Does anyone have idea's or resources I can look at that will help me write an exciting battle scene with a mage? Maybe even book suggestions that have great mage scenes in it I have a good base paragraph, but I would like to make it more exciting and on the edge. This isn't a major battle but it is the first one and the battle where the reader will start seeing some of the capabilities of my characters
We'd need to have a better outline than that to give you any help. Mage is a pretty vague term: depending on the book they could have any number or variety of powers.
Good point. Three characters get attacked by the ferocious and quick creatures which stand about 10 ft tall known as Zyfler Cobra's. Seth has been in minor combat before and has studied enough about the wild creatures of Zarrcana to survive, he uses an earthquake spell to draw them out and then battle ensues. Characters: Jonan is the main character, he is no different from you and I trying to fight his way through everyday life until he is brought to the fantasy world of Zarrcana,and is connected to this world in some way. Frankly he has not had much practice in combat of any kind much less does he have any powers at this point in the story. There is more to Jonan than even he realizes which will be gradually revealed throughout the book. Seth, a native to this fantasy kingdom, kind of an Irish-like accent one of few who has recently graduated from Magia, the only school of magic in Zarrcana. Seth's power specializes in using the earth, trees and rock in combat and maybe healing. Krystal, a young girl who has run away from her deteriorating home in the Krystine volcanic mountains, her only method of survival she knows is theft. She's small and quick but clearly an amateur in combat plus she is still a young girl of about 13 yrs old so as any little girl she may get frightened but not paralyzed.
So it's elemental magic they're using? I'm assuming it isn't like 'sit there chanting and then something mysterious happens' it's more like actually being able to control an element with the mind or something along those lines... Are you planning on describing the sensation of magic a person feels or just what people witness? If you're interested in how the magic may feel to Seth I would suggest you read a few of the magic-involving magic from 'The Farsala Series' It's an older series, but the main female character can control elements, such as storms and fire - you may be able to gather from appropriate info from that. (It's only in the last three of the four though) As for the appearance of the magic, what it looks like and what it's capable of, I enjoy the Eragon series, but Eragon and the elves rely on spoken words for the magic to work - unless they are well trained, then it is a thought. Other ref's for magic in my opinion would be magic based RPG's. I love reading other people's work and working on tidbits I gather online and fitting them into my stories. It takes a bit more searching, but generally, other people have very good ideas that can be very helpful to a writer suffering from writers block. (Or who cant find the right words to express something) To help more I suggest describing how the magic is used, is it spoken word, thought or will power based or what? hope i was sort of helpful
Perhaps focus on the mental aspect of it rather than the physical? Or mix the two together? If you can create earthquakes most fights are going to be a bit of a breeze, even against 10 foot monsters. But if that earthquake spell requires mental strain, and complex hand movements or chanting then it will be much less overpowered. Describe how it feels casting spells as Krys said. Does it feel painful so it's hard to keep it up? Or so pleasurable that it's a struggle to regulate how much you use? Does it make you hungry or weak or does it invigorate you? Perhaps Seth slips up a bit. Maybe she misses out the part of the spell that protects her own from the quake and she has to rectify that? Hope that helped.
You both have certainly giving me more to think about which I very much appreciate, I realize now that there should be a whole school of thought on how to conjure magic and make magic a bigger deal than "being able to conjure it because it's fun", I want my characters to struggle with this. I knew it would weaken the magic user, especially as amateur as Seth is in this, although Seth certainly is at the top of his class. I want the audience to grow with the characters, specifically the main character Jonan. More is revealed to the audience as Jonan learns more about this world and how he is connected with it, that is the approach I am trying to go with. Which means I have to look at it through the eyes of Jonan, he would never dream of the possibility of magic, shouldn't he be shocked or in awe or maybe even confused as to what he is witnessing? At this point he still doesn't realize that Seth is the guy making it happen. Thank you so much for the help! I really appreciate it!
I suppose it could also depend somewhat on your rules of magic, and how these things are used in your story. You could do something different rather than the standard sort of magic battle, depending on what you want to show, which in turn would help show the strange nature of the conflict. I have a scene planned where two warring fictional Gods are having this great conflict with each other, but to any outside observers, they are simply sitting in a verdant field with each other, silently eating.
Hi, I have two mage novels out. One of my mages Alan Feralis is an elementalist, by which I mean he can summon armies of elemental creatures, for example fire elementals. He would fight simply by sending an army in ahead of him to do the battling for him. He can also change shape in to a small dragon like form. My other mage Marjan is a more all round fighter. He can summon things like fire and chuck them at an enemy, and he also has a useful line in softening the ground so that enemies sink into it and drown. I also gave him the quivalent of guided missiles in the form of enchanted arrows which are quite useful against nasties. Your guy sounds more like a druid, a natural caster using the world around him. So in keeping with that theme he could perhaps summon the creatures of the woods to aid him, maybe use the trees to form a living barrier between him and them, and even wrap round and grab up enemies. As for the earth, maybe you could use my drowning idea, but equally your guy could simply open up great cracks under his enemy's feet and let them fall in before burying them alive. Its all really up to you. Decide what powers / magic he has, how he uses it, and then be creative. If you've ever played a D and D game of any sort, you'll know that there is always more then one way to beat an opponent. Cheers, Greg.
Look at any DnD books relating to magic or even look into the card game Magic the Gathering, which is essentially a duel between two very powerful casters. Fantasy RPG's generally have indepth magic systems now and have visuals to boot, making them a good source for ideas (and generally the most fun "research" you'll ever do )
