Writting A Battle Scene

[Xitra_Blud]

Does anyone have any tips or examples on how to write a good battle scene? I am writing one for the first time in my current novel and, to be frank, I don't even know where to start. How do you write a good battle scene? What are some really good examples? How much detail do I need to add? Any tips would be very helpful. Thanks in advance!

 

[TWErvin2]

I don't think there are any quick tips or advice other than very general advice that can be given. A lot depends on the POV used, the characters and their part in the battle, the type of battle/size and magic/weapons/technology used, etc. Also, the purpose of the battle--what it portrays or its purpose in the story.

The best thing to do is to read published examples that might be similar to what you're trying to accomplish, including POV, scope, size, etc.

For a good combination of individual and company sized combat, that also includes glimpses of an overall larger campaign, consider Dragon by Steven Brust.

Roger Zelazny's Nine Princes in Amber and Guns of Avalon also have a good combination, along with the mix of some technology (firearms) with magic in the latter novel.

Any of the Iron Druid Chronicles have individual combat (Swords, etc.)

Those three are in first person POV.

Consider The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, especially The Illearth War and the Power that Preserves by Stephen R. Donaldson and the Elric Saga by Michael Moorcock for third person which have examples of individual and small group, along with some larger (more epic) battles, especially those by Donaldson.

See how those authors used perspective, POV, action, details and description, pacing, etc. to convey relevant events to the reader. Take notes, then apply what you learn to your own battle(s) and writing style.

Those are examples of what I used to assist me in writing combat/battles in my fantasy series.

 

[T.Allen.Smith]

I can only tell you how I do it. I've been told my fight scenes are good, but my method may not be what you're going for.

Over the years, I've found the greatest success by focusing not on the actions of the battle itself, but instead keying in on the effect the events have on a POV. In this method, what actually happens is less important than how the characters respond and the emotion the happenings cause.

Typically, the POV I choose is the one who will have the greatest emotional response. In stories where POV choices are limited, this technique can still be applied to any character. Moments of high drama, like fights of any scope, or love/sex scenes, are fabulous places to convey a sense of character to the reader. How a character interprets and responds to dramatic tension offers a great deal of insight on who they truly are, deep down.

If you want to experiment with this style, try viewing the choreography of the action as a skeletal outline (the action) and the character emotion and physical response as the meat of the story (the reaction). Pick emotional and physical responses that give the sense of character that is true to that POV, and don't forget internal sensation and psychosomatic responses. Include all the senses you can....sight, hearing, touch, smell, even taste (like blood in the mouth or a mouthful of mud). Varying the stimuli makes your scene feel real.

You can also pan in and out with the camera, so to speak. Panning out for a larger view of events, and zooming in, tight inside the character's head for internal sensations caused by emotions like extreme fear. Done artfully, this can add greater effects like the chaos experienced in a massive battle.

Good luck....dive in...experiment...and share with other writers. It's the only way to improve.

 

[goldhawk]

Peter Jackson on the Battle of Helm's Deep, "Editorial:
Refining the Story" [12:27], Special Extended DVD Edition,
disc 4, The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers.

"We found when we were cutting, you really needed to follow
you main characters, your principle characters. If we had
two or three shots of stunt guys fighting, you wanted to
come back to one of your heroes.

"I think with any battle sequence, there has to be a
fundamental purpose to the battle. If it's a global,
strategic kind of purpose, you're trying to defend your
castle because this person wants to take your castle, it's
not compelling. And that's really what we had with Helm's
Deep. When we were beginning to cut it together, it was
just an attack on a castle. We felt strongly that we needed
to make the battle have more a human quality, that there had
to be more of an emotional reason for the battle to take
place.

"So when we did our pickups for the Two Towers, we spent a
day during our pickup shoot actually filming a group of
actors and extras being terrified, huddled refugees, hearing
the sounds of battle, reacting to various moments of the
battle, suddenly, it had a purpose. I mean to have Viggo
standing on the ramparts, drawing a sword, facing the
Uriks[sic], and then you cut into the huddled women and
children in the cave, and then back to Viggo, you felt, Wow,
this guy is defending his people."

 

[thecoldembrace]

Writing Warfare in Fantasy: A Guide to the Battle Scene

An article I did some time ago, it might help you.


