JHB

In my book (a fantasy book) the protagonists are trying to stop a ancient monster from being awakened. Well, (unfortunately for the protagonists, most of them die from this monster, or so I plan) near the end of the book, the monster is awakened. I plan for it to be hundreds of feet tall. It will literally be a living peice of hell, pitch black with screams emanating from its body.
It's skin, pitch black, will resemble a bee hive. The living dead crawl from these "hives" and feast on the living. I plan to have to monster rise from the ocean and attack the coastal town that the protagonists are in. There will be a huge battle, with the zombies and the monster verses the protagonists and the army of the coastal town.

I need help with this large scale battle. How should I describe it? I was never good at large scale battles. How should the monster act? Should he be stomping the crap out of the town, or attacking the army? Advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,
John

geminye

Its definately difficult to capture the scope of such a battle. I'm sure that you can see it clearly in your mind's eye. If you can't, I would start there. I try to visualize my storis like a director might with a film. I play the story out in my head, and then write what I see, adding the fine details later. This may work for you, or it may not. If you're not a visual kind of person, then I recommend reading other stories where there are massive battles and see where the author puts most of his focus.

All of this depends also on the element of the battle you are trying to capture. Do you want to protray the hoplessness of the towns struggle against the titan from hell? This all has a bearing on how you portray the battle. Try it a couple of different ways...

__________________
Suffer the little children...

Susie's Mom

That's some solid advice, geminye. It's true, JHB. if you can visualize those scenes, it will help immensely. If you can't, maybe you could try jump-starting your imagination by watching movies in which battle scenes are portrayed. Windtalkers, the WWII movie, has a lot of fierce battle in it. If you want something more personal, John Woo's Ride With the Devil might give you some ideas. There are hundreds of them out there.

Destroyer

Look around. Find some books that feature large-scale battles and see how the author does it. Then you can base your own methods on that.

__________________
Short stories:

http://www.authspot.com/Short-Stories/From-Afar.53629
http://www.authspot.com/Short-Stories/Foe.53628

The Cloaked Stranger

Battles can be fought and written, that's out there. I'd be more concerned with the monster -- it's huge and could crush the town or the army while they're busy fighting the smaller troops. You have to come up with a reason for it not to engage with the battle -- like it's disoriented from awakening, not at full strength (and so it has a vulnerability) or a magic user slows it down somehow, anything. You need a realistic reason why it doesn't just Godzilla the town to pieces, unless you want the town destroyed and the survivors dealing with the aftermath.

PixyLovesTheRain

Okay, to start off. I'll take the battle scenes. I find that if you describe it in short sentences, it will make the characters and battle scenes move.
I find that whenever I'm about to write a large battle, I do a bit of visual and reading both. One of my favorite Authors and probably everyone’s is JRR Tolken. But what I love about him most is that he has many battle scenes between the three trilogy books of Lord of the Rings. And describes them quite well.

As for the monster, I would suggest JRR Tolken as well... Because in the battles there are a few large monsters, and it might give you a couple of ideas. Also, I would do some Sci Fi book reading, because usually there are always large creatures in them.

Hope that helps a bit!

__________________
I have killed 13 people. All of them had lives, love and family. Each one, cut down in bloody murder, by my fingures and the keyboard.

JosephB

The question seems this basic to me -- I need to write about two people talking in a restaurant. How should the people act? Should they be eating and talking at the same time. Should they be yelling at the waiter?

If you can visualize or see it in your minds eye as geminye said, and you want to write about it, you just need to dive in and do it. If you can't see it, then maybe you shouldn't write it.

Referencing other work for inspiration is fine to get the ball rolling, as long as you can write something that isn't derivative. But seeing it --visualizing it -- is just about everything if you want to write fiction.

The next step -- putting it on paper -- can be learned (to a point) or a basic aptitude can be enhanced.

But if you can't hear the notes in you head, you can't write a song.

My guess is, you can see it. You may write it with the monster stomping on things and the decide that's not working. Then you try something else.

My recommendation would be write first, ask questions later. Write the scene, then go back and rewrite it. Then post it.

__________________
"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."
-- Albert Einstein

"I am really only interested in a fiction of miracles."
-- Flannery O'Connor