how to describe a knife in creative writing

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How to Describe a Knife in a Story

By Brittany Kuhn

Are you writing a scene in your novel that involves a knife? There are many words you can use to describe such a sharp object. In this post, we look a how to describe a knife in a story.

1. Razor-sharp

So sharp that it could cut as easily as a  razor .

“The intruder held the  razor-sharp  knife to her throat and warned her not to make a sound.”

“I watched in awe as he used the  razor-sharp  knife to slice a piece of paper clean in half.”

How it Adds Description

If you’re using a knife as a weapon in your story, you should highlight how sharp it is to show how much danger your characters are in. Describing your knife as  razor-sharp  shows that the slightest bit of pressure on this knife will cut deeply. This creates tension for the reader and helps them become invested in the outcome of the scene.

Decorated  with jewels.

“She was fascinated by the  jeweled  knife in the display case.”

“He spent way too much money at the auction buying that  jeweled  knife.”

Not all knives are made for cutting or hurting things. Some knives are designed simply as decorative art pieces. Using  jeweled  helps the reader imagine such an elaborately designed knife and what kind of precious jewels it might include and where.

With a  wide span  or large space between sides.

“He pulled the  broad  knife from his side holster and held it to the teenager’s face. ‘Now,  this  is a knife.’”

“There wasn’t a place on the butcher’s block for such a  broad  knife, so where did it come from?”

When you say the word  knife , most people imagine a slender knife, like a steak knife or pocketknife. Describing the knife as  broad  shows that the blade is much wider than that and can do a bit more damage, such as a butcher’s knife or a machete.

Created for war or  fighting .

“I could not believe he had a  combat  knife under his pillow. Who did he expect to be coming into his home?!”

“Luckily, she had a hefty and sharp  combat  knife to cut through the bamboo she was using to build her shelter.”

Are you writing a  war story  or one in which your character uses military training or tactics? Then you definitely want to describe the knife as a combat knife to emphasize how your character will be using it in the story. Because combat knives often have the same look, readers familiar with them will immediately picture a long, thick blade, with two large jagged edges and sometimes a whole or two near the base.

5. Multipurpose

Having  multiple  purposes or objectives.

“I freaked out when I realized I had lost the  multipurpose  knife my dad gave me; it had been passed down from father to son for three generations.”

“Everybody knows that the Swiss Army knife is the best  multipurpose  knife out there.”

If you are describing a pocketknife in your story, you could always go the  multipurpose , Swiss Army knife route. Multipurpose pocketknives are those that include more than a blade; they usually have tabs for a nail file, corkscrew, tweezers, and bottle opener, as well. This is an especially useful way to describe a knife if your characters are camping or traveling through untamed terrain.

6. Ceremonial

• Created for use in a  ceremony  or ritualistic act.
• Having no practical or determined use.

“Inside the tomb, he discovered the ancient  ceremonial  knife buried with the pharaoh’s mummy.”

“The family’s  ceremonial  knife was passed from mother to daughter after her wedding day, to be worn around the neck as a symbol of her preparation for whatever might come her way.”

Some knives are created simply as props in a ritual and, as such, have a distinctive look about them. If you want to stress that the knife in your story isn’t used for cooking or hurting others, then use  ceremonial  so your reader can imagine a decorative knife with special meaning attached to it.

7. Surgical

• For use in the act of  surgery  or medical procedures.
• With precision and focus.

“She used the  surgical  knife to cut open a tiny hole in the wrapping, just large enough to breathe through.”

“The wounds looked like they were cut were a  surgical  knife: small and with expert precision.”

A  surgical  knife doesn’t necessarily mean a scalpel; it could also be used to describe a knife used for a precise purpose.  Surgical  is a useful descriptor if you want to show the character using the knife meticulously, especially if it’s for more macabre and murderous means.

• Related to or causing  death .
• Powerful or efficient.
• Highly detrimental or harmful.

“Even the smallest knife is  lethal  in the right hands.”

“He stabbed the  lethal  knife five, six times before he realized he could stop.”

Lethal  automatically equals  deadly  in the mind of a reader. Describing a knife as  lethal  suggests that it either has or will be used to kill someone or something, leaving the reader with no doubt that the knife has been used as a weapon in your story (rather than for cooking or ceremony).

9. Bloodied

• Containing or tainted with  blood  or blood splatter.
• Damaging, harmful.

“She grimaced as she pulled a  bloodied  knife out of the chopping block.”

“The bloodied knife dripped the blood of its most recent victim onto the floor.”

Visual imagery is always a good way of getting your reader to imagine important objects in a story. Using  bloodied  to describe what the knife looks like allows your reader to not only visualize how it looks, but also consider the reason it’s been bloodied in the first place. Was it involved in a murder? Or was it used for hunting or cooking?

10. Serrated

Having a  jagged  or pointy edge.

“She always wondered why the  serrated  knife was the best for bread instead of the butcher’s knife.”

“‘Don’t take it out!’ He pleaded with at her. ‘The  serrated  knife will cause more damage on the way out than it did going in, and I’ll die within minutes.’”

Serrated  is a great word to describe a type of knife as everyone can picture the same type of blade: usually a long blade with lots of jagged teeth along the edge rather than a smooth edge. If your character needs a really dangerous knife or one that will leave a lot of damage, describe it as  serrated  because it’s one of the most lethal blades (especially when pulled back out of the wound).

Writing Nestling

How To Describe A Knife In A Story (10 Best Tips)

In the art of storytelling, the description of objects, particularly knives, transcends mere physical details; it becomes a narrative catalyst, infusing scenes with tension, symbolism, and cultural resonance.

A knife in a story is more than a tool; it’s a character, a symbol, and a storyteller in its own right. In this exploration, we delve into the intricate craft of describing a knife in a story, unraveling the nuances of its physical characteristics, historical or cultural significance, and the role it plays in creating atmosphere and tension.

As we navigate the contours of literary blades, we discover how the careful choice of words, sensory details, and symbolic associations transforms a seemingly ordinary object into a narrative powerhouse, sharpening the impact of the story and leaving an indelible mark on the reader’s imagination.

Join this journey as we carve through the subtleties and artistry of knife description, revealing the layers of meaning and storytelling potential concealed within the gleaming steel.

Table of Contents

How To Describe A Knife In A Story

Observation.

Begin by carefully observing the knife , noting its physical attributes. Consider its size, shape, and overall design. Take note of any distinctive features such as a serrated edge, unique handle, or decorative elements.

Material and Construction

Describe the material the knife is made of, whether it’s stainless steel, Damascus steel, or another type. Highlight any craftsmanship or details in its construction, such as a full tang, bolster, or rivets.

Blade Description

Focus on the blade, detailing its length, width, and curvature. Mention whether it’s a smooth edge, serrated, or a combination of both. Note any patterns on the blade or if it has a distinctive finish, like a polished surface or a matte texture.

Edge Sharpness

Describe the sharpness of the knife’s edge. Is it razor-sharp, finely honed, or intentionally dulled for a specific purpose? Use descriptive language to convey the keenness of the blade.

Handle Details

Pay attention to the handle, discussing its material, shape, and any ergonomic features. Mention if there are grips, indentations, or embellishments that contribute to the knife’s overall design.

Guard and Bolster

If applicable, describe any guard or bolster between the blade and handle. Explain its purpose and how it complements the overall functionality and aesthetics of the knife.

Weight and Balance

Comment on the weight of the knife and how it feels in the hand. Consider its balance, whether it is tip-heavy, handle-heavy, or evenly balanced, and discuss how this affects the knife’s usability.

Purpose and History

Provide context on the knife’s intended use. Is it a chef’s knife, a survival tool, or a ceremonial blade? If the knife has a historical or cultural significance, include relevant details to add depth to the description.

Mention the condition of the knife—whether it’s brand new, well-worn, or meticulously maintained. Describe any signs of wear and tear, patina, or unique markings that may tell a story about its past.

Emotional Impact

Conclude by conveying the emotional or atmospheric impact of the knife. Does it evoke a sense of danger, precision, or nostalgia? Consider the overall mood you want to create with your description.

Types of Knives

In the diverse world of blades, knives emerge as silent storytellers, each with a distinct personality and purpose. Picture the sleek precision of a chef’s knife, a culinary maestro’s trusted companion in a symphony of flavors.

Then, shift focus to the pocket knife, a versatile wanderer always ready for unexpected tasks, akin to a loyal sidekick in life’s unpredictable adventures.

Venture into the mysterious realm of daggers, where the shadows whisper tales of intrigue and concealed motives, making them the epitome of clandestine elegance.

Meanwhile, the resolute tanto stands tall, echoing the spirit of ancient warriors, a symbol of unwavering determination. Finally, meet the Bowie knife – a fusion of rugged utility and refined artistry, a tool that transcends its cutting-edge function to become a statement piece in the hands of the bold.

These knives, like characters in a narrative, bear witness to the varied tales of utility, craftsmanship, and historical legacy, each waiting for their moment to steal the spotlight in the grand saga of edged instruments.

Traditional knives

Traditional knives, steeped in the rich tapestry of human history, stand as timeless witnesses to the evolution of craftsmanship and utility. Among them, the Chef’s knife reigns supreme, a stalwart companion in the culinary journey, its precision slicing through ingredients with the grace of a seasoned artist.

The pocket knife, a humble yet indispensable tool, has been a steadfast aide in daily tasks, a reliable companion for the adventurer, the camper, and the everyday hero. These traditional knives, often handcrafted with meticulous attention to detail, carry not only the weight of utility but also the legacy of generations past.

Whether it’s the warmth of a wooden handle or the resonance of a finely honed blade, these knives connect us to a bygone era, reminding us that even in the era of innovation, there’s enduring value in the simplicity and craftsmanship of tradition.

Physical Characteristics

The physical characteristics of a knife transcend the realm of mere tools, transforming them into functional works of art. Imagine a blade, its length whispering tales of capability, whether it’s the surgical precision of a chef’s knife or the discreet charm of a pocket blade, each telling its own story.

The contours of the blade, reminiscent of a sculptor’s masterpiece, weave an intricate dance between form and function – a ballet of drop points, clip points, and tantos, each shape contributing a unique cadence to the symphony of cutting.

The choice of material, be it the lustrous sheen of stainless steel or the ancient allure of Damascus steel, adds an extra layer of allure to the tactile experience.

Meanwhile, the handle, with its diverse textures and ergonomic embrace, becomes the nexus of control and comfort, turning a mere grip into an intimate connection between the user and the tool.

In the world of knives, the physical characteristics transcend functionality, becoming a tactile and visual ode to the marriage of craftsmanship and utility.

The blade, a masterstroke of metallurgical artistry, is the beating heart of any knife, a testament to the marriage of form and function. It carries within its slender frame the potential for both creation and destruction, embodying a duality that is as captivating as it is powerful.

Whether it’s the razor-sharp edge of a chef’s knife gliding effortlessly through ingredients or the serrated teeth of a survival knife ready to conquer the untamed, each blade tells a unique tale.

The length of the blade dictates its reach and purpose, from the finesse of a precise paring knife to the bold statement of a long, sweeping Bowie blade. The material of the blade, whether gleaming stainless steel or the mesmerizing patterns of Damascus steel, adds a layer of personality and resilience.

In the hands of a skilled artisan, the blade becomes a canvas, its shape and composition a harmonious blend of functionality and aesthetic allure, turning every knife into a storytelling artifact with a cutting-edge narrative.

Descriptive Language

Descriptive language, the artisan’s palette in the realm of storytelling, transforms mere words into a symphony of sensations that dance on the reader’s imagination. Like a magician conjuring vivid images, it breathes life into the ordinary and weaves enchantment through the mundane.

When describing a knife, it’s not just about its gleaming blade but the way it shimmers like moonlight on water, each facet reflecting a different facet of its character. The touch of its handle is not merely cold, but a smooth caress that sends shivers down the spine.

The sound it makes is not just a metallic ring but a sharp, resonating melody that echoes in the recesses of the mind. With metaphors and similes, the knife becomes more than a tool; it’s a character in its own right, a silent protagonist in the unfolding narrative.

In the hands of a wordsmith, descriptive language transforms the act of observation into a mesmerizing journey, inviting readers to not just see but feel, hear, and touch the essence of the story.

Use of sensory details

In the craft of storytelling, the use of sensory details is the secret alchemy that transcends words, transporting readers into a realm where imagination is heightened. Describing a knife isn’t just about its physical attributes; it’s about engaging the senses to create a visceral experience.

Picture the glinting blade catching the light, not just seen but almost tasted in its metallic sheen. Feel the weight of the knife, not through words alone, but through the subtle conveyance of its heft and balance. The serrated edge isn’t just a visual detail but a tactile promise of the stories it could tell through touch.

Incorporating the scent of the materials used or the subtle sounds of the blade meeting resistance further amplifies the sensory symphony, making the description of a knife a multi-dimensional experience that resonates far beyond the page.

Sensory details, when deftly wielded, transform descriptions into a feast for the senses, allowing readers to immerse themselves in the narrative with an intimacy that transcends the limitations of language.

Historical or Cultural Significance

In the kaleidoscope of blades, each knife bears the indelible imprints of history and culture, becoming a tangible artifact of human ingenuity and tradition. From the samurai’s katana, a symbol of honor and martial prowess, to the intricate daggers adorned with symbols that echo ancient rituals, these blades are more than tools – they are conduits to the past.

The cultural significance of knives weaves a narrative tapestry that stretches across civilizations, telling stories of craftsmanship, survival, and even spiritual connections.

Whether it’s the refined elegance of a traditional Navaja knife or the rugged utility of a bushcraft blade, each carries the echoes of the hands that forged it and the societies that shaped its purpose.

In exploring the historical and cultural context of knives, we embark on a journey that transcends time, where every blade becomes a vessel for the stories and values of those who once held it, forging an unbreakable link between past and present.

Symbolism in different cultures

The symbolism of knives, a cultural cipher etched in steel, unfolds like a tapestry, each thread woven with the intricate tales of diverse societies. In Japanese culture, the katana represents not only a weapon but a revered embodiment of honor and discipline, an extension of the samurai’s soul.

Contrastingly, among the Native American tribes, knives were sacred tools, intricately decorated and imbued with spiritual significance, transcending their utilitarian purpose.

In Western folklore, the dagger often takes center stage as a symbol of betrayal and clandestine motives, a silent witness to the murkier shades of human intent.

The symbolism of knives isn’t confined to a singular narrative; it’s a kaleidoscopic mosaic where each culture paints its own story, using blades as metaphors for power, protection, sacrifice, and the intricate dance between life and death.

Exploring the symbolic resonances of knives is an invitation to unravel the cultural complexities and belief systems that have shaped societies throughout history, adding a layer of depth and intrigue to these everyday objects.

Incorporating the Knife into the Scene

Integrating a knife into the scene is akin to choreographing a dramatic entrance for a pivotal character in the grand theater of storytelling. Imagine a dimly lit kitchen, where the chef’s knife takes center stage, catching glimmers of light as it anticipates its culinary performance.

Alternatively, a clandestine meeting in a moonlit alley, where a dagger emerges from the shadows, its gleam reflecting the secrets it guards. Whether hidden in a drawer, gleaming on a display, or strapped to the protagonist’s side, the placement of the knife becomes a silent overture, hinting at impending actions, tension, or even the revelation of concealed motives.

Each appearance of the knife in a scene is a carefully curated dance , a nuanced choreography that beckons readers to pay attention to the unspoken cues, creating an immersive experience where the mere presence of the blade becomes a harbinger of narrative twists and turns.

Character interactions

The interaction between characters and knives is a delicate dance, an exploration of the nuanced relationship between individuals and the sharp-edged tools they wield.

A chef, for instance, engages in a rhythmic ballet with a well-honed blade, transforming raw ingredients into culinary masterpieces with every precise movement.

Conversely, a character’s emotional connection to a knife can unfold like a tender love story or a tumultuous affair, revealing layers of history and sentiment etched into the blade’s very being.

In moments of tension, a knife can become an extension of a character’s will, a silent accomplice in their struggles or a menacing instrument in the hands of an antagonist.

Whether it’s a tool of creation, a symbol of personal history, or a weapon in the throes of conflict, character interactions with knives offer a rich landscape for writers to explore the depth of their protagonists and the challenges they face, adding a sharp edge to the emotional resonance of the narrative.

Creating Atmosphere

Creating an atmosphere with a knife is akin to orchestrating a symphony of suspense, where every glint of the blade and every shadow it casts contributes to the overall mood of a scene.

Imagine a clandestine meeting in a dimly-lit room, where the cold gleam of a dagger on the table heightens the tension, each glimmer echoing the secrets it guards.

Conversely, a cozy kitchen bathed in warm light sees a chef’s knife skillfully dancing through vegetables, creating an atmosphere of culinary artistry and comfort.

Whether concealed in the folds of a protagonist’s attire or ominously displayed in the hands of an antagonist, the knife becomes a silent player in shaping the emotional landscape.

It’s not just an object; it’s a mood enhancer, a catalyst for anticipation, fear, or even tranquility. In the hands of a skillful storyteller, the atmosphere created by a knife transcends its physical presence, becoming an atmospheric force that lingers in the reader’s psyche.

Utilizing the knife to build tension

In the deft hands of a storyteller, a knife becomes more than a mere instrument; it transforms into a potent catalyst for building tension, a silent conductor orchestrating suspense.

Picture a moonlit alley, where the protagonist senses the weight of a concealed dagger, its presence amplifying the heartbeat of imminent danger. Each glint of the blade becomes a punctuation mark in the narrative, heightening the stakes with every clandestine movement.

The click of a switchblade, the slow unsheathing of a survival knife – these are not just actions; they are beats in a symphony of apprehension.

Whether the knife is a harbinger of impending conflict or a tool for unraveling mysteries, its role in building tension transcends its physical form, becoming an emblem of uncertainty that cuts through the air like a blade through the darkness.

In the dance between characters and their knives, tension swells, creating a palpable atmosphere that grips readers and leaves them on the edge of their seats, eager to discover the narrative’s next sharp turn.

Symbolism and Foreshadowing

Within the glinting steel and honed edges of a knife lies a reservoir of symbolism, an encoded language that foretells the tale’s twists and turns.

The knife becomes an unwitting soothsayer, a harbinger of destiny with its own silent narrative. Picture a ceremonial dagger, ornate and laden with historical weight, foreshadowing ancient secrets waiting to unfurl.

In the hands of a protagonist, the knife might symbolize empowerment or transformation, while in the clutches of an antagonist, it could be a herald of impending conflict.

Each blade, from the elegant to the rugged, carries its own symbolic weight, alluding to themes of power, danger, or sacrifice.

The keen storyteller wields the knife not just as a tool within the plot but as a literary compass, guiding readers through the shadows of foreshadowing, promising revelations, and ensuring that every glimmer of steel is a whisper of the narrative’s impending mysteries.

Associating the knife with specific themes or motifs

In the literary tapestry, the knife emerges as a versatile brush, capable of painting thematic strokes and intricate motifs across the canvas of a narrative.

Beyond its practical utility, the knife becomes a vessel for conveying deeper layers of meaning. Envision a recurring motif where the blade symbolizes the duality of a character’s nature, its gleaming edge reflecting the fine line between heroism and villainy.

Alternatively, the knife can be threaded through the narrative as a symbol of transformation, mirroring a character’s evolution as they navigate the plot’s twists and turns.

Its presence might evoke themes of sacrifice, resilience, or even betrayal, each edge and curve contributing to the thematic resonance.

A skilled writer, much like a craftsman, wields the knife as an instrument to carve out not just the physical contours of a story, but the thematic underpinnings that resonate with readers long after the final page is turned.

Editing and Refining

Editing and refining a narrative is akin to the meticulous craftsmanship of a bladesmith honing a knife’s edge – it’s the process where raw potential transforms into a polished masterpiece.

Each word is a facet to be examined, every sentence a stroke to be refined, until the narrative gleams with precision and clarity. Like the keen blade, excesses are trimmed away, leaving only the essential contours that contribute to the story’s sharpness.

Editing is not merely a correction but a sculpting of the narrative landscape, ensuring a harmonious balance of tone, pacing, and plot.

It is the crucible where the story undergoes transformation, shedding its rough drafts and emerging as a finely tempered creation.

The art of refining is an intimate dance between the writer and the story, a process where every cut and adjustment is made with the care of a surgeon and the discernment of an artist.

In the hands of an adept editor, the narrative becomes a literary blade – keen, impactful, and poised to leave a lasting impression.

Trimming unnecessary details

Trimming unnecessary details in writing is akin to sculpting away excess stone to reveal the true form of a masterpiece.

It’s the art of distillation, where the essence of a story is honed to its most impactful elements. Much like a skilled chef delicately peeling away layers to expose the heart of a dish, a writer trims away superfluous details to let the core narrative shine.

Each extraneous word or embellishment removed is a deliberate stroke, clarifying the prose and ensuring that every detail serves a purpose.

