Tangled2

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Fights are fast, adrenaline-fueled encounters. Most life-or-death fights only last a few a second and would probably be even quicker if the participants were superhuman and capable of moving faster than the speed of sound.

So how do you write a fight so that it's as abrupt and exciting as they are in real life? Well, that's easy! You intersperse tiny bits of action with a mountain of exposition, tangential thoughts, math, and verbose skill descriptions! /s

Seriously, I've dropped so many stories recently that have fights like this:

The assassin appeared in front of Jakeden with their sword already plunging towards his neck. It seemed as if they teleported directly in front of him...

“Hmmmmm” thought Jakeden. “I have an inkling of what I need for my build, but I should definitely read the description of every one of these traits, and then spend two chapters hemming and hawing over which trait is better.”

“Actually, it might be too hard to choose right now. I should wait until I’m in the middle of a fight I’m about to lose.” Jakeden said laconically as he nodded to himself.

*Seriously, authors, there’s nothing more grating than when there’s an obvious choice and you drag it out.”

Mini rant.

I’m taking a break from three major series because they’ve each seemed to enter a repetitive quagmire where they spend multiple books worth of chapters on glorified training montages in level-caped mega-dungeons.

In Defiance of the Fall, Zac is stuck in “Twilight Harbor.”

In “Primal Hunter” Jake is stuck in “Nevermore.”

In “The Path of Ascension” Matt and crew are stuck in “Minkalla.”

And in HWFWM there was this shithole called “Earth” (ok, I’m kidding about this one).

In all of the first three cases it’s all about winning some grand prize, and very little of the goings on seem like they’re going to have any real impact on the rest of the plot and worl