: Re: Characters' motivation and feelings on defending against an alien invasion I got really good answers to my last question, so I decided to post a new one:) In my novel, a few humans suddenly

I should think most fighters are not defending "humanity" in general, they are fighting on behalf of the people they know and the way of life they think can be salvaged.

Your emotions and values are tied up in other people; the residents of your village, home town, neighborhood. The people you see in your day to day life. When you go to war, those are the people you imagine saving, and those that were lost are the people you imagine exacting vengeance for. Along with the people that fight beside you, your fellow warriors.

If there is a predominant emotion in war, I think it is "resolute determination", portrayed pretty well in "Saving Private Ryan". Fear cannot be sustained for a long time, you may feel fear in a fire fight, but you return to the baseline state of "We're doing this, even if we die, to secure a future for those we love."

I love my family and my town, the babies, the kids, the insufferable high schoolers that know it all while knowing nearly nothing, the young women, the young mothers, the old mothers, the shopkeepers, the elderly bridge players telling each other the same endless stories for decades, I love them and that's why I fight. I love them more than my own life, and I will give it up if that is the only way to give them a chance against being slaughtered or enslaved.

IMO it isn't the excitement, or dreams of being a conquering hero, it is about preventing terror and horror (or any more terror and horror) from being inflicted upon the people you love, in particular those that you know have no chance of defending themselves if you do not succeed. Incidentally, that might save "humanity", a nice bonus, but that is not the main attraction.

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: How to write a convincing character with a opinion that differs from the author's? So I wrote a short text recently in which the character has a very strong political opinion (anti-LGBTQ), which

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: Matthew Dave's answer is correct: the language used in a Senate hearing is far more akin to legal or courtroom jargon, not business jargon; there's a huge specific lexicon, tailored and altered

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: Re: Characters' motivation and feelings on defending against an alien invasion I got really good answers to my last question, so I decided to post a new one:) In my novel, a few humans suddenly

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: How to write a convincing character with a opinion that differs from the author's? So I wrote a short text recently in which the character has a very strong political opinion (anti-LGBTQ), which

: What makes "thrilling" writing? I am writing a thriller, but even though it is filled with exciting events, it is starting to feel boring to me. My Scenario: This girl (Freya) has amnesia and

: Matthew Dave's answer is correct: the language used in a Senate hearing is far more akin to legal or courtroom jargon, not business jargon; there's a huge specific lexicon, tailored and altered

: How to write female characters with agency? I'm attempting to write a novel, an historical fiction with a small fantasy component (time travel through a portal). The travelers (main characters)

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