Always with the writing jitters

1. WEARING A SHAWL TO BATTLE IS THE EQUIVALENT OF HAVING GIRLS FIGHT IN STILLETTOS. 

Just so you know, this is what I’m talking about;

-Is it bad-ass? Abso-fucking-lutely. Is it Practical? Not a chance in hell. Especially not if it’s silk. If it’s cotton, you are skating on thin fucking ice. That bitch will NOT stay on. It barely stays on with me just walking down the street to Walmart. Wielding axes and rifles and swords and daggers? I PROMISE you it will not do the job it’s expected to-WHICH IS TO COVER THE HAIR. (Some muslim girls dont wear them-and that’s fine. But those who DO do it to completely cover the hair in public. Is it ~Aesthetic~ to see the flyaway hairs in battle? Sure, but those aren’t usually practical either. )Consider instead; 

sport shawls 

-For one thing, it’s actually DESIGNED to be worn to atheletic activities. Archers tuck hems into the collar of their shirts so they don’t get in the way, and track runners pins (ill get to this bit later) them down into the shirts to prevent flyaway bits and to stop them from getting slapped in the face. It’s breathable, stretchy, presentable without being attention seeking. 

Bawals 

In a pinch, bawals work just as well-as long as you specify that they are COTTON. Unlike the shawl, which are rectangular, bawals are SQUARE, and thus easier to manipulate, fold and pin down. If you wear it right, they carry an equal aesthetic value to shawls, and come in plenty of pretty patterns as well. 

2. I’m not sure about the USA, but the girls I know wear this underneath the headscarf;

Does it kinda look like a beanie? It sort of works like a beanie too. Hair is slippery. It tucks in any extra hair you might miss just by wearing the headscarf, its harder to pull down and on the event the shawl DOES fall down, your hair is still not exposed. It protects the ears-which is important even on a daily basis, because pins, headphones and any other headgear that might pinch them. It comes in plenty of designs, including ones that has open backs to allow long hair and ponytails. 

3.SPEAKING OF PINS; I’M TALKING ABOUT THESE BAD BOYS;

BROOCHES 

though , i suppose most of y’all are most familiar with safety pins, right?

what’s the difference? Well, if your oc/character is an athlete, it’s actually LEAST likely they’ll be wearing SAFETY PINS. They’re cheap and super easy to buy in bulk, true, but they also SUPER easy to wear out even with the smallest amount of strenuous activity. Between the three of ‘em, I’d put the brooches as the best option to wear in battle because 1) it has a large surface area, thus hurts less when pressed on with heavy items, which includes bag straps and weapons, (pins are sharp and can poke you painfully);  and 2) more secure-the latch is covered by the gaudy jewellery above, and theyre usually smaller and tighter. Stays on the stubbornnest, even when headscarf is pulled. very roughly. I’m saying that even the cheapest brooches will allow the shawl to be ripped apart before even letting it go. 

3. They probably ponytail their hair. Because Come On, guys.

To make the fighting scenes in my low fantasy novel more realistic, I went to see a trainer for historical sword-fighting last week, both to barrage her with questions and to develop realistic choreographies for the fight scenes in the novel. Since I figured some of what she told me might be useful for you too, I put together a small list for you. Big thanks to Gladiatores Munich and Jeanne for making time! (Here are some more pictures if you’re interested.)

Caveat: I’m by no means a sword-fighting expert myself, so take these nuggets with a grain of salt – I might have misremembered or misinterpreted some of the things Jeanne told me. If I did, feel free to tell me.

1.) Weapon choices need to make sense

Let’s start with a truism: always ensure your character’s weapons make sense for a.) their profession, b.) their cultural background and c.) the environment they’re going to fight in. A farmer probably couldn’t afford a sword and might use a knife or threshing flail instead, and someone who doesn’t want to be noticed probably wouldn’t be milling about sporting a glaive or another large weapon. Also, soldiers native to a country with wide open plains would be more likely to carry long-range melee weapons such as spears or large swords, than those from a country consisting of mostly jungle or dense forests. The same applies to situations: if your character is going to be fighting in close quarters (even just a normal house), he’d get little value out of a spear or even a longsword, as there’d be no space to swing it effectively.

2.) Boldness often beats skill

In real swordfights, recklessness was often more important than technique. The fighter less afraid of getting injured would often push harder, allowing them to overpower even opponents with better technique.

