Embedded Files
Non-Fiction
Date Published: February 14, 2025
Publisher: Changeling Press
From fist fights to dragon duels: NYT bestselling author Angela Knight explores how to write fictional combat.
As a novelist, teacher and editor, I’ve seen bad fight scenes ruin too many good stories. My objective in this book is to demonstrate how to write fights that keep readers on the edge of their seats -- and publishers begging for more.
I’ll discuss how to use YouTube to research combat techniques and construct thrilling fights blow by blow. You’ll also learn how to use those fights to reveal character and build reader sympathy.
I’ll demonstrate the warning signs of an anticlimax and what to do about it. I’ll show you how to build tension and excitement with every battle until you reach a climax that has the reader craving your next book.
Note: This is an updated and heavily revised version of my book, How to Write Fight Scenes.
EXCERPT
Knowing how to write an exciting fight scene is crucial in genres ranging from romance to horror. As a teacher and editor, I’ve seen bad fights ruin too many good stories.
My objective in this book is to share techniques that keep readers on the edge of their seats -- and publishers begging for more. You’ll learn how to use YouTube to research combat techniques and construct thrilling sequences blow by blow. I’ll also demonstrate how to use those scenes to reveal character and build reader sympathy. You’ll learn what anticlimaxes are and how to avoid them. I’ll also share the tricks of building reader tension with every fight until you reach an exhilarating climax that will make you an autobuy.
Storytelling and the Brain
What do good books, college graduations, professional football, weddings, and chocolate have in common? As Lisa Cron points out in her terrific book, Wired for Story (Cron 2012), it’s dopamine -- the brain chemical that rewards us for accomplishing something difficult.
Remember the rush when you graduated high school or college? That was dopamine. Your incandescent happiness at your wedding or the birth of your child? Dopamine. Even chocolate and cocaine trigger dopamine, the first a little of it, the latter a lot.
Dopamine floods can even be triggered by someone else’s success. Remember your joy when your favorite team won the Super Bowl? You were just sitting on your couch, but you still felt as if you’d personally scored that winning touchdown.
The harder you work for something, the greater the dopamine rush your brain produces when you succeed.
A good writer is a merciless god. Yet it’s cruelty with a purpose, because it forces the protagonist to discover their strengths and overcome their fears. In sharing that struggle, the reader may experience more than just a happy buzz -- they may find the courage to face their own challenges. There have been times in my life that felt unbearably dark and grim, yet a novel helped me find the hope and guts to keep going. “Hey, if a vampire who hates his own penis can overcome his self-loathing, maybe I’ve got a shot at it too.”
I genuinely believe giving other people courage is the best reason to be a writer. But to do so, you must be willing to put your characters through the hell of a hard, desperate fight.
I guarantee some of your readers are facing their own brutal challenges. Let them find hope -- and a welcome distraction -- in your fictional world.
Teaser Tuesday - February 11th
About the Author
New York Times best-selling author Angela Knight has written and published more than sixty novels, novellas, and ebooks, including the Mageverse and Merlin’s Legacy series. With a career spanning more than two decades, Romantic Times Bookclub Magazine has awarded her their Career Achievement award in Paranormal Romance, as well as two Reviewers’ Choice awards for Best Erotic Romance and Best Werewolf Romance.
Angela is currently a writer, editor, and cover artist for Changeling Press LLC. She also teaches online writing courses. Besides her fiction work, Angela’s writing career includes a decade as an award-winning South Carolina newspaper reporter. She lives in South Carolina with her husband, Michael, a thirty-year police veteran and detective with a local police department.
Author Links
Author’s Wesite: https://www.angelasknights.com/
Author on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AngelaKnight2002
Author on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AngelaKnight
Publisher on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok: @changelingpress
Pre-Order Today: https://books2read.com/fictionalcombat
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