How To Get Out of the Fight: FightWrite™

If you struggle to get a character out of a fight, this is your lucky day. In this post with FightWrite™ on the WD Blog, we are going to look at ways a character can escape a fight. We will look at creating a little luck for your assailed character by putting specific things into the scene. And we will look at finding luck for your character by using what is already in place.

(Writing Blood Loss: FightWrite™)

Making things hard on a character isn’t the same as making things impossible for them. Go ahead and stack the odds against them, make hope seem lost. I love it when a character’s survival seems like a shot in the dark. Because while the reader is distracted by the darkness, you can make that bullet land exactly where you want it. But that bullet has to hit something.

Give your character an out and do not be unyielding on that concept. Yes, I know you may want survival to be seemingly impossible. Great, I get it. Just remember that seemingly impossible means that survival is possible and what you want for the scene may not be what your story needs.

So, if you need to add a little something to get your character out of the fray, add it even if it wasn’t in your original vision for the scene. Because, ultimately, regardless of which character wins the fight, the story must win over your reader—and it can’t if you are standing in the way.

By ending the fight, I’m generally talking about getting a defeated character out of harm’s way and away from the fight. But, ironically, sometimes a defeat is the very thing that gives an underdog an opportunity to deliver a mortal bite. How a winner walks away can determine if they live to walk another day.

Just as we would never turn our backs on a stray dog, your winning character should not turn their back on a still-living combatant. I see this quite a bit, especially if the downed character is unresponsive. That downed character may not be moving because they are unconscious or near death. But they also can be feigning unconsciousness and near dead isn’t the same as all dead.

Until the victorious character has made sure the downed character cannot respond, they should have a weapon drawn or be prepared for attack. Even if that downed character is bleeding profusely, if their body is intact the winning character should take care as they exit the scene.

Now we will look at defeated opponents. How can they get away from or out of the fight? They can do so by you creating a solution or finding one that’s already in the scene. Here are a few ideas to get your creative juices flowing.

If you are a fan of true crime, you know that escape from certain death can come down to a single moment. The assailant is distracted, a door is left unlocked, a window is ajar, a pen unattended, a phone within reach, a passerby within earshot. Some tiny detail becomes the giant key to escape. It's the same for your character who desperately wants out of a fight.

Create a moment in some way and, yes, a moment can be enough. Action is faster than reaction. A one second head start may be one second enough. If a chase ensues, remember that the person leading the chase has the advantage because they are choosing the route and can see obstacles first. Let your pursued character make use of that fact.

One second is also enough time to strike back. When I teach self-defense, I’m often asked, "Can’t the assailant defend against whatever technique is being taught?" Of course they can. But you have to remember that an assailant, on or off the page, probably doesn’t think retaliation will come. In fact, they’re likely betting on it. Attackers often choose their target because they see them as an easy victim, the weakest gazelle, so to speak. And if there is anything a predator doesn’t expect is for prey to strike back. As far as what your assailed character can use as a makeshift weapon to fight in that fateful moment, see my post on weapons of opportunity.

If your assailed character needs a reprieve, give them a buffer. Look around the site of the fight and find anything that can be put between the two combatants. It can be something as benign as a bush or couch or a crowd of people. Anything that keeps the assailant from being able to reach your assailed character. That can give the defending character a moment to rest, devise a way to escape or attract attention for help.

When guns are involved, this gets trickier. Despite what you see on the screen, bullets can go through tin, house doors and car doors. So, do a little research on the gun your character is wielding and what its ammo can penetrate.

Research aside, your character can thwart a shooter by impeding the shooters line of sight. They can do this by hiding if the shooter doesn’t see where they are hidden. If the character uses a car as a buffer or hiding place, like you often see in movies, they should keep the engine block between them and the assailant. Your assailed character can also cloud a room with a fire extinguisher, set off fire sprinkler systems, or throw things at the shooters face. Heck, they can turn off the lights! Does any of that mean the pursued character won’t be shot? No. It does mean the shooting character will not be able to aim as well which gives the assailed a fighting chance to get away.

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Every now and then I happen across a fight scene where there is literally no exit. That’s a problem not only for the assailed but the assailant. If there are no doors, windows, holes in the wall or the like, how will even the attacking character leave the area? Make sure the scene of the attack is “leavable.” Yes, I know this sounds bananas. But sometimes when we write, we get tunnel vision. Even big-budget Hollywood directors do this! That’s how a Starbuck’s coffee cup ended up in an episode of "Game of Thrones." It happens. We’re human. So, always walk through your scene first person and look around. Find your exits or create them for the characters.

Now, if the site of the fight is a “two go in, one comes out,” gladiatorial type of scenario, you will need to pour a big cup of coffee and put on your thinking cap. Your exit may need to involve subterfuge or any scenario that allows the character to leave without it being seen as an escape. For example, a character can play dead and be carried out of the arena. Boom. Escape.

The best way for your assailed or “losing” character to leave a fight is to use the attacking character’s strengths against them or negate it all together. If an assailing character is large and strong, have the smaller, weaker character climb into an area the larger character can’t. I was once asked on a podcast how I would get away from a werewolf. I said I would crawl deep into an air shaft where the lycanthrope can’t fit. Or, I would lock myself in a jail cell and sit beyond the beast’s reach until it was beasty no more. Both of those negate the werewolf’s strength and size.

If the assailing character is small, climb above their reach. If the assailant is relentless but dumb, like an animal or zombie, put impediments in their way that require some thought. Close a door and barricade it or climb a ladder then pull the ladder up. Fight smarter, not harder.

If the attacking character has supernatural abilities, buy my book. I have a whole section on that. Until you can get your hands on it, consider the rules of the ability. What is required for the superpower to work? What is the source of its power? In those answers is the way to beat that superpower. Why is Superman strong? He was raised on the planet Krypton which has much higher gravity than earth. The very place where he become super is what can make him like a mere man. From Krypton we get Kryptonite. Yes, I know he also gets power from our yellow sun. I’m a nerd too, OK? But the Kryptonite makes my point.

If you find your defeated character can’t escape, make a way of escape for them or find it in the scene. Stand in the site of your fight scene and look around. I cannot stress enough the importance of walking through the site first person. Look at the little problems one at a time. What do you need to escape the fight and what is already there that can help you? Whatever the answers are, that’s what your character needs as well.

Until the next round with FightWrite™ on the WD blog, get blood on your pages. Oh, and if you are going to the national conference in NYC, check for my classes on the schedule. They ain’t your grandma’s writing classes. Unless your grandma is a ninja and then they probably are and please bring her with you!

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