Finally, the next few posts will deal specifically with female fight stories. Next time, we’ll talk about fight action sequences. After that, we’ll discuss weaving eroticism into your story (maybe, LOL).
The present topic is choosing a style and reason for the fight. I will not include sexfights/titfights in this post as I see them as separate topics. I will really need a lot of help with this one. Everyone is invited to contribute. You need not be a writer.
Occasionally, I hear from a member asking me to help with ideas for a story. The hopeful author has characters and a fight in mind but struggles with coming up with a way to get them into a conflict, then a fight which doesn’t seem silly or make the characters seem clinically insane. I tell them that their story does not need to be believable. Their goal is to make readers willing to suspend their disbelief. There’s a big difference.
REALITY VS. FANTASY
Imagine if I decided to write the most realistic catfight story ever, i.e. a story that matches a typical fight in the real world between two women who want to hurt each other. What would I use as source material? I am very adept at navigating search engines for peer-reviewed research data. So, I would first ask if there is actual data on women who get into physical fights. It turns out there is (kinda, sorta). Most of the data comes from law enforcement and correctional system data on women who commit aggressive and violent acts, including fighting. Such activity is associated with poverty, high crime neighborhoods, alcohol and substance abuse, mental health disorders, low education and victimization of childhood, domestic, and sexual abuse. Based on my experience in hospitals, this is definitely true.
Other data is even more disturbing. The CDC has been collecting data on physical fights in high schools since at least 1990s and separates it by boys and girls. Kids (including girls) who fight tend to have poor grades, anxiety, depression, suicide attempts and feeling of victimization.
It is not my purpose to send anyone on a guilt trip. My point is that this is rarely ever the reality we write about. We create worlds where the fighters are who we want them to be, and we want action that’s exciting and sexy, without the ugly psychosocial baggage. As Bob Ross would say, “Its your world. You can create anything you want.” (I sold my second oil painting!)
This brings us back to suspension of disbelief. Your story need not be realistic, although you might decide to include elements of realism. Or it may take place in a fantasy world inhabited by fairies and unicorns. Your aim is for readers to buy into your world and go for the ride.
CHOOSING A FIGHT STYLE
A visitor to FCF will quickly see that fights are categorized into styles (catfight, wrestling, boxing, MMA, sexfight/titfight, etc). You have probably already decided a style for your story. Here are a few thoughts.
What is a Catfight?
As I understand it, the traditional sense of the word “catfight” is a fight between two untrained women with little or no fighting experience or knowledge, instinctively employing tactics of hair pulling, scratching, or even biting. It seems to me that in recent years, the term has been broadened to include just about any kind of conflict between women, including organized sports. In the 1950s, the term “catfight” might have conjured up mental images of June Cleaver and Harriet Nelson, in their house dresses and aprons, rolling around digging their nails inro each other. Contrast with today, with women making large gains in traditional men’s roles (Did you know that half the U.S. graduating doctors are women?) and the fact that women’s combat sports are flourishing, female fighting can now mean a number of different things. As a writer you have a smorgasbord of styles from which to choose.
Choosing a Style
Some of the common styles that you will see in female fight fiction stories
Spontaneous hostile fight – perhaps the most common. A conflict arises between two women. The situation explodes and a fight ensues on site.
Arranged hostile fight – as above, except the situation doesn’t allow a fight on the spot (work, public place, etc.). The combatants agree on a specific place and time to settle it.
Spontaneous “friendly” fight – two women, often discussing wrestling or other form of fighting, have a friendly sparring match, which often turns unfriendly.
Arranged “friendly” fight – women or couples agree to meet in a gym, hotel, home, etc. for an encounter, with fetish overtones. They may know each other or have met on the internet. Often arranged by husbands who watch and are turned on by the spectacle. Can also become unfriendly quickly.
Semi-organized fight events – Think of apartment wrestling where women are recruited to compete against each other. Other variations could include a company that produces vids and live events. Clandestine secret societies, tournaments with lucrative prizes and underground clubs are other spin-offs.
Organized events – boxing, mma, etc.
Final thought:
As sinclairfan pointed out on an earlier post, your choice of fight style and action itself should reflect the background of the fighters. If it is the first fight for both women, I think a wild catfight is the default style as other styles require some training.
WHY ARE THEY FIGHTING?
