Are You Making Love Or Making War

Sometimes there isn’t much difference between the two when a writer sits down to craft either a fight scene or a love scene. Both have many of the same variables to be considered in order to create an effective and believable scene.
The first thing to consider is the gender of the participants. Will the bulk of the action occur between a male/male, male/female or female/female?
Clearly gender will play a major role in what will happen in the love scene in terms of what is not only physically possible between the participants, but also what will be pleasing to both and engage the interest of the reader. The latter – reader expectation – is something that you will need to keep in mind when crafting the action. For example, in inspirationals it is typical for the door to close on your lovers while in paranormals it seems to be that hotter is better.
Gender also plays a role when you are crafting your fight scenes since men and women do not and cannot fight in the same way. Even assuming that the man and woman are of a like height, there are physical differences which will change how they fight.
Women are stronger in their lower half, possessing greater leg strength and a different center of gravity. Men possess more upper body strength. Because of that you should structure your fight scene to reflect those physical differences. For example, a big man coming at a same-sized woman will be more easily handled by the woman with a leg-sweep than a full frontal attack.
Also keep that in mind – the use of weapons the characters may have on them. If you’ve ever seen the inside of a woman’s purse, you know there are quite a few in there!
The size of the two protagonists will also play a role in both types of scenes.
In love scenes, size does matter, as it will determine the physical positions, which can be assumed, and the way in which the two protagonists will interact with one another while they are making love. A hero for example can be much larger than the petite heroine.
In fight scenes, the size of the participants will likewise be important. Two large men will fight very differently than a large man and a smaller one. The more petite man may not possess as much strength, but in addition, he may have smaller hands which will make hand holds harder to do against a more muscular opponent. Larger men also seem to have a tendency to just slug it out until one of them drops.
The same goes with a fight between a man and a woman who is more petite. It may be harder for a larger man to put his arms/hands around the smaller bones/muscles of a woman. In addition, the woman’s lower center of gravity will give her an advantage if a man charges her. She can use his momentum and her more stable base to toss him over her hip in some cases.
What if you’re not sure how the size and gender of your protagonists will affect your scene?
One sure way is to act it out! Grab your significant other and have some fun.
For a fight scene, find a willing participant who is about the same size as your potential attacker, etc. and slowly work through the various steps in your fight scene.
Finally keep in mind one important thing when choreographing your love scenes or fight scenes. The first is a dance of pleasure while the second is a dance of death.
Hope you found these quick tips helpful.