Writing Research - Bow & Arrows
The purpose of this research post is to be helpful, more importantly educational. I certainly don’t condone the use of this knowledge for malevolent reasons. I want to help writers with their stories and I figured this would make their search for such information easier.
This is great for the stories that take place in ancient times, apocalyptic setting, and/or contains characters that are archers. Maybe you’re writing fanfiction and it’s about one of these characters: Legolas Greenleaf, Bard the Bowman, Kili and Tauriel (The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit), Katniss Everdeen (The Hunger Games), Kagome Higurashi (InuYasha), Oliver Queen/Green Arrow (Arrow), Princess Merida (Brave), Susan Pevensie (The Chronicles of Narnia), Link (The Legend of Zelda), Hawkeye, Robin Hood, Lara Croft, and so on.
This information would help make them believable. For example, if they are teaching another character how to be an archer it would be difficult to write about it without first knowing how it’s actually done in real life. The same can be said about when they are wounded by an arrow, just how would they deal with it? Or if your character is a survivalist or prepper and their story is set in an apocalypse world, they would probably know how to make weapons (like the bow and arrows) from the things around them in order to survive.
So this post is meant to make a writer’s life a little easier by giving them a starting point. It doesn’t contain EVERY information about bows, but if you know what you’re looking for than I encourage you to look it up.
How To Make A Bow and Arrows
WikiHow - How to Make a Bow and Arrow
WikiHow - How to Make Arrowheads
WikiHow - How to Make a Bow from Green Wood
WikiHow - 2 Easy Ways to Make a Composite Longbow
WikiHow - How to Make an Archery Bow
Expert Prepper - Bushcraft Survival: How to Make a Bow and Arrow
Bushcraft UK - Primitive Arrow Making (PDF)
Survival Mastery - How to Make a Bow and Arrow: Part 1
New Mexico Office of Archaeological Studies - How To Make: A Replica Native American Bow (PDF)
The History of Archery - The Making of the Native American Bow and Arrow
The Project Gutenberg - Hunting with the Bow & Arrow: How to Make a Bow (PDF)
The Project Gutenberg - Hunting with the Bow & Arrow: How to Make an Arrow (PDF)
The Project Gutenberg - Hunting with the Bow & Arrow: Archery Equipment (PDF)
Primitive Ways - Grow Your Own Bowstring
Nature Skills - Survival Bow Making
Mother Earth News - Making a Bow and Arrow for Bow Hunting
Bushcraft Days - How To…Make a Flint-Tipped Arrow
Bushcraft Days - How To…Carve an Ash Flatbow
Bushcraft Days - How To…Carve a Holmegaard Bow
Bushcraft Days - How To…Build a Bhutanese Bow
Sensible Survival - Primitive Bow Making: Part 1
Sensible Survival - Primitive Bow Making: Part 2
Sensible Survival - Primitive Bow Making: Part 3
Sensible Survival - Primitive Bow Making: Part 4
Sensible Survival - Primitive Bow Making: Part 5
Youtube - Making a Primitive Bow, Part 1 (Video)
Youtube - Making a Primitive Bow, Part 2 (Video)
Youtube - Making a Primitive Bow, Part 3 (Video)
Youtube - Making a Primitive Bow, Part 4 (Video)
Youtube - Survival-Bow Made With Bare Hands (Video)
Youtube - How to Make a Primitive Bow, Part 1 (Video)
Youtube - How to Make a Primitive Bow, Part 2 (Video)
Youtube - How to Make a Native American Comanche Arrow for Primitive Archery Hunting (Video)
Youtube - Making Primitive Arrowheads For Beginners (Video)
Youtube - How to Make Bow and Arrow the Old Way (Video)
Sensible Survival - Making Arrow Fletching from Whole Feathers
Native Way Online - A Basic Method For Making Self Bows
Martin Survival - Primitive Archery - Arrow Making (Videos)
Primitive Archer Magazine - Making Arrows Naturally
Alderleaf Wilderness College - Survival Bow Making Instructions: How to Make a Quickie Bow from a Sapling
Alderleaf Wilderness College - Making Arrowheads: The Art of Flint Knapping
Primitive Ways - Fletching By Hand
Sigma 3 Survival School - Build Your Own Primitive Arrow Quiver
eHow - How to Make a Primitive Bow and Arrows
eHow - How to Make an Indian Bow & Arrows
eHow - How to Make an Original Indian-Style Bow and Arrow
eHow - How Did American Indians Make Bows & Arrows
eHow - Trees That Are Used to Make Bows & Arrows
eHow - How to Make a Wood Hunting Bow
eHow - How to Clean & Preserve a Recurve Bow
eHow - How to Care for an Archery Bow
The Archery Library - How to Take Care of Your Bow and Arrows
The Archery Library - Making Self Arrows
The Archery Library - Stringing or Bracing the Bow