This editing process is a discerning act, recognizing that brevity can be a powerful ally, heightening the impact of what remains.

It’s a mindful pruning, allowing the narrative to flourish without the weight of unnecessary foliage. In the hands of a meticulous wordsmith, the act of trimming transforms a narrative from a thicket of words into a sleek and purposeful composition, where every detail contributes meaningfully to the overall tapestry.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about How To Describe A Knife In A Story

How can i effectively describe the size of a knife in a story.

Consider using comparative language to convey the knife’s size, such as likening it to common objects or providing specific measurements. This helps readers visualize the knife more vividly.

What details should I focus on when describing the material of a knife?

Pay attention to the type of material used (e.g., stainless steel, Damascus steel) and highlight any unique characteristics. Discussing the material contributes to both the aesthetics and functionality of the knife.

Is it important to mention the sharpness of the knife’s edge in a description?

Yes, describing the sharpness adds depth to the narrative. Use evocative language to convey whether the edge is razor-sharp, finely honed, or deliberately dulled, as it influences the knife’s utility and impact in the story.

How do I make the handle of the knife stand out in my description?

Discuss the handle’s material, shape, and any ergonomic features. Incorporate sensory details by describing how it feels in the hand . The handle contributes significantly to the overall character of the knife.

Should I provide information about the purpose of the knife in my story?

Absolutely. Describing the intended use of the knife adds context and relevance. Whether it’s a chef’s tool, a survival knife, or a ceremonial blade, explaining its purpose enhances the storytelling and characterization.

Can I use historical or cultural aspects to describe a knife?

Certainly. If the knife has historical or cultural significance, incorporate relevant details to enrich the narrative. Discussing its background can add layers of meaning and interest to the overall description.

How do I create a sense of atmosphere when describing a knife?

Consider the emotional impact you want to convey. Use descriptive language that evokes feelings such as danger, precision, or nostalgia. Think about how the knife contributes to the overall mood of the scene or story .

Is it necessary to mention the weight and balance of the knife?

Yes, discussing the weight and balance provides valuable information about the knife’s feel in the hand. It helps readers understand its usability and contributes to the overall sensory experience of the description.

Should I include details about wear and tear in my knife description?

Absolutely. Describing the condition of the knife, whether it’s brand new, well-worn, or meticulously maintained, adds authenticity and character. Mentioning wear and tear, patina, or unique markings can tell a story about its history.

How can I make my knife description more engaging and memorable?

Use vivid and specific language, appeal to the senses, and consider the unique aspects of the knife. Crafting a detailed and evocative description helps create a lasting impression on readers.

In conclusion, describing a knife in a story involves a meticulous and thoughtful approach to convey its essence effectively. By observing its physical attributes, detailing materials and construction, and focusing on the blade, handle, and other features, writers can paint a vivid picture for readers.

Considering elements like purpose, history, and emotional impact adds depth to the narrative. Crafting a well-rounded description involves not only the technical details but also the atmospheric and sensory elements that make the knife a compelling part of the story.

Remember that each knife carries its own unique character, and by paying attention to these details, writers can elevate the storytelling experience, leaving a lasting impression on their audience.

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a knife - quotes and descriptions to inspire creative writing

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That knife was my right hand man in making our family meals. It's handle in my palm had become such a welcoming sensation.

A knife only does what it is told to do, so you be sure to give good instructions.

Why not design knives with a stopper at the end or a double handle, still great for all kitchen use but terrible for murder.

The knife carved our daily bread into generous slices, the kind that made Scooby-Doo sandwiches.

The knife had a handle of cherry wood, and so it brought pink blossom to my culinary daydreams. I would cook and be reminded of those springtime occasions beneath the prettiest of boughs.

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A Guide to Descriptive Writing

by Melissa Donovan | Jan 7, 2021 | Creative Writing | 8 comments

What is descriptive writing?

Writing description is a necessary skill for most writers. Whether we’re writing an essay, a story, or a poem, we usually reach a point where we need to describe something. In fiction, we describe settings and characters. In poetry, we describe scenes, experiences, and emotions. In creative nonfiction, we describe reality. Descriptive writing is especially important for speculative fiction writers and poets. If you’ve created a fantasy world, then you’ll need to deftly describe it to readers; Lewis Carroll not only described Wonderland  (aff link); he also described the fantastical creatures that inhabited it.

But many writers are challenged by description writing, and many readers find it boring to read — when it’s not crafted skillfully.

However, I think it’s safe to say that technology has spoiled us. Thanks to photos and videos, we’ve become increasingly visual, which means it’s getting harder to use words to describe something, especially if it only exists in our imaginations.

What is Descriptive Writing?

One might say that descriptive writing is the art of painting a picture with words. But descriptive writing goes beyond visuals. Descriptive writing hits all the senses; we describe how things look, sound, smell, taste, and feel (their tactile quality).

The term descriptive writing can mean a few different things:

• The act of writing description ( I’m doing some descriptive writing ).
• A descriptive essay is short-form prose that is meant to describe something in detail; it can describe a person, place, event, object, or anything else.
• Description as part of a larger work: This is the most common kind of descriptive writing. It is usually a sentence or paragraph (sometimes multiple paragraphs) that provide description, usually to help the reader visualize what’s happening, where it’s happening, or how it’s happening. It’s most commonly used to describe a setting or a character. An example would be a section of text within a novel that establishes the setting by describing a room or a passage that introduces a character with a physical description.
• Writing that is descriptive (or vivid) — an author’s style: Some authors weave description throughout their prose and verse, interspersing it through the dialogue and action. It’s a style of writing that imparts description without using large blocks of text that are explicitly focused on description.
• Description is integral in poetry writing. Poetry emphasizes imagery, and imagery is rendered in writing via description, so descriptive writing is a crucial skill for most poets.

Depending on what you write, you’ve probably experimented with one of more of these types of descriptive writing, maybe all of them.

Can you think of any other types of descriptive writing that aren’t listed here?

How Much Description is Too Much?

Classic literature was dense with description whereas modern literature usually keeps description to a minimum.

Compare the elaborate descriptions in J.R.R. Tolkien’s  Lord of the Rings  trilogy  with the descriptions in J.K. Rowling’s  Harry Potter series  (aff links). Both series relied on description to help readers visualize an imagined, fantastical world, but Rowling did not use her precious writing space to describe standard settings whereas Tolkien frequently paused all action and spent pages describing a single landscape.

This isn’t unique to Tolkien and Rowling; if you compare most literature from the beginning of of the 20th century and earlier to today’s written works, you’ll see that we just don’t dedicate much time and space to description anymore.

I think this radical change in how we approach description is directly tied to the wide availability of film, television, and photography. Let’s say you were living in the 19th century, writing a story about a tropical island for an audience of northern, urban readers. You would be fairly certain that most of your readers had never seen such an island and had no idea what it looked like. To give your audience a full sense of your story’s setting, you’d need pages of detail describing the lush jungle, sandy beaches, and warm waters.

Nowadays, we all know what a tropical island looks like, thanks to the wide availability of media. Even if you’ve never been to such an island, surely you’ve seen one on TV. This might explain why few books on the craft of writing address descriptive writing. The focus is usually on other elements, like language, character, plot, theme, and structure.

For contemporary writers, the trick is to make the description as precise and detailed as possible while keeping it to a minimum. Most readers want characters and action with just enough description so that they can imagine the story as it’s unfolding.

If you’ve ever encountered a story that paused to provide head-to-toe descriptions along with detailed backstories of every character upon their introduction into the narrative, you know just how grating description can be when executed poorly.

However, it’s worth noting that a skilled writer can roll out descriptions that are riveting to read. Sometimes they’re riveting because they’re integrated seamlessly with the action and dialogue; other times, the description is deftly crafted and engaging on its own. In fact, an expert descriptive writer can keep readers glued through multiple pages of description.

Descriptive Writing Tips

I’ve encountered descriptive writing so smooth and seamless that I easily visualized what was happening without even noticing that I was reading description. Some authors craft descriptions that are so lovely, I do notice — but in a good way. Some of them are so compelling that I pause to read them again.

On the other hand, poorly crafted descriptions can really impede a reader’s experience. Description doesn’t work if it’s unclear, verbose, or bland. Most readers prefer action and dialogue to lengthy descriptions, so while a paragraph here and there can certainly help readers better visualize what’s happening, pages and pages of description can increase the risk that they’ll set your work aside and never pick it up again. There are exceptions to every rule, so the real trick is to know when lengthy descriptions are warranted and when they’re just boring.

Here are some general tips for descriptive writing:

• Use distinct descriptions that stand out and are memorable. For example, don’t write that a character is five foot two with brown hair and blue eyes. Give the reader something to remember. Say the character is short with mousy hair and sky-blue eyes.
• Make description active: Consider the following description of a room: There was a bookshelf in the corner. A desk sat under the window. The walls were beige, and the floor was tiled. That’s boring. Try something like this: A massive oak desk sat below a large picture window and beside a shelf overflowing with books. Hardcovers, paperbacks, and binders were piled on the dingy tiled floor in messy stacks.  In the second example, words like  overflowing  and  piled are active.
• Weave description through the narrative: Sometimes a character enters a room and looks around, so the narrative needs to pause to describe what the character sees. Other times, description can be threaded through the narrative. For example, instead of pausing to describe a character, engage that character in dialogue with another character. Use the characters’ thoughts and the dialogue tags to reveal description: He stared at her flowing, auburn curls, which reminded him of his mother’s hair. “Where were you?” he asked, shifting his green eyes across the restaurant to where a customer was hassling one of the servers.

Simple descriptions are surprisingly easy to execute. All you have to do is look at something (or imagine it) and write what you see. But well-crafted descriptions require writers to pay diligence to word choice, to describe only those elements that are most important, and to use engaging language to paint a picture in the reader’s mind. Instead of spending several sentences describing a character’s height, weight, age, hair color, eye color, and clothing, a few, choice details will often render a more vivid image for the reader: Red hair framed her round, freckled face like a spray of flames. This only reveals three descriptive details: red hair, a round face, and freckles. Yet it paints more vivid picture than a statistical head-to-toe rundown:  She was five foot three and no more than a hundred and ten pounds with red hair, blue eyes, and a round, freckled face.

10 descriptive writing practices.

How to Practice Writing Description

Here are some descriptive writing activities that will inspire you while providing opportunities to practice writing description. If you don’t have much experience with descriptive writing, you may find that your first few attempts are flat and boring. If you can’t keep readers engaged, they’ll wander off. Work at crafting descriptions that are compelling and mesmerizing.

• Go to one of your favorite spots and write a description of the setting: it could be your bedroom, a favorite coffee shop, or a local park. Leave people, dialogue, and action out of it. Just focus on explaining what the space looks like.
• Who is your favorite character from the movies? Describe the character from head to toe. Show the reader not only what the character looks like, but also how the character acts. Do this without including action or dialogue. Remember: description only!
• Forty years ago we didn’t have cell phones or the internet. Now we have cell phones that can access the internet. Think of a device or gadget that we’ll have forty years from now and describe it.
• Since modern fiction is light on description, many young and new writers often fail to include details, even when the reader needs them. Go through one of your writing projects and make sure elements that readers may not be familiar with are adequately described.
• Sometimes in a narrative, a little description provides respite from all the action and dialogue. Make a list of things from a story you’re working on (gadgets, characters, settings, etc.), and for each one, write a short description of no more than a hundred words.
• As mentioned, Tolkien often spent pages describing a single landscape. Choose one of your favorite pieces of classic literature, find a long passage of description, and rewrite it. Try to cut the descriptive word count in half.
• When you read a book, use a highlighter to mark sentences and paragraphs that contain description. Don’t highlight every adjective and adverb. Look for longer passages that are dedicated to description.
• Write a description for a child. Choose something reasonably difficult, like the solar system. How do you describe it in such a way that a child understands how he or she fits into it?
• Most writers dream of someday writing a book. Describe your book cover.
• Write a one-page description of yourself.

If you have any descriptive writing practices to add to this list, feel free to share them in the comments.

Descriptive Writing

Does descriptive writing come easily to you, or do you struggle with it? Do you put much thought into how you write description? What types of descriptive writing have you tackled — descriptive essays, blocks of description within larger texts, or descriptions woven throughout a narrative? Share your tips for descriptive writing by leaving a comment, and keep writing!

Further Reading: Abolish the Adverbs , Making the Right Word Choices for Better Writing , and Writing Description in Fiction .

I find descriptions easier when first beginning a scene. Other ones I struggle with. Yes, intertwining them with dialogue does help a lot.

I have the opposite experience. I tend to dive right into action and dialogue when I first start a scene.

I came across this article at just the right time. I am just starting to write a short story. This will change the way I describe characters in my story.

Thank you for this. R.G. Ramsey

You’re welcome!

Great tips and how to practise and improve our descriptive writing skills. Thank you for sharing.

You’re welcome, Bella.

Hello Melissa

I have read many of your articles about different aspects of writing and have enjoyed all of them. What you said here, I agree with, with the exception of #7. That is one point that I dispute and don’t understand the reason why anyone would do this, though I’ve seen books that had things like that done to them.

To me, a book is something to be treasured, loved and taken care of. It deserves my respect because I’m sure the author poured their heart and soul into its creation. Marking it up that way is nothing short of defacing it. A book or story is a form of art, so should a person mark over a picture by Rembrandt or any other famous painter? You’re a very talented author, so why would you want someone to mark through the words you had spent considerable time and effort agonizing over, while searching for the best words to convey your thoughts?

If I want to remember some section or point the author is making, then I’ll take a pen and paper and record the page number and perhaps the first few words of that particular section. I’ve found that writing a note this way helps me remember it better. This is then placed inside the cover for future reference. If someone did what you’ve suggested to a book of mine, I’d be madder than a ‘wet hen’, and that person would certainly be told what I thought of them.

In any of the previous articles you’ve written, you’ve brought up some excellent points which I’ve tried to incorporate in my writing. Keep up the good work as I know your efforts have helped me, and I’m sure other authors as well.

Hi Stanley. Thanks so much for sharing your point of view. I appreciate and value it.

Marking up a book is a common practice, especially in academia. Putting notes in margins, underlining, highlighting, and tagging pages with bookmarks is standard. Personally, I mark up nonfiction paperbacks, but I never mark up fiction paperbacks or any hardcovers (not since college).

I completely respect your right to keep your books in pristine condition. And years ago, when I started college, I felt exactly the same way. I was horrified that people (instructors and professors!) would fill their books with ugly yellow highlighting and other markips. But I quickly realized that this was shortsighted.

Consider an old paperback that is worn and dog-eared. With one look, you know this book has been read many times and it’s probably loved. It’s like the Velveteen Rabbit of books. I see markups as the same — that someone was engaging with the book and trying to understand it on a deeper level, which is not disrespectful. It’s something to be celebrated.

Sometimes we place too much value on the book as a physical object rather than what’s inside. I appreciate a beautiful book as much as anyone but what really matters to me is the information or experience that it contains. I often read on a Kindle. Sometimes I listen to audio books. There is no physical book. The experience is not lessened.

I understand where you’re coming from. I used to feel the same way, but my mind was changed. I’m not trying to change yours, but I hope you’ll understand.

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WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®

Helping writers become bestselling authors

How To Accurately Write About Your Character’s Pain

February 9, 2017 by ANGELA ACKERMAN

The best thing about this online world of ours is you never know who you are going to meet. I don’t know about you, but one of the areas I struggle with is writing a character’s pain in a way that is raw, realistic…but not just “one-note.” So when I crossed paths with a paramedic-turned-writer, I got a little excited. And when she said she’d share her brain with us about the experience of pain, and how to write it authentically, I got A LOT excited. Read on, and make sure to visit Aunt Scripty’s links at the end. Her blog is full of more great medical info for writers.

Writing About Pain (Without Putting your Readers in Agony)

Pain is a fundamental part of the human experience, which means that it’s a fundamental part of storytelling. It’s the root of some of our best metaphors, our most elegant writing. Characters in fiction suffer, because their suffering mirrors our own.

In good writing, physical suffering often mirrors emotional suffering. It heightens drama, raises the stakes, adds yet another hurdle for our hero to jump before they reach their glorious climax.

So why can reading about pain be so boring?

Consider the following (made-up) example:

The pain shot up her arm like fire. She cringed. It exploded in her head with a blinding whiteness. It made her dizzy. It made her reel. The pain was like needles that had been dipped in alcohol had been jammed through her skin, like her arm had been replaced with ice and electricity wired straight into her spine.

For your characters, at its worst the pain can be all-consuming.  For your readers, though, it can become a grind. Let’s be honest, you gave up reading that paragraph by the third sentence.

In another story, a character breaks his ribs in one scene, then has, uhhh, intimate moments with his Special Someone in the next. Where did the agony go‽

There’s a fine line to walk between forgetting your character’s pain, elucidating it, and over-describing it.

So I’m here today to give you a pain scale to work with, and provide some pointers on how to keep in mind a character’s injuries without turning off your readers.

How Much Does It Hurt? A Pain Scale for Writers

Minor/Mild: This is pain that your character notices but doesn’t distract them. Consider words like pinch, sting, smart, stiffness .

Moderate: This is pain that distracts your character but doesn’t truly stop them. Consider words like ache, throb, distress, flare .

Severe: This is pain your character can’t ignore. It will stop them from doing much of anything. Consider words like agony, anguish, suffering, throes, torment, stabbing .

Obliterating: This is the kind of pain that prohibits anything else except being in pain (and doing anything to alleviate it). Consider words like ripping, tearing, writhing .

Metaphors, of course, are going to play somewhere on this spectrum, but I would suggest picking one level of pain and targeting it. For instance, don’t  mix stinging with searing when finding a metaphor to build.

How Often Should We Remind Readers of a Character’s Pain?

Most pain that matters in fiction isn’t a one-and-done kind of a deal. A gunshot wound should burn and itch and ache as it heals. A broken bone should send a jarring blast of lightning into the brain if that bone is jostled or hit.

Injuries need to have consequences. Otherwise, what’s the point?

There are three main ways to remind a reader of your character’s suffering: show them suffering, show them working around their suffering, and a third, more advanced, technique that I’ll mention in a moment.

If you want to show their pain, the easiest way is to tell : “her shoulder ached”; “she rubbed her aching shoulder”; “she rolled her shoulder subconsciously, trying to work out the aching stiffness” all convey what we want.

For frequency, try to limit those mentions to once per scene at the most, and perhaps as rarely as once per chapter.

However, we can choose something closer to the show route, by watching the character work around their injuries: “she opened the door awkwardly with her left hand to avoid the burn on her right”; “she led each step on the staircase with her good leg”; “Martin fiddled with his sling irritably”. That can be a little more frequent. It’s a reminder, but it’s also a small challenge that they’re solving before your very eyes. Huzzah!

For a breakdown of possible conflict scenarios that can lead to your character experiencing pain, go here .

One Final Technique: The Transmission of Agony

My best friend is a paramedic. She’s also had spinal fusion, has multiple slipped discs, and takes a boatload of pain medication. And yet I can see how much pain she’s in when we work together by the way she walks, talks, and carries herself.

Her pain isn’t constant. It changes . It ebbs and flows like the tide. It can be debilitating in one minute, bearable the next. So, too, can the agony of your characters:

“The agony had faded to a dull throb.”

“The pain in my shoulder ramped up the from stiffness all the way to searing, blinding agony faster than I could blink.” 

“ And, just when the pain was at its worst, it dissipated, like fog off some terrible lake .”

Go forth. Inflict suffering and woe upon your characters!

If I can offer one more piece of wisdom, it’s this: research the injury inflicted upon your character. At the very least, try to get a grasp on what their recovery might look like. It will add a level of realism to your writing that you simply can’t fake without it, and remind you that they should stay injured beyond the length of a scene.

Looking for a deep dive on pain, and how to describe minor, major, mortal, invisible injuries and more? This series on How to Write About Pain is a huge help.

Aunt Scripty is a veteran paramedic and author of the ScriptMedic blog at scriptmedicblog.com . In just three short months, her blog has attracted several thousand followers and accidentally started a writing advice blog revolution on Tumblr .

She lives in an undisclosed location with her beautiful wife and imaginary pibble, Steve, and can be found @scriptmedic on Twitter. If you’re not careful, she’ll sneak up on you in a dark alleyway and give you a free ebook .

TIP: To describe a character’s pain, visit this descriptive database :

Angela is a writing coach, international speaker, and bestselling author who loves to travel, teach, empower writers, and pay-it-forward. She also is a founder of One Stop For Writers , a portal to powerful, innovative tools to help writers elevate their storytelling.

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Reader Interactions

October 4, 2021 at 7:08 am

This post is so timely! One of my MC’s suffers with chronic pain from an automobile accident, and I am portraying him using several ways to alleviate it, such as opiates, alcohol, weed. He also has manic depression. Can you direct me to specific resources regarding how such a person “rehabs’? I have him entering a holistic facility, but I’m also wrestling with whether he can ever come off the other stuff completely. Because, they work, even if temporarily. I feel like pain mgt is so poorly understood and not done well for most folks. And the judgment! I have a pharmacist friend who was loathsome of people desperate to get their opiate scripts filled, calling them “street trash.” Any help portraying my guy accurately “healing” would be most appreciated!

