Comments | azalaisdep: A hit, a very palpable hit

azalaisdep

A hit, a very palpable hit

Oct 12, 2011 20:58

Found the two links below while poking about online last night looking for stuff on traditional fencing/sword-fighting, and found them so useful that I thought I'd share. A pair of essays on how to write a sword-fight, by a guy who is both a competition-level fencer and a professional writer; and has clearly thought quite a lot about the difference ( Read more... )

writing, fic

Comments 8

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azalaisdep October 12 2011, 21:46:32 UTC

Be my guest! They're very useful essays, I think, for all sorts of fandoms from LoTR to Pirates of the Caribbean...

forodwaith October 13 2011, 00:20:40 UTC

oooh, thanks!

azalaisdep October 13 2011, 08:12:27 UTC

All part of the service :-) Does that mean you're writing? Or contemplating it? Huzzah!

curiouswombat October 13 2011, 07:45:27 UTC

Ooh! Really useful stuff. I used to believe I couldn't do fight scenes - but then I realised that it was basically D&D, which I was involved in for years. I think the first one I did was the one on the stairs in Return - and then the fight with the orcs in Brotherhood - and I tend to skim over actual moves in swordsplay.

azalaisdep October 13 2011, 08:17:09 UTC

I tend to skim over actual moves in swordsplay

Which is exactly what the writer advises, because most readers wouldn't follow it - go for the feel of what you're trying to convey, he suggests, and particularly its significance for the characters.

I remember that fight in Return working very well because it's from Dawn's point of view, and most of it is not actual fight so much as her trying to work out what to do, what she's capable of in her weakened state, etc - and then of course the dramatic arrival of Rumil...[swoons]

I suddenly realised that because the POV character for the fight I was trying to write in the Powers-verse was Rowanna watching it, it would just look like a blur of blades with a general sense of who was attacking/who was being driven back, and I should describe it that way. Much less complicated and technical!

curiouswombat October 13 2011, 11:56:16 UTC

Oh yes - the bystander's POV of two others fighting with swords would definitely be of a blur of blades and dancing feet.

I think, even if I was writing it from the POV of one of the participants, I would still be inclined to go with 'all the years of practice meant that his body moved, the sword almost a part of it, without the need for conscious thought - thrust, parry, each came naturally...' and so on!

mrowe October 13 2011, 10:24:59 UTC

Interesting link. Thanks:)

azalaisdep October 13 2011, 11:35:12 UTC

And the perfect icon ;-)