3.) Even a skilled fighter rarely stands a chance when outnumbered

While a skilled (or lucky) fighter might win a two-versus-one, it’d be extremely unlikely for even a single master swordsman to win against superior numbers, even just three and if they’re below his skill level. The only way to plausibly pull this off would be to split the opponents up, perhaps by luring them into a confined space where you could take them on one by one. The moment you’re surrounded, you’re probably done for – because, unlike in Hollywood, they wouldn’t take turns attacking but come at you all at once.

4.) Dual-wielding was a thing

… at least in some cultures. I often heard people say that people using a weapon in each hand is an invention of fiction. And while my instructor confirmed that she knew of no European schools doing this—if they did, it’s not well-documented—she said it was a thing in other cultures. Example of this include the dual wakizashi in Japan or tomahawk and knife in North America. However, one of the biggest problems with the depiction of dual wielding in novels/movies/games are the “windmill”-type attacks where the fighter swings their weapons independently, hitting in succession rather than simultaneously. Normally you’d always try hitting with both weapons at once, as you’d otherwise lose your advantage.

5.) Longswords were amazing

Longswords might seem boring in comparison to other weapons, but they were incredibly effective, especially in combat situations outside the battlefield. The crossguard allowed for effective blocking of almost any kind of attack (well, maybe not an overhead strike of a Mordaxt, but still), the pommel was also used as a powerful “blunt” weapon of its own that could crack skulls. Though they were somewhat less effective against armored opponents, the long, two-handed hilt allowed for precise thrusts at uncovered body parts that made up for it.

6.)  “Zweihänder” were only used for very specific combat situations

Zweihänder—massive two-handed swords—were only used for specific purposes and usually not in one-on-one combat as is often seen in movies or games. One of these purposes was using their reach to break up enemy formations. In fact, one type of two-handed sword even owed its name to that purpose: Gassenhauer (German, Gasse = alley, Hauer = striker)—the fighters literally used it to strike “alleys” into an enemy formation with wide, powerful swings.

7.) It’s all about distance

While I was subconsciously aware of this, it might be helpful to remember that distance was an incredibly important element in fights. The moment your opponent got past your weapons ideal range, it was common to either switch to a different weapon or just drop your weapon and resort to punching/choking. A good example of this are spears or polearms—very powerful as long as you maintain a certain range between you and your opponent, but the moment they get too close, your weapon is practically useless. That’s also why combatants almost always brought a second weapon into battle to fall back one.

8.) Real fights rarely lasted over a minute

Another truism, but still useful to remember: real fights didn’t last long. Usually, they were over within less than a minute, sometimes only seconds – the moment your opponent landed a hit (or your weapon broke or you were disarmed), you were done for. This is especially true for combatants wearing no or only light armor.

9.) Stop the pirouettes

Unfortunately, the spinning around and pirouetting that makes many fight scenes so enjoyable to watch (or read) is completely asinine. Unless it’s a showfight, fighters would never expose their backs to their opponent or even turn their weapon away from them.

10.)  It still looks amazing

If your concern is that making your fight scenes realistic will make them less aesthetic, don’t worry. Apart from the fact that the blocks, swings and thrusts still look impressive when executed correctly, I personally felt that my fights get a lot more gripping and visceral if I respect the rules. To a certain extent, unrealistic and flashy combat is plot armor. If your characters can spin and somersault to their heart’s content and no one ever shoves a spear into their backs as they would have in real life, who survives and who doesn’t noticeably becomes arbitrary. If, on the other hand, even one slip-up can result in a combatant’s death, the stakes become palpable.

That’s about it! I hope this post is as helpful to some of you as the lessons were to me. Again, if anything I wrote here is bollocks, it’s probably my fault and not Jeanne’s.  I’ll try to post more stuff like this in the future.

Cheers,

IF BORNE FROM SULLIED FLESH: wip intro (ii) and navigation guide 

WARNINGS: graphic blood and gore, body horror, mental health issues, dissociation, indoctrination, toxic friendships and relationships, manipulation (this story is going to get really dark in some places, so please read with caution!)

GENRES: coming-of-age, grimdark speculative fiction, deconstruction of the mecha and superhero narratives, action-thriller 

FORMAT: multi-media epistolary narrative, assembled from fragments of: 

0005′s journal entires + 2nd person POV narration 

interview and security cam transcripts 

newspaper articles 

social media posts 

UPDATES: chapters posted to tumblr fortnightly on saturdays, using the tag #ibfsf updates (feel free to track this tag to keep up to date!)

SUMMARY: The Dayal Institute of Higher Learning has always asked two things of its students: to evolve into well-rounded, intelligent and thoughtful global citizens, and to be the best, most brutal Changelings they can be. For the Bramha Squad– reclusive One, protective Two, passionate Three, slippery Four, and brooding Five– the first request may come with its own set of hang-ups, but the second? Well, that a no-brainer. That is, until a routine off-campus operation brings about an unwelcome change of personnel, and a set of startling revelations. What was that saying about “he who fights monsters”…? 

