Writing a book with complex action . . . keeping it all straight for the reader

Years ago, in the 70s, my wife and I began reading Robert Ludlum books, starting with the Bourne Identity (Matt Damon plays him in 4 great movies). His books are so complex, I always believed he used a giant chalkboard (remember this is long before personal computers!) to keep track of things. I never found out how he did it, but that idea stuck with me as I began writing.

I've been writing Sgt. Dunn novels for a while now. The first one, Operation Devil's Fire, was published in July, 2011. The second one, Behind German Lines, was published in October, 2013. All of the books have multiple complex battles. For many of the battles, I had to draw a map (on paper, not a chalkboard) showing who was where.

Since I don't want to act as a spoiler, I can't show you the maps, but believe me, they were a challenge. I use graph paper and draw them as close to scale as my limited art skills permit. I label objects like rivers, vehicles, buildings, etc., as well as identifying each soldier or group of soldiers. I show the direction they're aiming their weapons and or of travel.

Once I have the map, I set about writing the battle, which sometimes stretches across several chapters. I refer to the map as I write, to make sure that if I have soldier #1 here, I don't suddenly have him there.

The book I'm currently writing (Sgt. Dunn #12) needed a map. Man, did it need a map. By the way, I use Google Earth for those locations that are real. That way I can describe exactly how it looks. I did that for this book. I also had to use it it to find out what the actual elevation of the terrain is, which I was able to put on the map a little bit like a topographic map.

When I started writing the first chapter of this particular battle, I made it a few paragraphs and stopped. I suddenly realized that this one required extra work. For the first time ever, I bullet point plotted every move in the chapters, in a sense, choreographing the action in words. That took quite some time to complete (5 pages).

I restarted writing and it's gone very well. I pleased to report I finished the battle sequence spanning several chapters today. Whew!

Of course, later, I'll have to edit it to make sure it's as clear and precise as it can possibly be for my readers.

I hope to finish the first draft of sd12 in about a week. Be sure to check back and see my progress bar in the upper left of the blog page.

Thanks for stopping by today.