October 4, 2021 at 10:20 am

Hi, Ellen. I’m so glad this resource is helping you with your WIP. It sounds like you’re got a good handle on exactly what your character is suffering with, which is important for getting the information you need. To find that information, I would suggest speaking with a doctor. You can talk to your own physician the next time you go in or even put out a call on social media for doctors or nurses who might be willing to answer a few questions about your character’s situation. I’ve found that people love talking about what they do and their areas of specialty and as long as you’re respectful of their time, you can usually get a professional’s feedback for free.

Best of luck to you!

March 10, 2021 at 10:19 am

Ok so my character is being tortured and she got kicked HARD in the chest but I can’t find a good verb to describe how she went back. I also can’t find a way to describe the pain she felt.

November 29, 2021 at 3:45 pm

Probably start with her not recognizing the pain because of the Adrenaline and then explain how the pain escalates… “The pain exploded in her stomach; the dull ache turned into a searing pain” Just some stuff I’ve seen authors do.

March 1, 2021 at 5:16 pm

I have a character that is badly beaten, (injuries consist of the standard bruises and cuts, she has a rather large gash over one eye, and has also been flogged. she has managed to escape her captors only to loose her footing in a pothole and fall to the ground, she cracks a rib in the process.) she is fortunate that a passer by finds her and takes the time out to clean her up ( he is a surgeon) my issue is describing the wounds as he treats her injuries. I’m trying not to put to much description here at this point as she feigns amnesia and he counters her lies with her injuries. i don’t want to repeat myself if that makes sense.

Many thanks in advance.

February 3, 2021 at 2:30 am

My Character is being hunted by a man and finds out that its the same man that killed her mother. How do I describe the pain that this will cause her to feel?

February 4, 2021 at 2:32 am

Now, I’m not a therapist, and what you’re talking about is an emotional wound more than anything. But you’re probably going to want to start with the processing of shock; denial and numbness to kick things off, as the brain struggles to even process the information Next, this is going to rip open any hurts surrounding that loss, which I’d expect she never got proper closure for in the first place if he’s still at large to keep hurting her/her family; that’ll mean a reliving of the grief, and whatever predominant emotions she has left around it (was she mainly angry at the loss? Did she blame the killer more, or did someone else’s choices put her mother in the killer’s path? Was she left lost and confused, did she feel trapped, were there any things she used to find pleasure in that lost their joy due to associations following the event?) your character’s primary coping mechanism? (Everyone has them, don’t lie.) Does she throw herself into projects looking for distractions? Does she get angry and lash out? Does she hide her hurts away from the world? Depending on how she’d normally handle such a horrifying discovery, the knowledge someone’s actively out to get her might deny her that small comfort, which will exasperate the issue even further. Finally, does she know what this killer wants? Do you? Why is he specifically after her? Why did he kill her mother? Can she hide in a crowd, or will reaching out put the people she cares about in danger? These questions should help you identify the TYPE of pain she’ll be feeling (boiling anger might keep the actual hurt at bay until the problem is dealt with, while self-imposed/protective loneliness can drive someone into a depressive spiral) from whence physical descriptions can be relatively easily found by looking up psych studies or other advice articles. (To stick with those two examples, anger is hot, clouds in the head and fists, can induce very similar symptoms of crying such as a tight throat or burning eyes; meanwhile, that kind of loneliness tends to be cold and clear-eyed, hard to choose but frightfully easy to maintain with a forced smile and a quick deflection, and leaves you feeling listless and hopeless while struggling alone.) It comes down really heavily to the type of person your character is, how she copes with adversity and how she copes with loss. No one but you is deep enough in her head to really know what kind of reaction this’ll induce in her, so no one but you can know what kind of reaction you should be describing. I’ve never been in the situation you’re describing, but I’ve dealt with several intentional deaths before (mostly suicides,) and looking around the room for weeks after the fact, not one person was processing the same emotions at any given point in time. Death and grief are messy, even more so when death and/or pain were the intended outcome of the events. And beyond the simple fear for one’s own life (which once again, everyone would deal with differently; both actually trigger fight-flight-freeze in us, grief just takes a brief stop at “oh shit, I feel vulnerable” before turning INTO fear on the way) those are the associated emotions she will have with this man.

February 4, 2021 at 9:06 am

I think MSF has answered your question nicely, Aldre. It truly does depend on the person (their personality, backstory, support system, what other difficulties they’re dealing with, etc.), since different people respond to the same wounding event differently. So doing the background work on your character to really get to know them is super important in figuring out their response.

January 1, 2021 at 3:40 pm

quick Q: how would one care for a stab wound to the left side of the abdomen, directly under the ribs? its a classic fantasy setting, taking place in approximately the middle of the medieval age, and it is a healer treating them, i’m just not sure what exactly he would do, and other websites aren’t the most useful at the moment. thanks:)

January 2, 2021 at 10:56 am

You might want to visit Scriptmedic’s site listed in the post as she has many different scenarios at her site which might help answer this question. 😉

January 3, 2021 at 2:13 am

thank you:)

November 3, 2020 at 6:55 am

my characters have all gone through something that has changed them , the way they think , the way they do things and their judgment in general. but what I’m basically struggling to do is tell their stories in a way that relates to what the story is about which based on what my characters went through that caused them pain and in a way that will convince readers to want to continue reading and continue to want to get the readers to want to get to know each character better

October 17, 2020 at 8:14 pm

I’m writing a story that sets the “Snow White” fairy tale in the modern world and in my version, she eats a candy apple laced with a paralytic drug. What should the actress be displaying upon ingesting it?

October 19, 2020 at 8:29 am

Hi, Marie. It’s good that you’re looking for ways to write this response accurately, since we always want our stories to read as realistic and authentic to readers. I’m unschooled in paralytic drugs and their effects, so you’ll need to research this. A Google search can get you started and help you find some credible sources. You also could talk to doctors own nurses who may be able to give you some good information. Good luck with your story!

June 21, 2020 at 10:09 pm

Here’s a problem I’ve run into:

Character A has been seriously injured in a hostile environment. Character B —a setting-appropriate medic/healer— discovers A and attempts to save A’s life. Functionally, this is a non-combative action scene (a short but vital moment, every choice and instinct raised to the highest stakes, no time/ability to get outside help, this is where the music-director in a movie puts the really intense bits of the score, etc) BUT as a writer, I now have to convey A’s injuries and B’s emergency examination/assessment, how/why this is such a big deal, the moment B chooses (consciously or not) to attempt to save A despite any/all risks, and at least a PORTION of how that treatment is applied, since, you know, the fight to save A’s life is the meat of the scene… without killing the pacing by stopping dead and becoming a textbook. Cutting away to A’s recovery, I’ve found, is good for building up B’s mysteriousness, but risks downplaying the injuries and leaving the audience confused about their repercussions (especially if B tries to comfort A by obfuscating just how serious it was.) Showing B’s struggle to save A’s life is a great character-defining moment for B and gives payoff to the initial trauma, but risks descending into jargon if the steps aren’t explained. Describing A’s injuries in detail really conveys the serious danger A is in, but also brings the momentum to a shrieking halt; keeping the injuries vague once again risks downplaying/confusion.

No one on the internet has written about this problem that I can find; it’s either advice on writing fight scenes, advice on writing injuries (even though emergency treatment is part of dealing with that, right?), or advice on writing actual medical documents.

Challenge modes include: • A is unconscious [and cannot contribute dialogue.] • A and B have never met [this is a character introduction scene.] • B’s healing abilities are beyond current science (either magical or tech,) and have their limits established/reinforced by this scene. [The audience must understand some basic rules of this ability by the end of the scene.] • Scene is from B’s perspective, [meaning B has experience/context the audience might not.] • This is one of your opening scenes, [so you don’t have much time for setting up context before it starts.]

BONUS ROUND! • Be a dumbass like me, and use all challenge modes at once! …Someone please help me…

May 13, 2020 at 10:03 pm

How would you describe someone being in pain because someone they loved was hurting? I am basically transcribing a TV show for my blog/website and one character is being forced to listen to her grandmother dying (On tape) at the hands of a sadistic “Angel of death” They are both handcuffed to a poll so he’s frustrated he can’t physically save her and he’s screaming to get the guy to stop because he’s torturing the woman he loves and he can’t stop him. He just screamed for the angel of death to stop and my heart skipped a beat. It was just well done. He’s trying to get out of his handcuffs. I am not a writer, at all. I usually just transcribe and post screencaps but because this scene would be difficult to do that I am trying to describe what is going on and I don’t have the talent for that.lol Thanks 🙂

May 4, 2020 at 3:33 pm

My character is an animatronic. He’s been captured and tortured by being destroyed and he barely has enough strength to stay conscious. How can I describe his pain?

Sorry if this isn’t a very good question.

May 7, 2020 at 7:28 pm

I would say something along the lines where he could feel his metal structure being torn apart slowly. He probably would have dents in his structure if his body if fully metal. If he has fur/skin/feathers etc with blood and bodily organs like living animals, I would take notice on blood seeping out of wounds, as well as bruises. I’m not the best with animatronics hope this helped fellow writer 😀

November 3, 2020 at 6:33 pm

Thank you! Yes, this helped a bunch!

(Sorry for the late reply-)

March 17, 2020 at 2:52 am

How should I describe someone falling on their back?

March 20, 2020 at 1:04 am

We talking falling from a height?

I’d say winded, it would probably take a few seconds to catch their breath again. Seeing as it’s sorta a heavy feeling of a “Thunk” I would try not so much to describe the pain, but get the reader to relate maybe by describing how hard the surface is so that the reader can infer by their own experience that it hurt. Describe it to make the reader feel uncomfortable or want to rub their back at the thought of it.

You could say that the pain is sudden and maybe include a whip lash effect of their head throwing back and how it pulls up from their shoulders in sudden pain. Maybe some teeth jitters from the head trowed back.

I don’t know that’s a hard one.

February 11, 2020 at 1:58 pm

So in my story there are two times that my main protagonist experiences physical pain. The first would be closer to a physical attack; punched, kicked, the whole nine yards that could be classified as physical abuse. As for the 2nd time, it’s a split second decision as she runs over towards someone to protect them from harm and in turn my protagonist ends up getting stabbed through the chest. I’m having a bit of a hard time describing the sensation from the protagonist’s perspective during the 2nd time of being injured.

March 20, 2020 at 12:52 am

Hello there! I’m quite young and I’m only really here for help with a school thing. I have had personal experience with shock like situations and nerve damage so I figured I would give you some pointers.

Shock is really strange and it honestly takes a lot longer then you would think for your brain to process the situation. Seeing as it’s a split second situation I see this coming into play. Before you understand the full situation you tend to try and move around or look to see what happened to the best of your ability because your body is going through completely unfamiliar sensations. Attempting to move only to then find a sudden pain or you are unable to move as a whole.

As for pain my situation was directly nerve based. Lot’s of numbness and stinging, think someone hammering your funny bone except it shoots throughout your whole body. Seeing as it’s in the chest I would turn to throbbing pain of her heartbeat. The sharp pain comes afterwards when it sinks in and you try your best to move. Shaking is also very important. Think adrenaline and anxiety, your body goes into shock so the thought process isn’t too great. Not a lot of speaking either, it’s hard to make up any sort of conversation.

Passing out because of pain isn’t uncommon either, even more so at the sight of their own blood.

When I was going through shock I asked a bystander to tell me a story to try and distracted myself from the sharp tingly pain and the muscle spasms. Don’t know if any of that helps but I figured I’d say it anyways

January 29, 2020 at 11:27 pm

This was some really helpful information to know! It did help me cover with the light stuff, but I was wondering for times where the scenarios get really gory?

As if the character were to get stabbed, how should it be expressed?

Also, how would it be like if the character just woke up from a coma?

Last question! Do you have a separate page for writing out battle scenes?

November 9, 2019 at 4:42 am

How can I show pain from burning? Like someone was forced to literary walk on fire. I don’t know how to show it to readers. Help please!!!

November 9, 2019 at 12:44 pm

Tara, have a look here: http://www.scriptmedicblog.com/?s=burns

September 10, 2019 at 11:47 am

In my story i am the 1st person and someone is paralyzed because if my ignorance and now he is in the hospital so how should i write that i am in utter despair and agony. And i want him to forgive me. Can you pls help i want a really nice description on that😊

September 10, 2019 at 11:51 am

And yeah i want a description on inner and spiritual pain but not on physical pain. I would really appreciate if someone help me! Thanks

September 10, 2019 at 11:54 am

what you’re looking for is the Emotional Wound Thesaurus: https://writershelpingwriters.net/the-emotional-wound-thesaurus-a-writers-guide-to-psychological-trauma/

September 10, 2019 at 11:57 am

Hi there, as I mentioned in the other comment, you’ll want to dig into the character’s emotional wounds and think about how their behavior will be unique to the character and the situation they are in. The Emotional Wound thesaurus can help with that. For setting description, you’ll want to look at the Urban Setting Thesaurus where it contains different hospital settings and the sensory description to go with them so your setting seems realistic. (Sorry, I wasn’t sure which area of description you meant you were struggling with here.)

April 23, 2019 at 10:23 am

What is the body language of someone in extreme pain?

One of the characters in my work is, for a bunch of reasons: mute. The only way that she can communicate with my POV character is through actions and body language. She’s been injured so badly that, if not for magic she would be dead in seconds, but she’s conscious, unable to scream.

I’ve described her injuries (with words like ‘mangled’ and ‘twisted’, and descriptions of shards of bone poking out where her knees should be), but I really want to hammer home the nightmarish nature of her situation. Magic is involved, healing magic in the setting is not simple or even kind.

April 23, 2019 at 10:37 am

Hi Steve, One of the Amplifiers in our ebooklet, Emotion Amplifiers is “Pain.” That might help you? https://writershelpingwriters.net/emotion-amplifiers/

January 27, 2019 at 9:45 pm

Thank you so much! This was very helpful but am wondering about how to write about an infection?

January 28, 2019 at 9:15 am

Ryan, I would advise you to do some research on the kind of infection so you’ll know what it looks like and how the character will physically respond. You could also talk to medical practitioners for practical information. Best of luck!

January 28, 2019 at 11:48 am

Also, if you go to the site of this guest poster, you’ll see she had more articles on different types of injuries and how to write them, so I would be shocked if she didn’t have something on infections. Just poke around and I’m sure you’ll find some help there. 🙂

January 1, 2019 at 9:18 pm

I have write a character who as cut their feet on rocks and branches. Luckily I have not experienced that first hand, but that makes it hard to write about.

The character is running away for danger and can’t stop to address his injury. I really don’t know how to describe how that feels, and what it does to the body.

Do you think you could help me with some descriptive words?

I would appreciate it,

Cheers, Bella

November 5, 2018 at 2:29 pm

How do describe a flying elbow to the stomach?

November 5, 2018 at 3:07 pm

Hi, Hayden. While I’m thankful this has never happened to me, it unfortunately doesn’t give me any reference for answering your question. But I do remember times when I’ve had the wind knocked out of me and when I have been knocked painfully by someone else. You’ve probably experienced these things too; use those memories to write about how it would feel. Think about things like localized pain, but what other physical sensations it may trigger, like nausea, losing one’s breath, or what happens to the person if the impact causes additional pain, such as them falling down or stumbling backward and hitting their head, etc.

August 8, 2018 at 11:05 pm

My character fell on his face. Not scraping his palms, just his face.

June 23, 2018 at 11:34 am

How would you write a character who is unable to feel pain? (Or hunger, thirst, tiredness, etc.) This is not congenital insensitivity, this is a light fantasy setting where this is paired with moderately increased endurance as a power/mutation. The character in question is a 12 year old girl.

November 5, 2018 at 3:12 pm

Hi, Georgia. I’m sorry, but I’m just now seeing your comment here. For this, you’ll have to show, through the character’s response, that they’re not feeling pain, and whether or not this is normal for her. For instance, you could show her being knocked down, getting up and dusting herself off, and her fingers coming away bloody. Maybe she’s gashed her leg or impaled it on something, and she didn’t notice. And now that she does, she doesn’t respond normally. Maybe she treats it like an inconvenience, bandaging it up or yanking out the offending shard of glass, then trotting off without a limp. Or maybe she consciously affects a limp because she knows that would be normal with such an injury and she wants to avoid notice. Maybe she mentally recalls that a year ago, this would have hurt like you know what, and that’s how her mutation is a blessing in disguise. The important thing here is to know your character’s state of mind regarding her mutation and having her respond accordingly so it doesn’t come off as unrealistic or explanatory to the reader. I hope I’m not too late and you’re able to use this information.

March 18, 2018 at 5:59 pm

How can I describe a knife across the face?

March 19, 2018 at 8:28 am

Hi, James. I’m afraid you’ll have to do some research on this since I’ve had no experience here. Think about times when you’ve experienced a wound to the face, or a cutting wound and apply that knowledge to your character’s situation. You may even be able to Google the question and find some information. Best of luck!

February 25, 2018 at 9:56 pm

I love causing pain to characters (but don’t do it for no reason) and I legitimately could not stop grinning unless I covered my mouth with my hand……. There’s something wrong with me. Anyway, THANK YOU for this, it’s super helpful!

November 22, 2017 at 2:32 pm

My character has a knife slash across her face. She also lives on the streets after fleeing the hospital. Expert your article helped me with: The voices blurred together, mixing into a haze through the pain as they got her to the hospital. She had gotten the impression that a simple cut would have less medical needs. Looking back on it, Ellen thought she was overwhelmed by it all. She was in searing pain, the force of it ripping through her mind like a bomb, after all.

February 17, 2017 at 4:33 pm

So helpful and timely! Thank you!

February 10, 2017 at 4:05 pm

I love this article!! I have a question. I have an alpha male hero who is an amputee. He’s been through therapy and it’s been about four years since he lost his leg. My question involves phantom pain that I’ve read a lot about with amputees. How bad does this kind of pain get in relation to your Mild, Moderate or Severe pain? I have the scene where when he wakes up and it’s throbbing and it’s swollen so he can’t put on his prothesis. I read this in another book. Is that accurate? I have him taking some pain meds. How long does it take before the pain goes away approximately? I mention that he’s been using accpuncture for the pain as well with some success. Is this even accurate??

Thanks, Janice

February 11, 2017 at 10:48 am

Hey Janice! Thanks for your question!

Phantom pain comes from a number of different causes, including damage or pressure on a nerve, especially if scar tissue is putting pressure on it.

While I’m certainly not a pain management specialist, and nothing here is to be considered medical advice — my disclaimer is here ( http://www.scriptmedicblog.com/disclaimer ) — I have a couple of great resources to send you.

The first is an article from the Amputee Coalition, talking about pain and possible treatments, here: http://www.amputee-coalition.org/limb-loss-resource-center/resources-for-pain-management/managing-phantom-pain/

WebMD has a fairly decent article here: http://www.webmd.com/pain-management/guide/phantom-limb-pain#1-4

And Mayo Clinic, my personal favorite resource on the whole wide Webiverse, has a great article here: http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/phantom-pain/basics/treatment/con-20023268

It seems, from reading these sources, that a combination of medical therapy (including opioids like Vicodin / hydrocodone or Percocet / oxycodone, anticonvulsants such as Neurontin / gabapentin or Lyrica / pregabalin, or tricyclic antidepressants including amitryptaline or tramadol) and non-medical therapy (such as mirror box, applied heat, massage, and, yes, accupuncture etc of the affected leg).

You might think seizure medication or antidepressants are a strange thing to give for phantom limb pain, but they interrupt the way neuropathic pain signals are transmitted and received in the brain. Science: It’s Kinda Neat Sometimes, Huh? (TM).

There’s a GREAT TED talk that, among other things, touches on mirror box therapy here: http://www.ted.com/talks/vilayanur_ramachandran_on_your_mind?language=en

(It helps that that guy has one of the best accents I’ve ever heard in my whole life, by the way, and the talk is fascinating even before dealing with this.)

As to how bad the pain gets, I think that’s up to you to decide, though I’ve heard it *can* be severe; however, he’s been dealing with this for four years now.

Swelling of the stump is certainly possible. In fact, after an amputation, it takes weeks for the swelling to go down enough to even fit an amputee for a prosthesis! This far along it may be irritated skin, or your character may have developed an infection in the site. But just like any area, irritation breeds swelling, itching, and pain.

I hope this was useful! I’d say you’re already headed down the right track, and I would personally like to say I would LOVE to see more amputee heroes in fiction!

Best of luck with your tale.

xoxo, Aunt Scripty

February 10, 2017 at 11:34 am

Excellent post. Thank you Angela for sharing. Like you books, too.

February 9, 2017 at 8:06 pm

This is wonderful information! I find when I write about pain that I fall into the problem of trying to over share the pain of my character. When I go back to read it, I stop reading after the first two sentences (like in the example here). Thank you for sharing this! I appreciate the different levels of pain and the descriptive words to help illustrate them.

