Writing climactic battle scenes (+ kittens)

I'm working on the climactic battle scene of my current novel, and as I was preparing for this, I realized the task was going to be complex.

Write battle. (I haven't done this before.)
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Write climax of the story. (I haven't done this before either. This is my second novel, but the first in which that I have gotten this far.)

So what do I do? I research.

There was helpful hints out there, but they were scattered all over and embedded in articles about larger story structure.  So I had to collect them and chew on them and digest them.

I'm going to share what I found. (Whether I can implement all these principles in my own novel remains to be seen, but at least I can make this helpful to you, dear reader.)

*Ahem.*

How to Write a Climactic Battle Scene

Make sure each character has a goal. Make the goals clear, and make it really matter. If the character doesn't succeed, what do they lose?  Power? Control? Freedom? Wealth? Respect? Love? Loyalty?  Life? The lives of all they love? Their soul?  Will all the fluffy kittens die and no more rainbows will appear forever?

Also, point of view will need to be carefully chosen for greatest impact at various points.
Pay attention to each main characters’ internal and external goals for the scene and for the story.

Involve suspense.  Show the preparations of Lord Evil of Mount Doom-y Doom and how they will exploit the protagonist weaknesses so that they see something terrible is coming.  When the readers know more than the characters do, it creates dramatic irony and suspense.

Make the hero vulnerable. i.e. they can be killed, trapped, enslaved, destroyed politically or professionally, or ruined financially or socially. Vulnerability can come from the character’s own physical, mental or emotional shortcomings and conflicts as well as from the machinations of the adversary.

Threaten character’s safety, goals, morals, possessions, freedom, family, beliefs...  And their kittens.

Rack up the tension and suspense by making more and bigger promises about problems to come – disasters that will devastate the hero and his allies, shatter his plans and bring him so low that he might never recover.  Climaxes are where the consequences come after the hero.
(Show the dreadful kitten-gun that will be leveled at all the kittens.)

Create effects that spread the danger and damage early in the fight. Everyone should feel they are in danger, even the antagonist.

Focus on who is the largest threat to the villain and knock out a few heroes, but avoid downing them so early that they don’t feel like they can contribute. 
Make sure the hero appears as the underdog. (Or an under-kitten?) Or reduce them to underdog status quickly. However, avoid effects that completely neutralize character abilities or arbitrarily cripple them.

Being forced to compensate for a lost ability can be a good end for a minor arc, but for the campaign’s end, the heroes should be able to use everything they've learned and everything in their arsenal.  Even their kittens. (Rarr.)

There will be moments when the characters calculate chances and risks and analyze advantages and disadvantages of various courses of action. There will also be moments when they act on instinct and go by their gut.  (Like kittens.)

Consider when you can include a shift in tactics or calling for guards, or a transformation of the environment.  Negotiation turns to violence. Violence turns to diversion (like when the herd of kittens is released into the yarn factory). Success that is shattered by an ambush from the side.  Or mix these all up.

Remember to use scene and sequel. One act leads to a response, that leads to another.
With battles, efforts to destroy are "up to 11" on a scale of 1 to 10.  No punches are pulled unless there is a chance that the opposite side is weakening and may give in. (Punches may not even be pulled then.) For the antagonist, diplomacy is battle by words, and parley and peace is delaying battle for strategic advantage.
Try to avoid a fight of attrition.

Let your hero think he’s won – then tear victory from his grasp and turn it into absolute, crushing defeat.

Up to this point, the protagonist has been contemplating a transformation. Now she’s tested to see if she has changed.
Make your hero face his/her greatest fear – and risk losing the thing that matters most to him/her. (I hear you ask, "Like maybe losing their kittens?" Yes, maybe.) 

Expose protagonist to his greatest nightmare. (Kitten zombies?) Make sure to have warring emotions at the time of greatest decision.
Then tip it to one side with a little factor of deep meaning that offers a glimmer of hope or inspiration. (like kittens!) (The little factor has to be carefully set up and invested with meaning in the previous scenes for this to work.) Alternatively, if no hope of survival can be offered, offer a glimmer of hope that a sacrifice will not be in vain.
Make the peak moment of the scene run in slow motion with excruciating detail in description. Show it through all the senses.
Includes a moment of truth  -- The protagonist must realize ______.

The impossible task. The last stand against the enemy.  The kitten's back is against the wall, cornered by the wolves.
The hero must solve their own problems in the climactic battle. (Must define what the problems at the various stages)

Climax needs to resolve love plot and adventure plot.
The climax must fulfill all the promises of the story. (So you have to keep track of all the promises you've made about what the battle will be like or what might be used and prepare a way to keep them.)
It must also answer the story question.

The climax must settle the issue of whether the hero will or won’t achieve the goal.
1) The hero achieves the goal. Happiness ensues. Or,
2) The hero does not achieve the goal and realizes the goal was a false lead and he's better off without it. Happiness ensues. Or,
3) The hero does not achieve the goal and discovers a better goal and achieves it. (Best when the better goal was under his nose all the time.) Happiness ensues. (+ kittens)

Justice must be done.
There must be judgment, punishment, and restitution. If redemption can be worked in, even better, but it must be consistent with the character.
Dead kittens must be avenged as the kitten killer is brought to justice, wounded kittens must be healed, enslaved kittens must be released.. You get the idea.

