Battle Scenes - A Call to Arms for Your Writing

9:46:00 PM

The Battle Scene:

Battle scenes can be a monumental task for any writer. There is much to consider when crafting the battle. Before diving into the melee, you have to set up the campaign.

Battle Considerations:

Consider these elements before writing your next battle scene:

Scale: How large is the conflict? Is this a skirmish between two competing villages? Or, is the conflict a border dispute between established kingdoms? Even larger yet, empires could be at odds for a variety of reasons.
Cause: There has to be a reason or purpose for the fighting. Such as: resource scarcity, religious motivation, family disputes, ethic or racial disdain, grudges, divine intervention. Whatever the cause—it must be present.
Environment: The physical environment will dictate much in the battle planning—for you and your characters. Mountains, forests, streams, and fields, will impact the actions and reactions of your characters.
Duration: Larger campaigns will require more resources i.e. men, supplies (food, weapons, housing). This will impact the surrounding environment.
Length: The battle preparation may be drawn out but the fight itself will be short by comparison. For example: Think about two men in a tavern. One man has been thinking ill of the other all night. You have spent a great amount of time building up why one man dislikes the other. Then, without prompting, the second man punches the first man—knocking him out. The fight is over.
Scars: Using the scene above, the first man is going too feel quite a bit of pain. A battle will impact the people and societies involved greatly. There may be a victor in the conflict but there will be many families who will suffer.
Preparation: The amount of time an army has to prepare and train will impact how it performs. A group of men who have had time to use weapons, train in various environments, and physically fight other people (or creatures), will behave differently than a group of farmers who have a reason to be upset.
Luck: The unnamed farmer can kill a mighty warrior if something gets in the way.
Vulnerability: All creatures and men are vulnerable to death in battle.

Writer Considerations:

Now, having set the tone for a conflict of a much larger scale than a tavern brawl, you as a writer much think tactically to make your scene have the desired impact.

Be a General – Draw a map of the battle. Then insert your character(s) into the battle. This will give you a greater ability to think about scene sequence and the much larger picture when you write the smaller scene sequences.
Think Visually, Then Write– How actions occur will help you describe, in proper sequence, the specific movements of your characters.
Point of View – A single character will be limited to their own vision and experience. This will provide a much more dramatic and personal experience for your reader. However, a single person cannot relate the details of the entire battle. Think of using a variety of characters to show the size and scale of your battle.
Make it a Challenge – Your character has to struggle against the odds. The weather has to challenge the army. The environment has to provide a tactical challenge. The opposition has to be trained better and be well rested. These things can make a battle scene more interesting for you and your reader.
Pace – Description and dialogue can assist you, or hinder you, when creating a scene. Be realistic. There are no long, drawn out speeches when someone is trying to bash your character’s head with a mace. Your character’s thoughts will shorten. The action will be more tense and with greater significance.