keeping with what happens on the street than those of the LAPD.
#8 Street fights last several minutes.
Studies have shown that most fights on the street last under a minute.
#9 Smaller is better in a fight.
Oh, glory, I wish this were true. Remember that whole mass x acceleration = force thing? Well, more mass gives more potential for force. A larger person has that advantage. Also, more weight gives someone the ability to hold people down. The only advantage a smaller person has is that they have a greater potential for agility and explosive speed. That doesn’t mean they will be more agile or explosive than the larger person. It just means physics is on their side.
Does this mean smaller people can’t best a larger opponent? No, it doesn’t. But, they do so from an inherent disadvantage.
Size Disparity Punches and Kicks Size Disparity Part 2
#10 People are born knowing how to fight.
Just like writing, people can be born with natural abilities that can make them better fighters. They may be naturally coordinated, fast etc. But, fighting, like writing, is a skill. You must work for skill. Nobody is born knowing a technique.
Ok, there you go! Here’s the video and I same pretty much the same thing.
Before you go, SUBSCRIBE to the blog. You will have access to subscribers only posts. Also, SUBSCRIBE to the YouTube channel. You’ll know as soon as a new video is posted. Also, I love you. Have a super day!!!
Good write-up, I’m regular visitor of one’s website, maintain up the nice operate, and It’s going to be a regular visitor for a long time.
I went over this site and I believe you have a lot of great information, bookmarked (:.
Thankyou for helping out, good info .
I appreciate, cause I found exactly what I was looking for. You’ve ended my four day long hunt! God Bless you man. Have a great day. Bye
Hello, Neat post. There is an issue together with your website in web explorer, may check this?K IE nonetheless is the market chief and a large component to other folks will miss your excellent writing because of this problem.
Wow, superb blog layout! How long have you been blogging for? you make blogging look easy. The overall look of your website is wonderful, let alone the content!
Throughout this great design of things you actually receive an A+ just for hard work. Where you actually lost me was first on your specifics. As as the maxim goes, details make or break the argument.. And it could not be much more accurate right here. Having said that, permit me reveal to you precisely what did do the job. Your authoring is definitely very convincing and this is probably the reason why I am taking the effort to comment. I do not really make it a regular habit of doing that. Secondly, although I can easily notice a leaps in logic you come up with, I am not certain of exactly how you seem to unite your details which inturn produce the actual conclusion. For now I will subscribe to your issue however trust in the near future you link your facts better.
I am often to blogging and i really appreciate your content. The article has really peaks my interest. I am going to bookmark your site and keep checking for new information.
This is the correct blog for anyone who desires to search out out about this topic. You realize so much its almost laborious to argue with you (not that I truly would want…HaHa). You undoubtedly put a brand new spin on a subject thats been written about for years. Great stuff, simply nice!
I¦ve learn a few excellent stuff here. Certainly worth bookmarking for revisiting. I surprise how much attempt you set to make this sort of wonderful informative site.
Attractive section of content. I just stumbled upon your site and in accession capital to assert that I get in fact enjoyed account your blog posts. Anyway I will be subscribing to your augment and even I achievement you access consistently quickly.
My brother recommended I would possibly like this web site. He was entirely right. This put up actually made my day. You cann’t consider simply how a lot time I had spent for this information! Thank you!
It’s actually a nice and helpful piece of information. I am glad that you simply shared this useful info with us. Please keep us up to date like this. Thank you for sharing.
I’m not that much of a online reader to be honest but your sites really nice, keep it up! I’ll go ahead and bookmark your site to come back later. Many thanks
I haven’t checked in here for some time because I thought it was getting boring, but the last few posts are good quality so I guess I will add you back to my everyday bloglist. You deserve it my friend 🙂
I real happy to find this web site on bing, just what I was looking for : D besides saved to fav.
Would love to incessantly get updated great weblog! .
This site is my breathing in, really good design and perfect content.
I simply wanted to thank you so much all over again. I do not know what I would’ve undertaken in the absence of the actual tricks provided by you directly on that subject. This was an absolute frustrating case for me, however , considering your specialised form you resolved that forced me to leap with fulfillment. I will be thankful for your work as well as hope that you comprehend what a great job you have been carrying out instructing many people through the use of a blog. Probably you have never got to know all of us.
When I originally commented I clicked the “Notify me when new comments are added” checkbox and now each time a comment is added I get three e-mails with the same comment. Is there any way you can remove people from that service? Thanks!
Hi, I think your site might be having browser compatibility issues. When I look at your website in Safari, it looks fine but when opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping. I just wanted to give you a quick heads up! Other then that, fantastic blog!
I love your blog.. very nice colors & theme. Did you design this website yourself or did you hire someone to do it for you? Plz reply as I’m looking to construct my own blog and would like to know where u got this from. cheers
Really great information can be found on website. “I am not merry but I do beguile The thing I am, by seeming otherwise.” by William Shakespeare.
It’s the best time to make some plans for the future and it is time to be happy. I’ve read this post and if I could I wish to suggest you few interesting things or advice. Maybe you can write next articles referring to this article. I want to read even more things about it!
It’s a pity you don’t have a donate button! I’d most certainly donate to this excellent blog! I guess for now i’ll settle for book-marking and adding your RSS feed to my Google account. I look forward to brand new updates and will talk about this blog with my Facebook group. Chat soon!
I would like to thnkx for the efforts you have put in writing this blog. I am hoping the same high-grade blog post from you in the upcoming as well. In fact your creative writing abilities has inspired me to get my own blog now. Really the blogging is spreading its wings quickly. Your write up is a good example of it.
I really appreciate this post. I have been looking all over for this! Thank goodness I found it on Bing. You’ve made my day! Thank you again