characters and fighting "scenes"

[Kor]

Now, here are the last two problems I'm struggling against right now.
So first, let's start with characters - really secondary characters who are the main villain's sidekicks.
I managed to create to every character a backstory, however some of these characters appear only in a few pages (before they die). Some of them even die before I present their background. So, would it be too confuzing if there are many named characters?
Of course there are some of the important villain's sidekicks whose actions are significant and some of them are developing and showing the colors of the main characters. But I had one sidekick appear on chapter 7 and then he appears again in chapter 17 and he has a name. Would the reader suddenly go like "Who is that guy again?" and another example is a sidekick who gets killed by one of the main characters...and a chapter later I present his background. Another example is of two twin sisters whose background is in like chapter 14 but they are only physically presented (have action/talk) in chapter 17. I also created a backstory for one of the villain's sidekick which I intended to make the reader sympethize with her a bit and understand why she helped the "evil guy" but now that I think about it, wouldn't the reader be like "this character only appeared three times throughout the book, who is she and how is any of this releavent?" I intended the villain to have an "evil group" but out of the 10 sidekicks considering only 5 of them are those who are worthy enough to elaborate about, maybe I shouldn't have given each one a name and a background.
I know that I'm creating again the wrong comparison bwteen a novel and a movie (in which having a lot of characters can be confuzing). In a novel it's much easier to have many characters but is having a lot of characters would be alright with the mind of the reader? (I'm watching on occasions the "Nostaligia critic" in "That guy with the glasses" and that guy simply can make every movie look bad)

regarding main and secondary characters - there are 3 main characters, one villain and five secondary characters (without including any of the talked about villain's pawns).

Next - fighting scenes. I'm very specific regarding fighting scene and each time, I try to make the fight look different and not be repetitive, but maybe I went a bit overboard. Since I'm so specific with a lot of details, maybe I overused fighting scenes. Again, I watched the reviews about Mortal Kombat (the movie) and the nostalgia critic is right, it's just a piece of crap with random fights. True, it's based on a fighting video game. True, I am writing a story of 80,000 words so I have a lot of freedom to write and focus both on fighting scenes and...everything else. And when you write a story about some people who slay demons, you would expect fightings to be inside it. But I afraid I overdid that.

chapter 1 - mini fight
chapter 3 - (really) mini fight
chapter 6 - first encounter with the villain - obvious fight is obvious
chapter 7 - introduction of a new secondary character who is also a demon - mini fight
chapter 10 - a fight against a secondary villain of a sidestory which isn't really releavent to the story as a whole, but I felt like it had to be there. And it gave good development for some characters, as well as introducing two other secondary characters. (in the movie adaption they would probably ignore these chapters though  8))
chapters 11-12 - a fight against the villain and some of his pawns (four were killed) - the most significant secondary character dies.
chapter 14 - fight
chapter 16 - fight (the village near the heros' home is attacked. might post a detailed summary later)
chapter 17 - fight against the villain and his leftover pawns
chapter 18 - final fight (though it's a bit cheesy. But as it seems, cheesiness sells, and it's not "love conquers all" or "we are friends" or all the sailor moon cheesiness. It's only a bit cheesy.

Now, assuming I also want to make the story "girl-friendly" should I delete some of the fightings so it won't be too violent? (which isn't so violent anyway)

If it looks like I already decided what I want to do, then I didn't.

[Akonyl]

having a bunch of characters is fine, as long as you don't introduce them all at the same time. You have to mention a character a certain amount for people to really remember them, and if you start introducing other characters during that time who that character can easily be confused with, people might start losing track.

as for the violence, first off I'd just say that your book isn't gonna appeal to everybody, no matter what you do. But, depending on how graphic the violence is, you might want to think about lessening detail and keeping fights the same length. As shows like DBZ have showed us, it's possible to have long fights that don't really have a lot of violence (there's a difference between "oh man I'm bloody and now I killed that dude" and "oh god this demon just ripped out that dude's entrails and choked another dude with them did you see that?") and still remain widely popular.

but really, that's a stylistic choice so it's up to you imo.

[Kor]

"oh god this demon just ripped out that dude's entrails and choked another dude with them did you see that?"