Cheers, Jen

February 10, 2017 at 12:10 am

Hi Jennifer! I’m so glad you found it helpful! I know in my own writing I’ve tended toward over-emphasizing pain, especially too early in the story.

One thing I didn’t get a chance to discuss is the idea of ramping up the pain — backing off on descriptions early so that you can maximize them later and not have it be repetitive. It’s the difference between a low-level ache in the shoulder when your character gets out of bed and the ripping, tearing agony when they tear their rotator cuff at the worst possible moment in the story. It’s not always appropriate, but in general, ramping up your character’s pain to mirror scene tension can be an excellent tool if done well.

Good luck with your stories!!

February 9, 2017 at 5:12 pm

Very informative particle. Thank you for sharing.

February 9, 2017 at 11:16 am

Thank you for addressing this problem! It’s very useful information.

February 9, 2017 at 10:41 am

Hey Angela! I just wanted to say thanks so much for having me on the blog, and I hope this post has been helpful for your readers. It’s great to appear on such a fantastic blog!

February 9, 2017 at 1:35 pm

So glad to have you. This info is a great help to many writers. 🙂

February 9, 2017 at 9:48 am

Hi Angela: Thank you so much for Posting and for sharing Aunt Scripty’s Post and website. I’ve signed up for her Newsletter and look forward to using the Resources that she offers.

February 9, 2017 at 7:23 am

Wonderful information and ideas.

[…] Resources:How To Accurately Write About Your Character’s Pain10 Methods to Make Your Character […]

[…] writers find pain difficult to write about, at the risk of downplaying their characters’ pain. However, unless some plot device in the […]

[…] Resources: How To Accurately Write About Your Character’s Pain 10 Methods to Make Your Character […]

[…] there! This is a part of a series on pain and suffering in writing. Part 1 of the series, Writing About Pain (Without Putting Your Readers in Agony), appeared on the eminent and excellent blog WritersHelpingWriters. Thanks again to Angela for […]

[…] How To Accurately Write About Your Character’s Pain – WRITERS HELPING WRITERS® […]

[…] Check out Writing About Pain (Without Putting Your Readers in Agony) here! […]

What Is Creative Writing? (Ultimate Guide + 20 Examples)

Creative writing begins with a blank page and the courage to fill it with the stories only you can tell.

I face this intimidating blank page daily–and I have for the better part of 20+ years.

In this guide, you’ll learn all the ins and outs of creative writing with tons of examples.

What Is Creative Writing (Long Description)?

Creative Writing is the art of using words to express ideas and emotions in imaginative ways. It encompasses various forms including novels, poetry, and plays, focusing on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary tropes.

Table of Contents

Let’s expand on that definition a bit.

Creative writing is an art form that transcends traditional literature boundaries.

It includes professional, journalistic, academic, and technical writing. This type of writing emphasizes narrative craft, character development, and literary tropes. It also explores poetry and poetics traditions.

In essence, creative writing lets you express ideas and emotions uniquely and imaginatively.

It’s about the freedom to invent worlds, characters, and stories. These creations evoke a spectrum of emotions in readers.

Creative writing covers fiction, poetry, and everything in between.

It allows writers to express inner thoughts and feelings. Often, it reflects human experiences through a fabricated lens.

Types of Creative Writing

There are many types of creative writing that we need to explain.

Some of the most common types:

• Short stories
• Screenplays
• Flash fiction
• Creative Nonfiction

Short Stories (The Brief Escape)

Short stories are like narrative treasures.

They are compact but impactful, telling a full story within a limited word count. These tales often focus on a single character or a crucial moment.

Short stories are known for their brevity.

They deliver emotion and insight in a concise yet powerful package. This format is ideal for exploring diverse genres, themes, and characters. It leaves a lasting impression on readers.

Example: Emma discovers an old photo of her smiling grandmother. It’s a rarity. Through flashbacks, Emma learns about her grandmother’s wartime love story. She comes to understand her grandmother’s resilience and the value of joy.

Novels (The Long Journey)

Novels are extensive explorations of character, plot, and setting.

They span thousands of words, giving writers the space to create entire worlds. Novels can weave complex stories across various themes and timelines.

The length of a novel allows for deep narrative and character development.

Readers get an immersive experience.

Example: Across the Divide tells of two siblings separated in childhood. They grow up in different cultures. Their reunion highlights the strength of family bonds, despite distance and differences.

Poetry (The Soul’s Language)

Poetry expresses ideas and emotions through rhythm, sound, and word beauty.

It distills emotions and thoughts into verses. Poetry often uses metaphors, similes, and figurative language to reach the reader’s heart and mind.

Poetry ranges from structured forms, like sonnets, to free verse.

The latter breaks away from traditional formats for more expressive thought.

Example: Whispers of Dawn is a poem collection capturing morning’s quiet moments. “First Light” personifies dawn as a painter. It brings colors of hope and renewal to the world.

Plays (The Dramatic Dialogue)

Plays are meant for performance. They bring characters and conflicts to life through dialogue and action.

This format uniquely explores human relationships and societal issues.

Playwrights face the challenge of conveying setting, emotion, and plot through dialogue and directions.

Example: Echoes of Tomorrow is set in a dystopian future. Memories can be bought and sold. It follows siblings on a quest to retrieve their stolen memories. They learn the cost of living in a world where the past has a price.

Screenplays (Cinema’s Blueprint)

Screenplays outline narratives for films and TV shows.

They require an understanding of visual storytelling, pacing, and dialogue. Screenplays must fit film production constraints.

Example: The Last Light is a screenplay for a sci-fi film. Humanity’s survivors on a dying Earth seek a new planet. The story focuses on spacecraft Argo’s crew as they face mission challenges and internal dynamics.

Memoirs (The Personal Journey)

Memoirs provide insight into an author’s life, focusing on personal experiences and emotional journeys.

They differ from autobiographies by concentrating on specific themes or events.

Memoirs invite readers into the author’s world.

They share lessons learned and hardships overcome.

Example: Under the Mango Tree is a memoir by Maria Gomez. It shares her childhood memories in rural Colombia. The mango tree in their yard symbolizes home, growth, and nostalgia. Maria reflects on her journey to a new life in America.

Flash Fiction (The Quick Twist)

Flash fiction tells stories in under 1,000 words.

It’s about crafting compelling narratives concisely. Each word in flash fiction must count, often leading to a twist.

This format captures life’s vivid moments, delivering quick, impactful insights.

Example: The Last Message features an astronaut’s final Earth message as her spacecraft drifts away. In 500 words, it explores isolation, hope, and the desire to connect against all odds.

Creative Nonfiction (The Factual Tale)

Creative nonfiction combines factual accuracy with creative storytelling.

This genre covers real events, people, and places with a twist. It uses descriptive language and narrative arcs to make true stories engaging.

Creative nonfiction includes biographies, essays, and travelogues.

Example: Echoes of Everest follows the author’s Mount Everest climb. It mixes factual details with personal reflections and the history of past climbers. The narrative captures the climb’s beauty and challenges, offering an immersive experience.

Fantasy (The World Beyond)

Fantasy transports readers to magical and mythical worlds.

It explores themes like good vs. evil and heroism in unreal settings. Fantasy requires careful world-building to create believable yet fantastic realms.

Example: The Crystal of Azmar tells of a young girl destined to save her world from darkness. She learns she’s the last sorceress in a forgotten lineage. Her journey involves mastering powers, forming alliances, and uncovering ancient kingdom myths.

Science Fiction (The Future Imagined)

Science fiction delves into futuristic and scientific themes.

It questions the impact of advancements on society and individuals.

Science fiction ranges from speculative to hard sci-fi, focusing on plausible futures.

Example: When the Stars Whisper is set in a future where humanity communicates with distant galaxies. It centers on a scientist who finds an alien message. This discovery prompts a deep look at humanity’s universe role and interstellar communication.

Watch this great video that explores the question, “What is creative writing?” and “How to get started?”:

What Are the 5 Cs of Creative Writing?

The 5 Cs of creative writing are fundamental pillars.

They guide writers to produce compelling and impactful work. These principles—Clarity, Coherence, Conciseness, Creativity, and Consistency—help craft stories that engage and entertain.

They also resonate deeply with readers. Let’s explore each of these critical components.

Clarity makes your writing understandable and accessible.

It involves choosing the right words and constructing clear sentences. Your narrative should be easy to follow.

In creative writing, clarity means conveying complex ideas in a digestible and enjoyable way.

Coherence ensures your writing flows logically.

It’s crucial for maintaining the reader’s interest. Characters should develop believably, and plots should progress logically. This makes the narrative feel cohesive.

Conciseness

Conciseness is about expressing ideas succinctly.

It’s being economical with words and avoiding redundancy. This principle helps maintain pace and tension, engaging readers throughout the story.

Creativity is the heart of creative writing.

It allows writers to invent new worlds and create memorable characters. Creativity involves originality and imagination. It’s seeing the world in unique ways and sharing that vision.

Consistency

Consistency maintains a uniform tone, style, and voice.

It means being faithful to the world you’ve created. Characters should act true to their development. This builds trust with readers, making your story immersive and believable.

Is Creative Writing Easy?

Creative writing is both rewarding and challenging.

Crafting stories from your imagination involves more than just words on a page. It requires discipline and a deep understanding of language and narrative structure.

Exploring complex characters and themes is also key.

Refining and revising your work is crucial for developing your voice.

The ease of creative writing varies. Some find the freedom of expression liberating.

Others struggle with writer’s block or plot development challenges. However, practice and feedback make creative writing more fulfilling.

What Does a Creative Writer Do?

A creative writer weaves narratives that entertain, enlighten, and inspire.

Writers explore both the world they create and the emotions they wish to evoke. Their tasks are diverse, involving more than just writing.

Creative writers develop ideas, research, and plan their stories.

They create characters and outline plots with attention to detail. Drafting and revising their work is a significant part of their process. They strive for the 5 Cs of compelling writing.

Writers engage with the literary community, seeking feedback and participating in workshops.

They may navigate the publishing world with agents and editors.

Creative writers are storytellers, craftsmen, and artists. They bring narratives to life, enriching our lives and expanding our imaginations.

How to Get Started With Creative Writing?

Embarking on a creative writing journey can feel like standing at the edge of a vast and mysterious forest.

The path is not always clear, but the adventure is calling.

Here’s how to take your first steps into the world of creative writing:

• Find a time of day when your mind is most alert and creative.
• Create a comfortable writing space free from distractions.
• Use prompts to spark your imagination. They can be as simple as a word, a phrase, or an image.
• Try writing for 15-20 minutes on a prompt without editing yourself. Let the ideas flow freely.
• Reading is fuel for your writing. Explore various genres and styles.
• Pay attention to how your favorite authors construct their sentences, develop characters, and build their worlds.
• Don’t pressure yourself to write a novel right away. Begin with short stories or poems.
• Small projects can help you hone your skills and boost your confidence.
• Look for writing groups in your area or online. These communities offer support, feedback, and motivation.
• Participating in workshops or classes can also provide valuable insights into your writing.
• Understand that your first draft is just the beginning. Revising your work is where the real magic happens.
• Be open to feedback and willing to rework your pieces.
• Carry a notebook or digital recorder to jot down ideas, observations, and snippets of conversations.
• These notes can be gold mines for future writing projects.

Final Thoughts: What Is Creative Writing?

Creative writing is an invitation to explore the unknown, to give voice to the silenced, and to celebrate the human spirit in all its forms.

Check out these creative writing tools (that I highly recommend):

Read This Next:

• What Is a Prompt in Writing? (Ultimate Guide + 200 Examples)
• What Is A Personal Account In Writing? (47 Examples)
• How To Write A Fantasy Short Story (Ultimate Guide + Examples)
• How To Write A Fantasy Romance Novel [21 Tips + Examples)

7 Ways To Write A Damn Good Fight Scene

• by Bronwyn Hemus
• January 21, 2014
• 79 Comments

Standout Books is supported by its audience, if you click and purchase from any of the links on this page, we may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only recommend products we have personally vetted. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

Fight scenes are the single hardest character interaction to write. Many authors who know their craft in every other respect can’t write a fight scene to save their (or their hero’s) life. But don’t despair. There are a few strategies you can use to ensure you write the kind of fight scene that grips a reader from start to finish. Let’s take a look at seven of them…

1. Detail is a dirty word

It’s a general rule in writing that you should leave as much to the reader’s imagination as you can, and this is doubly true for action scenes. The choreography of the fight may be exact in your head, but you can’t force readers to see the same thing.

While describing a fight scene is a great way to paint an accurate picture, it’s not a great way to communicate a compelling experience. A lot of poorly written fight scenes read like this:

I stepped back, balancing my weight on my left foot, and threw my right fist out in a curved punch at his temple. Turning ninety degrees to the side, he brought his right forearm up to counter the blow, formed a fist with his left, and threw it at my outstretched jaw. I was in trouble.

This might be exactly what you imagine happening, but the excessive stage direction stretches the moment out, turning a frenzied series of blows into a dissection of body language and intent. This fight feels slow, and that feeling is paramount – if your reader is instinctively bored by a fight, you can’t convince them it was exciting by describing more of it.

Instead, let them know the outline of the fight and they’ll imagine the rest. Counter as it is to a writer’s instincts, ‘they struggled’ paints a far more vivid picture than describing the exact position of each combatant’s arms.

So, if you’re not describing what your characters are doing, how do you communicate the action?

2. Pace is everything

Intensifying the pace of your writing can communicate the immediacy and suddenness of conflict. Short, simple sentences keep the reader on their toes. Fights happen quickly and your description needs to match that. In The Princess Bride , William Goldman writes a brilliant sword fight, and perhaps the most enjoyable fight scene ever put to paper:

The cliffs were very close behind him now. Inigo continued to retreat; the man in black continued advancing. Then Inigo countered with the Thibault. And the man in black blocked it.

Each sentence is short, the written equivalent of a sudden move. Every time a new person takes an action in this passage, Goldman starts a new line, making the reader encounter each attack as a sudden, vital event.

This ‘new line’ technique is pretty cheesy – it works for Goldman because his story is a deliberate homage to adventure yarns – but short, to-the-point sentences are a must for any fight scene. Clarity is important in many areas of writing, and it’s not something to wish away in a fight, but the energy of a fight scene is more important than its details, and that comes from pace.

Of course, pacing works best when it’s combined with perspective.

3. Perspective defines experience

It’s difficult to communicate excitement when you describe something objectively. This is another reason that hovering around the fight describing the actions of both characters limits how gripping the experience can be. The key is to thrust the reader into the thick of the action, and to do that they need to experience the fight through a character.

That’s not to say that you have to suddenly adopt the first person. In Gregory Mcdonald’s Carioca Fletch , the protagonist attempts to get his bearings as he is set upon by unseen assailants. Mcdonald mimics this experience for the reader by having longer passages between the single sentences of violence:

Instead of looking who had pushed him, Fletch tried to save himself from falling. The edge of the parade route’s pavement shot out from under him. Someone pushed him again. He fell to the right, into the parade. A foot came up from the pavement and kicked him in the face.

The writing, and thus the reader’s experience of events, conforms to Fletch’s experience: the attempt to right himself interrupted by sudden acts of violence. You can also write to match the perspective of the attacker: there’s something especially brutal about a villain methodically taking an opponent apart.

The opposite can also be true

Of course, as with all the advice in this article, there are reasons to do the exact opposite. Mimicking perspective leads to a more energetic, visceral experience, which tends to make a fight more compelling, but perhaps you want the opposite. A detached, distanced perspective saps the energy and involvement from a fight, but if you’re trying to horrify the reader rather than energize or entertain, this is a valid technique.

For instance, a ‘cool’ fight would benefit from a close perspective, whereas an upsetting beating would likely benefit from distance. In this way, there are few ‘bad’ writing techniques – just different effects that either work with or against your intent for a scene. Keep in mind that your actual first step to improving your fight scene is understanding how you want your reader to feel about it.

4. Verbs not adverbs (and avoid passive voice)

Energetic fight scenes demand brevity, and adverbs are the opposite of that . Instead of ‘Adam hit him hard in the chest, again and again’ use ‘Adam pounded at his chest’.

The occasional adverb might have its place, but you want the punch of the sentence to come with the character’s action, not lagging after it.

There are a few exceptions. Variations on ‘She hit him. Hard’ have currency because they’re purposefully simplistic. They embrace guttural simplicity to communicate that same quality in the action, but this trick only works once before you start sounding like a caveman.

Why the passive voice won’t work

A similar technique to avoid is the use of passive voice. This is where the person or object performing an action is absent from the sentence in which it happens, as in ‘he was kicked in the face,’ where the person doing the kicking isn’t mentioned.

This is a technique you’ll see in a lot of news coverage, since it deliberately saps energy from an otherwise startling event. In a story, however, it’s the most roundabout way to communicate an action, and it’s best avoided. Even when the attacker is unseen (and therefore can’t be named), Mcdonald goes for ‘A foot came up from the pavement and kicked him in the face’ as opposed to ‘he was kicked in the face.’

Try to err on the side of ‘person, action, effect,’ since this most closely recreates the experience of watching things in real time. Agency – a person’s ability to effect the world around them – is a huge part of compelling fight scenes, and the passive voice is all about ignoring agency.

5. Sensory information is relatable

Another reason description doesn’t work in fight scenes is that immediate, physical situations aren’t characterized by a heightened degree of analytical thought. In contrast, physical situations do tend to come with a lot of sensory information. The taste of blood, the ringing in their ears, the ache of their injuries.

Evan Hunter wrote fantastically brutal fight scenes by stating a simple, physical act and then following it up with evocative sensory information:

He pulled him to his feet, almost tearing the collar… He heard the slight rasp of material ripping.

That description, from his short story collection Barking at Butterflies , adds more physicality to the encounter than any physical description could.

Sensory information is also more relatable to readers. Not everyone has been held up by the collar, but everyone has heard fabric tear and tasted their own blood. You can summon incredibly detailed information through these minor descriptions: the pull needed to tear a collar is something most people can appreciate, so they understand the violence of the grip without ever consciously considering it.

6. Make the result clear

The opposite of writing a fight scene, but something worth considering in many cases, is to skip the violence entirely. It depends whether you’re trying to provide action or communicate violence, but for the latter this can be incredibly effective.

Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club isn’t about fight scenes or action, but communicates physical violence fantastically:

I asked Tyler what he wanted me to do. Tyler said, “I want you to hit me as hard as you can.”

At this point a new chapter begins:

Two screens into my demo to Microsoft, I taste blood… My boss doesn’t know the material, but he won’t let me run the demo with a black eye and half my face swollen from the stitches in my cheek.

Here, we don’t get any details of the fight, don’t even have it confirmed that a fight took place, and yet the visceral nature of the missing scene is more powerful because of it.

You don’t have to skip the fight completely, but remember that you can create a powerful sense of what’s happening by referencing the results. While the reader can’t call to mind the exact experience of the fight on the page, fear of injury is something everyone understands.

7. Context is key

The written word is capable of many feats other types of media can’t match, but one thing it isn’t is visual. This matters because a lot of writers take their fight-scene cues from visual media, attempting to mimic the visual bombast of movie shootouts or martial arts.

In a movie, it’s easy for a fight to be impressive all on its own. We can see the people taking part, appreciate their emotions, witness their speed and flexibility, even wince at their pain. In books, fights don’t bring so much of their own context, and if a reader doesn’t understand who is fighting, why, and what the consequences will be, they’re far less likely to be thrilled.

Your fight scene as an action scene

It’s useful, in this sense, to understand your fight scene as just one type of action scene, similar to chase scenes , arguments , and even sex scenes . These scenes are interesting because they’re interactions with consequences, and those consequences are usually what makes the action exciting.

If Character A is chasing Character B, the scene is fine enough. If we know the stakes of Character B escaping, the scene is much better. If we care about Character A and Character B, and have a preferred outcome to the chase, now the scene matters.

Without context, the most an action scene can hope to be is titillating, and it’s unlikely to achieve even that. Many first-time authors begin their stories with a fight scene because it’s the most exciting thing they can think of, but without characters or stakes, it’s hard to be excited by this non-visual style of action.

If you want to write a fight scene, make the stakes clear to your reader and make sure they care about at least one person in the fight. Otherwise, you’re just trying to ‘show’ them something they can’t see, which is what drives a lot of authors to fall back on all the harmful techniques we’ve already covered.

Fight for your write

So, those are our seven tips for writing great fight scenes. Choose pace over detail, don’t get bogged down by adverbs and passive voice, draw on sensory details and results as needed, and give the reader the context and perspective they need to get invested.

What other tips do you think writers should know when dealing with fight scenes? And what is the best fight scene you’ve ever read? Let me know in the comments below.

If you want to work at a larger scale, check out How To Write An Epic Battle Scene , and I also recommend Everything You Need To Know About Writing Fantasy Weapons and What You Need To Know About Writing Injuries for more insight on this topic.

