: Re: What's Essential In A Combat Scene? I've just been reading a bunch of Jim Butcher's Dresden Files books. Although they were the most enjoyable read I'd had in ages I always found myself skimming

@Jessie137

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As the other answers here show, to each their own.

Some people enjoy combat scenes, and some don't. But also, different people (in both categories) enjoy different kinds of combat scenes, and there are many different ways to handle them, depending on purpose as well as audience.

For readers who aren't really into combat, the best combat scenes will be brief yet somehow interesting, probably focusing on the effects of the combat on the characters after the combat is over. Or thematic effects, or any number of other purposes. In some stories, the conflict involves combat situations, or power struggles, or relationships between people who lead different units in combat.

For readers who are interested in combat, there are many different tastes. Some are interested in tactics or techniques. Some are historians interested in realistic details. Some are interested in how conflicts between different types of forces might play out. Some are interested in sensational imagination. Some are interested in psychology. Some are interested in the shocking sudden horror of violence as opposed to how it was anticipated before the event. Some are in it for the revenge. And on and on.

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