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Writing battle scenes?



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Sat Apr 30, 2016 8:16 pm
Pompadour says...



My work-in-progress fantasy novel has reached a point where a fortified city is being held siege by an army of rather large, rather scary Blacksmiths. It's nowhere near as well-fleshed-out a world as high fantasy, and it relies on a great deal of magic as a plot-propeller--meaning I have had people create magical weapons before. Like all weapons, however, these 'magically-created' weapons are not entirely dependable, and are to be taken, by all accounts, as no different from normal, forged weaponry. (I consider this to be a nuance that makes the prose colourful, though of course the consequences of making these weapons + the energy that is required to maintain them will affect the course of events in the novel.)

My problem is that I have little to no idea what comprises a battle scene--the rules that govern it, the methods of attack and whatnot. I don't really know where to start looking, and the sources I've found are either intensely vague or immensely complex, so I wouldn't mind a nudge in the right direction at all!

Besides that, what sort of tropes should I avoid while writing these scenes? Are there any tips for balancing internal conflict while scanning the broader scene at large, that of the battlefield? I'm writing in third-person omniscient, but my focus tends to centre largely on the main character and his surroundings, so I'm worried I will either A] narrow the scene down to a degree where it is impossible to tell what is happening, or B] make the writing dry in an attempt to capture the visuals of the actual action.

Should I have my character interact with the surroundings more? Be thrown into the frontline so he gets to see more? I don't want to stretch the scene out too much, but writing battle scenes has always fascinated me and it is something I would like to incorporate--even if I end up lightly skimming over the scene before the main plot continues. (The main character will eventually leave the scene of battle, so its consequences will not be discussed until later on in the story, although I know that the effects of this battle will probably be more important than writing the scene itself.)

tl;dr: help me write a battle scene, bruvs.
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Sat Apr 30, 2016 8:50 pm
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Steggy says...



I, myself, love a good fight scene and much like you, have had the trouble of writing one in the past. During this time, though, I thought of discarding it all together and not even writing the fight scene. But that is besides the point. From learning and reading from different books (and countless Google searches),I've learned is the battle and long-term or a medium-term goal? The long-term goal means the battle is the main priority of the novel whereas medium-term is just one little thing, like captured on a ship or something. To me, I feel as if your character is having a medium-term goal. This should advance your character's feelings in the novel and have some form of motive (why are the big scary Blacksmiths wanting to fight the town anyway?)

Another thing I've learned is don't overdo it with description. Too much description is a sensory overload for readers-- just try to focus on one main point of the battle and go from there. For example, in The Princess Bride the witty Inigo Montoya gives dialogue to the fighter each time he jabs his sword into their direction. The dialogue in the scene, will make it seem as if it is going faster. But keep in mind, do not use 'said or replied' or anything similar to this . It's just extra words for the reader to read. If you want a battle, make it feel important to the reader/character. To begin with, don't start off with the battle happening right then and there. Have the character hear about it or something, and run to it. This should be able to show his true-self in battle. Does his inner self say no or does it want to slice off the head of another person? Battle build people up yet break them down soon after.

Don't overthink writing battle scenes. Battle/action scenes use shorter words to create a quick-paced feeling for the reader. Structure your words in the way the action will happen. Battle scenes aren't the type to include any form of poetry (meaning detailed words about the weapons they are using).
When writing any POV, be sure to include some form of thought throughout the battle. What are they thinking when they are fighting this battle? Since most of the characters that'll be fighting will be using actions rather than words. Though, as stated before, paraphrase the words/dialogue when writing a scene.

The aftermath of the battle will prove how your character feels. You mentioned that your character will leave the scene. Perhaps mention as to why he leaves the battle. Does he see a friend or innocent person die in front of him? The possibilities are endless.

Hopefully this helped and if you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask.
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Sun May 01, 2016 3:41 pm
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ScarlettFire says...



I haven't read the previous post so I might repeat stuff. Bear with me. XD

Okay. So. I struggle a lot with fight scenes, and when I struggle I tend to look towards movies for help. I suggest you watch some movies like LOTR or the Hobbit, and in particular the sieges scenes? I think there's one or two. That usually helps me a lot! You can also read some battle scenes, too. I can't think of any good examples right now, though. If I do think of any, I'll probably wander back and edit them in!

