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	Subtopic	Started By	Posts
	Archive through Jun 18, 2003 Last Post: Jun 21, 2003, 10:19 am		20
	Archive through Nov 27, 2003 Last Post: Nov 29, 2003, 01:16 pm		20

Posted By: Eleika Nov 27, 2003 - 10:05 pm

*Eleika tiptoes up to Aldan, taps him politely on the shoulder, and decks him*

*Eleika smiles sweetly*

Posted By: Aldan Nov 27, 2003 - 10:13 pm

C'mon, aren't you gonna tar and feather Kiko and run him outta town??
*Aldan smirks right back at Elly*

Posted By: Eleika Nov 27, 2003 - 11:07 pm

Oh sweetie, you know I'm not THAT sort of witch.

I am curious about Toki. It's interesting to know there may be other Japanophiles lurking in the folds of SV.

Posted By: Kosai Nov 28, 2003 - 03:24 am

I love using Japanese characters and reading about them in texts. They just seem so much more fitting in a sci-fi story than...lets say someone from chechoslovakia...(Oh, and if any of you are from there...don't take this as an offence . Toki is a pretty interesting name though.

Posted By: Toki Suzukiko Nov 29, 2003 - 01:16 pm

^-^ thankiou...
Toki means "time of oppurtunity"
and Suzukiko means "bell tree child"
I'm an anime person... so thats why I like japanese charecters.

Posted By: Gnollslayer Mar 31, 2004 - 10:27 pm

Japanese characters are cool, even though I don't have any in my current book.

Anyways, about battles. I think the most important part of a battle is not the fact of the battle, but the fact of the characters involved. Realistically, not everyone good will survive a battle and not all evil will be routed. Hard things happen in a battle. Sad things. One of the best techniques I've seen for making a battle vivid is to steer attention away from the actual battle and more toward the reasons for the battle. While swords flashing and heads rolling make good eye candy in a movie, a book is intended to trigger responses from a different part of the brain. Use emotions, show death as the monstrosity it really is. If you do it right, people will cry or gasp or withdraw in horror. Battles benefit immensely from pathos. you might even consider that the moments leading up to a battle are more important to a story than the actual battle.

I may be alone in thinking this and this advice comes from the movie, not the book, but Return of the King had the most excellent example of this. The Rohirrim showed up. We know a battle is going on, is you've read the books you know Theoden is going to die. His speech to the horseriders has a far greater impact than the actual charge into the orcs. It sent chills down my back. I almost cried.

Posted By: Aldan Mar 31, 2004 - 11:35 pm

*click*
Nicely said, gnollslayer. I'm Aldan Orcbane, btw.
Good to meet a fellow monster slayer.

Posted By: BladeMaster7 Jun 25, 2004 - 09:03 am

Battle scenes are always very interesting. Remember though to describe if the main characters fight, how their personalies effect their style. Someone who has years of experience might be calm and awaiting another conflict to be involved in. On the other hand, you might have some young rookie who has no experience in fighting besides training and is basically freaked out. Look at both sides of the battle. How are the antagonist's army feel about this battle? What rallies them? This is just something that I have learned to incorporate in my writing.

Posted By: Neurolanis Jun 26, 2004 - 06:58 am

I think that there are a number of ways to tell a battle, and it involves VIEWS. You can tell it from the view of 1.a single character, 2.from a number of characters or 3.you can go back and forth through the battle as it occurs. Then there is the Tolkein approach -- tell it from the outside, quick and vague.

Posted By: Gnollslayer Jun 26, 2004 - 10:19 pm

I have to correct my post up there. It seems there is a Japanese character in my current book, she just isn't important to the plot. Dr. Sato only appears for about two pages and doesn't have a first name, but she is there.

And in spirit of keeping on topic, I guess I'll throw in something about writing battle scenes. I'm working on a battle scene right now and I've noticed that if you let some of the named characters die it adds realism and drama to the scene in one fell swoop. I'm still about five thousand words away from the scene where I let my first main character die. I gotta get ready for that.

Posted By: *_* fiery red *_* Aug 08, 2004 - 01:36 pm

has anyone read across the nightengale floor by lian hearn?? its the first in the otori series and for all you japanese influence fans its a great book. takeo and kaede (the main characters) are really real.