: Re: How can I write a hand-to-hand combat scene that is not too brief or detailed? When I describe hand-to-hand combat, I include EVERYTHING that's going on, EVERY action and motion the characters

@Sent2472441

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Consider the pace of the fight, and compare with the pace of the reading. In a slow, lumbering slug-fest, you might have time to describe every blow. By contrast, I can punch you 3 times and kick you twice, all in less than 2 seconds. And, by the standards of international Martial Arts tournaments, that's slow (hence why I've never taken better than bronze).
There is literally no way to write out the action at that pace - especially if you're trying to include my opponent's actions too - unless you're using some form of pictographic illustration where each image represents the type of attack and the target. For example, a film.
So, take a moment to understand something: writing a book is very different to writing a screenplay, a radio script, or choreography. Currently, it sounds like you are trying to do the second and fourth; you are 'seeing' the scene in your head, and attempting to get it down on paper exactly. That is, unfortunately, not how books work.
The main things to convey are the Shape and Highlights of the fight. If you were trying to describe a car, you wouldn't detail every bolt and weld, each individual panel and scuff-mark. You'd give us the colour; perhaps the make or age; whether it looked smooth/streamlined or square & boxy; and if it was sparkling clean, dirty and worn, or slightly smudged with mud from the recent rain.
So, perhaps describe the opening move in more detail, then 'zoom out'. Who is pushing back whom, where does the fight take you, what obstacles have to be avoided, what tactics are employed (are the fighters using mostly arms? Lots of kicks? Is one of them keeping the other at a distance?), with snapshots to show important or outstanding moves. As the fight winds to a close, consider adding detail in for that final gambit, the finishing move.
In short, you need to turn the whole fight into an Elliptical Paragraph - lots of detail stripped out, but still implied, and treated by the reader as though they were there. The most powerful tool you have as a writer is the reader's imagination: all you need to do is prime it. Point it in the right direction, provide a couple of course-corrections or sudden twists in the path, and let it go wild.

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