As for other advice, I try to act the fight out after I write it to see if it works. Maybe you could do something like that? And if in doubt, research! Google is your friend! Look up battle terms and swordplay. That kind of thing. Sieges are a little different. You need to consider the setting, like the building the characters are in. Is it a fort? A walled town? That kind of thing. Once you have that down, you can consider other things like supply lines (food, water, medicine, etc) and weapons, the people they're defending and how hungry they are. Disease, crime, how that's dealt with. The list is endless. I'm sure you can find a checklist or something, or maybe make one of your own?

Good luck with the battle scenes!
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Mon May 02, 2016 1:11 pm
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Lightsong says...



Ooh, battle scene! Me likey. I'm not an expert of this, but I do make some battle scenes once in awhile.

What I would do is that I'm not going to describe each move the fighters make. I would just give a glimpse of their fight, just enough to show the readers they're fighting, just enough visual for that. They don't have to be intricately planned, and they don't have to be from the start to the end. There would be a skip to somewhere else, and I would explain this further.

Since you're writing third-person omniscient, I would suggest to show the protagonist's battle scene as part of the larger scheme. In that scene, of course emotion would involve, so instead describing his attacks, insert some emotions he's having while doing that. There would be some excellent reactions from him when he's hurt, and that's good stuff in battle scenes.

After that, it would be nice to actually give a general view of the battle. It seems to me the battle would be between two or more large parties, so give us the current status of the war (I'm going to use this term since battle is for a smaller scale of fighting). Are the Blacksmiths winning, and if so, how? Maybe the city's archery is defeated by their long-ranged weapons. Maybe they find out a hole to the city fortress and launch a surprise attack there. Jumping from this general status to the battle the protagonist has would be informative for third-person omniscient.

In regards of war, I strongly recommend Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive series (both The Ways of King and Words of Radiance). There are war scenes in them, plenty of battle scenes, and overall, I think these would be a good source for you. In short, I suggest you read novels in the same vein of these, in which fantasy war is an integral part of the novels.

And that is all! Again, I'm not an expert in this battle/war scene, although I do have some knowledge about it. Hopefully this would help, however! :D
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Thu May 26, 2016 3:51 am
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Rosendorn says...



Winning The Battle

^ An oldie but goodie of an article.

My own two cents:

Focus on feeling. You have a character involved in a high stakes situation— the most interesting thing to read is going to be how they feel about it. Write out key movements, but never forget we are reading about a character's involvement. Let us latch on to what they're feeling, why they're feeling it, and sink your teeth into their fear (or confidence) until we feel it thrumming in our veins.

Battles are meant to be punches. By focusing on the stakes the character feels, we start rooting for them, and we start caring, and we finish reading the scene because all we want to do is know if the stakes play out for or against the character.
A writer is a world trapped in a person— Victor Hugo

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Thu May 26, 2016 6:11 am
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Lumi says...



Rosey has the right of it as far as novel!soul goes. It's what your reader latches onto...unless they're lore junkies and want every detail of a battle scripted movement by movement. Those are almost always overkill and on-the-nose vanilla fights, so you break it down, like any scene, into the facets of narrative:

1. The bones of action
2. The muscles of novelty
3. The cunning of detail
4. The soul of conflict

More often than not, in my own writing, I'm heavily guilty of scene-cutting, as a show-runner does (because it's no secret I write my novelesque pieces as shows I would want to see), to keep the reader turning pages while getting the lore, blood, and soul on their fingertips. Parallelism can be a cheap trick if you don't do it well, and realistically not all things reach climax at the same time, but in a world that you control, it's your very right to manipulate events to bring a scene (or conglomeration of scenes) alive in a way that vanilla linear storytelling fails.

Consider my stance the B-Story Approach. I don't have links to examples on-hand and I'm too worn out to dig right now, but I do know it's a staple in television and game writing. Square Enix and Camelot are remarkably guilty of it; and that's not shade. It's something I appreciate as a kindred spirit.

tl;dr: B-STORIES.
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Sat May 28, 2016 7:13 pm
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Pompadour says...



Thank you for the help, everyone! I'm inarticulate, and tired, but I'm supes appreciative of all the advice and have a clearer idea of how to go about writing this ... thing.

@Rosendorn, that article is GOLDEN; thank you so much!
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