Think Like a Screenwriterīecause of their visual nature, battle scenes tend to work better in movies than in books. Don’t make readers pause for that fraction of a second to read “he circumvented the razor-sharp blade” when you could have said “he dodged the blade.” A battle scene is not the time to show off your talent for poetry. Keep your word choices simple so they’re quick to read. Smooth: “He dashed through the opening and grabbed the sword from the knight’s scabbard.” Structure your words in the order of action.Ĭonvoluted: “From the knight’s scabbard, he grabbed the sword after dashing through the opening.” Action scenes need shorter sentences and paragraphs. How great is the opening of Kill Bill, when the girls halt the violence to greet Vernita’s daughter? “Hey baby! How was school?” Interlace the blood and guts with other subplots. How are his inner and outer conflicts affected by the events of this battle? In the midst of the slaughter, show the protagonist’s evolving thoughts and relationships. Does your character act according to his intentions? Does he shoot the enemy in the heart, or does his Ghost make him hesitate to pull the trigger?Įvery battle must advance the protagonist’s arc. Show how they act and respond, especially in comparison to others who are fighting the same war. This is why opening with a long-winded battle often doesn’t work: we don’t care enough about the characters yet to care how the battle ends. Readers must care about the characters who are walloping each other. 3. Make the Battle Personal for Your Character The breathe-and-reflect moment offered by a sequel, however brief, is vital when a book is stuffed to its papery gills with action. Scenes must include a goal, conflict, and disaster, and must be followed by scene sequels. Can your battle be placed anywhere in the story? If it can, it doesn’t advance the plot properly. What state is the world in when the battle starts? When the battle ends? Something about that state needs to flip: freedom to imprisonment, vengeance to regret, doubt to certainty.įurther, the battle must depend on what events preceded it and what will follow. In Save the Cat, Bkake Snyder advises that every scene needs a polarity. (Seriously what?)Įvery battle is a scene, so follow the rules of scene writing to ensure each battle achieves its purpose.įor instance, the battle must change something in the overall plot. Escape the grip of the spiky slug’s deadly robot … arm … thing. Climb the tower so she can enter the castle. Crawl over to that dropped mace so she can club the enemy. Short-term goals mean every sentence offers clear intention. If your protagonist’s goal in this battle is the same as the last battle, there’s a good chance this battle is redundant. Kill the spiky mechanical-armed slug thing (seriously can someone explain Grievers to me? Like are they just goopy slugs with robot arms?) Take note: this goal must be unique. The medium-term goal is the goal of the battle. The overall war needs to be rooted in a primal cause: life, hunger, sex. Why is he fighting in the first place? Motives make a story gripping. The long-term goal is your protagonist’s overall story goal. Do this by establishing clear long-term, short-term, and medium-term goals. Action sequences must advance the character’s journey. Define the Character’s Goalsįor a battle to be interesting, you need more than fast-paced clobbering. ![]() ![]() Let’s look at five essential guidelines for writing epic battle scenes. Writing a book about a war promises excitement, but like any aspect of writing, you need to be writing epic battle scenes carefully in order to see them at their full potential. Well, I don’t know about you, but I’ve skimmed pages of pointless fighting in order to get back to the plot. If epic battle scenes make such exciting climaxes, then a whole book full of them would be like the most exciting story ever, right?! … Right?
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