Another thing about battle scenes that came to mind today, specifically the final battles at the end of the story. We tend to think the climax of the story is the final showdown. It's Frodo about to drop the ring. It's Peter's showdown with Miraz. It's Greece using the Trojan Horse to sack Troy. But there are actually two types of climaxes. There is the plot climax and the character climax. An important thing to think about is this: in most stories, the reader knows what will happen in the climatic showdown before it happens. That happens when the character climax reaches it's peak before the showdown. But it is very important that the character climax happens right before this showdown or during it. Once the main character arcs have reached thier fulfillment, anything beyond that should just be wrapping up the story lines.

Something many readers don't like is long-winded endings. I like a good wrap-up but not one long enough to make a novel, even for an epic like LOTR. Character development is more important than action so if you want good actions scenes be sure they develop your characters. Reveal things through the fight or chase that demonstrate who that character is. Make that character see something or do something in the battle that will impact future decisions. But if it's the final battle and the characters have completed their arcs, it's a matter of resolve and will vs the power of the foe. Internal battles are harder to do, but just as valuable as the others.

Well, that felt a bit scrambled but I hope it helps.

Hooray!!!!!!!! I am a winner of CampNaNo 54,073 words written And though there are quite a few things that I will change I have to say that I am very pleased with the ending and I am generally pleased with my novel, which is very unusual for me as I tend to absolutely hate everything I write
Now I am trying to decide what I should write for CampNaNo August

That's wonderful, Wild!!! Congratulations!!!!! Isn't it a wonderful feeling? I'm looking forward to November . . .

Congrats Wild!!!

I've been chugging along on Camp NaNo too, but I don't think I'm gonna make it like you have.

Congrats to the CampNaNo writers. I simply don't have the time to commit to that.

Through great insipriation from a book I just read, I just started a new novel I've been wanted to do for a while but couldn't figure out a good way to do it. I gave my review of The Devil's Sword by Douglas Richards in the books thread but Richards does an excellent job at weaving a suspsense thriller around a fencing tournament. He gave me what I needed to spark what I used in my first attempt at NaNo three years ago.

I am doing a take-off from the Zorro movies and legend and setting it in the modern day. I am calling it The Legacy of Zorro. I thought about using sport fencing as the back drop but couldn't figure out how and make it work smoothly. Now I know how. My main character learns sport fencing and pays for it by running the club's armory. That in depth knowledge of how the weapons are put together, how to do repairs, and how the equipment works will play a critical role in the plotline. I'm so excited to finally get my writing-itchy fingers going again.

Lady Courage, you're doing CampNaNo too awesome
Are you going to do it in August too? I am, I don't have anything to do this summer and am dying of boredom, I've already decided what I am going to write

thanks for the congratulations everyone

Valiant I know exactly what you mean! I'm currently writing two novels at the same time. One of them I started on two weeks ago and my main character is going away from home so she can go to college to get away from her mother. It's a vampire story, but it will be more along the lines of Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, it'll be sad, it'll be a choice the main character never got to make, it just happened and she'll hate that it happend, nothing like Twilight. And this moment in the begining of the book will be the last time the mother sees her daughter and the daughter argues with her mother why she is leaving her to go overseas because it is for their own good and that mother started getting into bad habits after a tragedy that took place and it's explained later in the book. The daughter wants a break from her mother and sometime come back to see if her mother has changed but she was mean towards her mother before she leaves in the first chapter.

When I was writing this I felt like I was my main character and my own mother came in and started a decent conversation and I was rude to her, 15 seconds after she left my room I realized what I did getting out of my story and out of my characters head I rushed to my mom and hugged her and said I was sorry like 8 times

Yes it happens to the best of us who are deep about our characters and yes it's a good thing as long as you explain it to your friends and family because my mom and friends easily forgives me a lot about some characters I write.

Rose Congrats on being the NaNo winner!

thanks DamselJillPole

I like to really get into my characters too but I haven't really started behaving like them yet, at least not around other people

I am going to be doing CampNaNo August and I was having a hard time deciding between writing fantasy or doing another His-Fi, but I went with the fantasy, cause it is a children's story and I always enjoy writing children's stories more
I still have a Sci-Fi series that needs to get done....I wish I could type faster

I'm getting really excited about NaNo, though it is quite a while away. I have a very awesome story idea, with quite a bit of detail, so I really wish I could start writing now. XDD I'll be super mad if I get tired of it!!