Give a sense of what the hero’s life will be like after the story ends. 
What will life be like back at home for the protagonist? (Hopefully with kittens.)

Make sure the relationship arcs are resolving in the place they should. (There may even be a tiny relationship arc that is a mini-version of the story arc.)
Make sure minor plot lines are resolving in slower moments.

And hopefully everything ends up happily ever after, with kittens and rainbows and satisfied readers who buy more copies of your book to thrust into their friends' hands.

Writing sprints and spinning from dangling story threads

Yesterday I tried some 5-minute writing sprints at the computer on my story.  (Yes, I'm still aspiring to be faster on the computer.)  I did well the first time, but at each of the three sprints I did thereafter I got worse and worse. Clearly I’ll have to practice word-sprinting.  After some time, I expect I will try out 10-minute sprints.  But I’ll practice 5-minute sprints for, oh, maybe a month first.

There are a lot of writers that say writing sprints are a really great way to get in some writing in small slots of time, and I agree, but I’m feeling like there are some factors that go into a successful sprint.

If I were to sit down at any time and write for 5 minutes straight, I could do it, but to write 5 minutes on my story, I need to do some prep work first.  If I’m stuck on a scene, writing for 5 minutes is going to be kinda lame because, after all, I’m stuck.  Stuck-ness isn’t going to change just because I’ve started a timer going.

I think that in order to do a writing sprint for 5 minutes, at the very least I need to know about 5 minutes text-worth of what’s going to happen next in my story.  Which means I need to do some thinking first. 

But what if I closed every writing session by jotting down a little summary of what I think is supposed to happen next?  Then, the next time I start I’ll have a thread to pull on immediately, instead of having to brainstorm first.

Behold, an analogy!   If you knit, you don’t want to end the knitting session by cutting your yard and tucking the yarn end in an inaccessible place.  You leave the yarn attached to the project so you can get back into it easily.  Or, if you are changing colors, you connect up the new color and then leave it for the next time. 

You can do the same for yourself when you’re writing. Keep connected to your story by leaving a summary of what’s happening next to work off of when you come back to it.  It’s like a little story thread out dangling so there’s something for you to pull on.

Some writers leave a thread dangling by leaving a sentence unfinished because it is natural to want to finish an unfinished sentence.  Ta-da, you’re off and running again. 

Personally, I’ve tried this and I think there must be an art to it because about half the time I have no idea what I intended to say in the sentence, and I am not sure how to finish it.  But I have a bit more luck with jotted notes about what is supposed to happen next in the story.

How's your sprinting?

Building your characters

I have read of other authors who say that they develop their characters with a dossier sheet that requires them to make up and list a bunch of different attributes. 

I have a hard time with this personally.  (Of course, I am only on my first novel, so my opinion may change over time. I will revisit the topic after writing a few more novels.)

Filling out an attribute sheet all at once can get burdensome simply with the huge amount of detail.  At the beginning I’m not really sure what attributes are going to make my story work better.  Just how is it going to help to know that my character loves cheesecake?   Only if another character finds this out somehow and surprises them with it.  These details are useless to know unless they are used in the book for description or for plot points.

The more significant characters you have in your book or series, the more character profiles you’ll need to create. 

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

Age  

How old does s/he appear?

Eye Color:
      Glasses or contacts?

Hair color:
       Distinguishable hair feature (bald, receding hairline, etc.):
       Type of hair (coarse, fine, thick, etc?)

Typical hairstyle:

Height:

Weight:
       Type of body/build:

Nationality:
Skin tone:

Skin type:

Shape of face:
Distinguishing Marks?
       Scars?

Most predominant feature:
       Resembles (famous or not):

Accent?

Is s/he healthy?                                                 
       If not, why not:
Physical disabilities:

Physical abilities (what is character good at? sports, etc.):

FAVORITES

Color:

Music:

Food:

Literature:

Expressions:

Book:

Quote:

Expletive(s) (swears):

Mode of transportation:

HABITS

Smokes:
       What?
       How often?

Drinks:
       What?
       How often?

Worst bad habit?
Quirks:

BACKGROUND

Hometown:

Type of childhood:

First memory:

Most important childhood event that still affects him/her:
       Why?

Lower education:

Higher education:

Booksmart or streetsmart?

Religion and/or religious views and/or tendencies?

Firsts:

Job?

Kiss?

Sexual experience?

FAMILY

Mother (name):
        Relationship with her:

Father (name):
       Relationship with him:

Siblings:
       Birth order:
       Relationship with each:

Children of Siblings:

Extended family (aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.):

Close to family?  Yes/No

CHILDREN

Does character have child(ren)?
       How many?

Are all children with the same partner?
       If no, why not? If no, what is the custody arrangement?