-Cold

 

[Addison]

I had a similar problem. I'm trying to dig up the articles that helped and I'll post them ASAP.
But remember that in a battle the reader won't give a frig about the sky color, how slow or fast the camps are burning or how the hots and yells of the watchers are like heyenas. Make those things clear before the fight or when the circumstances of the fight allow a logical window.

As for the fight itself make it very clear what is happening to who. That was my biggest problem. Make it clear that Isaac got an uppercut from Josh and then Josh got kicked in the groin. Unless it's a fight between a boy and a girl, using "he" and "she" will only confuse readers.

 

[Addison]

Here it is!

Sample Fistfight Scene - wikiHow

Helped me HUGELY!

 

[glutton]

Unless it's a fight between a boy and a girl, using "he" and "she" will only confuse readers.

If one guy has an axe and the other a spear, 'he swung his axe' show work.

 

[Addison]

Mmmm....depends on the scene, how well it's written and everything. But if your characters get really pissed and roll around in a fist fight then that won't work. Really look at your scene. Heck post it here or in Showcase.

 

[Caged Maiden]

Cold's article above is really thorough in the set-up of a battle and it's comprehensive in how to KNOW what's going on for the writer, and then explaining how to translate it to characters.

I'm going to also include an article I wrote. Mine is less applicable for battles and more applicable to a duel, but it might shed a little clarity on how you could bring the action closer, to a single character.

I think firstly, the writer of a battle needs to decide how best to set up the scene. For example, is it shown from an omniscient POV? Are we told things like, "The cavalry charge hit home, tearing through the wall of footmen like a knife through butter, scattering men and creating chaos," or are we in one man's head? If we are, then is he a green soldier, afraid and unaware of what battle means? Is he in the thick of the action? Or are we in the mind of a general, guiding his green troops and veterans alike? Is he in the middle of the action or on a hill watching?

The POV choice is critical because it tells you how much you will need to write and how much of the battle you need to show. If you are the green soldier who is witnessing the horrors of war for the first time, your slant on events should reflect that. If you're the general upon the hill, your writing might reflect his tactical mind and how he's watching for certain advantages, ready to give orders by horn or hand signals. There are loads of ways you can go.

And when to kick the telescope out the window and bring the microscope in... No reader wants to be "told" what happens in the battle. They will want to see it and feel it through the POV's eyes/ thoughts. At that point where you begin to close in on the small details, my article will help by giving examples of how to create the right pacing. After all, pacing is the critical element in all scene-writing, whether your scene is a long breakfast on a lazy Sunday morning in the sylvan forest, or a battle on the high seas against the marauding ghost pirate king.

Here's the article: A Fine Line Between Love and Death - How to Write Love Scenes

 

[wordwalker]

Some superb points here, about not only battle but description and scenes in general. (No military pun intended, sorry.)

The POV choice is critical because it tells you how much you will need to write and how much of the battle you need to show. If you are the green soldier who is witnessing the horrors of war for the first time, your slant on events should reflect that. If you're the general upon the hill, your writing might reflect his tactical mind and how he's watching for certain advantages, ready to give orders by horn or hand signals. There are loads of ways you can go.

Vital, because every scene is a chance to have "the camera revealing itself through what it sees." In many ways what a scene says about viewpoint can be more important than whatever actually happens--since VP builds the character, which changes how every other scene in the story feels, and often stays with the reader long after the scene or most of the book starts to fade.

And when to kick the telescope out the window and bring the microscope in... No reader wants to be "told" what happens in the battle. They will want to see it and feel it through the POV's eyes/ thoughts. At that point where you begin to close in on the small details, my article will help by giving examples of how to create the right pacing. After all, pacing is the critical element in all scene-writing, whether your scene is a long breakfast on a lazy Sunday morning in the sylvan forest, or a battle on the high seas against the marauding ghost pirate king.

Here's the article: A Fine Line Between Love and Death - How to Write Love Scenes

Fully agree here too. It's so liberating to turn and make a scene dig deep into the impression or the clash you know people really want, or get it to a climax and see if you can just cancel the wrapup and jump to the next scene instead. So much of writing is finding when to press the slow-motion or the fast-forward button on your world, and impressing the reader with how well you understand that.