So, I’ve recently come to the conclusion that the saying that you’re your own worst critic may not be entirely true. Or at least, not true all the time. I freely admit that I could very well be wrong about this, but I feel like even after I edit my work, I’m still blind to its flaws. I realize that such a revelation may not be anything new to some of you fine folk, but I say that for a reason. That reason being, I would like to ask for help reviewing/critiquing my current WIP. If anyone’s willing to take a look, I’d be more than happy to show you what I’ve got. I have a thick a skin and I really want help, so don’t worry about hurting my feelings or anything.
Now, I did not just come here to ask for assistance without having something to contribute to this community. So with that in mind …
Winter has come to my mountain home and while there may not be any blue-eyed ice zombies and zombie dragons, there’s no shortage of ice and fires. Which got me wondering. Even today with all our advances, the weather isn’t something we can control. It pretty much does its own thing and we adapt and plan around it as best we can. That made me wonder just how many fantasy novels have written the weather as an external factor that forces the characters to adapt and react. A lot of the stuff I’ve read doesn’t really do that, except maybe to have some storm occur in order to further the plot along.
Why am I talking about the weather? Well, this is something that also ties into those final showdowns between the forces of good and evil. Or, at least it should. I can think of plenty of shows where the weather is just thrown in to add dramatic effect. One thing that I learned and that has been a truth for millennia is that terrain and weather dictate how both sides will fight. Or, avoid a fight as the case may be.
Tad William’s Memory, Sorrow and Thorn comes to mind as a good example. In the book, one of the characters knows that the baddies will try and engage him, so they can destroy his forces once and for all. The bad dudes attack on what they think is a nice level field. It turns out however, that they’ve just marched on to a frozen lake and since the good guys equipped their troops for combat on the slick surface, they managed to defeat a superior force.
Even today that’s still something that has to be taken into account during the planning process. If the weather affects visibility/mobility, can you still do your job? If your capabilities are reduced, how will you mitigate the problem and plan around it? I think that writing about such a thing gives us a unique to not only show our reader how our characters think, but how they handle things that are outside of their control.
Something I think too few fantasy novels take into consideration is how much of a role terrain and weather (should) play into the outcome of that final showdown. Those two factors determine exactly how you fight and what tactics you can use. To use the Inheritance Cycle as an example, I seem to recall a battle where the cavalry charged into the enemy camp at night. Now I have nothing against using cavalry for a given battle. But like any other weapons system, it has its strengths and its weaknesses. There are certain places where it’s just not suited to fight.
I don’t recall if the enemy camp was fortified or not, but even so, that wasn’t the best use for those guys. Now dismounting heavy cavalry gets you some solid heavy infantry (I’m talking medieval-type forces of course). That kind of approach would be a pretty solid way to execute such an attack.
Something else that stood out to me was how this attack was carried out at night. I say that last bit based off memory and I could be wrong. If so, please don’t hesitate to correct me. That being said, even with modern equipment, night operations aren’t the easiest thing to carry out. They require a lot of time, a lot of training and a lot of money. That’s not to say that there weren’t night actions in the medieval and ancient eras, but those were usually pretty small in scale. Back then most combat occurred the day, because we’re a diurnal species and all.
To be fair, the IC is hardly the first and probably won’t be the last series to have something like that occur within its pages. All too often, we see common sense and logical deductions either forgone or ignored, just for the sake of drama and spectacle.
I think it’s something that’s easily fixed or could just be played straight. What I mean by that is maybe we could have a story where someone does use their cavalry against a fortified camp at night. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time someone made a stupid decision in combat. Then we can see this attack turn into a complete disaster. This just in: Apparently launching unsupported cavalry attacks against prepared positions doesn’t usually end well.
Now what do our characters do? Someone’s going to have to figure out to rebuild their army’s shattered cavalry arm. Cavalry did a lot more than just charging at people. It’s hard to fight without a maneuver element and even harder without a highly mobile force to move ahead of your position and gather information. I would like to see a story where a character or characters have to deal the aftermath of such a loss. In fact, if they come up with a creative solution and still manage to defeat the big bad, I’d respect said characters a lot more.
Maybe our heroes win the night attack because they have some magical means of seeing in the dark. Perhaps this advantage means they can successfully conduct large-scale operations at night and this gives them a huge advantage against a larger force. I mean, I’d buy that for a dollar. Such a scenario would then beg the question of how the bad guys are going to come up with an answer. If they don’t adopt this new means of fighting, that begs the question of why not? And, if they eschew that advantage, how do they mitigate our heroes’ night-fighting capability?
Could it be that this magical night-vision spell causes vision problems later on in life? That raises huge possibilities for exploring the whole unintended consequences angle. How do our characters handle this new development? Even in a modern society, eyesight problems can cause huge lifestyle changes. Now imagine if you lived back in the centuries before corrective surgery and care.
