Over the first three days, I struggled to conjure the motivation to write the battle scene.
I think it was a combination of being burned out in the creativity department as well as being a typical girl. I know the latter sounds a little sexist, but I think it’s true. Jason and I were talking last week after my intern interview. Apparently, he would have no problem in writing a battle scene, but he would struggle in writing a love scene. With me, it’s the complete opposite, I know how to describe sensuality and bring romantic feelings to the page, but writing a scene that involves jabbing swords, blood spurting and raucous screaming is difficult without it boring me or coming across as boring to the reader.
I know this sounds weird, coming from someone who included a battle scene in her novel, but at the time I seriously thought I’d be able to write one and have fun with it. But when it came to the crunch, I guess I came to the realisation that I only have fun with writing when I’m dealing with strong characters interacting with one another, something I’ve been incessantly encouraged to do for three years by my lecturer. Damn you Candi Miller. Damn you.
Today, it got to the point where I could not stand being unmotivated. On Tuesday, I Googled ‘How to write a battle scene’ to kick start my brain and one source suggested that I get some pins and items and plan out the battlefield. The closest I have to pins are my Kinder Surprise toys, which have been left in a plastic bag for seven years now.
It was weird to look at and touch my toys. The Polly Pockets look like they’ve been drenched for a year in urine and my some of my toys (the ones you have to assemble together) are now limbless. But the better quality toys were still how I remembered them, although a little gnawed and white here and there from excessive use. Most of these were the ones I got from the Kinder Surprise chocolates, which I got addicted to collecting at the age of five after my cousin bought me one. Hawaiian turtles wore garlands flowers around their necks and heads and the crocodiles held books and bags in preparation for school. It’s a bloody shame the company doesn’t make them as bright and creative as they used to. I bought one two years ago, and left the flimsy plastic toy I had to assemble on the shop shelf. That is how horrid they are.
Anyways I digress. I split my toys in two opposing sides: the turtles and crocs played the part of the Asurs and the Disney characters played the part of the Devs. I’ve got to say, this method worked. I was able to visualise the scene and made notes on the various events that could happen. Funnily, while I was doing this, my sister-in-law dropped by for a visit. She pointed the tips of her rigid palm towards my toys (the way most Indians do) and mockingly asked me how old I was.
Now that I have the idea, I need some good battle scenes to read, just to see how such a chapter is organised and how it’s written. My friend Janet recommended The Final Battle by Greg Farshtey, which I will look for in the library…if not, then Amazon it is. In the mean time, I will be skim reading The Return of the King, just to get an idea of how events in a battle chapter are organised and shown in a narrative. To be honest, getting through Lord of the Rings without the over-written Medevil language putting me off is a bit of a challenge already. Plus, I’ve been severely told off my Candi for overwriting, most of which was down to being encouraged by my English teacher to use Tolkien as inspiration for my metaphors and similes.
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