Hey guys, I'm working on my novel and the plot revolves around an attempted revolution a generation after one failed. Not to get too far into it but tensions are really high between civilians and police, people are really impatient for change, and there is a basically unchecked brutal police force. Throughout the novel, there are several riots. I just got to the first one today (yay big turning point!) but I realized… I have no idea how to write this. Soo yeah, that's where you all come in. Any tips or words of advice would be super appreciated.
Since it's action oriented, I'd say short sentences and paragraphs would be ideal.
Hi there!
I've never written about a riot either. My advice would be to talk to people who have experienced riots in the past or maybe find descriptions that you like and see why they're good. Primary sources are better, but generally if a good writer describes it you can lift techniques and methods that make the description effective.
I also did a bit of surface googling on the subject:
https://www.google.de/amp/referenceforwriters.tumblr.com/post/39929446531/do-you-have-any-advice-on-how-to-write-a-riot/amp
personally, the only riots I ever experienced happened when I was too young to really remember them (not that i was like a part or anything, just bad timing) but my impressions are mainly that it was large angry crowds with mostly men screaming obscenities.
Another possibility is to look at case studies (eg: the riots that led to Germany's reunification 1989, the riots in Ethiopia 2016, the riots in Egypt 2010-11, etc) and try to find videos taken by protesters so you can get a better feel for it.
I hope this was somewhat helpful! Happy writing!
@ninja_violinist first of all, thank you so much! that is super helpful! Second, yeah the Ethiopian riots were literally two months after I moved to the States. Very good for safety of course, but could have been good for writing experience lol
Second, yeah the Ethiopian riots were literally two months after I moved to the States. Very good for safety of course, but could have been good for writing experience lol
So you did see some of the buildup then! Had they already turned off the internet by the time you left?
@ninja_violinist they had, but it was off an on the whole time I was living there so it didn't strike me as such a big deal at first, to be honest. I was a bit oblivious to the political climate. We had to return to the States because of my health so I was quite focused on that but I did notice the tensions and spattered protests leading up to the riots
I was a bit oblivious to the political climate.
Weren't we all though
I mean getting news in Addis is already a hassle but without internet it's lowkey impossible
It's true, have you lived/live there?
Indeed! I lived there until a few weeks ago
wow, small world! What part? We're from Kolfe
My school was in Kolfe, but we lived near Total.
school, there were only like two schools near us, I'm just curious lol
Oh well it was the big international one. Next to the church, right by the river (trying to think of landmarks you might know) (I mean the schools were right by each other), across the road from that one big building that had the housefire that one time
