Writing Epic Battles

War of a Thousand Ass Whoopings

Or is it millions...

Fantasy… when I hear that genre… I think of epic battles. Battles so epic that it’s a big giant storm of swords and sorcery, and whatever else is popping out of the dirt… like golems, or dead skeletons, or worse... some mega warlock-sorcerer-type conjuring a gate of oblivion shifting the earth just to swallow their enemies (and allies unapologetically) into a big gaping hole of the abyss… or worse.

I don’t think it can get any worse than that.

Epic battles though, they are one of the powerhouses in the fantasy world. How they are approached in literature is different, in fact, every author who create these greater than great fights have their own ingredients with these. Trust the difficulty is a beast in itself. It’s challenging to keep things in order, from the wide scales of chaos to the characters featured. Especially the important ones. There is a word called ‘clarity’ an intelligibility essential when writing in order for everything to be clear, comprehensible, and capable of jacking the mind right into the fight… right into the middle of the storm… by yourself… with a wooden sword and a false shield… in your underwear… without armor. Believe me, an author can make one overwhelmed and fear for their own life in these stories.

I believe that is called putting one on the edge of their seats? Or maybe I added the whole near-naked-pit-in jest just to be a goofy fool in this post.

Because that’s how I roll.

When writing this out, fleshing the plot of said chaos, there are a few dynamics vital to the cooking pot. Want to cook up a good mass fight? Focus on point of view, the character in focus that is, what he/she is doing in all of this, everything from their emotions to their actions. Doubt much thought is implied long in the head for you have to think fast than slow in saving their own skin as well as their fellow comrades. Narrating is a must too, since you are the writer/author therefore you have to make sure what you weave in that climatic portion of the story makes sense, flows well, kills well, and any other ‘well’ one can think of.

Oh Nariko... you will forever be my 'Dream Girl'

One can write the whole portrait of discord in great detail. Explain strategies, who is winning and who is getting the killing end of the sword, and the end results of said winning. When I write scenes like that (and revising to make better) I go for an intro-like mass battle that shows the whole get-down before focusing on whatever main character(s) important to the battle. It works, and can weave the scene into the point of view of character too. First you see it, then you realize you’re looking at what the character is looking at, and feeling what they feel. Slick move, works like a charm, and fun to craft.

That there, with the main character(s) is an up close and personal move. The reader is catching all the sweat, spit, blood, dirt, breath, air of war and death… everything word-for-word, sentence-for-sentence, creating a rapturous paragraph of delicious flavors bitter and exhilarating… if what I said there makes any sense than good deal!

My kind of Pokemon!

When you blend it all, as I said in my own ways above, you create this thrill-ride that just keep getting better

and better the more you work them into fruition. It can be pretty effective, like a pokemon’s signature attack on a susceptible foe (for those who understand the reference), only this time it’s multiple pocket monsters by the green screen loads duking it out while their owners stand high atop a ledge viewing the disaster.

… I am unsure if that has ever happen in Pokemon, but it’s a given that I am an old school player of the batch with some crazy imagination. I stopped on Gold/Silver by the way (begin when Red/Blue first hit… now I can’t even keep up). HA!

In simplicity, concentrating on the whole combat scene gives one an advantage in bringing in some killing pace and fast track thrills. The candle burns on both ends this way… until it just poofs out… then you got wax all over the place. The wax being the result of the thrills… and whatever else is stuck in there screaming “I CAN’T FEEL MY LEGS!”

This is my challenge, one of, to write effective battle scenes in my projects. With SG:V1, I did an ‘okay’ job, but it needed reworking, and now with SG:I the goal is to make each battle exciting and sensible. Can’t just throw a fight scene anywhere, it has to flow, weave good, look nice to the greater story at hand thus coordinating with everything. The world must be effected, characters must be effected, and the reader must drool for more. Keeping the fact Perfection is nonexistent, I know that I can’t keep rewriting scenes for they will bore out on me. So, doing it ‘good’ is ‘good enough’, and if the reader can enjoy and have a good time heart racing with suspense… then I am gravy and bacon.

So if one is having some problems writing out these large scale battles, it is always good to read your favorite novels of said genre, to learn from those who do the deed well, and grab all of the knowledge and inspiration you need (as well as researching and learning online as well), unless your some sort of epic battle expert since birth.

If that is the case… then you’re one bad ‘mama jama’.

Catch ya' Monday!