When I said specific I didn't mean specific like that  :o

I meant more like "A attacked B with his sword, but B dodged A's blade and attacked back." detailed. Not many die and there isn't any bloodshed as well.

an example for a detailed (and I think the most complicated) fighting scene (it's in the middle of the story, so no need to bother to understand much):

Spoiler:

This is before the edit stage, so the writing sucks 



    While Mardock, Zor and the half-demons were fighting, they exited the forest and approached slowly to a cliff. This could work for his advantage, Mardock thought.
    Honesty he didn't know for how long he could handle the three of them and he has already become a bit tired, but he couldn't rely on his apprentices as well, so he just had to keep fighting. He just had to find openings in his opponents' movements while they fought. Nicholas, the pale skinned half-demon with the rapier seemed professionally trained with his weapon and was dangerous. Mard on the other hand, just swung with his axe persistently and didn't seem like he was trained, but his blue left hand was very powerful and every time he struck and Mardock parried, he could barely hold his defenses. Zor also constantly attacked him, but he seemed amused to watch Mardock struggle to fight and wasn't as serious as his henchmen.
    Nicholas attacked and Mardock parried with his silver dagger. Then Mard attacked and Mardock blocked the axe with his staff. He had no room to attack and was at the mercy of Zor who prepared to strike him with his sword.
    Mardock thought of an idea "Rye, cast your deadliest spell and kill them!" he shouted.
    "What?" Zor asked, he couldn't not be alarmed and looked to the side to search for Rye.
    With Zor distracted, Mardock kicked him as hard as he could and Zor was pushed over the cliff, but fortunately for him, he managed to get a hold of a rock and didn't fall yet.
    "Zor!" Nicholas shouted in concern and stepped back.
    "Don't mind me, just kill him!" Zor shouted while he tried to climb back up.
    "Let's attack him together from both sides, Nick." Mard suggested.
    "Alright." Nicholas agreed and then the two attacked him together. Mard from Mardock's right, and Nicholas from his left.
    Mardock blocked and parried their attack, but for how long will he be able to fight?
    Meanwhile not far from there, still in the forest, Nova prepared an arrow in her bow and aimed at Mardock. That was exactly the chance she was waiting for.
    Mardock could sense another demonic aura and glanced back. Not far away he saw a woman hiding behind one of the trees and aiming an arrow. Once she shot her arrow, he immediately turned to the right and stepped back, even though he let his guard down against Mard and Nicholas.
    Mard wasn't aware of the upcoming arrow and stepped closer, only to be hit by the arrow which was meant to strike Mardock.
    Seems like luck didn't run out yet, Mardock thought and with no time to waste, he threw his silver dagger at the woman and then turned back to face against Nicholas. He didn't have time to check if his dagger actually hit her, but the cry of a woman in pain gave him the impression that he did and succeeded to neutralize her from the battle.
    The arrow that Nova shot hit Mard at the left part of his chest and blue blood came out of the wound "Not again!" he said in anger and stepped to the side for a few seconds in order to overcome the pain. At least the arrow struck his left half and not his right half, he thought, because the wound wasn't too critical.
    Finally Mardock fought only against one opponent however his opponent was a skilled one. Mardock attacked and Nicholas parried, then Nicholas attacked and Mardock parried, both didn't leave any openings. Mardock stepped back a bit, even though it made him closer to the edge of the cliff.
While the two were fighting, Mard came behind Mardock and was prepared with his axe at both hands to strike. But Mardock, aware of this, stretched his arm back, opened his hand and delivered a magic shock wave that sent the half-demon flying over the cliff to his death.
    "Mard!" Nicholas shouted for his fallen comrade and finally lowered his guard, therefore he created an opening for Mardock who used the chance to slash his body with the bladed ring of his staff. Nicholas cried from pain and fell on the ground. Mardock wounded him so gravely, that the half-demon died after only mere seconds.

I also think this is the most bloody in the whole book.

[Akonyl]

I just expected that when you said you were afraid you overdid demon-related violence, that it was a bit more graphic

but yeah, I'd say what you have is perfectly fine imo.

[CoolKid3]

So, would it be too confuzing if there are many named characters?
Would the reader suddenly go like "Who is that guy again?"

Not really cause some minor characters even stand out... I have some difficulties remembering many names however if you can make a distinction among characters then that should do the trick

should I delete some of the fightings so it won't be too violent? (which isn't so violent anyway)

I don't know someone who would wanna read fight scenes that are too detailed... I'm not a reader anyways... But if you can present it in a way that the readers could visualize the fight then just improve on the description...