The Art of Warfare and Fantasy Writing

By Ricardo Cebrián Salé

This is not one of those books that suggests reading Sun Tzu's The Art of War even on the toilet, but rather gives practical tips to help inexperienced writers with their battles…

With the help of various acclaimed authors and real historical examples, you’ll learn:

*What to keep in mind when designing a battle

*What types of weapons exist and why they’re used

*Different real tactics that you can apply

*Different options for narrating a battle

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ricardo Cebrián Salé
• Release date: Oct 17, 2016
• ISBN: 9781507159620

Book preview

For the most illustrious and glorious captains and emperors of the world, the study and practice of war has preserved their regions, and the military art has long been allied with the lesson. The sword has not been spurned so readily as the quill pen. The tried symbol of this truth is the arrow: only with the feather can the iron take flight and strike.

Francisco de Quevedo

Prologue

If my dear old father could lift his head and see that his son, who was radically anti-war (and who fought hard against doing military service), is writing a prologue for a work exclusively dedicated to the art of warfare, he would probably return to his grave running, embarrassed and bewildered, thinking something unbelievable had altered the rules of humanity.

But before the coffin lid shut again, I would run after him and stop him. And I would explain everything, the same way Ricardo often does in the middle of a section: we're lovers of war only when we know with absolute certainty that we won’t have to suffer it, and we’re totally convinced that we’ll never have to participate in it.

Even though the military component of epic fantasy is hard to avoid, I strongly believe few authors who delight in writing about war are actual friends of violence, battle or destruction in their daily lives. Contrary to the opinion of the outside world, geeks are the most sensible people you could imagine. But let’s set aside the anti-war tirade and get down to business.

I remember perfectly (about three years ago) when I first read Ricardo’s work. It was on an Epic Fantasy forum, a distinguished place on the web where we both used to contribute with some regularity (his username was Imgrot). It was a fantasy story while also being a war story. From the beginning, I noticed the huge literary quality of his phrases and the extreme ease he showed the feelings of a warrior ready for battle, which I could hardly get away with. I also know that Ricardo thought about including this story at the end of this book and dismissed the idea as being too egotistical. Big mistake. It would have helped disprove thoughts like: And who is this guy telling us how to properly write war scenes in our novels? Nobody knows him, he has nothing published. Can he do everything he says in his own work?

I sincerely believe it’s unimportant that Ricardo hasn’t seen any of his stories published yet. In fact, I dare say that he hasn’t yet submitted them to publishers because they’re not finished. I have no doubt that his time will come, but even if I’m completely wrong, it’s no excuse to ignore what his present work offers. I’ll say, and I assure you I’m not exaggerating even a little bit, that even the most famous writer can learn from the advice Ricardo offers here.

Through a number of analytical examples from several key fantasy and history novels, he unpacks all aspects to consider, so that a work aspiring to be great doesn’t suddenly and hopelessly suffer a SBC (Sudden Boredom Crisis).

What sticks with me most is this final conclusion: make your battles have an internal frame, just as interesting as the novel itself.

Take note, everybody.

Roberto Redondo

Introduction

This is not one of those books that suggests reading Sun Tzu's The Art of War even on the toilet, but rather gives practical tips to help inexperienced writers with their battles. Some time ago, during the last two years of my studies, I decided I wanted to learn how to write better. I had spent years writing stories. Mostly horror and fantasy stories filled with teenage passions that owed much to Brian Lumley, Poppy Z. Brite and Lovecraft. These stories were not particularly good, so I started reading random manuals (there are plenty in public libraries, but nobody tells you where to start). I liked The Art of Fiction by John Gardner and he offered the same advice, among other tips, that my teacher of literary composition gave me a little later: learn to write by imitation. By then I had left behind horror stories and returned to fantasy, thanks to the Bibliopolis collection[1], and especially Viriconium and Swordspoint, which made me regain my faith in a genre that I had abandoned in my teenage years. These books showed me there was much more to classic dragons and wizards than ever. I bought a notebook and made endless lists of everything I wanted to learn to write and authors who I admired. As I point out in Learning to Write Action Scenes and Battles, not one of the authors I wanted to imitate wrote fantasy. Most were authors of historic or sci-fi novels.

War, despite being a recurring element in epic fantasy, isn’t usually well told compared to historical novels, for example. Of course, there are exceptions and I'm sure that fans of Tolkien or A Song of Ice and Fire think differently. However, if we count the vast number of fantasy novels, there are many final battles that are boring and repetitive.

But war isn’t something usually talked about in workshops and style manuals. Usually we talk about action, or dramatic and romantic scenes, but not the whole meaning of war, or even something simpler, like a battle or skirmish. War has its own rules and its own masters when it comes to describing it.

It’s exactly those final battles that writers spend a lot of time and effort crafting, putting our poor protagonists into combat. It's a shame they become something so trite.

Much later, as I tried to find out more on the internet and by using new technologies, I started a blog for this issue. And precisely because of the new opportunities available on the internet, I’m writing this introduction in order to fill a gap in creative writing manuals that all fantasy writers have faced. It’s absurd to try and create a complete manual of medieval warfare. My knowledge of history is amateur and libraries are full of books about the war in the Middle Ages. What I try to do in these pages is pose the problems that arise narratively during a fantastical war.

War is a serious matter, whether it’s a battle between two powerful armies, or an apocalyptic battle of stone throwing (for those who like Stephen King, you know what I mean). War is something important and it’s often waged in a violent and incomprehensive way. To quote Clausewitz in his book, On War:

As the diversity, and undefined limits, of all the circumstances bring a great number of factors into consideration in War, as the most of these factors can only be estimated according to probability, therefore, if the Chief of an Army does not bring to bear upon them a mind with an intuitive perception of the truth, a confusion of ideas and views must take place, in the midst of which the judgment will become bewildered. In this sense, Buonaparte was right when he said that many of the questions which come before a General for decision would make problems for a mathematical calculation not unworthy of the powers of Newton or Euler.

Of course you don’t need Newton to describe a battle, nor Napoleon, nor do you need to read Clausewitz, Sun Tzu or any other strategist. What you should do is remember that war is complex and decisions taken by the narrator aren’t going to be any simpler.

Planning the battle

In reality, not all problems a fantasy writer faces are narrative. When I started talking about this on my blog, one of my first decisions was to avoid tactics and strategy. This was a mistake on my part, which I later realized on various fantasy forums. Unlike a writer of historical novels, where the past is already documented, no one ever told fantasy writers that we should know history. This shortcoming is evident in many of the Dragonlance novels, and it’s important. The battle of Minas Tirith, which will

Reviews for The Art of Warfare and Fantasy Writing

[Lisa Parks · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This thought-provoking and comprehensive book is one of the better manuals on writing fantasy that I have come across. The author touches upon a great number of the many important facets of creating a believable battle scene. I'm sure I will refer to it repeatedly.