Writing Proper escalation of violence

[NotaNuffian]

Of course it is the CN that is the major offender in the "fuck, we ball" department. And by balling, I mean beating each others' brains out.

Here is an example of a discontinued (thank lord) CN, where the violence propagated like bunnies in spring.
1. MC goes to sword school as a novice.
2. A female senior decided to spar aka teach a newbie some lesson (for real, no second meaning)
3. MC cheat activates, allowing him to catch up with the senior.
4. Senior decides that MC is a liar and tries to cut his hand off.
5. MC parried, wounding senior and everyone in school wants to murder MC, MC got kicked out of school.
6. Suitor of female senior decides that MC needs to die. Cuz he is the son of the mayor, he got contacts to kill MC.
7. MC kills contacts and then the suitor (plus a whore he ordered?)
8. Mayor got angy. Call for MC blood.

I dropped the book.

At least Randidly had some sense, some.
1. MC beats the supposed "hero"
2. His pops, ten times stronger than Randidly, comes up to torture him because Randidly destroyed the grand plan where they (pops and some old cronies) fucked with destiny and made the original hero of the planet the main villain and have the son as new hero. Randidly became the corrector and the pops just said "I don't give a damn, I will fuck you until your ashes have ash."

There is an MO. Proper escalation of violence should have some sense of reasoning. To hell, even "I don't like you" can be a reason and the first example displayed its glory. I hate that. Of course, there is the underlying jealousy by the senior, what made me hate it was how disgusting the senior acted after losing. What came next was the suitor's reaction, I get that love can make one mad and being a powerful figure, he already is. But the execution is too flimsy.

What is your definition of a proper escalation?

 

[Le_ther]

Of course it is the CN that is the major offender in the "fuck, we ball" department. And by balling, I mean beating each others' brains out.

Here is an example of a discontinued (thank lord) CN, where the violence propagated like bunnies in spring.
1. MC goes to sword school as a novice.
2. A female senior decided to spar aka teach a newbie some lesson (for real, no second meaning)
3. MC cheat activates, allowing him to catch up with the senior.
4. Senior decides that MC is a liar and tries to cut his hand off.
5. MC parried, wounding senior and everyone in school wants to murder MC, MC got kicked out of school.
6. Suitor of female senior decides that MC needs to die. Cuz he is the son of the mayor, he got contacts to kill MC.
7. MC kills contacts and then the suitor (plus a whore he ordered?)
8. Mayor got angy. Call for MC blood.

I dropped the book.

At least Randidly had some sense, some.
1. MC beats the supposed "hero"
2. His pops, ten times stronger than Randidly, comes up to torture him because Randidly destroyed the grand plan where they (pops and some old cronies) fucked with destiny and made the original hero of the planet the main villain and have the son as new hero. Randidly became the corrector and the pops just said "I don't give a damn, I will fuck you until your ashes have ash."

There is an MO. Proper escalation of violence should have some sense of reasoning. To hell, even "I don't like you" can be a reason and the first example displayed its glory. I hate that. Of course, there is the underlying jealousy by the senior, what made me hate it was how disgusting the senior acted after losing.

What is your definition of a proper escalation?

There should be a good reason in the first place, Petty revenge isn't good tho.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

1. Drinking a lot of booze.
2. Mishearing and misunderstanding words because the two(or more) people are way too drunk.
3. Fight.

 

[NotaNuffian]

There should be a good reason in the first place, Petty revenge isn't good tho.

Indeed, it felt like a playground brawl turned violent when shivs and glocks got introduced.

1. Drinking a lot of booze.
2. Mishearing and misunderstanding words because the two(or more) people are way too drunk.
3. Fight.

Yeah, RL reflected in fiction.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Btw, the example from a discontinued CN work can be a proper escalation if you write it properly.

 

[NotaNuffian]

Btw, the example from a discontinued CN work can be a proper escalation if you write it properly.

Maybe if I gave the female senior a proper reason to murder MC and make her less of a trigger happy bitch. I mean, when she was defeated, she was very quick in throwing out accusations.