Bronwyn Hemus

79 thoughts on “7 ways to write a damn good fight scene”.

I find that writing from my own experiences help the flow. I got beat up a lot in elementary school. when I write a fight scene, I focus on the emotional aspects ad well. the rushing flow of my blood as rage sweeps through me. the nauseous wave that cramps my stomach as pain ripples from my jaw from rock hard hit. It helps me to place myself in the heroes shoes and try to feel, physically and emotionally, what the hero would.

I’m sorry to hear you had that kind of experience but it’s great that you’ve taken ownership of it and used it positively in your art.

I think you’re completely right about linking the sounds and physical experiences of injury to the emotional experience of it. When you have a personal experience of this kind it can be applied to many different stories; no matter how outlandish the conflict the resulting physical and emotional reactions remain the same.

Best wishes, Rob

Yes, less is more, exactly: even in fight scenes. I especially enjoy your examples, like Palahniuk’s one. Very interesting article, fight scenes fit with fantasy novels, which are my favourite. Thanks

Hi boostwriter,

Thanks very much. Fight scenes do seem particularly at home in fantasy novels, often as part of a larger ‘battle’ scene. Battles are incredibly difficult to write, and often done best through smaller fight scenes that represent the battle as a whole.

ha ha that part about cavemen x) i read a start to a book whose cover was very interesting, but it was written in caveman the whole first paragraph and it aggravated me so much that i didn’t give a unicorn about the story, i just closed the book and looked for a new one. Indeed, all of your points are spot-on and very helpful. Thank you, please keep posting =) Best wishes!

Thanks so much for your feedback and kind words. Yes, caveman style gets old very quickly. There’s also the fact that, generally, starting a book with that kind of action tends not to work. People are keen on it because it’s common (and works) in movies and television, but that’s because action is visceral and thrilling to WATCH. When we read action scenes more of our reaction comes from the context – we worry about a character we like getting hurt – than the action itself. Consequently if a book begins with action that might grip us if we cared about the characters, the gap between how we feel and how the author wants us to feel becomes very apparent.

I am writing a screenplay and led beautifully into a fight scene, but I came to a dead end when it came to the writing the scene itself. So, I didn’t write it at all 🙂 Here’s what I ended with: note: Ben was kicked out of a fictional high school gang called The Boys. Most names are standing names, not finalized.

The Boys arrive at an open field, the gang The Saints are waiting. Ben, in bandages and on a crutch, limps past The Boys. The Boys freeze in shock at his arrival.

BEN (to the Saints): Your two best against me decides the fight.

SAINT ALEX: The Saints don’t make deals with The Boys.

Ben cracks his neck and throws down his crutch.

BEN: Good thing I’m not one of them.

Two Saints sprint toward Ben, one two steps ahead of the other. Ben engages. A single blow. First one down. Impact. The second tackles Ben with brute force. They land with an audible thud.

CUT TO BLACK, FADE TO:

Ben wakes up in a hospital bed. His breath is shallow, his face swollen. Ben wares more bandages than clothing. Ben rolls his head and looks at the table next to him. A note on the table beside him reads: “You saved our asses. Thanks -The Boys” Ben smiles.

Leaving room for the actors and the director to choreograph a fight scene is a great idea when writing a screenplay, and even translates to novels – the reader is a fantastic director, you just need to give them enough information to play out their own idea of how it happened.

A warmth filled johns belly. It trickeled down his leg. “Have I pissed myself again?” Johns legs went numb as he sat down in the grass. His sword became heavy so he let it slip his grasp. “No one can know I’ve pissed myself again.” A shriek rang down from above.John stared into the cloudless sky. He knew that sound. The cry of an emperial falcon.He had seen many of them during his training at the battle camps. He promised his mom, a lover of winged creatures, he would buy one for her. The bird faded from his vision, but he continued searching for it in the greysky which he could have sworn was blue moments ago. A faint sound crept up from behind the young boy. “amazing, I can hear the flaping of your wings great bird.” A shadow slowly grew in front of john. A grin surfaced beneath the dried blood on John’s face. “ve never had a bird fly so close.” A thumping sound filled johns ears as theshadow began moving. Johns vision began to blur. “are you flying away great bird? Please take me with you.” Cried the boy as the ground raced towards his face. He felt a strange peace as his vision blackened. John smiled as he envisioned flying away towards his mother’s cottage. Slowly his eyelids lowered and he flew away from the nightmare of war.

Can u tell me what you think this scene is about. I try to evoke the readers emotion without being direct. I’m practicing lol. Want to be a writer, one who makes people cry, cheer, throw my book at the wall in anger and pick it back up again in curiosity.:)

it’s about a boy who dies after fighting in a war?

Would you say these same tips apply for fights that are rather supernatural? Eg. One with a trident vs someone weaponless that doesn’t stay down

Hi Rebekah,

In a word, yes. The style of writing is meant to evoke the threat and pace of the situation, so it would be applicable to the kind of fight you describe.

Hi Antonio,

I read it as a death on the battlefield scene, a soldier reflecting on his life before the conflict.

i am looking forward to writing one… https://www.wattpad.com/myworks/36246660-mayday

All my books include at least on fist fight between two people who know little about fighting (or at least one knows little.) One or both characters are afraid of fighting and generally will do just about anything to avoid getting in a fight. You tips are very helpful. I failed at the less is more rule in the beginning, but caught on and I think those scenes are not only strengthened, but easier on the reader. I find spending a bit more on the characters experience with the unexpected adrenaline rush, emotions, fears and anger is better. I actually received some feed back from readers who felt for the characters who were more or less trapped into a fist & wrestling fight. That my characters are mostly not skilled in fighting helped win reader sympathy. I managed to stay out of fights, though as human nature goes, I was very close to not being able to get out of close encounters as a teen and young adult. That experience of fear, trepidation, excitement along with some degree of wanting to hit the other person I wanted to bring out in my characters.

You’re right, those visceral feelings are really compelling and the reader is far more likely to back a character who’s been forced into a fight. I think one of the best ‘trying to avoid a fight’ scenes is Romeo and Juliet, act 1 scene 1. The whole idea of bravado versus the reality of injury is really strong, especially in the hands of directors like Baz Luhrmann. If you haven’t seen the opening scene of Romeo + Juliet (by which I mean the 1996 movie) I’d recommend it as great research.

Well Im writing a mystery novel with a touches of paranormal themes. My books always have an immense focus on fights because of the violent nature of one of my characters. I am having trouble with these because I personally have never been very descriptive in my writing. But this Article really helped me understand more of what to do and how to write them. Thanks

I’m really glad this article has been useful to you. Don’t give up on trying to nail your fight scenes – it’s a genuinely difficult subject to get right.

So i have attempted to use this guide to write my first battle scene i will actually use in a story if its ok i would love abit of feedback.

[This scene has been removed by a moderator. Please don’t post entire scenes into comments. For extensive feedback on your writing please refer to our editing services .]

Thanks in advance

It’s really gratifying that you’ve got such immediate use out of the article, so thanks for sharing this part of your story! You’ve completely understood what I was writing about, and all the techniques described are used to great effect in your writing.

If I was going to suggest anything it would be more sensory information in the final section – the more you can put the reader in the cramped, deafening midst of battle the better. Also a proofread would be necessary before including this in a larger work, to catch any errant spelling or grammar issues.

If you want feedback on any more of your work, or to talk more about your story, please feel free to contact me via //www.standoutbooks.com/contact/ .

Hi, I’m writing a fantasy novel and I’m trying to give my character a specific fighting technique. Basically I’m in love with Japanese style Niten Ichi-Ryu, a style that uses both the katana and the smaller wazitashi and I want my character to use this technique. But since it’s set in a fantasy world that knows nothing about Japan or another other country, how would you incorporate it? Or should I just leave it out altogether? The fighting style that is?

Hi Bexter08,

There are a few options for how to handle the fighting style you’ve mentioned. First of all, you could have the character use the style, but not refer to it as Niten Ichi-Ryu – either not naming the style or else inventing an in-world name for it. Second of all, you could simply use the correct name and brazen it out – fantasy worlds are full of terms that can’t realistically, linguistically have developed there (‘katana’ is one of these), and with confidence and skill it’s possible to win the reader over to accepting them. This option would be made easier if the narrator refers to the style by name, but it’s not used in dialogue. Thirdly, you could use the English translation (which I believe is along the lines of ‘the school of the strategy of two heavens as one’), or some variation of it. Finally, you could lose the style altogether, but that would be a shame over what’s a tricky but minor issue.

My advice would be to keep the style and give it an in-world name. This could be a variant of its translated name (‘the school of two heavens’, for example), or a new term that works in your world. The only drawback to the latter option is that those familiar with the style may feel irritated, as if you’re trying to pretend you’ve made it up. This could be solved with a note in the foreword – ‘the style used by _________ and referred to as _________ is Niten Ichi-Ryu’ – or by somehow referencing its actual name – perhaps the person who taught it to the character/the place where they learned it has a name that’s phonetically similar to the style. ‘Nyten’/’Niton’, for example.

I hope that’s useful.

Dear Robert.

I am in amidst of writing a story, and a lot of fight scenes are potentially involved. In regards to leaving much of it to Reader imagination and keeping pace … What if the fight was written like boxing commentary? Think that would work due to short and fast paced that is in real life?

Trying to find that balance between what I would like the reader to see versus what they will conjure up. Got some intricate stuff in mind and I do not want to lose all of it. Thanks for writing this article! It has come in handy. We need more like it.

That sounds like an interesting device – would the narrator be the ‘commentator’, or would one of the actual characters be describing what took place?

It would be the narrator. That way not all the choreography would be lost if done right.

Thanks again.

Sounds like a smart device. My only recommendation would be to ensure you lay the groundwork for that device before jumping into it, so it doesn’t feel forced in execution.

Hello Robert.

I must say, that I find your advice spot on. In my writing I have used all of these techniques – but I wish I had read your advice first – it would have saved me a bloody lot of time. Instead of hammering it out for myself, I could’ve relied on your expertise.

The think there maybe one exception to you words of wisdom: space battles (yes, I know. I am one of those). The quiet majesty of space I believe requires more description rather than less. The vivid scenes of destruction with lasers and missiles and plasma beams play well against the void of space. That being said, I have also finished off ships and their entire crews in a short paragraph.

I am most curious. Although this is a bit outside the parameters of your well-written article, what are your thoughts on fights between vessels, (sailing vessels, modern warships, tanks, starships) both terrestrial and non?

I would like your

Thanks for commenting – I take your point about space battles. Description can lead to detachment in fight scenes, but as you say, sometimes that works well with the sterility and isolation of space. An odd example, perhaps, but the videogame ‘FTL’ is about minutely managed space battles, and the bare-bones story really works with that approach – you’re on the run from a much larger force, adrift in hostile space, so knowing every little thing that can go wrong heightens that narrative tension.

As far as battles between machines of war go, I think the key is to focus on individual experience. You can, of course, write about tank vs. tank and armada vs. armada (you can write about anything, with enough skill and drafting), but it’s usually more effective to communicate that battle via the experiences of a single crew member. A huge indent being punched into a tank’s wall, or someone burning their hand on a gun that’s been rattling off rounds, can convey the experience of this type of fight without getting lost in technical details.

It’s not a perfect example because there are visual aspects to the medium, but Garth Ennis’ ‘War Stories’ comic book series does this really well. For him, it’s all about the individuals, but he also uses their relationship to their vehicles to anthropomorphize tanks and planes. There’s one story where a huge tank takes on a sort of ‘monster’ role in the story, emerging from the undergrowth just when the protagonists think they’re safe. Certainly a good place to start if looking for examples.

Okay, so my story is about superheroes and villains. Also, I don’t really like short fights but I understand I shouldn’t have 5 pages of fighting. How could I make the fight seem longer but use less pages?

Also, grammar question, can the whole fight be in one paragraph or no?

Thanks for your questions. You can make fights feel longer in a variety of ways. One really effective device is to cut away for a while – perhaps to a character witnessing the action from afar, or someone elsewhere. This lets the fight keep going while the reader is ‘away’, allowing you to extend it for however long suits your needs. In a similar vein, showing the consequences of the fight – the collateral damage – can add to the perceived duration, as the reader has to justify how so much damage has been done.

You can also sidetrack the reader with a few details. If your characters topple a building then let them fly away for a moment, but stay with the building, describing how people escape and how it eventually falls down completely. This is a combination of the devices above, and works as a kind of illusion for the reader – if such a passage is presented between when the fight starts and when it ends, the reader will include it in the duration of the fight afterwards, even if it was really more of an aside.

You could also break the fight up over time – having the fight begin, flashing back to its cause, and then rejoining it – again, this stretches out the reader’s perception of how long the fight has been going on.

In terms of directly witnessing the fight, there are fewer options. As tempting as it can be to show the reader a huge, prolonged fight scene, they rarely translate to the less visual medium of writing. Really, the only thing that justifies a huge fight scene is making the reader really, really want to see the outcome – having built up the animosity between the characters, or the desire to see one of them bite the dust. That kind of build-up takes time, so it’s probably only going to be possible to ‘earn’ two such fight scenes in a story.

Whether the whole fight is in one paragraph or not depends on your writing style and the way you’ve treated paragraphs elsewhere. That said, it would be unusual to turn such an action-heavy scene into a single block of text. We’ve got an article on paragraphs coming up soon, including when it’s best to break them, so that should answer your question in more detail.

hi my names alexis im wriitng a 30,00 word novel for nation novel writing weak im in 8th grade and this is what i got so far————————. The loudness of the room was getting louder and louder until everyone knew that there was gonna be a big huge staring contest that was going to happen during lunch. But when Michaela arrives with Elizabeth they sit down in the chairs that were blue, clean,shiny,and had a new smell to it but those blue shiny chairs where by the cafeteria table that they were sitting. All the sudden they see that Maddie was already there with her boyfriend and her friends,which they didn’t care. but when Michaela and Elizabeth discovers that Maddie, her boyfriend, and her friends are staring at them, and they immediately get mad at maddie so Michala and Elizabeth start staring at them and maddie saw that they were staring back so maddie gave michaela and elizabeth weird looks. And everyone out of nowhere was just staring at Michaela,Elizabeth,Maddie,her boyfriend,and her friends. But as soon as they left the cafeteria it was really quiet but when everyone left the cafeteria, they said there was staring contest, but no fight.

Thanks very much for sharing your NaNoWriMo writing. I’m afraid it’s had to be cut down, as we can only accomodate so much text in the comments. Beginning writing so young is a sure path to future brilliance, so congratulations on your work and be sure to keep at it.

Hello Mr. Wood I don’t know if you’ll see this, but I had a question. I’m now writing a fantasy book where the characters can influence gravity around them and practically fly/jump great distances at great speeds. I’m now struggling in a scene where one of the characters is chasing a bad-guy (who also has those powers). How can I write a chase scene that doesn’t actually get boring? Would really help if you’d share some advice on this matter. Thanks

Thanks for the great question. I think the key thing to keep in mind is that a chase isn’t inherently interesting. Almost no physical competition is – it’s the potential outcomes that interest the reader, and then the chase (or fight, or race, or argument) becomes interesting for how likely a specific outcome seems at any given moment.

To that end, the key to a great chase scene is how worried the reader is that someone will be caught/will get away. Every stumble or shortcut makes one of those outcomes more likely, and that’s something to keep in mind when writing them. This should guide what you focus on – is someone feeling tired, is there an obstacle coming up, is there a point the character can reach where they’ll be impossible to catch?

All the tips above apply – keep it basic, let the reader choreograph the scene, and keep your focus as the author on potential outcomes. As the reader, all the excitement and intrigue of a chase scene comes from who’s going to win. Strip away incidental dialogue, set-dressing, and anything that isn’t about that. Also, try to vary which outcome seems more likely. If it feels like a character is about to be caught and they escape, or it looks like they’re about to get away and then they stumble, that’s the moment where the reader’s heart really starts beating.

Hope that’s what you were looking for.

Hello Mr. Wood

I need advice how to write an aerial, ground and naval battles. When I’m writing a fight scene it look simple and doesn’t excite the readers. This caused me to lose motivation on writing a decent story if I can’t excite the readers.

I’m currently writing two story. The first one is where a large military base was transport to a messed-up fantasy world where magic exists. They trained the peasants to fight against their tyrannical rulers and the corrupted nobles. The second one is a massive denizens went to the another world but find out that the world is controlled by a corrupted Empires so they decided to start a bloody world revolution.

I have a wild imagination so I want to write a good fight scene.

Hi Michael,

Thanks for your comments. In terms of writing huge battles, I’d suggest utilizing some of my advice to Edward (above), and also keeping your eyes peeled, as we have an article on writing battle scenes in the pipeline that should provide more comprehensive information.

In your particular case, though, I’d suggest caution. You say that your scenes fail to excite readers, and I wanted to check that this conclusion is a result of consulting with beta readers. The reason I ask is that there’s a definite tendency to overwrite fight and battle scenes for authors, specifically because it’s impossible to get down on paper the complexity and scale that’s in their heads. Feeling that a scene doesn’t live up to the vision can lead authors to scrap something that’s working.

The key is not to try and chase the vision – to write in such a way that the reader is brought in as a partner, filling in details and choreographing their own most exciting scene. I think in most cases I’d argue there’s no way to write an objectively great battle scene (by which I mean a battle scene that, in and of itself, grabs and excites the reader regardless of everything else about it). Instead, it’s about building up the context of the battle beforehand, communicating it as a web of individual experiences, and leaving space for the reader. As with any action scene, it’s also advisable to focus on the potential outcomes. For example:

A scene where 127 men are blown up = boring. A scene where 127 men are blown up, but where the reader knows that 400 men will be needed to storm a fortress, and there are only 568 left = tense and exciting.

Really, it’s about making the reader do math on the fly. They need to know the ‘win’ and ‘lose’ conditions and then understand every event as a new variable. That way, they’re constantly thinking ‘oh no, now they’re more likely to lose’ or ‘that means they COULD still win’. Once you’ve got that, then it’s time to dress it up a little so the whole process seems a little more natural and less like an equation – battle estimates provided through a commander figure via dialogue rather than narration, taking enough time over a moment that it doesn’t feel perfunctory, that kind of thing.

I hope that’s useful, and please let us know what you think of the battle article once it’s up.

Hello and thank you. I’m writing a story that I most say is writing itself. But two of my characters have been snipping at each other for so long and the testosterone has finally hit its boiling point and there is no alternative, they have to duke it out. I have never written a fight scene. Your blog was the first one to catch my eye in google search. Thanks to you I now know how to proceed. I love the idea of putting the five senses in instead of description. Show don’t tell 😉 I’m very excited.

Fantastic, I’m really glad the article was so useful. I’ve also written specifically on sense writing, and have included a link to that article below:

//www.standoutbooks.com/sense-writing/

I dread battles… I hate them. For some of my earlier attempts I relied on character emotion but seeing as how I’m writing the last book of my series right now though, I am under alot of pressure to offer a lot of action especially since the whole series is leading up to this final fray. I’ve been building the action/tension through small skirmishes for the last while but I will admit it is wearing me down. My fear now is that my reserves will run dry and spoil what I hope to be an awesome climax. One thing I do find to my benifit is that, over the course of seven books, I was able to introduce a wide variety of characters slow enough for the readers to form a strong relationship with them all. Whenever I do tackle the final battle, having so many characters (I don’t know if it’s a good practice) it allows me to write several mini battles in the war, jumping between the characters I use that as my primary tool to offer more action/longer battles. Keep in mind though, this whole jumping between characters style I subtly introduced in book one and by book two I was using it constantly so my readers are used to that style. I find it helps keep the action up so if a character is doing something boring like learning or traveling etc I usually always have another engaged in more entertaining tasks. Just offering a tool that helps me… I wish I could say the same with battles though. I’m hopeless when it comes to them. 🙁

Hi Breanna,

Thanks very much for your thoughts, and a method that will help other writers with their stories. I’m happy to say we also have some advice specific to battles – I’ve included the link below.

//www.standoutbooks.com/write-epic-battle-scene/

Thanks Rob that made my day, it’s nice to know that I was able to offer something of use thay may help someone. I did check out the resource you offered, it is certainly informative. I find I need reprieves between the action both for my creative juices to recover and rest from the high points but also it is in these breaks that I bring back purpose of these fights, whether it is the character navigating the dungeon, redefining what he was looking for or regrouping after an ambush I need these lulls, they are my pillars of grounding, a chance to remind myself and readers what we’re there for. I’ll offer a quick example specific to my plot. Like with Harry Potter, my main character is the Chosen One destined to fulfill a prophecy. They are right now camping near the dark city assembling siege weapons preparing for the fight. The Bad Guy, so to speak, gets this bright idea that if he is able to kill the Chosen One this battle won’t happen and the lands will remain shadowed so he sends an ambush, waits for the main character to be seperate from the main army gathering wood for instance and then attacks. (High action scene) though the catch is that the ambush is made up of undead to increase the chances of the ambush being successful (it was only called off because the leader of the ambush was human and died properly telling his men to retreat). So now, in a lull the main character realises that there are undead he must face in the battle and is talking with any one he can trying to find a way to defeat them else every good folk will be killed by them. I am sorry it’s a bit long but again the ambush had purpose, it created further conflict forcing the Chosen One to adapt. I see no reason to add action with no purpose. One of my first writing lessons was that character and plot are so intertwined remove one and the other falls apart. For a good story they must alter each other in some way. On the flip side I remember reading this novel (which wasn’t very memorable) and in it there was one quote I recal rather vividly as it offers a perfect example of what not to do; Character One: “…we are battling, do you love battles?” Main Character: “Sure I love battles, who are we battling exactly?” Hope I helped.

