Writing fight scenes

Bernard Cornwell writes fantastic fight and battle scenes. And he sometimes uses long, flowing, run-on sentences. Works beautifully, because it gives a sense of breathless, one-thing-happening-after-another action. His latest book, The Pagan Lord, has a big fight scene at the end, and the climax of that sequence was written as a single sentence, probably over a hundred words long. It was very easy to follow and just brilliantly done.

Re the phrase I've highlighted below - therein lies the skill.

=BethS;8923560]Bernard Cornwell writes fantastic fight and battle scenes. And he sometimes uses long, flowing, run-on sentences. Works beautifully, because it gives a sense of breathless, one-thing-happening-after action. His latest book, The Pagan Lord, has a big fight scene at the end, and the climax of that sequence was written as a single sentence, probably over a hundred words long. It was very easy to follow and just brilliantly done.

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Bufty said:

Re the phrase I've highlighted below - therein lies the skill.

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Absolutely.

BethS said:

Bernard Cornwell writes fantastic fight and battle scenes. And he sometimes uses long, flowing, run-on sentences. Works beautifully, because it gives a sense of breathless, one-thing-happening-after action. His latest book, The Pagan Lord, has a big fight scene at the end, and the climax of that sequence was written as a single sentence, probably over a hundred words long. It was very easy to follow and just brilliantly done.

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Thanks for this reference.

I don't write many, but my latest story had a MC who likes to rumble. Being that he's a trained fighter, and a man of few words and fast actions, the fights are all quick and brutal. He wants to do the maximum damage in the shortest amount of time, minimizing risk to himself.

My process is basically:
- Decide the outcome of the fight
- Research the best moves to get from zero to incapacitated
- Forego poetry and get it done

A different character might require a different method. I imagine a fencer would spare more thought on form and grace.