For some writers (myself included), that can be the most difficult part of crafting your story. This is especially true if it is between two women who hate each other. One of the perks of FyreCracka’s catpin universe is that no reason is required, which allows us to focus on characters and plot. However, in most stories, there needs to be reasons and motivations for fighting.
Hostile Fight (spontaneous or arranged): Motivations
This is perhaps the most difficult since it requires a good amount of tension leading to the physical conflict. For this type of story to work, at least one party must feel she has been seriously wronged. You will notice there are popular tropes used repeatedly. A few of them are:
Wife vs mistress – probably most common. Usually doesn’t work for me. If a man cheats on me, he is not worth fighting for.
Wife vs. ex – Might work if the ex is psychotic, as in a typical Lifetime Movie Network (LMN) plot.
Coworkers – a woman is promoted by using nefarious tactics like lying about another coworker. A boss who awards a promotion to the winner of a fight? No thanks.
Bullying – office in the workplace, but can be in many different situations.
Neighbor conflicts – may involve kids (more below), gossip (below), land disputes, loud trashy neighbors, etc.
Inspirations From Real Life
Most of my stories are inspired by my real-life experience. I’m often asked if I ever saw a fight between two adult women. The answer is yes, but thankfully, only a few times. I will explain more below. The truth is fights between women who do not have the risk factories in the research studies I mention very rarely fight. However, I will say that women can be very aggressive and try to hurt each other in different ways. I have seen numerous occasions where friendships and family relationships were permanently ruined. I will list below the common situations that I have personally witnessed.
1. Kids – Threatening another woman’s child is the quickest way to get any meek and mild female charge at you with her claws out. We are all mama bears when it comes to our kids. I suggest you do not write a story about a child being threatened. However, more common triggers are criticizing a woman’s parenting skills, talking about a child’s bad behavior. These are serious killers.
2. Gossip – Huge. Very few things end friendships like finding out you were bad-mouthed by someone who was your friend.
3. Social isolation – Dear friends, this is how women fight in real life. It begins early in girls and sadly continues into adulthood with some. It’s the practice of deliberately trying to end someone’s friendships with other people. It goes beyond gossip. It’s throwing a party and inviting everyone from her social group, but not her. Or planning events with her friends while excluding her. It’s subtle digs on social media that undermine her that only a few people will catch.
4. Mistress – this is generally not much of a trigger of fights as you might expect. Yes, I’ve heard women say things like “I want to punch her in the face.” But most of the hurt is directed at the husband. Women do not say things like, “I will prove I have the better pussy,” unless they have serious self-image problems. But in fantasy, this is always a good fallback reason for a fight. But yes, I have seen affairs end marriage and friendships.
5. Work – Bullying can be a serious problem, though most large places of employment now have anti-bullying programs in place. I’ve seen employees steal credit from others and exploit people to get ahead. I personally have broken off friendships with such people.
6. Family – A few years ago, I broke up a fight between two extended female family members. I won’t go into the details other than it involved long standing grievances each had for each other. And alcohol was involved. Families can be divided over money, inheritances, perceived slights, religion, substance abuse, failed expectations, etc.
The “Friendly” Fight: Motivations
1. Two friends compete with each other motivated by their competitive nature. Usually escalates into an all-out brawl. (See rin753’s The Gymnasts series)
2. Two women meet each other for the first time via online, through husbands, etc. Motivation includes each woman wanting to test herself, looking for excitement, and of course, turning on her husband in a sexually charged encounter. (see rin753’s The Diner series)
The Semi-Organized Fight: Motivations
A few years ago, I learned of the world of Apartment House Wrestling in the 1970s – early 80s Sports Review Wrestling magazine. I’m convinced that many of the concepts of stories today can be traced to this iconic literature. The female characters were from all walks of life. Their motivations varied and included:
1. Desperate need for money
2. Need to prove herself
3. Promises of fame and fortune (acting, modeling career, etc)
4. Battling personal demons
5. Two enemies agree to settle their differences in a match. I’m sure there were many more. I only found about 7-8 stories.
A lot of these plot devices still work and can be applied to all kinds of variations of the AHW concept. Bonus points if the spectators are all mysterious wealthy and powerful men.
I undoubtedly missed a lot in this post, so I am inviting all to contribute.
Thank you!
