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It’s either one of those tropes that has no real world basis, but looks/sounds cool in storytelling and is useful for moving the plot along (see: torture, knocking someone unconscious, a lot of medieval fantasy government stuff)

-Drills. So many drills. Just doing the same motion, or set of motions, over and over and over until it's muscle memory. And then do it some more. These can be done with another person, so you can get a feel for hitting someone (else's sword), or they might be done to a dummy, or just to the air as part of a series of steps

-there is a surprising amount of reading! A lot of what we do is based on styles that originated in the 11th-15th centuries, and were literally written in manuals for future people to use. Sometimes the explanations and diagrams are very clear. Sometimes they are not.

- There is sparring, with variations on goals. Sometimes the goal is just 'hit each other'. Sometimes you will have specific caveats, like if you both deliver a 'killing blow' at the same time you have to run to opposite ends of the room and back

- Footwork drills

- lots of wrist and arm stretches, both with and without swords

- Moving through different blocks/base positions, and practicing different cuts from each position

- More drills, wearing armor or other appropriate gear

- Weights and cardio training! Both are extremely important for making sure you can 1. Swing your sword and 2. Keep swinging your sword when you're wearing 15 lbs of armor and have been hacking at people for a full 20 minutes

- Learning how to maintain your gear

- Practicing control of the blade- this is usually done by having a dummy target (or sometimes a real person), and swinging with full power but stopping before you actually make contact. Master swordsman can bring their blade within half an inch of their target.

- Even more drills

Footwork drills are really important! Learning how and when to move, and shift your weight on your feet, is crucial

When practicing solo I often do so in front of a full-length mirror so that I can actually see what I'm doing

There is also just a lot of sparring. Unfortunately you can't really get good at sword fighting without getting your butt kicked. A lot.

However! A good teacher will give you tips either during or after the fight, or both! A lot of the time it's things like 'you need to improve your footwork more, here are 10 different drills. Go do them.' However, there is also a fair bit of going back over certain 'plays' in slower motion, where they'll tell you exactly what you did wrong and how to fix it in the context of the fight.

Also, just as a side note, unless your character is the progeny of a wealthy lord, they are probably going to use borrowed equipment. It will not fit right. And it will reek with the stench of 1000 sweaty people. And if you train in it enough, when you do get your own gear that actually fits properly and only smells like your sweat, I swear you get 5x better overnight

At some point, everyone develops their own style. I've fought people who love to just make huge stabby lunges, people who make wild flourishes, big guys who just brute force it, guys who look like they'd blow away in a light breeze but are the fastest people you've ever met. It comes over time, and from learning as many different techniques as you can

Not sure how much they did this in Ye Olden Days but almost everyone I've met in HEMA now fights in at least two different styles (usually longsword and Sabre or rapier). As I said above, the more styles you learn, the better you get at all of them; many techniques that you learn from one style are applicable in some way to the other

we all know that xin mo poisons luo binghe's mind, makes him angrier and more irrational, literally is powered by either fucking or slaughtering people. when luo binghe wields xin mo, he openly displays sexual dominance and bloody violence as methods of conquest, which reinforces ideal male power AND the way luo binghe embraces his demonic side. luo binghe can wed and bed thousands of women, but in truth, he is alone.

xuan su isn't as showy, but it's equally as unhealthy a force. every time yue qingyuan unsheathes xuan su his life force depletes. he will die! so he suppresses both himself and the sword (by virtually never using it; the polar opposite of luo binghe). he will never verbally state his true feelings because that's weak for an upright human man, and especially for an upright human man in his position.

yue qingyuan can and does wield masculine bravado. he has a reputation for being impartial (ideal intelligence and wisdom) and extremely powerful (ideal physical strength). but even with all those emotions churning inside him, all that guilt and grief, he will lock it all inside. no crying. no genuinely opening up. his inability to just spit it out is a major part of what costs him the person he cares about most. he doesn't have any close friends or family outside of work.

They said it couldn’t be done. 

They said it was impossible. 

It's such a silly premise at face value, a regiment where every single person is actually a woman pulling a Mulan (or, rather more fittingly, a Sweet Polly Oliver), but then you read it and it's about blind faith, the pitfalls of war and organised religion, how we use those things to hide hatred and fear. It's about gender roles, and how flawed the idea that “If women were in charge, there'd be no wars” is. It's about people, and human nature, as almost every Discworld book is, when you get down to it.

