Research viable platforms for conflicts surrounding war to launch credible stories. Choose regions of historical or current war events to serve as the foundations for each story you're trying to develop. Explore Internet history websites or library books to garner an understanding of the battles stemming from conflicts, both personal and political between leaders. There are many facets to the details behind the battles of war. Expand the premise of your stories beyond professional diplomacy between countries, as many wars have been declared for intricately personal reasons.
Involve realistic personalities in stories, using character traits from people you have come across throughout your life. Write down personality traits and physical descriptions of the characters in your stories and keep them in a folder for quick reference. Consistent physical details such as eye color or weight are essential to the continuity of a plot from beginning to end. Consistent disposition traits and nuances make characters more believable as stories unfold.
Construct a narrative arc to keep your stories suspenseful. A narrative arc builds on increments of action to a pinnacle of suspenseful conflict that is later resolved at the end of a story. Build action around war battles, injuries, death and beating the odds for unexpected human triumphs.
Include tender moments in the most trying of circumstances to show the spirit of patriotism and the drive to overcome the brutality of war. Explore the origins of religious beliefs and customs of other countries to understand their sense of loyalty to their heritage and political regime.
Apply emotional responses to character circumstances to build a strong connection between them and your readers. Avoid attempts to create gender-specific emotional responses to build personality traits in characters. Just draw on your own emotions and assign those sentiments to characters within the confines of their societal expectations and behavior parameters.
For example, a woman scorned in America will likely behave quite differently from a man scorned in Iraq, though they both share the same feelings of injured pride and betrayal. Validate character emotions with context. For example, hopelessness stems from being held captive behind dark prison walls or wretched facilities with no access to fresh water.
Finish war stories with sound and satisfactory resolutions. While warm happy endings are not always realistic for war stories, your conclusions must satisfy conflicts with some degree of atonement to give your readers the fulfillment of hope and contentment.