How does character relate to his/her child(ren)?

Which child is character's favorite?
       Why?

Character's most favorite memory of his/her child(ren)?

Character's least favorite memory of his/her child(ren)?

Is relationship with children good?

Is relatioinship with children important to character?

OCCUPATION

Where does character work?
        How many years?

Relationship with co-workers?

Like his/her job?
       Why or why not?

Dream job:

ATTITUDE

Greatest fear:

Worst thing that could happen to him/her?

What single event would most throw character's life in complete turmoil?

Character is most at ease when:

Most ill at ease when:

Priorities:

Philosophy:

How s/he feels about self:

Past failure s/he would be embarrassed to have people know about:

If granted one wish, what would it be?
       Why?

Daredevil or cautious?
       Same when alone?

Biggest regret?

Biggest accomplishment:

Minor accomplishments:

Character's darkest secret:
       Does anyone else know?
              If yes, did character tell them?
              If no, how did they find out?

PERSONALITY

Greatest source of strength in character's personality (whether s/he sees it as such or not):

Greatest source of weakness in character's personality (whether s/he sees it as such or not):

Character's soft spot:
       Is this soft spot obvious to others?
       If not, how does character hide it?

Biggest vulnerability:

Which of the 7 deadly sins does character fight (or give into, willingly or not)?
       (lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, pride)

Which of the 7 virtues does your character have (or fight against)?
       (chastity, abstinence, liberality, diligence, patience, kindness, humility)

TRAITS

Optimist or pessimist?

Introvert or extrovert?

Drives and motivations?

Talents (hidden or not)?

Extremely skilled at:

Extremely unskilled at:

Good characteristics:

Character flaws:

Mannerisms:

Peculiarities:

SELF-PERCEPTION

One word character would use to describe self:

One paragraph description of how character would describe self:

What does character consider best physical characteristic?

What does character consider worst physical characteristic?
       Are these realistic assessments?
              If not, why not?

How CHARACTER thinks others perceive him/her?

What four things would CHARACTER most like to change about self? (#1 most important, #2 second most important, etc.)

If change #1 was made, would character be as happy as s/he thinks?
       If not, why not?

INTERRELATION WITH OTHERS

Is character divorced? Why?
       If yes, how many times?

Has character ever cheated on any signficant other?

How does character relate to others?

How is s/he perceived by...

Strangers?

Friends?

Wife/Husband/Lover?

Children

Co-workers?

Protagonist?

Antagonist?

First impression character makes is:
       What happens to change this perception?

What do family/friends like most about character?

What do family/friends like least about character?

GOALS

Immediate goal(s):

Long range goal(s):

How does character plan to accomplish goal(s)?

How will other people around character be affected?

PROBLEMS/CRISIS

How character react in a crisis (calm/panic/etc.)?

How does character face problems?
       Kinds of problems character usually runs into:

How does character react to NEW problems?

How does character react to change?

GENERAL

Jewelry?

Other accessories?

Drives a ... :

Where does character live?
       With anyone?  Yes/No

Where does character want to live?

Spending habits (frugal, spendthrift, etc)?

What does s/he do too much of?

Too little of?

Most prized possession: Why?

Play musical instrument?
       Which one(s)?
       How did s/he learn?

Does character like animals?

Any pets?

Likes music?
       What kind?

TECHNICAL

Owns a computer? Yes/No
       If not, why not?

Email address(es):
       If more than one, each used for...?

"Handle":
        Meaning to character:

Uses computer for business, pleasure, both?

Play computer games?
       If yes, which game(s)? If yes, how many hours per day?
       If so, are they/it multiplayere game/s?

Name used on each game & meaning to character?

List 4 online site(s) (URLs) visited daily?
       1.
       2.
       3.
       4.

UNCATEGORIZED

Person character secretly admires:

Person character was most influenced by:

Most important person in character's life before story starts:
       Why?

To me, an easy way to start a character is first with appearance, then by trying to describe their common attitudes about things they usually have to do or deal with.  This goes a long way toward helping me write a character realistically.  Then, I try to create situations that display their attitudes.

One of the ways characters grow is by a change of attitude about something.  I try to write situations that lead to a character changing their attitude, usually through major personal struggles or interactions with other characters. 

Either they come to dislike something bad, or they come to love or admire something good. Or, if they are turning to the "dahk side of the force", the opposite will be true.

In my first novel, I have some characters who are highly cynical about religion.  Their attitude was created by certain negative experiences in their backstory.    I have other characters who are highly optimistic about religion.  They have different experiences, positive ones, that created that attitude.  When these two different types of characters get together, there is dramatic conflict.

From attitudes, the next very good thing to put together is goals and motivations. Those are going to make a character active instead of passive.  Then, a lot of stuff can be imagined about the person from knowing those things.  Throwing in a little weirdness in there makes a character fascinating. 

I think other attributes can be made up as I write as I require plot points and description about them, but a character profile sheet does a good job of keeping track of that information as I make it up.  I wouldn’t want to have to search through my text to track down eye color or hair color.