By D.G. Valdron, an online Presentation, Tuesday, September 22, 2026, for Nicole Whisler’s Facebook group
“Finish My Fantasy Novel: Write My Best Book”
All too often, violence is sugar coated, from Finn giving a football whoop as he blows up his former friends in The Force Awakens, to Legolas and Gimli’s friendly rivalry keeping score on their murders in Lord of the Rings. Fantasy action is armies and battles either abstracted or cheerful all too often.
But in the real world action is violence. It’s traumatic and terrifying, your body goes through changes, your mind doesn’t work the same way. Instead of heroism there’s desperation and terror, a cavalcade of emotions. Your heartrate shoots, adrenalin floods, your attention narrows. And afterwards? Collapse, elation, depression, ptsd.
I’m really looking forward to this. With a personal history of violence and trauma, and having encountered it professionally, I think that I can offer a lot of insight into the inner dynamic, the emotions, the sensations, the alterations to consciousness that a lot of writers are missing when attempting action or fight scenes.