#I'm very much stuck in this corner of OC subcommunity where everyone is already an experienced writer to some degree

[sins-of-the-sea]

//I am significantly less anal about "realism" in fight scenes, especially as I researched real life kung fu and then compared them to wuxia films, or Hollywood swashbuckling sword fights compared to real life fencing.

It's less about the discipline and realistic portrayal and more about the narrative. In reality, real fights are seldom last longer than a few seconds, don't involve fancy and unnecessary moves, and a single contact blow can risk major or even life-changing injury. But where is the fun of that in an exciting story with flying death-defying pirates where golems rise from the mud and daggers fly like they are alive?

Usually my threshold to cross between "exciting and cool" and "really cringey and obviously choreographed to pad out budget/visuals" is dependent on the story. Does this super awesome and super unrealistic fight serve a purpose to the story? Then you'll know my answer. I am the kind of person who can be super bored with what is supposed to be an exciting fight scene--I slept throughout all of Matrix 2 in theaters since the opening combat sequence, for example, and I groaned and rolled my eyes throughout the final battle (and even the wedding) of POTC3. So the issue of choreography, visuals, and spectacle isn't the issue, even if I may favor it over a 10-second honestly-boring-as-hell real life fencing match.

RPing fights on Tumblr, as I have found out, extremely bores me to tears. This isn't to say the RP partner is boring--it's just that fights are meant to be fast-paced, without the need to draw out the sequence with pages upon pages between days and weeks to describe one single stroke of action. If our muses are to fight and you REALLY want to write out the fight itself, consider these:

Is the fight intended to show the muse's powers on full display with the goal of developing your character and having a grasp of their abilities? HECK YEAH, let's do it!

Is the fight to settle a dispute? Hell yeah, let's do that too! But's let's plot out the outcome and work our way to it.

Is the fight a story in itself, where a piece of land or property has to be defended from a siege/heist, or a monster is on a rampage, or the stakes are otherwise high in some way? FUCK YEAH FUCK YEAH FUCK YEAH, GIVE ME THAT SHIT!

Is the fight for the muses to "prove" themselves in-story, like for a job offer, or a short demonstration of a new ability? Let's please keep this short and to the point, as the fight is intended to be a stepping stone to a greater narrative rather than the focal point of the scene. Otherwise, these are fun in their own right.

Is it just goofiness? Crack? Or in-universe banter and silliness, like two bros duking it out in drunken brawl in a bar? Also short and to the point. Fun times CAN drag out and overstay their welcome. But note I love that shit to. In fact, I tend to adore these sort of fights the most.

Is the fight to obtain satisfaction from destroying my muses with their super awesome superpowers (without proper planning and prompt)? No. Fuck that shit. I hate RP fights to prove power and powerscaling. The first instance is different because the intention is development. There is a difference between "Look how cool my character can turn into shadows!" and "Look at how I have all the best armor in the world and I can kill God, also I can fly and turn into shadow!" THIS is where it crosses the line into cringey and I lose interest altogether. In that case, I just throw the fight and walk away, you can kiss my ass for not giving you the satisfaction of pwning my muses, and that is WITH the fact I write villains/antagonists.

Now if the fight is intended for anything else beyond these--or they fall into the "please keep it short" categories but you want to write them more out--then that's fine. I'd rather take these to Discord, where the fight can be written out in real time so the risk of dragging out won't happen. I don't want to clog my mutuals/followers' dashboard with constant reblogs of what is supposed to be a 2 minute fight. That's just, in my opinion, impolite.