Lesson 2: Goal, Motive, and Means

Lesson 2: Goal, Motive, and Means

Last lesson we discussed the importance of setting up elements that will give a fight scene emotional investment and relevance to the plot. Stories are in the business of making the reader experience an event, we are not in the business of visual spectacle. Now we shall begin our discussion on how to really write an action scene.

To put myself on the line, I will be using one of my own stories, "Fighting to the Top," as an example of how clearly defined goals and motives work alongside a character’s means to deliver both good action and a moral to the story, all in one chapter. 

The story focuses on Sunset Shimmer, who is canonically a fencer in some capacity based on an EqG short (the one about clubs). In the very first chapter, the reader is introduced to many elements of a fight scene in writing even before the action starts.

Let’s get a little out of order, though. At the end of the first section, right before the line break, the reader encounters the goal of Sunset in the story. It’s no spoiler that in a story about fencing, she is determined to win a fencing trophy. This surface-level goal is supported by the fact that she feels indebted to her friends and CHS for the life she has. 

Though that’s an element of her life that Sunset has surpassed, the story sets up that it will explore these earlier feelings that SunShim had after her reformation. A lot of times, goal and motive are closely linked, however, they have to exist as distinct elements of the story.

The means that Sunset has to achieve her goal is what definitively separates motive from goal in my story. Returning to the start of the first chapter, the very first paragraphs showcases Rainbow Dash drilling Sunset on her running. This develops more and more through the chapter to establish “positioning” in fight scenes.

This is not a physical positioning, but the positioning of power to leverage the human brain into being engaged with hope and constant “what if” questions. I will briefly discuss the three types of power positioning to give you an idea.

First is the “50/50” position, whereby focusing on certain strengths and weaknesses, the author makes it seem as if there is an equal chance of failure or success. These are useful when the fight scene is critical to the development of the plot, but not necessarily the character.

This is because the tension that is built up focuses on what the resolution will be. A 50/50 fight generally makes the audience wonder what the consequences of a win or loss will be, rather than question how an underdog will rise above adversity.

Which brings us to the second positioning, the “Underdog” position. It’s a popular device in action animations such as Steven Universe, Naruto, My Hero Academia, or Star Wars: The Clone Wars. This one may need the least introduction.

The Underdog position is where the protagonist or hero is likely to lose given where they stand in terms of power when the fight begins. Tension throughout the fight is focused not on how the fight will end, but on whether or not the underdog will be able to surpass a difficult obstacle ahead. 

Finally, the “High Ground” position doesn’t have much strength in showing development. Rather, it is a good tool for demonstrating which character has a higher position of power. Having the high ground doesn’t mean the character is the strongest, the best, or if they are going to win at all. A character at the high ground can be brought to the underdog position to teach a lesson on humility, for example.

And with that, we have digressed enough. "Fighting to the Top" places Sunset in the “Underdog Position” at the start. It primarily focuses on how Sunset will win a trophy in the upcoming fencing competition. This does not, however, directly alter Sunset’s motives. To reiterate, winning the trophy and why she wants a trophy are linked, but distinct.

This is because training harder to achieve her goal does not change her motives. The distinction is vital to creating a character arc that represents the character’s growth and is not some byproduct of the action sequences themselves. By separating goal and motive, the goal becomes the canvas to paint your character’s story.

This is done by pacing. In the Underdog position, the pacing toward victory cannot come quick. The 50/50 position may be tipped over by a slight advantage, but an underdog’s achievements are meaningful because of the long march they have to take to victory. 

Begin by building off of the position. You have the underdog and the opposition. Take time to demonstrate the differences in how each character behaves in the action sequence. In particular, fight scenes have a gamut of ways you can demonstrate the underdog’s weaknesses and how they might overcome those with their strengths.

In "Fighting to the Top," I use my experience with fencing to bring life to the action of the fencing scenes. I provide some depth to the techniques and what kind of physical power is needed behind them. These descriptions take time, of course. But as each chapter progresses the story, the descriptions build up tension. 

The reader should become familiar with what kind of fighter the main character is, thus they are constantly engaging themselves by wondering how the character might win, or at the least improve.

But, what if you don’t have any experience yourself? One can’t expect to put themselves in a chase scene or get in a boxing ring if they just want to write about it.

The great thing about the internet is that we have all that information right in front of us. Research key qualities that you can express in your writing. Your goal isn’t to capture the motions of a fight with perfect accuracy, it’s to give your reader the experience of the fight that you want them to feel.

That can also sometimes be through not describing anything at all. For example, take this excerpt from the international bestseller The Desert Spear: 

“To call it a fight would have been overly kind to the Fishers. They were strong men, but no warriors. The Warded Man was a trained fighter, and stronger than all them put together. It was by his mercy that none of them were injured when they hit the ground.”

Though short, this excerpt is a good example of the importance of positioning in a fight scene. The first two sentences tell the reader the strengths of the Fishers, and then the strength of the Warded Man. Expand this to more important scenes (this excerpt is just one of many times the Warded Man is shown to be stronger than normal background characters) and you’ll understand how all the tension and investment of a scene can be constructed just by clearly expressing the power relationship between the combatants.

The finishes by the time the Fishers are down, but through no words does the author Peter V Brett describe how they are thrown. As a writer, you would be free to say that the Warded Man only needed to use strength to beat the Fishers, or perhaps you want to describe how he positioned his feet and hips to pivot, choosing technique over power. Both are valid options, along with the choice to let the reader’s imagination fill in the blanks, but all three produce different effects.

Ultimately, a writer’s job is to inspire the reader’s imagination. Our descriptions and plot pacing are guidelines that take the reader on the journey we want them to see. Writing a good fight scene is a matter of controlling how your reader imagines the characters. It’s your job to control your reader’s imagination, give them the right prompts so they make themselves see what you want them to see.