Btw, I said that "she decides that MC is a liar", not that she thinks. Because she was thinking "impossible! How can he be so good?" and immediately saw him as a threat in the upcoming tournament (which the MC don't know and DON'T EVEN PARTICIPANT) and tried to cripple him.

The author did a good job in making me hate the green eyed bitch and a great job in making me want to strangle the mayor's son. He was an admirer of the female senior, but when she lost (failed to make it past the top 16 due to her injury, though technically the bitch can't past top 8 judging by track record), he did not even bother to go and console the girl. Instead, he was fucking an escort in the grand hotel.

At that pace, MC would be the world enemy by chp 300.

 

[Deleted member 54065]

1). Show the tension.
2). Show the 'background' of the tension. (The motivations and characters of the people involved.)
3). Attempt at a peaceful resolution. (Diplomacy. My characters are not impulsive muscleheads, see? Also, to tell the reader that all options are exhausted before getting into the fight, and not just to bring excitement to that part of the story.)
4). Someone fucks up, and the tension escalates into open warfare. (Of course, having someone fuck up at a critical moment, this is quite the fantasy, or too much realism can end up boring.)
5). Fight! Fight! Fight!
6). Someone in the background conducts backdoor negotiations (optional).
7). Resolution of conflict.
8). Aftermath. (The consequences of the conflict)

Yeah, as what I always say in my other thread replies, I try to be as realistic as possible. But then again, my story's conflicts involve armies, states and nations, not just drunkards and hotheads, hence that kind of escalation.

 

[melchi]

I like how it goes in her majesty's swarm. Ally with a group who is systematic bring discriminated against. Get involved in a fight when presented with said discrimination. Queue retribution. Body count increases. Main resources for swarm is meat balls so strength of faction surpassed allied faction. Get labeled monsters and army comes to kill everyone. Army dies leaving behind more meat balls. Arrive at local town and meet new people. One thing leads to another and town turns into meat ball . Rinse and repeat until county no longer exists.

 

[NotaNuffian]

1). Show the tension.
2). Show the 'background' of the tension. (The motivations and characters of the people involved.)
3). Attempt at a peaceful resolution. (Diplomacy. My characters are not impulsive muscleheads, see? Also, to tell the reader that all options are exhausted before getting into the fight, and not just to bring excitement to that part of the story.)
4). Someone fucks up, and the tension escalates into open warfare. (Of course, having someone fuck up at a critical moment, this is quite the fantasy, or too much realism can end up boring.)
5). Fight! Fight! Fight!
6). Someone in the background conducts backdoor negotiations (optional).
7). Resolution of conflict.
8). Aftermath. (The consequences of the conflict)

Yeah, as what I always say in my other thread replies, I try to be as realistic as possible. But then again, my story's conflicts involve armies, states and nations, not just drunkards and hotheads, hence that kind of escalation.

Well, I stick to reading power fantasy aka xianxia where the manchild scales with power level and an individual is a walking nuke. So even the dumbest logic like "I don't like his face/ words" can start a fight.

Afaik, there is that one time where a CN MC state that people should not be an asshole and kindness should be the way. Cue a high level cultivator who was passing him straight up tried to kill him.

Also, the philosophy of "with great power comes great responsibility" got warped hard. Recently it is "with great power comes less responsibility" because the more power you have, the less people want to mess with you, meaning that you can get away with things. This was further demonstrated in xianxia drama where a high official got the entire court defending him and his family as "bringing the official to justice will damage the reputation of the court".

 

[Deleted member 54065]

Well, I stick to reading power fantasy aka xianxia where the manchild scales with power level and an individual is a walking nuke. So even the dumbest logic like "I don't like his face/ words" can start a fight.

Afaik, there is that one time where a CN MC state that people should not be an asshole and kindness should be the way. Cue a high level cultivator who was passing him straight up tried to kill him.