Thanks for the great examples. I promise not to reply to everything you post with another article, but you reminded me of something we posted on ‘eulogizing’ characters prior to their deaths (though it works just as well for places or even states of being, like innocence or love). It works exactly as you say – in the lull – and lends the forthcoming battle meaning and poignancy.

//www.standoutbooks.com/how-to-kill-character/

Heres one im proud of about a barbarian sort of character winning a duel

The axe came downward and cut through the man’s right shoulder stopping at the first , second , third rib. The man inhales , no air comes back out. The bull puts his foot under the blade and with a single motions pulls it out , dragging a gore of dark flesh and pale organs out with it

Hi MadBull,

Thanks for sharing! There’s definitely some excellent stuff in there – ‘first, second, third rib’ is compelling writing. One thing I would suggest is that ‘came’ isn’t doing enough work for you, at the moment. A more descriptive verb such as ‘sliced’ or even ‘swept’ would tighten this up, and maybe even do enough work to take the place of the whole ‘came downward and cut’.

I’m working on writing with elements that I haven’t read about in a book before, attacks that haven’t existed before (at least in what I’ve been exposed to). Is it harmful to provide a lot of information about the way a person attacks if it is cerebral or indirect. I don’t want my audience to see the play by play, but I want to give them the resources, so when they inhabit the flesh-suit of my characters, they experience combat the way my characters are designed to.

The rule of thumb is that the form of action writing should match its content – if the fighting is meant to be fast-paced and violent, the writing should be staccato. It’s therefore fine to write detailed, cerebral action, but that’s likely to then be the way the reader experiences it. This can work for balletic, graceful action, but it means the reader is unlikely to worry about the character in the same way that brisk writing encourages.

One technique that might work is to write some early, cerebral stuff, to cover the key ideas for the reader, and then move towards more intense fight scenes later.

I’m revising my chapters, I write in deep pov, (or at least I try hard too,!) so yes “the man” is actually needed as she doesn’t know who he is. xD anyway, this has some action to it.

How is this?

The man walked down the darkened hallway, the candles on the wall reflected off of the blade of a thin long handled battle axe that he welded in hand like one would a wand. Maybe Olnenus would grant some luck for a change and he’d miss… that thing surely was flimsy. His features were hidden in the deep hood as he came up to the cell door. She quivered with the pressure struggling to keep from lunging, sweat wet her palms. This had to be a joke right? He’s so tall and skinny, honestly, Kar should’ve sent down someone with more oomph! Still all the better to get out fast. Thank you, Olnenus!

He unlocked the cell door it creaked as he pushed it open, a shining stand of curly red hair fell out from the hood, a hawk like nose jutted out before those hateful green eyes.

The pot clattered as it dropped, she backed away everything was sour again, must have displeased Olenus again. “Damn you Kar.”

He grinned, rolling the axe in his hand, it shrunk and thinned back into a wand. “Good morning pet, not amused hum?” He giggled that freaky giggle again.

A cold streak ran up her neck, she suppressed a shiver. “I won’t be mocked!” She lunged at him, her arm pulled back into a sweaty fist, aiming for his adam’s apple. That’ll shut him up.

Hum.. dialogue still needs work, well, never mind I think the action stuff is better so thanks. ^-^

One more time.. He grinned, rolling the axe in his hand, it shrunk and thinned back into a wand. “Good morning pet, want some kibble?” He giggled that freaky giggle again.

(To lame? or funny? I think it’s hella funny, though my humor is a little odd and might not work for others. Sigh.)

Thanks for sharing – there’s some great, engaging narration in there. If you’d like detailed feedback on a project, you can click the blue button in the top right of the page to contact us directly.

Thank you, you’re kind to say that! I’ll check it out. 🙂 Though, it’s probably too early to have it evaluated yet.

Hello, Mr. Wood? I am a 14 year old aspiring author. So far, my only means of writing my stories is by school-provided computers and/or smart device. Anyways, I am currently writing a story about a group of aliens that crash-land on Earth. These aliens have supernatural abilities, such as cryomamcy and reality warping. There is about to be a fight scene between two aliens. (It should be noted that these aliens have horns that are extremely sensitive to any contact.) One of these aliens has the ability of electrokinesis, while the other has the ability to possess others. Also, their height is very uneven, one being 5’10, the other being 5’2. What do you suggest for this type of scene? I apologize if there was too much to read! I can get a bit wordy at times.

Hi Rebecca,

Thanks for commenting. It really depends how you want the scene to play out – for example, is either of these characters the protagonist, or are nearby civilians how the reader sees things unfold?

The articles below should be useful; the first is about writing battles, which might be useful when one character can be multiple people, and the second is about the characteristics that readers expect from certain fictional weapons, including types of magic and supernatural powers.

//www.standoutbooks.com/write-epic-battle-scene/ //www.standoutbooks.com/writing-fantasy-weapons/

Sir, I want a little bit help in writing a fight scene between my characters who have powers in fire and water.

Hi Adyasha,

I think the article below should be useful in thinking of ways to characterize and write supernatural powers:

//www.standoutbooks.com/writing-fantasy-weapons/

I’ve looked everywhere for an example of a good old fashioned bar/pub shootout. I’m writing a screenplay and originally I planned on just showing the aftermath of said shootout, but I thought why not show it? However, I’ve never written one. You wouldn’t write it like a fist fight or a cage match… so, what’s out there that would be a good model? My mind is blank!

Great question – thanks for commenting. I think a lot of the bare bones logic of a fight scene remains – there are still ‘moves’, ‘reactions’, and a need to contextualize consequence – but shootouts are often more about tension than one constant ‘fight’. The articles below should help with that, and for inspiration, I’d suggest most anything Tarantino.

//www.standoutbooks.com/10-facts-tell-how-use-tension-your-story/ //www.standoutbooks.com/george-orwell-writing-advice/

I do not completely agree. Sometimes the use of detail is helpful because you want to lengthen a particular part of a scene rather than shorten it. You want your readers to get stuck on a certain, and realize how important it is. Rather than have it pass quickly with not as much thought. Right?

Obviously, with art, there are barely any absolute rules. Most advice is more along the lines of what is likely to create a certain effect than what absolutely has to/can’t be in a certain scene. So, yes, there are lots of occasions where you’d want to use detail to lengthen a moment, but that technique is still likely to sap momentum, and therefore to make the fight less visceral and compelling.

It’s like saying ‘don’t stick your hand in a lion’s mouth’ – it’s USUALLY true, but if you WANTED to get your hand bitten off for some reason, it would no longer apply, even though the actual logic (that it’s an action that will get your hand bitten off) doesn’t change in itself. A more applicable version might be ‘try to use speech identifiers or it will be unclear who is saying what’. Good advice usually, but applied differently if you’re in the rare situation of actually wanting the reader to be confused about who is speaking.

Of course, creating art creates such ‘rare’ situations with surprising frequency. The shorter version: absolutely, there can be a benefit to deliberate use of detail, but that benefit should still be weighed against the drag it imposes on the surrounding action.

I am not very good at writing the actual fight part of it, I use a lot of detail and I have been told I am good at arguments. I am not sure where to go with my battle though. I am at the climax of my story and the antagonist is supposed to die. Both of my characters in the fight have magical powers. The Protagonist can use shadows to give her energy to fight things and can shape the shadows to do certain tasks like lift her up into the air or burn out torches. My antagonist uses light for energy and counters the shadows but I am not sure how to write it. This is what I have so far:

[Comment shortened by moderator]

From there I am not sure where to go. The father is supposed to die, I am thinking that somehow he needs to be absorbed by the orb of light so that the protagonist’s town doesn’t crumble, but I do not know how to get there does anybody have any suggestions?

I apologize; I’ve had to cut down your comment to keep our comments section manageable. If you’d like detailed feedback from an editor, I recommend our manuscript critique or editorial consultation services.

As for general advice, I’d suggest the article below, which discusses using the assumed ‘character’ of weapons to write them consistently. It’s something easily applied to types of magic.

Hello! This article really helped me with a part of the book I am writing, and just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed it! If I could add one thing, it would be (if the fight is written through first person, or an omniscient) Is the characters thoughts, what has helped me a lot is to not just making it a physical battle, but emotional as well, ie, “He is saying something to me, but I cannot hear it over all the angry voices in my own head. Suddenly, I forgot my own pain, and lunged forward. I slammed into him vehemently, he tumbles back and crashes into the wall. I begin pummeling his chest and neck with my fists, screaming and ranting. My hatred for him, and what he did, is powering each blow…” (A recent segment from what I’m writing) I guess this really wouldn’t apply to everyone though, and would really depend on what your writing. Again I really enjoyed reading this, and your article has helped my writing improve so much! Thank you!

Hi Equinøx,

Great point – a character’s mental state should definitely be part of a great fight scene. A lot of authors leave emotion at the door when the action starts, but it can prompt a lot of decisions that are otherwise hard to justify (plus, it’s interesting in its own right.)

What a useful resource! I’ll be checking out more articles. 🙂

I was wondering if you have any advice on scene cuts or changes mid fight. I could see how breaking away could add tension, lose it, or just be annoying.

I’m towards the end of a long, involved fight scene in my sci-fi/fantasy novel. Currently, my main character is being hunted by a 60ft long, alien snake, and I kinda love the idea of punctuating the last line by ending the chapter on it. But would that be superfluous if the next chapter dives right back into the action? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

“Wren didn’t see it. He was distracted by the four golden eyes now focused on him. Drawn by his noise and movement, the snake rose like a pillar of shadow and let forth a bassy growl that thrummed through Wren’s bones.

Wren didn’t wait for further commentary. His hand whipped forward. His knife flew like an angry wasp into the face of the lunging snake as he rolled to the side and dashed along the beam. He leapt for a low hanging limb, swinging up into a tree just as the beam behind him was encased in tentacles. He scampered along branches and ducked into cover, chancing a glance downward at Rory and Whispering Cloud as the beast disentangled itself to strike again.

He needed Cloud to get the cable back up to him. Once he had it, Wren could free Rory, trap the snake, and get them all to safety – but he was out of tricks, and he could hear the purr of the snake’s breathing as it searched for him, smell its musk as surely as he knew it could smell the blood soaking the bandage on his hand and dripping down the cuts of his arms.

He hoped Cloud had used his distraction to get the cable into position, but all he’d seen was the monk rifling through his backpack. He hoped Rory was still alive. He hoped Cantis was still waiting for them, even though he doubted they’d make it back. It occurred to him that the tree he was pressed against was immense and was something he had never, and would never see again on White Cloud. All these things played through his mind as he waited, silent and breathless for the “collection of problems” that would be his death.

The snake’s golden eyes came into view, and its face unfurled like a velvet flower. Wren had enough dignity not to scream. “

Sorry. Also wanted to mention, as a side note, that setting always makes a huge impression on me. Not stuffing the scene with details, but making sure your characters aren’t just fighting in a vacuum.

A fight being on top of a train, or the deck of a storm tossed pirate ship, or next to the Cliffs of Insanity sure does ratchet up the tension. Even something common place, like a fight next to a swimming pool or in a muddy parking lot can be full of sensory information that add extra grit to the scene.

Hi Caroline,

Thanks for commenting. Your point about setting is a great one – such an easy way to provide oneself with a host of options.

As for ending a chapter mid-action, pretty much anything can be forgiven if it works for the reader. So long as you don’t end up with two noticeably shorter chapters, this is likely to add enough tension to justify any sense that a technical rule has been broken.

Thank you! 🙂

I found this article so helpful, considering I’m bad at fight scenes. Though, I do ask for more advice. How would you write a scene where one character is far more crazy than the other? The stereotypical insane character infatuated with the other losing, a sadistic villain hellbent on destroying the stubborn hero who won’t give up. Yes, the advice above helps, but do you have any examples of these types of fights? How do you write a fight between characters that are on different sides of the mental stability chain?

Thanks very much for the kind words. There are a lot of ways to approach what you describe, but the one I’d suggest playing with first is contrasting experiences. For instance, if the more stable character is hurt and recoils but the less stable character is injured later in a similar way and it doesn’t even slow them down, the reader can see (even without being told) how differently these two people experience the world. It’s the gulf between their experiences that does the work, here, so you can use one character to make the other look unusual just by comparison, and this can work with pain, fear, reluctance to hurt someone else, etc.

There are more straightforward examples you could check out, but I’d actually suggest trying ‘A Clockwork Orange’ to really dig into this idea. The book is full of people with very different approaches to different types of violence, and those people grow and change (or don’t) as the book progresses. In terms of density, you’ll get to witness a lot of interactions predicated on drastically different attitudes to a bit of the old ultraviolence.

This article was honestly one of the most helpful I’ve come across. I’m writing a novel based around pirates and some supernatural elements, and I’d written so much until it led to a fight scene. Action is a giant obstacle for me because I’m terrible at writing it without feeling like it’s choppy and repetitive. Especially since, when it comes to pirates, it’s a lot at once. You have the ships firing their cannons and causing damage while the actual pirates have guns, swords, and fists. I find it very difficult to start writing a fight, let alone finish one successfully.

My sympathies – big battles can be incredibly hard to write well. I’m glad this article helped, and I’ve suggested a couple below that should also be useful.

What Authors Need To Know About Ships And Spaceships How To Write An Epic Battle Scene

How about writing space battles that take place around planets? I feel stuck trying to narrate in third-person limited.

I wanted to zoom in and out of the battle to show what the weapons do, but my editor said my story isn’t working in third-person omniscient.

There are a few ways to do this. The easiest is to add some way for the characters to see more of the battle – a camera drone, some kind of remote-viewing power, or just a weapons/tactics expert telling them what’s happening. This way, the reader is still just seeing what your characters are seeing.

That said, the deeper issue is that leaving the characters behind to go exposit on weaponry is unlikely to be compelling. The characters are what the reader cares about, so this type of exploration is best done through their experiences. I’d therefore suggest writing the scene such that we see the weaponry as it affects the characters. A certain weapon is locked onto them, but they’re buffeted to safety as a nearby ship is blown up by another weapon. Dazed, they’re contacted by another ship with an enemy on its tail, but before they can take action, it’s downed by something else, etc. Not only does this let you explore everything going on, but it makes everything relevant, and the weapons are more interesting because the reader encounters them as threats to the thing they care about. Obviously, you can blur the lines a little, and throw in things they see in the distance or are contacted about so it doesn’t feel like they’ve been personally attacked in every possible way. Finally, be sure to remember that books aren’t movies – spectacle isn’t as inherently impressive in this medium.

I hope that’s useful, and I’d also suggest the articles below for more insight: How To Write An Epic Battle Scene What Authors Need To Know About Ships And Spaceships

Of all the articles I’ve read about the topic, this is the one that I’ve found the most useful, with very good examples to illustrate very clear and sensible advice. I just wanted to thank you for it.

hello. I am writing a training scene. My protagonist learns how to fight. The problem is that I don’t know how to bite that… help!

Robert can you give me tips on how to write a fight against monsters that can’t talk back. Do I just do the perspective of the character during the fight scene or should it change to a 3rd point of view in between the fight. This article has also been very helpful

I find it hard in constructing fight scenes some times. its easy to think about a scenario but to describe it to the readers, I always end up stuck and my last resort is to sleep. This article has been really helpful ! . Thanks to it, I know I’d improve.

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Describing Words

This tool helps you find adjectives for things that you're trying to describe. Also check out ReverseDictionary.org and RelatedWords.org . Here are some adjectives for knife : . You can get the definitions of these knife adjectives by clicking on them. You might also like some words related to knife (and find more here ).

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Words to Describe knife

Below is a list of describing words for knife . You can sort the descriptive words by uniqueness or commonness using the button above. Sorry if there's a few unusual suggestions! The algorithm isn't perfect, but it does a pretty good job for most common nouns. Here's the list of words that can be used to describe knife :

• jewelled sacrificial
• little sickle
• altogether plainer
• fourth and altogether plainer
• small but perfectly serviceable
• genuine double-bladed
• short double-bladed
• small razor-edged
• large and odd
• left-hand false
• triangular afghan
• bloodied ritual
• deadly fatal
• cynical surgical
• cruel, sacrificial
• long, sacrificial
• precious, bitter
• curved sacrificial
• milky, crystalline
• six-inch retractable
• slim european
• straight survival
• ceremonial long
• formidable but wooden
• rude but keen
• african sacrificial
• sharp, broad and heavy
• envious keen
• noiseless and insidious
• sharp large
• enormous, unwieldy
• small sickle
• tiny pearl-handled
• badly crimped
• sharpest, biggest
• thin jeweled
• obviously bloody
• slender two-edged
• crooked kurdish
• razor-thin, double-edged
• unerring long
• curved, two-inch
• bloody sacrificial
• large, double-edged
• five-inch tactical
• narrow surgical
• open, two-edged
• chief, dull
• moistened flat
• true and worshipful
• jagged double-edged
• ordinary pearl-handled
• long kurdish
• stone-sacrificial
• curved and terrible
• nepal curved
• crooked oriental
• wondrous sharp
• long, jeweled
• sharp, accurate
• curved kurdish
• jewelled, curved
• dainty, ornate
• wicked, homemade
• sharp and well-balanced
• small double-edged
• icy, arctic
• already blood-stained
• small, four-inch
• curved ceremonial
• jeweled ceremonial
• heavy, three-foot
• right funny
• shiny and sharp
• sharp, ornate
• slim, heavy
• heavy bread-and-butter
• tiny two-inch
• disgustingly dull
• large blood-stained
• special curved
• short and rather bloody
• large double-edged
• sharp or dull
• menacing long
• wonderful all-purpose
• small but obviously sharp
• same semicircular
• strong ordinary
• deathly treacherous
• great jade-handled
• double-edged italian
• sharp and flexible
• dull titanic
• meditative and discontented

Popular Searches

As you've probably noticed, adjectives for " knife " are listed above. Hopefully the above generated list of words to describe knife suits your needs.

If you're getting strange results, it may be that your query isn't quite in the right format. The search box should be a simple word or phrase, like "tiger" or "blue eyes". A search for words to describe "people who have blue eyes" will likely return zero results. So if you're not getting ideal results, check that your search term, " knife " isn't confusing the engine in this manner.

Note also that if there aren't many knife adjectives, or if there are none at all, it could be that your search term has an abiguous part-of-speech. For example, the word "blue" can be an noun and an adjective. This confuses the engine and so you might not get many adjectives describing it. I may look into fixing this in the future. You might also be wondering: What type of word is knife ?

The idea for the Describing Words engine came when I was building the engine for Related Words (it's like a thesaurus, but gives you a much broader set of related words, rather than just synonyms). While playing around with word vectors and the " HasProperty " API of conceptnet, I had a bit of fun trying to get the adjectives which commonly describe a word. Eventually I realised that there's a much better way of doing this: parse books!

Project Gutenberg was the initial corpus, but the parser got greedier and greedier and I ended up feeding it somewhere around 100 gigabytes of text files - mostly fiction, including many contemporary works. The parser simply looks through each book and pulls out the various descriptions of nouns.

Hopefully it's more than just a novelty and some people will actually find it useful for their writing and brainstorming, but one neat little thing to try is to compare two nouns which are similar, but different in some significant way - for example, gender is interesting: " woman " versus " man " and " boy " versus " girl ". On an inital quick analysis it seems that authors of fiction are at least 4x more likely to describe women (as opposed to men) with beauty-related terms (regarding their weight, features and general attractiveness). In fact, "beautiful" is possibly the most widely used adjective for women in all of the world's literature, which is quite in line with the general unidimensional representation of women in many other media forms . If anyone wants to do further research into this, let me know and I can give you a lot more data (for example, there are about 25000 different entries for "woman" - too many to show here).

The blueness of the results represents their relative frequency. You can hover over an item for a second and the frequency score should pop up. The "uniqueness" sorting is default, and thanks to my Complicated Algorithm™, it orders them by the adjectives' uniqueness to that particular noun relative to other nouns (it's actually pretty simple). As you'd expect, you can click the "Sort By Usage Frequency" button to adjectives by their usage frequency for that noun.

Special thanks to the contributors of the open-source mongodb which was used in this project.

Please note that Describing Words uses third party scripts (such as Google Analytics and advertisements) which use cookies. To learn more, see the privacy policy .