5. Henry Tilney making up a ghost story for Catherine on the way to Northanger, in Northanger Abbey it's really cute, she is so happy about it, and my favourite part is that he can't keep going because he is laughing too hard.

But Henry was too much amused by the interest he had raised to be able to carry it farther; he could no longer command solemnity either of subject or voice, and was obliged to entreat her to use her own fancy in the perusal of Matilda’s woes.

4. The game of Speculation in Mansfield Park, it's such a masterful display of all the different character's personalities through how they play the game, I love Sir Thomas not wanting to play with his wife because he doesn't want to lose, I love that Fanny tries to lose so William can win, Henry Crawford playing three hands at once and this making him so happy, the whole thing is amazing.

Sir Thomas, after a moment’s thought, recommended speculation. He was a whist player himself, and perhaps might feel that it would not much amuse him to have her for a partner.

3. Sophia Croft telling off her brother about his opinion of women in Persuasion:

I especially love that she's verbally smacking him down for gallantry. Don't flatter women by calling them weak! Sophia Croft protests!

“But I hate to hear you talking so like a fine gentleman, and as if women were all fine ladies, instead of rational creatures. We none of us expect to be in smooth water all our days.”

2. Mrs. Weston abusing human rights by suggesting a standing buffet at the ball in Emma:

This one is so funny to me because it sounds like Tumblr hyperbole and it's something we totally do today, but no, human rights violation!

Mrs. Weston proposed having no regular supper; merely sandwiches, &c., set out in the little room; but that was scouted as a wretched suggestion. A private dance, without sitting down to supper, was pronounced an infamous fraud upon the rights of men and women; and Mrs. Weston must not speak of it again.

Random Coffee Girl cock-blocking Elizabeth & Darcy in Pride & Prejudice:

I like this one so much because this is the one chapter in the novel where Elizabeth's feelings are very strong and irrational. She's been so cool about Darcy, but now she's IN LOVE and it's not going well:

The gentlemen came; and she thought he looked as if he would have answered her hopes; but, alas! the ladies had crowded round the table, where Miss Bennet was making tea, and Elizabeth pouring out the coffee, in so close a confederacy, that there was not a single vacancy near her which would admit of a chair. And on the gentlemen’s approaching, one of the girls moved closer to her than ever, and said, in a whisper,— “The men shan’t come and part us, I am determined. We want none of them; do we?”

Random Coffee Girl blocking our ship! And yet I love her for it.

Runner Up: So as to not forget Sense & Sensibility, the scene where Elinor and Marianne get stuck behind Robert Ferrars in line and he's the most annoying person to wait behind ever:

With the great power of friendship, comes great discounts

What did— who– 

“These children have found the Ring! But they’re taking it to the elves, of course. I will simply have to catch them on the way.”

“Well, the elves are still not to be trifled with, it seems. It looks as though they have a group of intrepid heroes, how cute! Wait, who’s leading them? Aw, hell.”

“OKAY! Olorin’s out of the way, and now I can finally kill them all and reclaim the- OH DAMMIT, IT’S IN LOTHLORIEN.”

“Well, okay. They’ve taken it onward. Curunir says one of the halflings is still carrying the ring, so he’s going to capture them and we’ll see how this develops. Thankfully Olorin’s still out of the picture and their little group just shattered into pieces, so that’s one less thing to worry about.”

“Aaaaaand Curunir shat the bed. Excellent. Trees, who would have thought? Okay, so we’re back to plan A: conquer Gondor, because if the Ring’s going to be anywhere, it’ll be there.”

“Wait, who’s on the– Isildur’s WHAT? Ohhhh. Ohohoho. Oh now everything makes sense. Isildur’s Heir is back, and he’s here being all prideful again. That’s fine. Really. I’ll just crush him and his kingdom, and then nobody can stop me!”

“WHAT? FUCKING WHAT? THEY SENT HIM BACK? Ugh, alright, alright, I’m cool, I’m fine. He’s still got that stupid wizard costume on, and I’m still stronger than he ever was. It’s not like he can come toe to toe with me, even if he does have an army behind him. This’ll be fine.”

OH MY GOD

“WHEN THE MEN HAVE DIED IN BATTLE AND HONOR, YOU HAVE LEAVE TO BE BURNED IN THE HOUSE”