In case you guys are interested, it\u2019s roughly the tenth anniversary of the blog. My first post is dated May 13, 2009, so I\u2019m off by a few months. Happy birthday, blog! You\u2019re a tween! Today\u2019s question appears on single-spaced page 227 of my list, which is long enough to be a novel of about 400 pages. Pretty cool. Yay, us!<\/p>\n
Before I start, I want to let you know that, here on the website, way in advance of publication, I\u2019ve posted the first chapter of A Ceiling Made of Eggshells<\/em>, a description, the flap copy, and a bibliography of the books that were most important in my research. Please take a look!<\/p>\n Now, here we go.<\/p>\n On June 19, 2019, Writing Ballerina wrote, I do need suggestions on how to write an army attack<\/em>.<\/p>\n Two of you weighed in.<\/p>\n Emma: I\u2019m going to have to write one of those eventually as well, and I have no idea how. I think the battle scenes in the Chronicles of Narnia are really interesting to think about from a writer\u2019s standpoint, because C. S. Lewis never really explained them in much detail; while in the Lord of the Rings, armies and battles seemed to be more of the highlights of the books. I suppose that\u2019s mostly the age difference in the audiences, but still, it\u2019s interesting how different they are.<\/em><\/p>\n Ainsley: Another book series with great battle scenes is The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander, the last book especially. They\u2019re also really good books in general.<\/em><\/p>\n These suggestions are great. I agree about reading books with battle scenes, not just fantasy books but also literary fiction. The two that come to my mind are classics: All Quiet on the Western Front<\/em> by Erich Maria Remarque about World War I, and Catch 22<\/em> by Joseph Heller about World War II.<\/p>\n On the nonfiction side, an interesting book is War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning<\/em> by Chris Hedges (high school and up).<\/p>\n Some of you may know veterans who are willing to describe their experiences. Even if you\u2019re writing fantasy or historical fiction, they can tell you how it felt to be fighting.<\/p>\n And some of you may be vets, so you know.<\/p>\n I had to think about battles and war when I wrote The Lost Kingdom of Bamarre<\/em>, and I was worried. How could I show the movement of large forces when I was writing in first person?<\/p>\n I haven\u2019t read any Lloyd Alexander, and I don\u2019t remember much of The Chronicles of Narnia<\/em>, but I do remember LOTR<\/em> pretty well, and my recollection is that the many battles and skirmishes in the trilogy are told from a limited third-person POV, generally in the voice of the least elevated character present, so that if, for example, both Frodo and Aragorn are there, Frodo tells what\u2019s going on. If only Samwise and Frodo are in the scene, the POV belongs to Sam. The wide perspective is sacrificed for the particular, but it works, and readers like me care more about the POV character than we do about battalions of anonymous combatants. I don\u2019t know how I would have coped if Sam in particular had bit the dust!<\/p>\n So that was the approach I took in Lost Kingdom<\/em>. Everything is seen and related through the eyes of MC Perry, though sometimes she gets reports from other characters, who also can tell only what they\u2019ve experienced or have been told. Willem, her romantic interest, describes his first engagement in detail. At one point she and Willem climb a sentry tower and oversee the massing of two armies, which is the closest I come to movements of large forces. Later, Perry travels across the kingdom and glimpses conflict along the way.<\/p>\n In my opinion, the up-close perspective is the way to go for most battles. The reader will enter the scene better through a character he cares about. That way we can bring in detail–the sounds, the smells, the sights\u2013that will infuse it with life. If our POV character is in the thick of it, we may have to bring in serious elements–screams, blood, injury, death, loss of a loved one\u2013so we need to be prepared to deal with all that. We also have to experience it all through our MCs. How do they experience war? Are they entirely taken over by adrenaline? Or ruled by a strange calm? Does it seem like a dream? Or something else.<\/p>\n But there may be moments when we want to pull back and see a bigger picture. We can write from an omniscient third-person POV for this. Then we can zoom into a character to show the fight close up and then out again for the larger perspective. Omniscient third, in my opinion, is the most powerful perspective.<\/p>\n If we\u2019re writing fantasy, our MC can fly over the war on a dragon’s back. She can have magical help, like a magic spyglass that can see the distant battle. She can speak the language of animals, who can be her scouts and spies.<\/p>\n If our story is modern, we can use technology. Our MC can be communicating with a command center. Or she may be able to fly above the fray–or drones with cameras can reveal what\u2019s going on. In breaks in the fighting, she can get reports from the news online. She can interview eyewitnesses.<\/p>\n If we\u2019re writing medieval\u2019ish fantasy, we can find tons online: fencing lessons; ancient weapons; war machines and how they worked; analyses of historic battles and sieges\u2013battles on land and battles at sea. These are fascinating.<\/p>\n We have to decide how gory we want to be, how close up we want to get. I\u2019d suggest that we be sparing. There can be tragedy and horror overload. By even the third terrible injury or death, the reader may be dulled.<\/p>\n Here are three prompts:<\/p>\n \u2219 Your MC Samara is in the infantry, marching to war in the middle of a battalion of six hundred foot soldiers. The battle will begin at any moment. Somewhere in the horde is her sister, also a soldier. Her sister has an enchanted sword, and she has an enchanted shield, but neither one has power without the other. Write her attempt to find her sister just as fighting breaks out.<\/p>\n \u2219 This time Samara is in a tent. Imagine mid-19th century warfare with or without magic. She commands an army that\u2019s outnumbered on the field. Scouts bring her reports; maps are spread across a table; she hasn\u2019t slept in days. Her trusted assistant stands at her side\u2013except that her trust in him is misplaced, because he\u2019s sold his country out to the enemy. Write the scene, and clue the reader in that he\u2019s a villain. Decide whether or not Samara sniffs out his treachery.<\/p>\n \u2219 In her first battle, Samara\u2019s best friend, who\u2019s fighting next to her, is seriously wounded. Samara wants to help her friend, but she\u2019s beset on every side and her squadron is falling back. Write the scene and don\u2019t skimp on the gore.<\/p>\n Have fun, and save what you write!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In case you guys are interested, it\u2019s roughly the tenth anniversary of the blog. My first post is dated May 13, 2009, so I\u2019m off by a few months. Happy birthday, blog! You\u2019re a tween! 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