If our heroes win against the big bad, how will the new society they create handle all these disabled veterans? Will they aid those who fought for them? Or, do they simply forget about the people who helped make their cause a reality? Does some enterprising magician emerge to help provide care? Is he doing this out the goodness of his heart or is he using this as a way to rally those veterans to his banner?
As always, the possibilities are interesting and virtually endless.
Thoughts, ladies and gents?
Now, I did not just come here to ask for assistance without having something to contribute to this community. So with that in mind …
Winter has come to my mountain home and while there may not be any blue-eyed ice zombies and zombie dragons, there’s no shortage of ice and fires. Which got me wondering. Even today with all our advances, the weather isn’t something we can control. It pretty much does its own thing and we adapt and plan around it as best we can. That made me wonder just how many fantasy novels have written the weather as an external factor that forces the characters to adapt and react. A lot of the stuff I’ve read doesn’t really do that, except maybe to have some storm occur in order to further the plot along.
Why am I talking about the weather? Well, this is something that also ties into those final showdowns between the forces of good and evil. Or, at least it should. I can think of plenty of shows where the weather is just thrown in to add dramatic effect. One thing that I learned and that has been a truth for millennia is that terrain and weather dictate how both sides will fight. Or, avoid a fight as the case may be.
Tad William’s Memory, Sorrow and Thorn comes to mind as a good example. In the book, one of the characters knows that the baddies will try and engage him, so they can destroy his forces once and for all. The bad dudes attack on what they think is a nice level field. It turns out however, that they’ve just marched on to a frozen lake and since the good guys equipped their troops for combat on the slick surface, they managed to defeat a superior force.
Even today that’s still something that has to be taken into account during the planning process. If the weather affects visibility/mobility, can you still do your job? If your capabilities are reduced, how will you mitigate the problem and plan around it? I think that writing about such a thing gives us a unique to not only show our reader how our characters think, but how they handle things that are outside of their control.
Something I think too few fantasy novels take into consideration is how much of a role terrain and weather (should) play into the outcome of that final showdown. Those two factors determine exactly how you fight and what tactics you can use. To use the Inheritance Cycle as an example, I seem to recall a battle where the cavalry charged into the enemy camp at night. Now I have nothing against using cavalry for a given battle. But like any other weapons system, it has its strengths and its weaknesses. There are certain places where it’s just not suited to fight.
I don’t recall if the enemy camp was fortified or not, but even so, that wasn’t the best use for those guys. Now dismounting heavy cavalry gets you some solid heavy infantry (I’m talking medieval-type forces of course). That kind of approach would be a pretty solid way to execute such an attack.
Something else that stood out to me was how this attack was carried out at night. I say that last bit based off memory and I could be wrong. If so, please don’t hesitate to correct me. That being said, even with modern equipment, night operations aren’t the easiest thing to carry out. They require a lot of time, a lot of training and a lot of money. That’s not to say that there weren’t night actions in the medieval and ancient eras, but those were usually pretty small in scale. Back then most combat occurred the day, because we’re a diurnal species and all.
To be fair, the IC is hardly the first and probably won’t be the last series to have something like that occur within its pages. All too often, we see common sense and logical deductions either forgone or ignored, just for the sake of drama and spectacle.
I think it’s something that’s easily fixed or could just be played straight. What I mean by that is maybe we could have a story where someone does use their cavalry against a fortified camp at night. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time someone made a stupid decision in combat. Then we can see this attack turn into a complete disaster. This just in: Apparently launching unsupported cavalry attacks against prepared positions doesn’t usually end well.
Now what do our characters do? Someone’s going to have to figure out to rebuild their army’s shattered cavalry arm. Cavalry did a lot more than just charging at people. It’s hard to fight without a maneuver element and even harder without a highly mobile force to move ahead of your position and gather information. I would like to see a story where a character or characters have to deal the aftermath of such a loss. In fact, if they come up with a creative solution and still manage to defeat the big bad, I’d respect said characters a lot more.
Maybe our heroes win the night attack because they have some magical means of seeing in the dark. Perhaps this advantage means they can successfully conduct large-scale operations at night and this gives them a huge advantage against a larger force. I mean, I’d buy that for a dollar. Such a scenario would then beg the question of how the bad guys are going to come up with an answer. If they don’t adopt this new means of fighting, that begs the question of why not? And, if they eschew that advantage, how do they mitigate our heroes’ night-fighting capability?
Could it be that this magical night-vision spell causes vision problems later on in life? That raises huge possibilities for exploring the whole unintended consequences angle. How do our characters handle this new development? Even in a modern society, eyesight problems can cause huge lifestyle changes. Now imagine if you lived back in the centuries before corrective surgery and care.
If our heroes win against the big bad, how will the new society they create handle all these disabled veterans? Will they aid those who fought for them? Or, do they simply forget about the people who helped make their cause a reality? Does some enterprising magician emerge to help provide care? Is he doing this out the goodness of his heart or is he using this as a way to rally those veterans to his banner?
As always, the possibilities are interesting and virtually endless.
Thoughts, ladies and gents?