I've been wrestling with this question a lot over the past few months...especially since my writing interests took on a more military-leaning form. I genuinely enjoy writing military SF, and some fantasy with medieval-type warfare. But should I be writing it? Should I expect it to come out sounding authentic?

I have not been in the military...obviously, I have not been in combat. I have no real idea of what that feels like. Of what kinds of emotions course through you when that lethal realm is entered. I’m sure I do not have the mindset of a soldier, yet I frequently try to create characters who possess such a trait. How am I supposed to accurately capture the camraderie of brothers in arms when I've not been there? When I haven’t heard the bullets snapping over my head, or felt the anguish of losing friends and the force of fear in my chest? These few meager descriptions are only from my private speculation. I have no idea if even that is accurate, though I suspect it cannot possibly come close.

So what say you? Within this particular context, how should I go about achieving realism in my favorite writing genre (even if it is one I have no real business engaging in)? Perhaps I'm being a bit melodramatic here. That's probably it. I just feel very strongly about keeping my stories as true to life and death as possible. If possible. Any thoughts?

In this kind of situation, I try to draw on memories that might be similar in a way. I've never been in a batallion, but I can remember the comraderie I felt with a small group of friends as we struggled through our first year of college -- they were like my sisters. And while college isn't the same as war...I'd extrapolate from something like that. There isn't one "correct" way to respond to warfare, besides. People handle it differently, just like people handle the death of loved ones differently.

I was in the military, but I went in the April after "Desert Storm". However, my father, as well as my wife's father, were both over there in Iraq and Saudia Arabia. My dad had a real hard time around anything that backfired for a while. I remember once while we visited his uncle something backfired or a gun went off and he ducked, spun, and looked for where it came from.

Back to the subject. He told me of a few times that he and some of his men were out clearing bunkers ( too graphic for this public forum), but I almost threw up because of his details.

I also think you could ask HSO too.

If you are going for realism, I'm sure you could go to a VFW post sometime and ask the veterans there how things were.

Heck if you're desperate, contact your local military base/recruiter or whomever and ask them if you could pick their brain for some insight on things that you're writing about.

Just some thoughts

Say that I'm writing about a sword fight with trolls. I'm not going to find an expert to tell me about fighting trolls. I've never been in one, likely never will be. In fact, I've only been in two fights that got physical, but I remember those very vividly. So I can use my remembered sensations of rage, adrenalin and how time seemed to fragment.

But my warrior is trained, so that would have a effect, right? So I search my memories for something analogous to being physically adept and strong, something that is difficult. For me that winds up being working the puppet for Little Shop of Horrors. It weighs between 80-125 pounds and pushes me right to the edge of my abilities, but I'm good at it. So I take those sensations of exertion, the doubt that I'll get through the show, the masochistic pride in being able to do it.

Then I couple those two memories to make a guess at what my character would be feeling.

I dissected cats and pigs in highschool. I've prepped chicken; I've had a nasty accident with a chisel. I know what a blade feels like sliding through flesh. And it's easy to extrapolate how that would change if it in combat based on my other analogous memories. The trolls would have tougher skin, my warrior would have armor...

I never felt anything like what a human is supposed to feel in combat. The closest I've come is getting a shot of epinephrine at the dentist's office. It was exciting and very peculiar, probably nothing like the human experience, but it's the only close data point I have.

So I don't write much about what humans feel in combat. When I do, I'm winging it. What is it like to not be aware of your own mortality and then be reminded of death? I cannot know. My feelings when my body loses function due to damage or when it is mistreated by others simply doesn't compare to the human fear of death.