Also, the philosophy of "with great power comes great responsibility" got warped hard. Recently it is "with great power comes less responsibility" because the more power you have, the less people want to mess with you, meaning that you can get away with things. This was further demonstrated in xianxia drama where a high official got the entire court defending him and his family as "bringing the official to justice will damage the reputation of the court".

Ah, one of the reasons why I don't read xianxia.

I still believe in TLC when it comes to writing, even if the scenes drag on. After all, my aim is to balance reality with fiction in my works.

 

[Prince_Azmiran_Myrian]

I woke up this morning and chose violence.
Seems perfectly unreasonable to me.

Sounds like author can't think of any different kinds of external conflicts. It's like a murderhobo.

 

[georgelee5786]

Slow and steady. Don't escalate it out of nowhere. Lay the foundations for the escalation in advance, then boom, all-out murder time.

 

[TheEldritchGod]

Sounds like author can't think of any different kinds of external conflicts. It's like a murderhobo.

HEY! Do not disrespect murderhobos.

 

[Prince_Azmiran_Myrian]

HEY! Do not disrespect murderhobos.

Murderhobos are lame. No fun. Brainless. The only thing they can think to entertain themselves is violence.

 

[CarburetorThompson]

I have a hard time getting into stories where the protagonist just kills indiscriminately. I especially hate when people like guards or mercenaries end up killed just for doing their job. My old neighbor was a mercenary, he guarded oil tankers off the northern coast of Africa. Find it off putting in movies and such when the action calls for killing civilian members of the security industry.

 

[Ilikewaterkusa]

Of course it is the CN that is the major offender in the "fuck, we ball" department. And by balling, I mean beating each others' brains out.

Here is an example of a discontinued (thank lord) CN, where the violence propagated like bunnies in spring.
1. MC goes to sword school as a novice.
2. A female senior decided to spar aka teach a newbie some lesson (for real, no second meaning)
3. MC cheat activates, allowing him to catch up with the senior.
4. Senior decides that MC is a liar and tries to cut his hand off.
5. MC parried, wounding senior and everyone in school wants to murder MC, MC got kicked out of school.
6. Suitor of female senior decides that MC needs to die. Cuz he is the son of the mayor, he got contacts to kill MC.
7. MC kills contacts and then the suitor (plus a whore he ordered?)
8. Mayor got angy. Call for MC blood.

I dropped the book.

At least Randidly had some sense, some.
1. MC beats the supposed "hero"
2. His pops, ten times stronger than Randidly, comes up to torture him because Randidly destroyed the grand plan where they (pops and some old cronies) fucked with destiny and made the original hero of the planet the main villain and have the son as new hero. Randidly became the corrector and the pops just said "I don't give a damn, I will fuck you until your ashes have ash."

There is an MO. Proper escalation of violence should have some sense of reasoning. To hell, even "I don't like you" can be a reason and the first example displayed its glory. I hate that. Of course, there is the underlying jealousy by the senior, what made me hate it was how disgusting the senior acted after losing. What came next was the suitor's reaction, I get that love can make one mad and being a powerful figure, he already is. But the execution is too flimsy.

What is your definition of a proper escalation?

War should be over ideology

 

[NotaNuffian]

Murderhobos are lame. No fun. Brainless. The only thing they can think to entertain themselves is violence.

I like murderhobos... Just not mindless ones.

 

[Prince_Azmiran_Myrian]

I like murderhobos... Just not mindless ones.

I was mostly saying that because he told me not to. Don't worry, you can continue to live vicariously through any murderhobo you like.

 

[Iamnotabot]

War should be over ideology

War is fought over advantage or survival, sometimes both.

 

[NotaNuffian]

I have a hard time getting into stories where the protagonist just kills indiscriminately. I especially hate when people like guards or mercenaries end up killed just for doing their job. My old neighbor was a mercenary, he guarded oil tankers off the northern coast of Africa. Find it off putting in movies and such when the action calls for killing civilian members of the security industry.

Most of the times the tribal ideology just sink in, us or them. Better get rid all of them then.