It also relies on the POV. If its the commander or the footsoldier, both have very differing viewpoints and you need to take that into account. Research for the: - footsoldier: "Quartered safe out here" - commander: "Company commander" - platoon leader: "Platoon leader: Memoir of command in combat" If you need more resources just say so. If I have to make a choice of the above mentioned books.. the platoon leader is a true masterpiece. All true and the writing is beyond excellent.
Pov is everything here. What a Hestatii sees is totally different than what a Tiarii sees, and they are both just foot soldiers in a Legion. I'd say draw a little sketch of your battlefield and the army and soldiers present, and really look at their place.
Erwin Rommel's book "Attacks" is his account as a platoon commander and I think later a company commander. The book is surprisingly easy to read, and covers such details as 'Finding the cooks' and 'Getting sick.'
For my novel, I had to write one clumsy fight involving several people—from the slightly detached point of view of a character who was only a bystander, and only knew some of the people who were fighting. (The reader knows everybody, though.) That fight didn't result in death or serious injury. However, I then had to write another violent confrontation that happened very quickly, but carried a lot of emotional content, and resulted in both serious injury and death to some of my characters. I found both scenes difficult to write, mainly because of the pacing issue. I didn't want them to drag out too long, but I didn't want to go so quickly past them that the impact was lost either. Both fights had lots and lots of context, and the final one was a pivotal point in the story. I struggled. But I got there. It was not fun! Writing sex scenes was fun. That's my kind of fun.
Maybe that's the fault of MC1 - he has some pretty bad prior experiences and that makes him, not incoherent, but close to a berserker when these memories get dragged up. Which just this moment they are
I try something new here.. there are paragraphs were he can think, which are in the proper tense. But within the scenes where he just reacts and fights, these are in present tense. Oh, I just LOVE writing!!!!
Have finished with this fighting scene. *sigh*. Don't want to stop but have to. Don't want to get out. Will give myself another night to sleep and mull over my words. Will get a PM tomorrow morning. Feel flensed. By choice.
The best battle scenes I've ever read were the ones written by Bernard Cornwell, particularly in the Saxon Stories. Even giant battles (at least up to the modern age) were essentially a series of individual combats, and you were put into the characters' shoes as they fought each other. But in modern warfare, epic battles are more a function of the overall battle plan, with the combatants often never seeing who or what killed them. In that case, you have to involve the reader into the tactics of the battle rather than the particulars. That would be tougher to write, I think.
I've been hesitant to read Cromwell's Saxon stories since I'm adressing the exact same period and place (we literally have historical characters in common) and don't want to be influenced by him.
Then read his Grail Quest series, and much of his other stuff. His description of the Battle of Agincourt is stunning. And given your user name, I'm sure you'd like his series on King Arthur, beginning with The Winter King. It's as different a take on the legend as you could want.
I actually thought the Saxon Chronicles were about King Arthur, which I'm writing about. I'll avoid the Warlord Chronicles and read the Saxon, then.
It's confusing. The Arthur tales take place in the time of the supposedly historical Arthur, who is a Celtic warlord battling the Saxons in the fifth century. The Saxon tales take place considerably later, at the time of Alfred the Great, and concern the struggles between the now well-established Saxons and the Danes who have overrun most of north-east England.
I just looked up The Winter King, and am considering downloading it. However, the reviews are very mixed. The negative ones—the one and two star reviews (unlike many negative reviews on Amazon) —seem to be written by people who really wanted to like the book, for various reasons, but didn't. The main problem seems to be too many characters to remember and an unengaging pace. I took a look at the 'look inside' feature, and damn. There certainly ARE lots of characters to remember. What's your take on this issue?
Those who expected the usual Arthurian retelling were sure to be disappointed. Arthur is a warlord who would much rather not be king (in fact, he wants Mordred to be king). And you've got Merlin as a Druid priest performing human sacrifices on the other side of the hill ... definitely not Mary Stewart's Merlin. But I, for one, was intrigued by Cornwell's take on the old legend.
Well, I love reading about that time period, and I do trust that Cornwell has done his research. So I will download it. It's only a few pounds. Thanks for the suggestion.
I have a fight scene where the MC and their BFF, both trained but reluctant fighters, get in a fight with a half dozen punks. It seems important to show the thoughts the MC and her BFF are having during the fight, but that means a little head-hopping. The thoughts are separated by three or more paragraphs, is that enough? I'm really not sure how to do it other than thoughts. What they are thinking says a lot about their respective characters at that time in the story. And they can't say it in this situation (and in one case, can't show what they are thinking either.) Advice would be appreciated.
I think you can show what they are thinking, in a way. Presumably they would be somewhat in-sync in a fight, they can play baddies off each other. I think the thoughts could be in the same paragraph if names/sex are used and it is kept fast paced. If you have never read any, check out Jack Reacher books by Lee Child, he does a lot of fighting and thinking at the same time. they are quick reads, like a modern day classic western.