You think about that school trip to the greenhouse that they had taken you one once, the way the botanists would sit and gently pull at the plant bulbs until the curled, embryonic stalks would shiver out of them and unfurl into the light. You wonder if you could do the same thing– if you could dig deep into the soil of your body and pull your Change out like a fresh, trembling harvest. Instead, you drink about seven hungry gulps of water from the sink tap like a hungry dog, and then you go back to bed.

THEMES: the trials and tribulations of growing up, transformation, selfhood and identity, monstrosity, discussions of religion and theology, body politics, trauma and recovery, individual and collective responsibility

INFLUENCES: neon genesis evangelion, paradise lost, animorphs (k.a. applegate), pacific rim, the poppy wars (r.f. kuang), the broken earth trilogy (n.k. jemisin), chronicle, young justice, watchmen

(general + IBFSF taglist under the cut, please ask to be added or removed!)

wip meme monday, + an excerpt!

(yes this meme is not 100% accurate bc at the time this excerpt takes place Jia does not consider Albie a friend in any way. however i’m lazy and idk how to make memes, this was the best I could do.)

Although this was written as part of the mythology for Ash and Gold’s world, it can be read completely separately without any knowledge of that wip! Any and all feedback is welcome through any means - dms, asks, reblogs / tags, discord, whatever. I’d love to hear what you thought. It’s also worth nothing that this work contains a major trigger warning for death, so be cautious if this is a trigger for you.

Princes attract myths and legends. Castles, do, too, and kings and queens and princesses. That’s the way of royalty. They’re loved, hated, revered, and scorned, but no matter what they do, their deeds echo down the hallways of history, and in the echoing the story becomes distorted.

An example.

THE FOUR GODS | CASSIO, ANETE, KOS, AND ORSA

Thousands of years ago, the gods came down to earth in human bodies to experience human lives and emotions. The idea was that the gods would therefore have the ‘human experience’ and become better rulers. This was not exactly what happened... each god formed relationships with those around them, and when it was time for the gods to leave earth and return, it was almost unbearable. As a gift, the gods blessed their chosen favourites with magic – limited control over the element that the god was tied to. This tradition continued every time that the gods came down to earth, and modern-day elementals are all descended from at least one person that was god-blessed at some point in time.

- Extract from Religion, Magic, and Power in Vitte by A Woods.

Try to stay away from the smart/nerdy Asian stereotype. Plenty of Asian people are very smart, just like in any other race. However, stereotypical racial representation is worse than none at all. By all means, you can have an intelligent Asian character but make sure their intelligence is not the main factor of their personality.

Write more than just East and light-skinned Asians. In most cases, if an author wants to have some Asian representation they’ll throw in a Chinese or Japanese character. And while yes, there aren’t very many Chinese and Japanese characters as opposed to white, there are even less Southeast, South, and Middle Eastern Asian representation. Not all Asians have light skin, even in East Asia. There are plenty of Korean, Chinese, and Japanese people with dark skin!

 Do your research when naming Asian characters. Unless you want to end up like J.K. Rowling who’s sole Asian character was named Cho Chang. Do not just throw a last name with an ‘ong’ or an ‘ang’ at the end.

Represent plus size Asians. Asian women are stereotyped as petite, and just like white plus size women, plus size Asian women need representation in media.

Asian people don’t eat everything with chopsticks. I didn’t think that needed to be said, but here we are.

Create Asian characters with an alternative fashion sense/style. Asians with dyed hair. Asians with piercings. Asians with tattoos.

Stay away from the strict parent Asian stereotype. In fact, stay away from every stereotype, okay?

Keep in mind, stereotypes for other races aren’t the same for Asian people.

By all means, write about Asian culture. BUT MAKE SURE IT IS ACCURATE!!!

Write Asian characters who get in trouble and/or are reckless. Asians that swear. Asians that break rules. Asians that get detention.

WRITE ATHLETIC ASIANS!!!

Do not, under any circumstance, use the word ‘chinky’ to describe an Asian character. Just. Don’t.

Asian people face racism too.

Don’t fetishize or demonize Asian culture.

Asian people, feel free to add some more on! If you’re white or non-Asian POC do not comment if you reblog! (Unless it’s to say something like, oh nice tips! Or thank you, I didn’t know that!)

If you can, reblog. I haven’t seen any for Asian OCs.

(x)