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Q&A Scale: How to handle a personal story set in an epic war?

In both my last writing project and my current one, I have found an unexpected problem. Both tales are focused on a single character and their personal journey, but both tales are also set in the m...

2 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Thomas Myron‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Mark Baker‭

Question fiction scale
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-12T17:49:05Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/47064
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T12:36:49Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/47064
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T12:36:49Z (almost 5 years ago)
In both my last writing project and my current one, I have found an unexpected problem. Both tales are focused on a single character and their personal journey, but both tales are also set in the middle of epic wars and battles. The characters are involved in the conflicts, but because the story is about them and not the epic setting in which they exist, by the end of the tale they could have been removed and things would have played out essentially the same.

My proofreader brought this up as a problem, and I agree. However, simply having the characters change the outcome of the wars or battles which they are in is neither the point of the story, nor even possible in most cases.

I need to find a way to tell the story focused on the characters, and not have the reader wondering about the wars or battles going on.

How can I do that?

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2019-08-02T15:59:05Z (over 5 years ago)
Original score: 4