Action scenes are absolutely some of the best parts about writing science fiction stories. Action scenes can move the plot along, increase the stakes, and give readers a great ride through the story because they’ll always be on the edge of their seats. When written properly, action scenes can elevate the quality of a good story to a great story! For today’s post, I’ll be talking about how you can write a powerful and engaging action scene so that you can make sure your readers can be immersed in your story and find it genuinely exciting and interesting to read.
Not sure what’s the difference between sci-fi and fantasy? Read this → Sci-Fi vs Fantasy Explained: What’s the Difference?
Why Include Action Scenes in Sci-Fi?
An action scene isn’t just there for the thrill of it; these scenes genuinely serve an important purpose in any sci-fi story. An action scene may further the plot, give insight into character, or raise tension.
For example, in my series, The Fallen Age Saga, action doesn’t mean just fighting but it also shows the development of the characters as well as their views on morality and the human spirit. Furthermore, they also have situations where they are presented with dilemmas, which helps to raise the stakes throughout the books.
When it comes to writing action scenes, you always think about how it is applied to the larger narrative as you develop your own scenes. I’ve talked a bit about this in another post about military sci-fi books, so if you want to read more about this, check out that post too!
World Building and Action Scenes
In sci-fi books, world building and action scenes are basically integrated with each other and go hand-in-hand. Without proper world building, you’ll find yourself a bit lost with your action scenes. World building actually enhances these moments because you’ll understand things like how the characters think, how they speak, how they’d react, and more. Additionally, if characters are more pro-violence due to their culture or their upbringing, then this is something that you want to show in the action and how it relates to the world you’ve built.
Additionally, the setting is a really big deal in sci-fi action scenes. It doesn’t matter what sort of action scene you’re creating, whether it be a space battle or a war with boots on the ground, the setting must grab and immerse the reader. But you have to strike a fine balance: more detail will improve the scene, but an overload of description will slow the pace. Try and build the place for your readers without overloading on too many details.
If you want to learn how to choose a setting, check out this post!
Tension, Suspense, Anticipation
Another important part when it comes to writing action scenes is the balance and buildup that exists between tension and suspense. Tension should build the suspense and lead up to the moment of action. Tension is what allows for suspense to exist and allows for suspense to actually feel impactful. This tension allows for the buildup to have an effective payoff when the moment of action actually begins.
If you want to learn how to effectively write suspense in your story, then check out this post!
Pacing, Pacing, Pacing
A big part about writing action scenes in sci-fi is to focus on the pacing of the scenes. The pacing of the story and the scenes as individual units should reflect what type of punch you’re basically going to give the action in the story.
For instance, using short and choppy sentences can give you the impression of speed and urgency while longer and descriptive passages help to slow things down and give readers a second to catch up to the rest of the scene.
What you want is to strike a balance between the fast and the slow. I do this quite often in the combat scenes in Soldat, book 2 of my series, as there are lots of large-scale open war scenes and in these moments, I have to strike a balance but I also need the reader to sense the urgency of fighting and the chaos that exists in war. I found that playing video games and even sometimes watching war footage helps, but I don’t really recommend everyone watch war footage because it’s a bit stressful for some people.
Make Sure Your Characters are Interesting
One thing that helps action scenes is to ensure that your characters are actually written well and are memorable. Action is intense, but if your characters aren’t really interesting, then the reader won’t really feel the stakes in the story and won’t really feel like anything is that significant.
Writing memorable, interesting, and engaging characters is something that is important for a story in general and allows for moments of action to also feel engaging. It makes the scene come to life for the reader if the character is well-written.
In addition to the character, another great way to also make an action scene interesting is to consider the perspective that you are writing the story in. If your story is written in the first-person, then the action scenes will feel more personal and immersive. Third-person can also feel the same, but it will ultimately be just a bit more disconnected from the character in the way that first-person perspective scenes are written in.
Realism or No Realism?
Sci-fi is obviously not a realistic genre in that it sort of bends the boundary between realism and creativity and it depends on how you want to build the world. Action scenes can be as realistic or as unrealistic as you want them to be, but you have to keep in mind that it ultimately requires you to follow the rules of the world that you created. So, you want to make sure that the things in your action scenes make sense in the context of the world overall.
If you want to include a magic system and are maybe more interested in blending sci-fi with fantasy, then check out this post on how to create a fantasy magic system. If you’re interested in science-fantasy stories, then check out this post to learn more!
Show, Don’t Tell
A good action scene tends to show, not tell the reader what is going on. Telling is fine in some scenarios, but you also want to try and paint a scene for the reader. Imagine if your action scene was playing out in a movie: How would it look? What does it smell like? What color is the area? What is the character currently seeing? If you want help with this, I recommend finding a scene from a movie or a game and trying to write what is happening. Then, try to do that same thing but for your story.
If you want to learn about how show, don’t tell works, then check out this post!
Utilizing Dialogue Properly
Dialogue can be an excellent way to help break up action and keep a good flow and pacing. It’s a good way to also develop the characters and show how they are reacting in a scene. You want to ensure that you’re not including too much dialogue and you want to also make sure that the dialogue actually sounds realistic and not corny or cliche. Use dialogue when necessary and have it serve a purpose such as for urgency, to show a character’s state of mind, or to relay critical information.
For example, in a war scene, characters will probably use dialogue to call out where enemies are, warn others, and direct the fight in order to win. These sorts of things are what I kept in mind while writing a lot of scenes in my series.
Incorporating Technology and Sci-Fi Elements
Action scenes in sci-fi have the benefit of being able to include advanced, futuristic technology and things that are not present in our real world, which is great because you can use your imagination to enhance the action scene with all the interesting technology in your world.
For instance, a story can include advanced weaponry, robots, AI, aliens, and more. These things can really enhance a sci-fi story and can help enhance the action scenes as well.
Conclusion
Action scenes can be really great in any story when they are well-written, engaging, and immersive. You want to balance the pacing, the description, the dialogue, and the characters in the scene. You also want to be able to utilize things like world building and technology that you include in your story in order to add more complexity and immersion to your action scenes.
Action is a powerful part of any sci-fi story and most sci-fi stories include action in some capacity. I personally love to write action scenes and I think that they have a lot going for them in the overall context of a sci-fi story.
Before you head on out, be sure to check out my series, The Fallen Age Saga, and don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter so you can get updates on all my latest posts, WIPs, book releases and more!