Brian Ruckley on Writing Battle Scenes

I have been pretty vocal with stating my opinion that I think Brian Ruckley (author of Winterbirth and Bloodheir) writes the best battles scenes in the business. His battles scenes have a very cinematic quality to them.

I asked Brian Ruckley the following question via email:

I have gone on record in my blog and on some of the forums that you are the best writer of battles in fantasy (they remind me visually of the fight scenes in Gladiator with Russell Crowe). My question would be if its possible to describe the writing process behind your battle scenes.


His answer:
Praise like that's liable to go to a chap's head, but thank you anyway. Always room in my head for a bit more praise (helps to crowd out the teeming doubts and insecurities!). On the whole, I'm lousy at analysing my own writing process too closely, but I do try quite hard, and quite consciously, to achieve certain effects when I'm doing battle scenes, so I can offer at least a couple of (pretty basic) observations.

First, I'm very deliberately trying for a visual, cinematic feel in the violent scenes. Won't click with every reader, of course, but it evidently works for you, which is good. When I'm writing them I'm conscious that I'm being much more influenced by movies than I am by other books. That has a number of effects. I vary the point of view and scale of the description from battle to battle (and sometimes in the course of a single battle), for example: sometimes its very tightly potrayed from a single character's point of view, sometimes its from an eagle's eye height. Makes it a bit more 'visually' dynamic, I think, to have that diversity. It's like moving the camera in and out and up and down. Another movie influence is sound - I don't know how well this comes across in the books, but I give a lot of
thought to the sound effects, partly because they're often the most visceral
elements of the experience when you see a big battle on a movie screen.

Second, I'm always trying to imbue the combat scenes with pace and energy. It's obvious, I suppose, but conveying a sense of movement is kind of key to creating a good battle. But I deliberately try to make it a 'ragged' sort of movement. Which isn't a very clear explanation at all. I guess what I mean is that all the energy is a bit chaotic, the movements are a bit unco-ordinated, whether its an invidual warrior's swings or the charge of a whole army. There's nothing neat and tidy about it. I want the reader to always have a clear sense of what's happening, but also a clear sense that what's happening is unpredictable, chaotic, brutal.

Third, and this is just the rather trivial technical part of the second point really, I imagine most readers (and all aspiring writers) are fully aware of this so it hardly needs saying, but your writing pretty much automatically becomes more dynamic and immediate if you shorten your sentences and use simpler, shorter words within them. If I'm writing an atmospheric or descriptive passage (or answering an interview question), I give myself a lot more latitude to let sentences stretch and I feel free drop in some mildly unusual or languid words, because I'm kind of painting a picture for the reader, and they've got the mental space to reflect on or think about what they're reading. If I'm giving the reader a high energy battle, the text moves far more quickly and more simply, because I'm trying for a much more visceral and gripping type of engagement, and anything that causes - or allows - them to stop and think will break the momentum. Like a lot of writing, it's just a matter of rhythm. Description is a slow waltz; battles are heavy metal. Or something like that.

Anyway, the basic point is: in a way, I'm a different writer when I'm doing an action scene. Writing differently, thinking a bit differently.


After reading his answer, it goes a long way to explain why I like his battle scenes so much. The final book in the Godless World trilogy is the book I am most looking forward to in 2009. I thought I read the title of it somewhere, but can't seem to find it now. Does anyone know/remember what book 3 is titled?

Edit: According to amazon.uk, book 3 is Fall of Thanes.