The Archery Library - Making Bowstrings
The Archery Library - Bow Woods and Bow Staves
The Archery Library - Arrow Woods and Arrows
How To Use A Bow
How To Write Fight - Weapon Primer: Archery
Wikipedia - History of Archery
Wikipedia - Bow and Arrow
The Archery Library - Common Archery Terms
Merlin Archery Centre - Jargon Busting
Merlin Archery Centre - Choosing Your First Bow And Arrow
Merlin Archery Centre - Correct Shooting Technique
The Archery Library - How to Aim
The Archery Library - Shooting the Bow
Youtube - How to Shoot a Bow and Arrow (Video)
Youtube - Archery for Beginners (Video)
Youtube - How to Avoid Common Shooting Mistakes (Video)
Shootingtime.com - Archery Form: Stance, Grip, Shot Execution
WikiHow - How to Shoot an English Long Bow
WikiHow - How to Pull an Archery Arrow out of the Target
WikiHow - How to Shoot an Arrow
The Art of Manliness - Taking Aim: A Primer on Traditional Archery
Alderleaf Wilderness College - How to Shoot a Bow Instinctively
The Project Gutenberg - Hunting with the Bow & Arrow: How to Shoot (PDF)
Survival Mastery - Bow Hunting Tips: Get Better, Faster
eHow - How to Keep Your Bow Hand Steady While Shooting Arrows
eHow - How to Choose the Right Long Bow
eHow - How to Tell the Difference between Left & Right-Hand Bow and Arrows
eHow - How to Shoot With a Bow
eHow - Difference Between Compound and Recurve Bows
eHow - How to Make a Crossbow
Discovery.com - DIY Survival: Make a Crossbow from Scratch (Video)
Survivalist Magazine - Build a Survival Crossbow (Video)
Before It’s News - DIY: How to Build a Crossbow
Mother Earth News - How to Make a Crossbow: The Classic Crossbow
Sigma 3 Survival School - How To Build a Survival Crossbow
Instructables - How To Make An Extreme Powerful Wooden Crossbow
University of Oxford - Simple Archery Mistakes
ArcherZUshot - How To Write Credible Fantasy & Historical Archery
Benjamin Rose - Can Arrows Penetrate Medieval Armor?
Reddit: Ask Historians - Would English archers during the Hundred Years War make their own bows and arrows or would they be made by other people?
Reddit: Ask Historians - How were wooden arrows in medieval battles kept perfectly straight?
Reddit: Ask Historians - What would archers/crossbowmen do in the rain?
Reddit: Ask Historians - Did poisoned weapons (especially arrows) ever got used in warfare?
How To Write Fight - Can a character really grab a arrow out of the air coming straight at her from afar?
Archery World - How to Shoot Your Bow in Archery
Outdoor Life - Shooting a Bow: 7 Tips For Better Long-Range Accuracy
Oakland University - How Was the Bow and Arrow Invented? (PDF)
Ancient Fortresses - Medieval Bow and Arrow
Medieval Life And Times - Bow and Arrow
How To Treat An Arrow Wound/Injury
Journal of the American Revolution - Battle Wounds: Never Pull an Arrow Out of a Body
eHow - How to Remove an Arrow Wound
The Rebel Prepper Network - SHTF Medical Article of the Day: How to Treat an Arrow Wound
Medscape - Arrow Shaft Injury of the Wrist and Hand
Michigan Bowhunter Education Course - First Aid: Bleeding and Arrow Wounds
Reddit: Ask Historians - How Hard was it to Supply Arrows to Archers in Ancient Battles? & TokyoBayRay Explains How Medieval Doctors Treated Arrow Wounds
Reddit: Ask Historians - How Have People Treated Arrow Wounds Throughout History?
Reddit: Ask Historians - Treating Medieval Injuries
Quora - How do Bullet Wounds Compare with the Wounds Inflicted By Bow-and-Arrows and Those By Crossbows?
National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine - Arrow Wounds: Major Stimulus in the History of Surgery
Medical Scene Writer - Arrow Wounds
The Bowsite - Wound Management
John Wiley & Sons Online Library - American Anthropologist, Volume 3, Issue 3: Arrow Wounds (PDF)
Mythic Scribes: The Art Of Fantasy Storytelling - So I Was Shot By An Arrow…
Ciara Ballintyne - How To Properly Remove An Arrow: Crazy Things I Learned Researching Books
AbsoluteWrite - First Aid for an Arrow Wound
AbsoluteWrite - An Arrow in the Gut?
AbsoluteWrite - Cauterizing an Arrow Wound
Slithering Ink: A Writing Advice Blog - Advice on Arrow Wounds
How To Write Fight - How would an arrow affect bone? Break it? Bounce off?
How To Write Fight - My character is hit by an arrow to the shoulder from a considerable distance. Would it be possible for the arrow to hit a muscle and somewhat incapacitate her arm? If so, how long would it take to completely heal, if ever?
Reddit: Ask Historians - Movies show men getting hit with an arrow and immediately dying. How accurate is that?

















