How do *you* write a good battle scene?

[Mirannan]

My last battle scene was less than a paragraph; admittedly, there were only 4 people involved in it. (3 against 1, but the one was wearing armour and had MUCH more skill.) The point wasn't really to describe a battle for the sake of it, but to illustrate just how fracking dangerous the singleton was. It also helps that the description was from an onlooker, who also had the luxury of viewing slowed-down CCTV footage afterwards.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Good suggestion. I could have detailed the last battle from the one character who didn't want it to happen in the first place!

Oh, then you have great scope for internal conflict juxtaposing the external one.

 

[Martin Gill]

Suggestion: you're not writing a battle scene, but just another character POV chapter - albeit a potentially busier one.

Seconded. I've not written a battle scene. Only small combats. But I've been in dozens of reenactment battles. OK, not the same thing as a real battle as (usually) no one actually dies, but I have stood at the top of Senlac Hill with a couple of thousand other Saxons and faced a charge from about 30 Norman cavalry.

The key takeaway is that the world compresses to you and what's happening immediately around you.

If you aren't mounted, your perception is severely limited. Things happen with remarkable speed. I've commanded smaller battles - up to a couple of hundred a side, and commanding is damn hard work. Even if you can find a vantage point to get a "god" like view of what's going on, getting messages to units/people is hard and getting them to react is harder. Tactics that aren't drilled fall apart immediately as people default to trying to stay alive in their immediate world of danger.

Bernard Cornwall comes close to getting the feel right IMO, though he always has his shieldwalls press right up against each other and usually that doesn't happen in practice - they usually engage at spear distance. But he gets the frenetic chaos of the experience.

Obviously this is a purely historical/fantasy take on the topic.

 

[Tim Murray]

I always feel inadequate when I have to write a major (mass) combat scene. So I cheat.

For instance, in my novel, Flight of the Elves, there are three major combats. When the story opens, the first is already over – for some hours. I only had to describe the aftermath. Near the end of the book, there is another major battle. Fortunately, it was better, story-wise, to only describe the way it began – especially since the outcome was a forgone conclusion (though the losing side did not know it).

Unfortunately, I couldn’t get out of detailing the battle between dragons and elves – only hope I did it well enough (Is a writer ever satisfied with his/her work?). I think my problem is I’m never certain how much focus to give each area of the combat.

I'm with you! The battle scene in my first is giving me fits, and I am still working on it. I seem to share the POV problem. It is a tough scene to write.