In my latest historical thriller, Elixa, I wanted to add a scene where my character has a sword fight. I normally use Rayne Hall's Fight Scenes writing guide as my template for writing fight scene.

In fact, I have even used her fight scenes as a blueprint.I did this for my entire historical thriller series, The Torcal Trilogy.
 
My beta readers, who read The Grotto's Secret, told me that the ‘tunnel’ scenes were their favourite parts. The formula was taken directly from Rayne’s template, where she builds up to the climax of a fight scene.

But not knowing anything about sword fights, I Googled and found this excellent article for Historical Fiction writers - How To Write A Sword Fight Scene.

The post describes all the elements to a sword fight in the order of how a sword fight would occur. It covers 5 different areas of the sword fight scene, starting with Description and setting.

The post makes it clear that, as in all fight scenes, the scene must be from your character's point of view. You must write about their inner thoughts, reactions and drama to what is taking place.

The main character’s emotions and senses must be at play in the struggle like his body and weapons. Due to the contrast of your hero and villain characters, they will fight differently.

If you're writing a sword fight scene, I recommend you read this post carefully and then use their advice to craft your own sword fight scene. You may want to see how I did it in my historical thriller, Elixa.

Or better still, Rayne Hall will teach you how to write a fight scene.