Tips On How To Write An Action Scene That Is Tight

Follow these 3 tips to make it jump off the page

Photo by Nattanon Kanchak for iStock Images

Here is the first thing you have to decide: What are you writing? Is it a battle or a physical fight? It’s an important question as the answers will be different.

To be clear, this post is all about the action scenes. Short and tight.

Don’t be that author that takes pages and pages to write about a battle. It gets really boring.

Note: A battle is not an action scene. Battles happen behind the scenes. It’s a background element.

The action scenes are targeted and personal. For an action scene, it usually involves the protagonist. They are spontaneous and swift that is moving the character toward the plot.

Here is a helpful tip: Read The Anatomy Of A Scene for a refresher on scene structure in fiction

Here we go through how to write an action scene in 3 steps

So, what are the four most important parts of a good action scene?

1. Keep it brief and write in short, choppy sentences.

Use fewer words and only occasionally use a longer sentence. A fast pace is important. You don’t need every detail in the scene. The action is how it is playing out.