How long is too long for an epic battle scene?
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Um… so… hehe. Epic final battle in my WIP, and it’s quite the doozy… I am just now… finally getting to the climax of the battle! (which is about 3/4 done…) and…….. it is ….(blushes and turns his head, avoiding eye contact…) 9200 words, spanning over 25 pages…I know… the final battle itself is longer than a short story… but it is E P I C !!!!!
Do you think I can get away with it? [My world does have magic (called essence) …]
Christianity has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found difficult and left untried. ~ G.K.C.
The answer to that highly depends on how long your book is. If it’s a 90k word novel, than a battle that long would might seem gratuitous and drawn-out. If it’s a 200k+ word novel, it would be much more appropriate.
The next determining factor for me as the reader of said battle would be how many important events and PoV’s are happening the battle. If it’s just a long stretch of swords, bombardment, arrows, calvary charges, essence shooting, etc.. and all from what PoV, I would say 9k is probably too long. However, if you have several major events, showdowns, twists, or PoVs, then 9k could be the short end. A 15k+ battle is totally possible if one keeps those above mentioned elements in mind.
So your world and characters have supernatural elements to them?
Then I might have a problem. It’s 62k WIP so far.
That being said, there are lots of twists, events, stratagems, and battle plot developments… The king gets involved with his army, and the enemy has air, fire, water, and earth elemental golems (as well as a giant golem that combines all four elements). He also has four cursed elementals at his disposal that have different effects when he uses them (thankfully only one use each).
So your world and characters have supernatural elements to them?
yeah, I call magic in my world ‘essence’, based off of Plato’s perfect forms. Different races have different essence abilities (some include power over elements, insects, plants, transforming into animals, etc.)
The battle begins with the layout and the appearance of the elementals on the enemies side Then the king orders the castle formation and plant walls rise out of the ground like a maze. the elementals attack and at first are held back but then the air elementals attack in force and the scales are tipped. then, a giant golem shows up and throws boulders the size of houses and wrecks the walls, almost leading to a rout. a heroic general shows up and saves the king from a boulder, then the giant golem retreats. things look up, but then the enemy shoots a curse and kills the king’s second in command, who saves the king. Anyone who touches his corpse dies and becomes infected too, so anyone who touches them dies, etc. Then the giant golem comes back, this time with all four elements at its disposal and wreaks havoc.
finally, the hero/love interest of the story comes into play, after going to recruit more allies from the sea (race who can transform into animals) and they come up from behind the enemy and attack, taking out the water elementals and attacking the enemy lines from behind. The enemy’s general gets involved in the fight then, and the king orders troops he had hidden behind the next hill to charge (calvary) and he enters the battle too. It becomes a pitched battle, and nearing the end… (that’s as far as I’ve written so far). The protagonist will save the hero from the last curse, and then the enemy general will die, ending the battle.
…. so…. yeah. long, big, epic battle…
Christianity has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found difficult and left untried. ~ G.K.C.
It is a bit long for a battle but I totally understand your passion to make them epic. Battles scenes often become my favorite scenes when I can connect with the emotions and passion of the characters of what they are fighting for and why they must win. Once I connect and I read/hear their battle cries, it gives me the chills as I imagine myself a fellow warrior fighting alongside them. I can often feel the thrill of battle rising in me as I read. XD
I love military strategy, I often study ancient battles to better understand the tactics that were used and how they gave them an edge. I am currently putting together my first major battle, a force of dragons, giant ravens, and owlgryphs above in the skies and the ground forces below.
Short answer, it’s the first draft, it genuinely does not matter! Keep going, you can trim it down later if you find it too long!
The longer answer, it is on the long side.
After finishing and letting it sit for a couple of months, you can consider a few things when you read it.
Check your causality. Especially in a battle, A should cause B, should cause C. If you have a break in this or something else going on that doesn’t have an impact, you should fix that. Otherwise, it can get too cluttered.
You may know about Sanderson’s three laws of magic.
1. Your ability to solve problems with magic is directly related to how well the reader understands it,
2. Limitations are more interesting than abilities,
3. Expand, don’t add.
I’ve found this applies beautifully to battles, with minor adjustments.
1. Your reader will only become invested as well as they understand what’s going on.
2. Mistakes and failures the characters have to work around are more interesting than victories.
(My favorite battles are when characters go in with a waterproof plan and have to throw it out almost instantly and improvise.)
3. It’s better to have one event that pulls its full weight and has as much impact as possible, instead of many events that go halfway.
Also, I’d add to that that most readers (Specifically character-focused readers, like me) are mainly invested in battles because of how they impact the characters.
Besides that, don’t become discouraged! It’s easier to have too much and trim down than the other way around!
That’s all I can think of, I don’t enjoy writing battles and have gotten quite expert at avoiding them XD Still, now and then, there’s no other solution XD
Without darkness, there is no light. If there was no nighttime, would the stars be as bright?
I am the exact opposite hehe. I love writing battles. =) A friend of mine said I have a knack for describing the indescribable. lol. I see my battles/fights in my head, and then do my best to portray it for the readers benefit. I don’t always do it justice, but it is always joy when a reader says they could see it. But I do have to be careful, because to do that, it can easily get wordy (which is typically the opposite of the short sentences you want in high tension scenes.)
Christianity has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found difficult and left untried. ~ G.K.C.
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