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Writing About Cuts, Scrapes, and Bruises

If a character gets into a fistfight, chances are, they’re going to end up with a few nasty bumps and bruises. Likewise, tripping on asphalt or accidentally grabbing a sharp object could also result in your character looking a little worse for wear. 

There are infinite ways for characters to injure themselves over the course of a story, and their injuries could range from a mild papercut to a life-threatening wound. What’s more, injuries have a way of cropping up in all genres, from action and horror to slice-of-life and coming-of-age stories. If you aren’t prepared to write about even the small bumps, bruises, and gashes your characters experience, your readers will notice.

There’s a lot that goes into portraying realistic injuries in writing. You need to make sure you understand how injuries look, feel, and progress, and your characters might need to know a thing or two about basic wound care. If you don’t know what you’re talking about, or all your knowledge about injuries comes from anime, your injury scenes might make readers roll their eyes. But don’t fret—you’re here for a reason, aren’t you? 

This article is going to be a short one, but it is designed to give you an overview of the basics you’ll need to know to write about most cuts, scrapes, and bruises.

A word of warning: some language and descriptions may be upsetting if you are sensitive to blood, gore, or violence. Read at your discretion. 

How to Describe Cuts, Scrapes, and Bruises in Writing

When you’re describing what a wound looks like, it can be easy to get caught up in the details. Rather than trying to describe exactly how it looks, though, try to focus on the details that will give readers an indication of how serious the wound is. 

How to Describe Cuts and Scrapes

The first thing you should know about any injury (but especially those in which the skin breaks) is that it will immediately begin to swell up. Blood rushes to the area to accelerate the healing process, and that makes the skin around the wound look red and swollen, and it will feel warm (though not hot ). 

Additionally, most wounds aren’t going to bleed as much as you’d expect, though there are a few exceptions to this. Head wounds bleed much more than wounds elsewhere on the body, and if the character has been drinking or exercising recently, their wounds are going to bleed more.

When describing a cut or scrape, don’t go describing how red and wet it looks. Your readers will know about that already. Instead, try to give indications of how severe the wound is. How wide is the injury? How far does it stretch across the character’s body? Can bone be seen? Is blood seeping into their clothes or pooling underneath them? Is it a clean slice, or is it torn open? Have parts of the flesh been pulled away? How much does the wound frighten the injured character and the others witnessing the scene?

In most cases, you shouldn’t overthink this description. Injuries happen fast and are often treated quickly, so unless the injury is particularly significant, don’t waste a lot of time giving readers all the gory details. If you’re writing in first-person, your character might not even be able to look at the wound anyway, let alone examine it. 

How to Describe Bruises

Bruises are fairly straightforward to describe. They are simply splotches of discoloration where blood has pooled under the surface of the skin following a blunt injury. The most important thing to keep in mind, of course, is the fact that bruises will change color over time.

• When the injury is first sustained, it will look swollen and red.
• Over time, the bruise will darken to a shade of blue, purple, or black.
• After that, it will gradually turn yellow or green.
• Then it will turn brown and eventually fade away.

There is no specific timeframe for when bruises change colors, however. Some bruises may stay purple for the majority of the healing process, then quickly cycle through the other colors before fading completely. Others may stick around as faint brown splotches for a long time after sustaining the initial injury. Therefore, the color of a bruise cannot be used to estimate when the bruise was sustained any more specifically than “recently” or “a while ago.”

When describing bruises, it’s also important to keep in mind that the words you use can impact the way readers perceive the situation. For example, describing a bruise as a “contusion” creates a violent connotation, while “blemish” doesn’t sound so harsh. Describing bruises as  “discolored” or “shadows” comes with a more melancholy connotation. If you want to get more poetic, you can describe bruises like watercolors or sunset clouds, but be aware that language like that inherently romanticizes the injury (or the injured character), so be mindful of when you do this. 

How to Describe What Cuts, Scrapes, and Bruises Feel Like

The way a minor injury feels is going to depend on its location, and how it was sustained. An injury from blunt trauma, such as a bruise, is going to feel dull, and like it’s throbbing. It will feel stiff and firm from the swelling, and it may sting if touched. As the bruise ages, it may feel tender and sore, but only when pressure is applied or the area is moved.

A wound from a sharp object, however, is likely to feel hot, tingly, or numb. The pain may be delayed, but after the initial rush of adrenaline wears off, the pain from this type of injury will be fairly constant. If the injury was sustained on a part of the body that moves, such as the face or a joint, then it may cause sharper, more sudden pain when that body part is moved. 

Scrapes tend to feel hot and itchy, and the scab from a nasty scrape can cover a wide area. It will also get itchier as it heals, motivating the character to pick at it and delay healing. 

How Cuts and Major Wounds are Treated

Bruises sustained from mild trauma require no treatment and heal fine on their own.

Most cuts and scrapes must only be cleaned, disinfected, and covered with a bandage, but there are situations in which more extreme measures must be taken.

When a character sustains a major injury, the first and most important thing to worry about is blood loss. If the character is losing too much blood, they may go into shock , which can be deadly. Either the character themself or another character should apply pressure to the wound with a clean, absorbent cloth, such as a towel or sheet. At this point, stopping the bleeding is more important than sanitation, so if all the characters have to use is a sweaty shirt they pulled off someone, they should use it. 

Once the blood begins to clot and is no longer gushing out of the character, the wound will require stitches. Depending on the character’s situation and the genre of your story, a professional to give them stitches might be hard to come by. Many action heroes can be seen stitching up their own wounds, while those in dystopian or criminal settings may turn to a shady back-alley doctor to fix them up. Once a wound has been stitched up, it can be covered like normal. However, the stitches can’t stay in forever. Depending on the severity of the wound, your character should get those stitches out again anywhere between 3-14 days later. 

It’s important to mention that if your character continues on their journey without taking the time to heal, they could run into complications. If their bandage gets wet, for example, you should have them replace the soggy bandages to make sure their wound stays clean. If someone pats the character on the shoulder, not knowing there’s an injury hidden under their shirt, the character is going to flinch or make a noise from the pain of their injury being touched. 

Your readers might find it odd if your character covers a wound and then never acknowledges it again, after all. Don’t let basic treatment make wounds disappear magically (unless, of course, magic is involved). 

How Long it Takes Cuts, Scrapes, and Bruises to Heal

The time it takes an injury to heal is going to depend on the severity of the injury. As a general rule, however:

• Bruises take about 2 weeks
• Scrapes take about 1 week
• Minor cuts take about 2 weeks
• Surgical incisions and sutured wounds take about 4-6 weeks
• A bad wound that doesn’t get stitches could take up to 3 months

As long as there are no complications, your character will be good-as-new in just a few weeks. However, their age and health influence how fast they heal, as does the weather, and many other factors. If the wound becomes infected, that could significantly extend the time it takes for the character to heal. 

Some Parting Thoughts on Writing About Cuts, Scrapes, and Bruises

Before you injure one of your characters (even minorly), you should consider why exactly you want to harm them. Are you adding tension to a scene? Do you want to push two characters closer together? Do you want to toy with readers’ (and characters’) emotions? Do you need something to stop a character from continuing on this part of their journey? Do you need to foreshadow something worse happening in the future? 

If you can’t come up with one good, plot-related reason to injure a character, then you might want to reevaluate the scene you have prepared. An injury without purpose is just a way of boring readers and writing yourself into a corner. Everyone loves a bit of angst in their stories, but don’t just maim your characters for the hell of it. Give their injuries meaning, and the scenes will become much more impactful additions to the story as a whole. 

Good luck, writers!

Knife Fighting Do’s and Dont’s

Scott :What they gotcha teachin' here, young sergeant?

Jackie Black :Edged weapons, sir. Knife fighting.

Scott : Don't you teach 'em knife fighting. Teach 'em to kill. That way, they meet some sonofabitch who studied knife fighting, they send his soul to hell.

- Spartan , 2004

There really is no right answer to knife fighting, except, perhaps, the above quote. When you’re setting out to write a scene, it’s best to assess your priorities first and what your story needs. In the real world, knife combat comes in many different forms and works as a supplemental weapon in most military disciplines. It’s a common weapon in self-defense situations, and can be used both by the aggressor and the defender.

What is a knife?

Primarily, it’s a tool and, like all tools, there are situations where it thrives and those where it dies. It succeeds as an ambush weapon, as a builder on hand to hand, and when fighting in very tight quarters. Combat with knives is very quick and very deadly. As an ambush weapon, it is often used to close the distance or rush a target. Allow the knife wielder to get close to an opponent wielding a sword or a gun before either can be drawn and they will have the clear advantage. However, take the knife out of tight environments and it’s effectiveness will decrease dramatically. This is why it’s unlikely to be the only weapon in a character’s arsenal, especially not when you’re writing a professional combatant.

What kind of fight are you writing?

The knife is a deadly weapon in the hands of anyone, it doesn’t require any specialized training to be able to wield it. It’s more user friendly to killing than even a gun and can require less maintenance. Basic understanding works fine. You pick it up, you stab, and then you stab some more. The stabs may all go to one place, often the gut, but five or six into one place will leave the other character bleeding out on the sidewalk.

It’s up to you on whether or not you want to (or if it’s even appropriate to your story) write a scene which is more sophisticated. Remember, it doesn’t have to be. The basic principle of the knife is incredibly simple: You’re gonna shank a dude.

So, don’t freak out.

When it comes to a knife, anywhere on the body is a convenient target. Anywhere. This is one of the few weapons where you really don’t need to know much about it to write a scene. The knife is fairly intuitive. Unless your character needs to get fancy with their martial combat, then you do need to study. Even then, you still need to pick your martial art and do your research. Plenty of martial styles have a knife component, so it’s more a matter of searching through the different styles to find the one which fits your character and story.

Below the cut, I’ll discuss some basic theory and suggestions that hopefully will be enough to get you a jumping off point into the fine art of shanking. This is no means a comprehensive list, just basic beginner tips.

@ howtofightwrite / howtofightwrite.tumblr.com

Stabbed or Scratched: How to Describe Pain in Writing

Think about the worst pain you’ve ever experienced. How would you have described it when you were in the moment? What did it feel like? Did it have a color and texture? Maybe even a sound or a smell? Did it make you perceive your world in different ways? Did you notice what was going on around you? 

Chances are, if you were in enough pain, you probably didn’t notice much beyond, “Wow, this hurts.” It might be after the fact when you start to think more about how pain affects the body and the mind. Although the weird thing about pain is the body is designed to forget it—otherwise no one would ever have more than one child–so it can be hard to recall what exactly it felt like. 

Incidentally, my worst pain was probably giving birth to my son. The epidural had worn off, and it was too late to do anything about it. He was coming, and it was time to push. All I can remember are bright lights, screaming (not sure if that was me or my husband), and a lot of people surrounding me because things weren’t going very well and my little guy was stuck. 

If I had to give it a color, it would have been white or light blue for the lights and uniforms of the medical personnel. If I were giving it a texture, I would say it was smooth, simply because everything was just passing me by like I was sliding through a tunnel until that moment of absolute relief when the worst of it ended with a healthy baby boy placed in my arms. 

When it comes to writing about the pain your characters experience, you need to walk a fine line between taking your reader along to feel that pain without beating them over the head with it (which would also be painful).

With all that in mind, let’s talk about how to describe pain in your writing. In this article, we’ll go over:

• Challenges of writing pain
• Tips for writing about pain
• A list of pain descriptions you can use in your writing

Challenges of Writing Pain

Of course, one of the challenges of writing about pain is that everyone experiences it differently. What might feel like off the charts pain for one person might just be another day in the life of someone who lives with a chronic illness. A splitting migraine for you might feel like a normal headache to your neighbor. 

We also express pain in different ways. Some people try to suppress it and pretend they’re absolutely fine, while others will make sure you know about every single ache and stitch they’re experiencing. Multiple times. And of course, there are the majority of people who will fall somewhere in between. 

The other challenge with writing pain is that it can feel like a real drag to read paragraphs of how much something hurts. 

Consider the following paragraph…

“She dragged herself up as needle-sharp bolts shot through her shoulder, her teeth clenching so hard her jaw ached. Her body trembled and sweat dripped down her forehead as she groaned. When she inhaled, another flash of pain had her seeing double as her head throbbed and her arm felt like it had been cut in two. She stumbled, clutching her flaring limb as her vision went dark and waves of agony seared through her body.”

OKAY, enough already. 

She hurts, we get it. 

You can see from that paragraph how easy it is to go from describing pain in your character to inflicting pain on your reader. It’s a fine line that, like anything, you can get better at with practice.

Tips for Writing About Pain

And of course, to help you out, we’ve got some tips to make it even easier to learn the intricacies of writing about pain. 

Consider the pain level

Not all pain is created equal and some will impact your life in large ways, while others will be nothing more than a minor inconvenience. You can divide your character’s pain into four categories:

• Mild/minor/low: This is the kind of pain that is a little annoying but doesn’t hamper you. A mild headache or a sore muscle. Use words like pinch, sting, stiff, sore. 
• Moderate/medium: This is a higher level of pain that doesn’t debilitate but still  distracts your character from a task or breaks their concentration. Here, you might use words like ache, throb, or flare. 
• Severe/high: This is a type of pain that prevents your character from doing pretty much anything. It’s the kind of pain that will have them laid up in bed. Consider words like anguish, stabbing, or torturous. 
• Obliterating/extreme: This, of course, is the kind of pain that will have your hero writhing on the ground, unable to think of anything else, even pushing away thoughts of how to actually stop it. Think of words like shredding, twisting, knifing, or ripping. Ouch. 

You can also consider the injury and what kinds of pain would result, such as:

• Getting stuck with a pointed object like a sword or tree branch: pricking, drilling, penetrating, stabbing, piercing
• Getting cut with an object like a blade or knife: slicing, cutting, lacerating, sharp
• Having something tear like a muscle or a joint: pulling, wrenching, tearing
• Getting crushed by something heavy like a stone or piece of a crumbling building: pressing, crushing, tight, squeezing, heavy
• Getting whipped or lashed by magic or a whip: whipping, searing, lashing, lacerating
• Getting burned by cold or hot things like fire or ice: scalding, burning, aching, tingling, freezing, numbing, scalding
• Getting attacked by some kind of magic or curse: cruel, vicious, torturing, twisting, writhing

Less is sometimes more

Remember above when we talked about how it can be a drag to read endless paragraphs about how much your character hurts? With that thought in mind, keep your descriptions tight and resist the urge to wax on for too long about it. 

Conversely, if your character just got shot or got a knife in the gut, don’t forget about the pain a moment later. A serious injury doesn’t just magically disappear (unless you’ve created your world that way) just because the action is picking up. Sprinkle in gentle reminders that the injury is still present and affecting your character’s ability to get to their goal. 

After the fact, don’t forget to also allude to it from time to time as they’re recovering. If they’ve been seriously injured, then they’re bound to feel pain as they heal, too. But as we’ve mentioned, keep it brief and treat it with a light hand. Just a mention here or there to weave it into the details with the rest of your story. 

Show, don’t tell

Oh man, not this again. But yes, with pain, this rule is even more important. Don’t tell us it hurts. Tell us what it feels like. If your character has just been stabbed, talk about how it feels like an iron hot poker has just been shoved through their gut. If they’re being crushed by a heavy object, talk about how they’re having trouble breathing. If they’re being tortured, talk about the way they’re trying to detach from the pain and send their mind into protection mode. 

Give your pain consequences

There should be a consequence for the pain, otherwise what’s the point of hurting your character? (There is one exception to this that I’ll talk about in a minute.) Think about what the pain prevents them from doing. If they’ve been stabbed, can they rescue the handsome prince from the tower? 

Think about how much you want pain to play a role in your story. Do you want your reader to believe your character might not make it? Using pain as a plot device is an effective way to drive up the stakes and is a great way to show that “end of the world” moment for your down-on-their luck character. 

Give your character chronic pain

Chronic pain is something many people live with and yet, we don’t tend to see it represented that often in books. Chronic pain can come in the form of a disease or disability, or something like chronic migraines. How you choose to portray that pain and what you do with it is up to you. 

I mentioned above that not all pain needs to serve a purpose, and this is where chronic pain comes in. It doesn’t need to stop the character from doing anything, but it can be used to show how it affects their life, simply because that’s how people sometimes live. And it definitely doesn’t need to be “cured.” In real life, it rarely is, so for a character to simply exist with this as a part of their day to day is perfectly fine.

In fact, the trope of “healing a disability” is one that’s fallen out of favor and can actually be considered problematic. If you do choose to write about chronic pain or disability, be sure to get yourself a sensitivity reader to ensure you aren’t leaning into negative stereotypes or harmful tropes. 

Research your ailments

Pain is one of those things you want to get right. While you can get away with a lot in fiction, especially if you write speculative fiction, pain and injury are pretty universal ideas. 

If one of your characters gets shot or knifed in the stomach in one scene and they’re making dinner plans and heading to the gym in the next, your readers are going to give you the side eye. 

Yes, it’s fiction and the pain tolerances of fictional characters can be different from real life people, but within limits. 

If you’re writing a fantasy creature that heals quickly, that might be one way to overcome an extreme injury. Or maybe you’re writing a thriller with a Jack Ryan-type hero who would never let a little bullet wound get in his way. 

But for most, breathing, living characters, getting their arm nearly hacked off is going to take them down. Make sure you’re exercising realistic limits of pain tolerance.

The blog Script Medic is a great place to start where a medical professional breaks down various injuries for writers. It’s a great way to get information without filling your search history with things the FBI might investigate you for.

Pain Descriptions

Here are some words and phrases to help you describe pain in writing. Obviously, this isn’t an exhaustive list, but this should help get you started:

• A pale complexion
• Arching of the back
• Avoiding others
• Begging to die
• Biting a bottom lip
• Blacking out
• Blotchy skin
• Blurred vision
• Body going into shock
• Calling for help or aid
• Clenched hands and limbs
• Clenching or grinding of teeth
• Dark hollows under the eyes
• Darkness in the corner of vision
• Dragging one foot
• Drinking excessive alcohol
• Drooping eyelids
• Eyes squeezed shut
• Flinching at contact
• Gingerly moving about
• Glassed over eyes
• Gripping another person for help
• Haggard expression
• Hands gripping clothing
• Hanging on to the wall or furniture for support
• Hunched shoulders
• Hyperventilation
• Impatient gestures
• Limp arms, legs, hands, or fingers
• Looking away
• Mouth hanging open
• Nostrils flaring
• Praying to gods of deities
• Repeating oneself
• Rocking or swaying back and forth
• Rubbing areas of pain
• Sawing breaths
• Short, panting breaths
• Shuddering breaths
• Standing still
• Starbursts or floaties in the eyes
• Stilted gait
• Sweat on the brow
• Taking medication
• Tapping the foot
• Taste of blood or copper in mouth
• Tears or wet eyes
• Tentative steps
• Tight muscles and limbs
• Walking stiffly
• Watering eyes

By now, you’re hopefully a bonafide expert on the art of writing pain. As with anything, make sure you’re reading lots of books where pain is described. It can help you see what works and, maybe more importantly, what doesn’t. If you’re reading a book and the character’s pain is starting to feel like a drag, then that’s a good sign the author has taken it too far. 

But if you find yourself aware of the pain, but not distracted by it, then that’s a sign they’ve done their job well. 

If you found this article useful, be sure to visit our growing database of articles at DabbleU . We’re adding new ones every week to help you become your best writing self. We even make it super easy for you and send you all our latest tips, advice, and tricks when you sign up for our weekly newsletter . 

Nisha J Tuli is a YA and adult fantasy and romance author who specializes in glitter-strewn settings and angst-filled kissing scenes. Give her a feisty heroine, a windswept castle, and a dash of true love and she’ll be lost in the pages forever. When Nisha isn’t writing, it’s probably because one of her two kids needs something (but she loves them anyway). After they’re finally asleep, she can be found curled up with her Kobo or knitting sweaters and scarves, perfect for surviving a Canadian winter.

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G. Anderson Active Member

Wound from a knife.

Discussion in ' Word Mechanics ' started by G. Anderson , Nov 11, 2016 .

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_5ab036f13190c47fe58015ae3de5e2c7'); }); Hi All, So, here I am on a Friday evening writing away on my story. This story includes a scene of racist violence. And I am looking for a word for a knife wound that's more like a scratch, but 'scratch' sounds like something your child will get from the running too fast on the playground. I am thinking of something like a riff or a rift? But I can't find any info on these words online, so can any native (English) speakers help be with what word I am looking for, or perhaps you have a suggestion? It's written in British English and takes place in Bristol so American slang may be a bit out of tune with the book Thanks! Best, G. P.S. It's actually a lovely feel-good story by the end but I am only just before the middle now.  

MusingWordsmith Shenanigan Master Contributor

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_5ab036f13190c47fe58015ae3de5e2c7'); }); Cut? I'm American, so I'm not sure, but riff or rift does not sound right for a knife wound. 'Riff' is a musical term I think. 'Rift' is a gap, but I've never heard or read it used to describe any type of wound.  

