Superior Writing: superhero slobberknockers and point of view

Over in a thread on Facebook, the topic fell on how to best portray action in super powered fiction. Without the bombastic visuals of film or comics, superheroes in prose must have every action detailed. But when it comes to a big battle with multiple moving pieces all at once, this can create issues.

George Perez makes big superhero fights seem easy, but prose offers different challenges than comics.
Image credit: Marvel & DC Comics.

The inexperienced writer might want to try to emulate comics, movies and games they've read and bounce around the scene to make sure every beat of the battle is covered. I'm here to tell you that's not the way to handle things.

When you write fiction, the point of view in narration is key. Most readers are familiar with two kinds of POV in fiction. First person, where a character is also the storyteller, has grown less common over the years but is still used with great results. But the focal point most commonly used isn't simply third person, as inexperienced storytellers might think, but rather third person limited.

Third person is divided into two forms: limited and omniscient. Omniscient means the narrator is basically a god, able to view everything happening around him. This narrative form would encourage showing every scene of a fight bit by bit. But this form is incredibly uncommon in most genre fiction. (Neil Gaiman is the prime example I can give of an author using this form to great effect, but you and I are not Neil Gaiman.) The reason is that it doesn't fit the narrative structure most readers want to see, a focus on a character that they can grow to love (or hate.)

Third person limited perspective focuses on one character. That one figure is the only person whose thoughts we are connected to when they are the focus of the story. Even in a prolonged superhero fight with multiple heroes and villains, their perspective is the only one that matters.

Here's an example. Imagine the Justice League is fighting the Legion of Doom. Batman is our narrative force. He's busy in a fight with Joker and Riddler in Gotham City. He might see Flash speed buy now and then, but if Superman is fighting Sinestro in the upper stratosphere, he won't see that so it isn't important to Batman's narrative perspective.

Now, what do you do if you want to show more of the battle? The simplest example is to start a narrative with more than one focal character. Lightweight: Senior Year has Lightweight as an obvious focus character. But Millie also has her own narrative throughout the tales as well. Chapter or section breaks always split those narrative details, always clearly delineating to the reader where one narrator stops and another begins.

Back to our example, Batman could be our focal point character on the ground while Green Lantern is the focal point of the sky battle. But it is key with two focal point characters to treat them as such in more than just the big fights. If Batman is the focus of all the novel outside the big throwdown, don't suddenly make Green Lantern a focal point just to show off the super-fight. Both characters will need to have a narrative through-line in the story if both are focal points.

Ultimately, point of view is key to writing any big fight in super powered prose. You want to be able to show the grandiose excitement of heroes and villains at war, but you don't want to break the rules of great genre fiction. With your focal points in place, you can tell a great tale while also keeping your story readable.

What are your thoughts on super powered fights in prose? Share your thoughts in the comments below!