The daily life of a karate girl

[lego_joker]

Hey, all. Long time no see...

I'm not sure how many of you are familiar with Detective Conan, but right now I'm developing a story around its karate-ka heroine Ran Mouri (Rachel Moore, for those of you who might dimly recall the dub from [adult swim]), and I could really use some pointers from folks who've got more experience practicing, writing,

Comments

[beesandbrews]

I can't help with the training questions, but I have written my share of fight scenes. Like sex scenes they can be hard to choreograph! But what tends to work is to make a point to focus on all the senses. What is your point of view character feeling? Scared? Excited? Angry? Is their heart pumping or does it slow as they deliberately change the way they breathe? Do they feel sick to their stomach at actually having to confront someone outside of a dojo? Or does that happen later, if at all.

What is their environment like? Does it stink of trash, as an urban alley might? Or are they indoors and does the scent of incense or some other smell trigger a sense memory?

Are they sizing their opponent up and looking for weak spots that could be vulnerable to attack? Or are they reactive and just go with the first move that pops into their brain? Do they remember other fights they have been in or does a sensai's advice float to the front of their memory?

And so on. The best fight scenes are the ones that provoke a response beyond, 'that's going to leave a mark' in the reader. Because they are not visual, you need to find other ways beyond describing the exchange of blows.

Best of luck!

[lego_joker]

Ah, thank you kindly for the response.

To be honest, I wasn't even aware there were martial artists who're "reactive and just go with the first move that pops into their brain". At least, not those who've been trained in a formal setting. That's part of why I feel so adrift writing fight scenes - I don't know what a "realistic" chain of tactics to put into the character's brain would look like.

But then, depending on the stylization, I might not need to... hmmm...

[beesandbrews]

As in all dramatic situations, you really need to have a firm grasp of your character because *real life" tends to have sod all with what goes on in the classroom, and most fights tend not to be fought by the Marcus of Queensberry's rules. (Boxing, but you take my drift.)

Also important to consider: what is the point of the fight scene? Because like everything else in your story, it should be there for a reason.

Is your protag under the assumption that fighting on the outside is like what goes on inside a dojo, formal and ritualized? In which case a street fight might be a gigantic wake-up call and would showcase their innocence in the ways of the world.

Is it there just to show how adversarial the antagonist of the story is?

Is it there to drive the plot forward? In some other way? These and other questions are what you have to ask yourself as you sit down to write the fight, so that it does more than add to your word count.

Btw, have you considered hitting up some martial arts forums for background information? Just reading them would probably be helpful in getting a grasp of the technical aspects, and might point you towards other resources.