Trope of the Week: Mid-Battle Conversation
Around your characters are millions of people, all of them battling with pikes and swords, maybe even laser-guns, and covered in armor to
delay their deaths. The din of war swallows the battlefield, filled with
shrieks of rage and cries of death. In a small pocket, somehow
protected from all of this, your characters have the chance to take a
breather, stand, and survey the madness around them. They share a talk
that lasts one minute, two, five – and then they dive back into battle,
having never been in any real danger while they stood talking.Why this can be bad: While discussing a whole host of cliched moments in the final Hobbit
movie, Screen Junkies brought up this one, which really stood out to
me. It’s something I’ve always vaguely noticed, but it took that video
for me to realize that, yes, this is a crappy trope. Characters will
spend several, long minutes discussing something in the midst of battle.
Usually they’re in some kind of situation where they only need to
barely pay attention to what’s happening around them, parrying the rare
wayward blow that may come towards them, and they have plenty of breath
left to stand around and discuss something important with their friends
(or the Big Bad). While this can be effective to some extent, when used
in excess, this trope challenges the reader’s belief. If the characters
can kill so proficiently while distractedly battling, then why aren’t
they exceptionally better when they’re focused? Why is there a thick
wall of fighting around them, but they’re somehow the only people with a
fifteen-foot radius of clear space around them? How are they not, at
the very least, a little out of breath? The biggest issue with this
trope is that sometimes it’s just not even a bit believable.How you can fix it: Notice how earlier I said that it was unbelievable when used in excess?
That’s the key phrase. While I still don’t buy that characters would be
able to get away even briefly from battle while in the middle
of a battle, it’s much easier to accept very short conversations than
longer ones. If they hold a conversation that is only a few seconds
long, an exchange of the only the most crucial information, not only
does that seem more believable, but it makes the situation seem much
more dire. But what if your characters have a lot to say? Use the
battlefield to your advantage. If there’s some cover they can hide
behind, let them use that to have a slightly longer, more relaxed
conversation. You can even have them fall back behind their own lines
and take shelter, allowing them a security they wouldn’t have been able
to get on the other side. By doing this, you won’t inhibit the sense of
danger that comes along with battle, and you also won’t make your
characters look like they’re superhuman for being able to hold a casual
conversation while parrying blows and murdering soldiers.Bottom Line: Think logically about this trope, and use it sparingly to avoid your characters appearing superhuman.
