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Writing Battle Scenes

Black Dragon

Staff
Administrator
How do you approach writing battle scenes?

Do you describe the battle from the perspective of a character who is in the thick of the action? Or is another approach preferable?
 

TWErvin2

Auror
It depends on the POV used as to how I approach it. It also depends on the purpose for including the battle in the story.

I have the most experience with 1st Person POV battles, so it's focused on what the POV character can see, hear, feel and learn via someone else.
 

Helbrecht

Minstrel
I write primarily in third-person limited and I have to say that I find the best way to portray and follow action in a battle sequence is to follow a character, usually your PoV, in the thick of it. This way, you can alternate between the real heated moments of combat as your character fights for survival and then have them pause to size up what's happening in the rest of the battlefield/see if anyone else is coming to pick a fight with them.

Say a soldier rushes our protagonist, and we're given a few paragraphs of vicious close quarters fighting. Then she pants and wheezes after putting the soldier down. She pauses to glance around the battlefield for any sign of her friends, allowing worry to set in against a backdrop of adrenal panic, before she's snapped out of it and back into the fight by a volley of arrows flying her way.

I find the actual political/military/existential implications of a given battle are best considered when your characters are preparing for it, looking back on it, or perhaps shown in a sentence describing the desperation with which they're fighting. It's more important to show an emotional reaction from the characters than it is to write brilliant action or illustrate plot points, because, after all, it's through these characters that plot and action gain meaning, which also grants the reader perspective on these events.
 

Lavender

Minstrel
I agree with the previous poster that you should include the characters emotional reactions as well as the action of the fight. Generally a person would be feeling all manner of emotions whilst in battle so there's plenty to work with.
 

Kaellpae

Inkling
I don't know much about fighting. But I would try to put my own spin on it. Maybe even just say they were cutting through the enemy. Something that wouldn't talk of forms to take or specify how to fight.
 

Matty Lee

Scribe
I think there is no right way to write a combat scene, each fitting into particular circumstances (what you desire to communicate), however, there are wrong ways to write a combat scene.

1. Writing a combat scene that focuses on unnecessary or external details.
2. A combat scene that isn't believable when it's supposed to be
3. A combat scene that tries to drown the reader in pointless technical terminology
4. A combat scene that is more about what the opponents wear than what they are trying to do.
5. A combat scene that focuses solely on the physicality of combat without trying to make a broader point therein.
 
I think an important thing to do here is to shift POV if at all possible. This becomes far more difficult in the first person, but still possible in some ways. Shifting POV during the battle (most easily accomplished in 3rd - limited or omniscient) will keep true to the nature of combat. Do it a lot even. Battles are chaotic (for the most part) and a style that reflects this chaos within reason can be helpful.

In trying to remember and share my favorite battle scenes, a few of the biggie authors come to mind. There are battle scenes in almost all of fantasy, but what takes the cake. Well, Sanderson is my favorite fantasy author, Dragonlance my favorite world/series. Tolkien is the godfather, and so on and so forth. BUT, one battle scene that stands out more than most is in the Shanara series by Brooks. Now, I know most fantasy fans either love or hate him, but in one of the original books (not the first) when the demons break out of the void and spill into the world, the ensuing battle was the most epic and awesome battle scene I have ever read.

Just thinking about it makes me want to go look it up in my library and reread that scene. If I do, I'll let you know the exact book/chapter/page numbers.
 

Caged Maiden

Staff
Article Team
Wow some great suggestions above!
I personally don't like fighting for the sake of fighting, and the thing I hate most is epic sort of battles solved by something really cheap, like, the armies are ready to clash and the uber squad of mages runs in and throws fireballs until the bad guys are all dead and that's the end. AHAHA sorry, just had to say PLAUSIBLE, BELIEVABLE, all good suggestions.
I have written some battles, I mean, in fantasy, don't you almost have to eventually? The way I see it, I pick a character, or a few select characters, and write from their experiences.... it's sort of like when you write about a village... yeah, we all know 2000 people live there, but we only care about the lives of a few of them.
If you have say, two groups, with two different objectives, it makes sense to alternate between the two, or whatever, sometimes it doesn't make sense to only stick to the main character, but I think in battle situations, less is more. It would bore me to death to read every detail of a battle, but the ones I would call my favorite were concise, captivated me, made me fear for the characters, etc, without droning on about useless stuff. We all know a battle can take a long time, switching groups or characters views can help to pass time without skipping time, as well.
 
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