PilotMobius Active Member

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_5ab036f13190c47fe58015ae3de5e2c7'); }); Instead of using a word to explicitly denote the injury, describe the pain and blood resulting from it. Otherwise, "cut" sounds about right.  

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_5ab036f13190c47fe58015ae3de5e2c7'); }); MusingWordsmith said: ↑ Cut? I'm American, so I'm not sure, but riff or rift does not sound right for a knife wound. 'Riff' is a musical term I think. 'Rift' is a gap, but I've never heard or read it used to describe any type of wound. Click to expand...

Lifeline South. Supporter Contributor

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_5ab036f13190c47fe58015ae3de5e2c7'); }); I am not native, but 'gaping apart'?  

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_5ab036f13190c47fe58015ae3de5e2c7'); }); PilotMobius said: ↑ Instead of using a word to explicitly denote the injury, describe the pain and blood resulting from it. Otherwise, "cut" sounds about right. Click to expand...

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_5ab036f13190c47fe58015ae3de5e2c7'); }); Lifeline said: ↑ I am not native, but 'gaping apart'? Click to expand...

matwoolf Banned Contributor

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_5ab036f13190c47fe58015ae3de5e2c7'); }); The blade tore a slice from shoulder down to elbow. For slang you might use terms like 'Stanley,' or 'shank.' Ripped , cut, jagged...I'll think on...  

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_5ab036f13190c47fe58015ae3de5e2c7'); }); matwoolf said: ↑ The blade tore a slice from shoulder down to elbow. For slang you might use terms like 'Stanley,' or 'shank.' Ripped , cut, jagged...I'll think on... Click to expand...

Skye Walker Banned

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_5ab036f13190c47fe58015ae3de5e2c7'); }); Dunno if you still need help with this, but 'slash' or 'gash', or 'laceration' or something along those lines?  

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_5ab036f13190c47fe58015ae3de5e2c7'); }); Skye Walker said: ↑ Dunno if you still need help with this, but 'slash' or 'gash', or 'laceration' or something along those lines? Click to expand...

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_5ab036f13190c47fe58015ae3de5e2c7'); }); You're welcome! Also, http://www.thesaurus.com/ is a great resource to check out if you haven't already.  

Infel Contributor Contributor

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_5ab036f13190c47fe58015ae3de5e2c7'); }); Was going to say "gash" also. "Slice" works, 'sever' would be the action of cutting something from a whole. Sometimes describing things vaguely leaves a pretty cool impression, too. If, for example, you say the knife wound left a "hole" in the body, you get a sort of gory picture of what it might look like.  

Mumble Bee Keep writing. Contributor

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_5ab036f13190c47fe58015ae3de5e2c7'); }); I think the word you're looking for is nicked.  

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_5ab036f13190c47fe58015ae3de5e2c7'); }); G. Anderson said: ↑ Thanks, those words I have never heard of before Click to expand...

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_5ab036f13190c47fe58015ae3de5e2c7'); }); WNP said: ↑ If you're going to use the word gash, just be careful what context you use it in, as it can also be used as a slang reference to a woman's vagina. Click to expand...

newjerseyrunner Contributor Contributor Contest Winner 2022

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_5ab036f13190c47fe58015ae3de5e2c7'); }); "laceration" would be what I would use and probably what a doctor would use.  

Shbooblie Senior Member

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_5ab036f13190c47fe58015ae3de5e2c7'); }); I would go something along the lines of 'slash' or 'gash' or 'cut' as others have suggested. Don't use laceration, it sounds good, but lacerations typically result from blunt force trauma rather than stabbing injuries so wouldn't be accurate.  

big soft moose An Admoostrator Admin Staff Supporter Contributor Community Volunteer

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_5ab036f13190c47fe58015ae3de5e2c7'); }); A knife wound inflicted during gang violence in british slang would be known as a stripe - this is particularly true where it is inflicted with a double stan (that is a knife fitted with two stanley knife blades separated by a blob of bluetack - the idea being to make a wound that is impossible to stitch cleanly without leaving a scar that said this is a lot more than a scratch - its more like a slash or a gash (note that a slash is also slang for taking a piss so watch your context there)  

Denegroth Banned

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_5ab036f13190c47fe58015ae3de5e2c7'); }); I think there's no danger of being mistaken for using slang. If you've used slang all along, then readers will tend to err on the side of slang if they find an odd usage that could be slang. If you've attended Hemingway's "Just Say It" school of writing, then just say it; cut. A slash is deeper and longer than a cut. It would require stitches. A gash is similar to a slash. Laceration would infer a not very clean injury, so not necessarily a knife blade, unless perhaps the knife was serrated. A rift is more of a geographical, or geological term. This, all of course if you're not using slang. If you are using slang, and you don't know the slang for the various ways someone can be knifed, maybe you should rethink using slang. I somehow get the impression you aren't using it. ( It's nice to learn our cousins across the pond are getting so inventive in using blades for fun and mayhem. )  

X Equestris Contributor Contributor

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_5ab036f13190c47fe58015ae3de5e2c7'); }); I wouldn't use laceration. It sounds clinical, so unless it comes up in the POV or dialogue of a medical professional, "laceration" probably wouldn't fit. For something like a scratch but a bit more significant, I'd use "cut". For a worse wound, "slash" or "gash".  

Viridian Member Supporter

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_5ab036f13190c47fe58015ae3de5e2c7'); }); Reading your posts on this thread I am thinking 'cut' is more what you are looking for. Slash is good but infers a much bigger 'cut' than I think you are referring to  

Jay Lafountain New Member

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_5ab036f13190c47fe58015ae3de5e2c7'); }); I think, as the title says, "wound" or "shallow wound" could work. I'd honestly go with "shallow wound", for it seems to describe well what you need. Also, you could describe the pain the character was feeling like, "agony shot through my ___ like fire", or something similar. Just some ideas  

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_5ab036f13190c47fe58015ae3de5e2c7'); }); Denegroth said: ↑ I think there's no danger of being mistaken for using slang. If you've used slang all along, then readers will tend to err on the side of slang if they find an odd usage that could be slang. If you've attended Hemingway's "Just Say It" school of writing, then just say it; cut. A slash is deeper and longer than a cut. It would require stitches. A gash is similar to a slash. Laceration would infer a not very clean injury, so not necessarily a knife blade, unless perhaps the knife was serrated. A rift is more of a geographical, or geological term. This, all of course if you're not using slang. If you are using slang, and you don't know the slang for the various ways someone can be knifed, maybe you should rethink using slang. I somehow get the impression you aren't using it. ( It's nice to learn our cousins across the pond are getting so inventive in using blades for fun and mayhem. ) Click to expand...

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_5ab036f13190c47fe58015ae3de5e2c7'); }); Wow, thank you all for your feedback and ideas! I think I will go with either wound or cut, as a simple term is more fitting with the rest of the tone. But if I decide to write a book on knife crime one day I will sure have a lot of ideas  

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Writers in the Storm

A blog about writing.

Writing About Hair: The Thick and Thin of Descriptions

You all are getting another peek into my magic notebook. This time we're taking a page out of my 17 page section that covers hair, wigs and every description of body hair you can imagine (and probably some of you can't). Now that I've scared you, we're going to talk about the hair on your character's heads - the color, the length, the style . . . We're covering it all. But there are a few very important points we should chat about first.

The #1 thing about hair descriptions is Do Not overuse them . You do not want to be known as "hair girl "or "hair boy!"

#2 on the essential List: Hair descriptions are a part of the character so make them work harder by using them to describe the person “inside,” not just what the person looks like outside.

•  A tomboy might have a very short, non-nonsense haircut. Then again, she might hide long tresses under a ball cap, because secretly she’d like to be noticed as the girl she really is.
• A man who works as an executive might conform to a short, and very tailored look. Or, he wears expensive suits but he wears his hair a little too long because on the weekends he caters to his passion and joins his buddies for motorcycle road trips.

Okay, because I have so many descriptions and definitions, I’m going to cut to the chase.

Alternative Generic Names For Head Hair

Coiffure Curls Down Fringe Fuzz Locks Mane Mop Ringlets Shock Strands Tresses Tufts Wig Wool

Descriptive Hair Phrases

Bangs obscured her eyes like a sheepdog Flaked with snowy dandruff Bleached, bottle baby Braid like a thick black rope Bundled at the nape Bun resembled a cow patty Cascading down her back Chemically damaged Coiled in a top-knot Crowning glory Cupie curls Curls foamed luxuriously Tendrils danced on the breeze Disheveled Downy bond hair sprinkled her arms Dramatic widow’s peak Elaborately dressed with ribbons Electrified Smelled like burnt chicken feathers Snow drifts of dandruff Veiled her expression with Greased into a ducktail Flaming locks fluttered to the floor Fluffy Frizz job, bad perm Glossy locks lifted on the wind Grew like a thatch of straw on a roof Grizzled, gray hair Hair drooped around pale cheeks Hair like Rapunzel Hairy as a dog Hung like a dark river Kinky perm Knotted Left unbound to tumble Like a clown wig, artificial red, plastic shine and fuzzy Like a thatched roof Like she put her finger in a light socket Limp and lifeless Long, shaggy hippy look Lustrous as onyx stone Marcelled into fingerwaves Matted to the scalp Perm fried Prematurely gray Puffed like a bubble around her head Ragged bangs Rat’s nest Ringlets Shock of hair stood straight up Slapped her face like wet worms Sleek and chic Smooth honey dripped over her shoulders Spiky Mohawk style of a punk rocker Spilled out of the hat Spread like feathers on a pillow Standing on end Stiff in front like a cockatoo Straight as a wire Streaked, highlighted Stuck to her sweaty nape Tangled mane Tousled pixie Two-toned dye job Unconquered curls sprang loose Unruly swirl Old-lady blue rinsed hair Vibrant color and shine Wet with sweat White Pigeon Wings at temples Wispy ringlets Wondered what rubble lay beneath that mess Wreathed her face

Hair Texture Phrases

Baby fuzz Bleached hair like mushy wet works Blue feather hair of old lady Bristle top Broom chopped Cat-fur fine Cotton candy hair, fine Cottony Dandelion fuzz Down Gummy Horsetail coarse Moldy hay Short-cropped and stiff Soft and lush Soft curls and waves Yellow straw

Descriptive Hair Color Words & Phrases

Coal Crows wing Ebony Jet Indian Ink Midnight Obsidian Onyx Raven

Grays and Whites

Battleship gray, dull gray Blue dandelion fuzz Blue rinse gray Faded glory Flint Grizzled (gray) Gunmetal Maltese gray (blue gray) Mineral Mousy (gray) Pewter Salt and Pepper Shale Silver cloud Smoke Snowy white Swan’s wing Steel Wood ashes

Amber (reddish) Ash brown Auburn (reddish) Baked Clay Bison Brunette Burnished Camel Caramel Chestnut Cinnamon Clove Dark beer Dark Earth Dark toffee Dirt Fudge cycle Glazed ginger Maple Sugar Mink Mousy Muddy Nutmeg Pecan Rawhide, dark reddish Root beer Russet Tobacco Tortoise Shell Walnut

Auburn Berry Brassy Brightest Burgundy Burnished copper Carrot top Cinnabar Clown wig red Cognac Dull brick Flame Garish brass Orange Russet Scarlet Strawberry Wine

Professional Hair Color Descriptions

  Ash blond -- Lacks red or gold highlights (verges on green tones); light mousy blond, medium and dark blond, dishwater, beige

Ash brown -- Browns lacking warm/red tones tones; light mousy brown, medium and dark brown

Black -- Different shades of black vary according to the amount of highlighting or pigmentation shadings present in the hair; black lacking all highlighting will be duller, ash shade; black containing a lot of red may appear as deep burgundy

Red -- Warm shades; berry, russet, strawberry (red-blonde), rusty orange, wine, carrot top, etc.

Towhead -- Whitish blond; usually an ash blond lacking warm tones but not always

Warm blond -- Blond with touch of gold and red; whiskey, wheat, honey, strawberry, brassy, golden etc.

Warm brown -- Brunette, dark or light brown that contains red or gold tones; varies from light to nearly black; reddish brown, chestnut, dark amber, auburn etc.

Hair Styles Modern And Historical

It’s impossible to name all the hairstyles but the selection here should be a good start. Many listed here also are known by other names.

[See of some these hairstyles here .]

Afro -- Unisex style borrowed from the African Americans; short and very curly, forming a bowl shaped profile; a pick is used to pull the hair away from the head and shape it

Asymmetric -- Hair is cut long on side of the head and short on the other.

Bedhead -- Popularized in 1990s by starlet Meg Ryan; short to mid-length shaggy cut worn jelled or moussed in tossed fashion

Beehive   -- A 60’s French twist coiled at the back of the head and rising above it to form a cone shape (see upsweep)

Bob -- Introduced in 1915 this short cropped hair style was popular during the 1920’s; also called the shingle bob, the shingle, the Eaton crop. It is often cropped at the jawline and aligned close to the face.

Bouffant -- Puffy hair style’ hair is backcombed or ratted then barely smoothed, resulting in a bubble affect

Bowl -- Most commonly worn by young boys. The bang area cut straight cross the forehead as if measured by turning a bowl upside down on the head. The top layers are longer and cut along the this bowl line around the head.

Braid -- Plaited hair

Bubble -- 60’s hairstyle, short to mid-length, ratted/backcombed to appear like a football helmet or bubble surrounding the head

Butch/flattop/crewcut -- A man’s style; usually cut with electric shears; very short and stands on end at the front of the head and his shaved close to the head on the sides; sometimes called a GI cut.

Buzz -  Modern slang for a hair shaved close to the head

Chignon -- Bun, usually at the nape or top of head; topknot

Conk -- African American textured hair that is straightened

Cornrows -- Small tightly braided rows of hair that hug the scalp; most often worn by African Americans

Duck tail -- 50’s style worn by girls and boys alike; hair on either side of nape combed toward the center of the head; reminiscent of Elvis Presley, Fabian, Doris Day, Debbie Reynolds etc.

Farraha Fawcett -- Long layered hair flipped or feathered back off the face with a bang that feathers or rolls off the face as well; made popular by the TV star of the same name; late 70’s and early 80’s

Finger waved -- Usually short haircut in which a stylist uses lotion and her fingers to create deep waves that circle the head. Popular in the 1920s and 30s.

Flip -- Feminine hair style of the 50’s and 60’s; long hair usually shoulder length turned up at the ends, sometimes in a roll.

Fontange -- Worn 1690’s to 1710; a towering fountain of frills and complex, lacy intertwining shaped around a wire frame and considered the height of fashion; nicknamed by disdaining men, the “tower and the comet”

French twist/seam -- Hair swept back from both sides the head (front to back) and rolled down the center of the head into a roll or tucked to make a seam

Fringe -- Curly bangs worn in the 1880’s; in 1900’s worn straight; alternate name for bangs

Kiss curls -- Seen immediately after Civil War; ringlets of curls on the cheeks or forehead

London Cut -- Short female cut popular during the 1960s and early 70s. The hair was cut over the ears, leaving a fringe in front of the ears, often brushed toward the face or straight down. The nape hair was cut along the hairline like a boys but more rounded instead of squared off like a man’s neckline.

Mohawk -- Shaved head with a strip of hair growth down the center of the head from forehead to the nape

Pads -- Late 1830’s long coiled curls over the ears (looked like ear muffs); at the back of the head they were called a Grecian knot or psyche knot

Pageboy -- Introduced in late 1930s early 40’s; long, hair turned under, usually just touching the shoulders

Pigtails -- Same as pony tail only the hair is parted down middle and each section is cinched into its own tail above or below the ear

Pixie -- Female short cut; feathered around profile of face and onto cheek, short at the nape line; usually with full bang and combed forward onto face; also called an Italian cut; permed version called a poodle cut

Pompadour -- Style of wearing the hair high over the forehead usually in some type of rolled affect; in 1940’s women used rats (nylon mash) to roll the hair off the forehead and puff it; a version of this also worn during the 1700’s and early 1800’s by most and women; name comes from a lady of this era called Madame Pompadour

Ponytail -- Hair gathered together and cinched with a rubber band or barrette to make a tail at the back of the head; worn high or low; worn low it’s sometimes called a George (referring to George Washington) or a Paul Revere

Poodle cut -- Short, curly haircut

Powdered hair/wigs -- Unisex style worn from about 1760’s to 1820; after 1740 men were wearing shorter, simpler wigs and began to powder their own hair

Punk -- Usually short on top and styled with lotion to stand up off the head; often a mohawk fashion from forehead to nape; sometimes dyed bright neon colors of pink, purple, blue, orange etc.

Queue -- Pigtail, esp. that of a Chinese. (Chinese queue was braided) Men of Colonial America wore these as well, usually tied back with a ribbon and in some cases men wore a periwig styled with a queue

Roach -- Hair brushed into a roll

Sausage curl -- Long tube-like coils of hair; popular in early 1800’s; in the early 1970’s these were piled on top of the head in a cluster, esp. for formal dress for teens.

Shag -- Like a pixie, only long at the nape. Lengths vary from short to long layered cut; popular during the early 70’s

Skin heads -- Group of radical racist youths, men and women alike, who shaved their heads

Spaniel’s curls -- Late 1840’s into the 50’s; long thick curls worn by the ear (as worn by Elizabeth Barrette Browning)

Spit curls -- First seen in 1831; flat curls on women in front of the ear

Tonsure -- Shaven part of a monk or cleric’s head

Updo/upsweep -- Generic term for long hair styled high on top of head; hair might petaled (layered curls), barrel curled, arranged in a chignon, backcombed into a beehive or styled in French roll etc.

Wedge cut -- Also called Dorothy Hamill cut; short cut worn mostly by women; sides feathered off the face, back cut longer from the drown to the occipital bone, where its layered into a wedge; nape is trimmed close the head and short; a late ‘70’s and early 80’s style.

Sharla has published three historical romances and her fourth, How to Fell a Timberman, is impatiently waiting to be formatted for Kindle.

When she’s not writing and researching ways to bedevil her book characters, Sharla enjoys collecting authentically costumed dolls from all over the world, traveling (to seek more dolls!), and reading tons of books. You can find Sharla here at Writers In The Storm, on Twitter at @SharlaWrites or on Facebook .

25 comments on “Writing About Hair: The Thick and Thin of Descriptions”

Thanks for sharing this wonderful list, along with the great pic!

Thank "you" for dropping by Erin.

Sharla, once more I must say ... you are amazing. How in the world do you do this ?? Reading your posts is like having our own personal writing coach. Each element of each writing technique in such amazing detail, that I need a workbook for your posts only.

Thanks ... everything I ever wanted to know about hair 🙂

Thanks for such a great compliment! Glad you enjoy my lists.

Goodie, another list of descriptions to add to my personal long list. Thanks so much for posting this - you save all of us a lot of long hours researching those perfect terms/descriptions for our manuscripts. Always, V

Glad you like the list Virgina. I wasn't kidding when I said I could only post a section of my hair list. But I figured you guys would be most interested in this one. 🙂

You've done it again, Sharla. The descriptive range you provide for such everyday characteristics is beyond impressive. Thanks.

Wow, you just made my top of the list for awesome. Thank you for all the work, and sharing.

Thank you ladies for stopping by. I'm happy to share. That's the best thing about being a romance writer. We share. 🙂

Wow! I'll never look at hair the same again.

Thanks Janie and thanks for stopping by WITS today.

Sharla, Thanks for the detailed description of HAIR that all writers can use in their stories.

what a helpful library you've created for hair. thank you

Thanks for posting such a useful resource! I made my own reference table, leaving a space for blonde and bald 🙂

My characters will never have a "bad hair day again!" Unless it furthers my plot, of course. 🙂

Thanks for taking so much time to compile these lists for us. It's so appreciated.

You are all welcome ladies. Now I wonder if I should tell my daughter, I used her punk hair style for my blog today. 🙂

What a great collection of facts! Thanks, Sharla! One of my characters, a Las Vegas showgirl, wears her hair in a "bob." Now I know what to call it.

Thanks for opening up your magic notebook, Sharla. I tend to get in a rut with hair and eye descriptions.

Thank you, wonderful descriptions. In Australia we also have (or had, it's a bit retro), a men's style called "short back and sides", like a crew cut but not as short. It was a conservative style that was the socially acceptable opposite of long hippy hair in the nineteen sixties. Hair styles carry a strong social message.

I love this regional information. Every country is different and sometimes even states here in the US. Thanks for sharing.

Very informative and fun, Sharla! I write stories set in the 15th century, and you included descriptions that I can use, also. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks. I write American historicals so I wanted to include styles from the past. Also I think sometimes it's fun to refer to old styles even for contemporary stories as they make great descriptions themselves.

This will save time I would have spent googling--thank you!

Your welcome Toni. You can find pictures of many hairstyles at the link I included above if that helps.

I must admit I only skimmed this, but I pinned it. It's an excellent resource. Thank you!

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