This is not Winterfell', he told him as he cut his meat with fork and dagger. 'On the Wall, a man gets only what he earns. You're no ranger, Jon, only a green boy with the smell of summer still on you.
George R. R. MartinFrom where I sit, battles are hard. Iโve written my share. Sometimes I employ the privateโs viewpoint, very up close and personal, dropping the reader right into the middle of the carnage. Thatโs vivid and visceral, but of necessity chaotic, and it is easy to lose all sense of the battle as a whole. Sometimes I go with the generalโs point of view instead, looking down from on high, seeing lines and flanks and reserves. That gives a great sense of the tactics, of how the battle is won or lost, but can easily slide into abstraction.
George R. R. Martin