Combat research
Filed under Writing Journal on December 19, 2005
Tagged: fight scenes, Scroll of Cairdein
I finished up the big fight scene in what I’m calling Act II of “Scroll.” I spent quite a bit of time deciding on what weapons to use and the action sequence as I wanted this to really have the feel of a gladiator arena match.
Combat is something I’ve recently been concerned about with my writing. I am not a student of any particular fighting style. When I write a melee, I simply describe what I see in my head. I try to keep things logical and realistic, but I really have no real-world foundation for what is possible or isn’t.
As my stories don’t tend to be combat-centric, I feel like I’ve been able to get by with a minimum of research. I can’t say the idea of reading books on the topic excites me, but I’d love to have a list of references to consult should I ever feel the need to bone up. Anybody have a title they swear by? Or do you not feel it’s something I should worry about?
Oh, yeah, and the word count on “Scroll” is just over 12,500.
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December 19th, 2005 at 12:12 pm
I have this same problem, Kam. Let me know if you find a good reference for it…”The Idiot’s Guide to Writing Sword-fighting Scenes,” or some such.
December 19th, 2005 at 3:18 pm
Hmm…did a quick Google search, and this site was near the top.
http://writingcraft.deep-magic.net/
Looks like there are some good articles that might be worth reading. I’ll be bookmarking it for later perusal myself.
December 19th, 2005 at 3:39 pm
There were a couple of articles on there about writing fight scenes. The one by Greg Keyes certainly makes me feel better about my “lack of knowledge.” Thanks for the link. I’ll look the rest of the site over and may added it under my Writing links here.
December 21st, 2005 at 9:18 am
I found The Tao of Jeet Kun Do to be an interesting read. It has a lot of philosophical as well as mechanical backgroun into Bruce Lee’s fighting style. It isn’t really a training manual, per se, but still more interesting than the dictionary-style books on various martial arts I have also read.
December 21st, 2005 at 9:38 am
What style (or era) of fighting do you picture your characters using?
A short sword of the Roman Legionary.
A long sword of the early Celts?
A long handled axe of the Saxons?
Two-handed broad sword of the middle ages? Mace?
Curved saber?
Rapier and dagger of the Renaissance?
Long pike?
My approach is to decide what each cultural group gravitates towards (because of their history). Then try to fix a fighting “style” for each cultural group. Then I look at the individual characters and modify their style as needed. (By style I mean specific weapon choice, not Kung Fu vs Tae Kwan Do vs Conan Swan Do ;)). THEN I do some historical research on the fighting techniques of the given period.
I will say, look to your weapon to determine style and technique. Is it a cutting blade or a poking one? Few swords do both well. The misuse of the rapier in fantasy is a huge pet peeve of mine. It’s a poking sword, not for cutting. (The Highlander show was really bad about this. Beheading with a rapier? Please.) A person being beaten by a rapier-weilding swordsman should be perforated with holes like he’s been shot, not missing limbs.
I don’t have a link, but do some research into Fiore dei Liberi, a 15th century fighting master. His treatise on fighting shows that European martial arts were every bit as fluid and deadly as the Eastern arts. Never realized how easy it was to break an armored man’s shoulder or elbow…
I’ve choreographed a few fight scenes from his and other European fighting illustrations.
December 21st, 2005 at 9:40 am
Found this link listing some other European fighting masters.
http://www.thearma.org/RMAlit.htm
December 21st, 2005 at 9:44 am
Sorry to spam your blog, but here’s a page that includes links to several online historiacl fighting manuals.
http://www.thearma.org/manuals.htm
December 21st, 2005 at 11:17 am
Thanks for the links, Myr.
December 26th, 2005 at 11:44 am
Kameron,
Although a knowledge of genuine combat can help, I don’t believe it’s truly necessary. Remember, this is fantasy, and as long as the reader can picture what is happening and it appears interesting, then you’ve done your job. It’s good that you don’t plan on writing too many fight scenes, because an overabundence can bog-down a story and water-down the importance of each one. In fantasy, I believe every fight should have significance (some authors will just include them for the simple sake of another battle).
BTW, what ever happened to Poison Clan Press? Their website hasn’t been updated in over a year it seems.
December 28th, 2005 at 4:03 pm
Re: The Fate of the Poison Clan:
I’ve been inundated with d20 work, compounded with the World of Darkness novel contest. When things slow down (!?) 4-5 months from now, I’d like to get things rolling again. By then the campaign setting and the novel (for better or worse) will both be finished.
But until then, finding time to breath — let alone play publisher — will prove a challenge.
But, all considered, it’s a pretty good way to go.