058 How to Write Believable Fight Scenes with Carla Hoch

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Often Christian books get a bad rap in the general market. Part of the reason for this is that there are certain aspects of a book where readers expect a certain level of quality, and they don’t find it.

One of those areas is fight scenes.

One of my goals with this podcast is to help elevate the quality of Christian writing. Which is why I am particularly excited about today’s guest. 

Our guest, Carla Hoch, is a martial arts practitioner and she literally wrote the book on writing fight scenes for Writers Digest (Affiliate Link).

Questions:

• Let’s start with the basics, what is a fight scene and what is not a fight scene? 
• Is it a sin to put a fight scene in your book?
• How are fight scenes different for Christian books?
• What makes a fight scene a good fight scene?
• What are the most important elements of a good fight scene? 
• Let’s talk about weapons: What do authors get wrong about swords?
• What do authors get wrong about bows?
• What do authors get wrong about guns?
  • A significant number of US readers know about guns. There are more privately held guns in America than there are people. 
  • Guns of all kinds are much louder than you realize. Even silenced guns are louder than portrayed on TV.
  • Guns are a lot heavier than you think.
  • You can tell by looking if a modern pistol is empty. 
  • No one holds a pistol with one hand if they intend to shoot it. 
  • Pistols have a very short distance. Writers who play a lot of video games can get this wrong. 
  • Recoil hurts and it messes with your aim.
  • It is terrifying to have a gun pointed at you.
  • The color of the gun doesn’t change its lethality. 
• Now you wrote the book on fight scenes, What compelled you to write about this topic?
• What mistakes do Christian Authors make when crafting fight scenes? 
• What have you learned about God while writing fight scenes?
• What is the one common myth about fight scenes that you want to debunk?
• Softball Question Time: Where can Christian authors go if they want to learn more about writing fight scenes?
• We are almost out of time, any final tips or encouragement?

Links:

• Fight Write: How to Write Believable Fight Scenes (Affiliate Link)
• Twitter: @carlahoch
• FightWrite.net
• FightWrite Podcast
• FightWrite YouTube

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