ajkal2 reblogged your post âworldbuilding texturesâ
[image description: tag art reading #hey look! another fencer! #ive been an epeeist for like 8 years #and some swordfights in fiction... hoo boy. #catch me screaming at pirates of the carribean #just stab them #some of the slashes in films wouldnt even make contact! #wheres the footwork #in books its a lil less Hoo Boy #but sometimes its like âthey clashed swords!â #GIVE ME MORE #which line are they on? why dont they disengage and hit? was it just a beat or a proper lock of blades? WTF IS GOING ON]
See, while this is also Extremely Valid(TM), donât get me wrong [Hi! I fenced epee intermittently, but wound up mostly fencing sabre because otherwise we couldnât field any sabreurs, and I only did it for like two or three years and really sucked, it is impossible to overstate how terrible I was], I donât even think itâs super necessary to describe it a whole lot? I donât need to be shown every gory detail, though in visual media I do like it when you can follow the action somewhat realistically-- like, make the effort!! But itâs like any worldbuilding thing-- Iâve seen this ruminated on before. If youâre going to put two suns in the sky for aesthetics you better goddamn have some idea what having two suns would actually do to the setting. You donât have to explain it all, but the difference between an okay work and a great work is things like that. what does it mean, practically speaking-- is it ever night, then? The author really ought to spend a while and work it out entirely, so that it can then be slipped back into the description-- and even the plot!-- seamlessly enough that the audience isnât left wondering. And itâs such a great feeling when you work out that, say, a moon orbiting a gas giant could plausibly have an occasional very cold long night despite otherwise being tropical, and then you can work that in to your plot and have it matter where they really are, beyond just being a pretty backdrop painting for your action.
And so you donât really have to have studied fencing, or whatever specific technical thing Iâm talking about, I donât think, to write it well, itâs just that itâs so much easier. As with any action sequence, the author really has to block it out and understand what is going on in order to describe it. Thatâs what so often makes fight sequences so unsatisfying both in visual and written media-- the creator just sort of put in a few cool action shots, but never addressed what actually happened. Sometimes, again, this is okay-- like in the Goblin Emperor, the assassination attempt, the POV character is so terrified and also his view is entirely blocked by the person defending him, so he has no idea what happened, and the scene is told faithfully that way; thereâs one clear visual, then thereâs reactions and noise and then his bodyguard is lying bleeding in his lap and heâs like âwhat the-- actual-- fuckâ and itâs a great vivid scene.Â
But you canât always do that, and as an author, itâs good to have another approach available. The point is, you have to understand whatâs going on in order to describe it. You canât just say âtheir swords clashed!â, or, worse, have a visual medium and have the fight consist of random chopped-up aesthetically-pleasing movements that have no possible tactical explanation, and expect to wind up with a powerful scene. A clash of steel! A dramatic parry to nowhere! A close-up of a determined face! More ringing of steel foley effects, the actors are very clearly aiming to hit one anotherâs swords and there is very clearly no effort whatsoever to hit the person, thatâs not the point of this fight Doylistically and thereâs no Watsonian attempt whatsoever because who cares, swords look cool. Boring. Nobody really likes that, come on! Tell a better story.
(This goes for sex scenes too, but Iâm not necessarily going to get into that-- my point is, you can fade to black or tell it euphemistically or be super explicit or whatever but you have to convey the important information thereby, itâs really crucial. Sex and action scenes alike-- thereâs a world of choices there, and theyâre not necessarily the choices people wound up hung up on. I recently saw someone on Twitter I think who was like âomg please writers, yes write sex acts you havenât done but for the love of god research them firstâ and uh... yes. seconded.)
But hereâs the entire level of detail in the fencing sequence that prompted me to write that previous post, and bonus, Iâve just realized itâs written from the POV of a character who does not understand fencing at all and totally sees it on a âtheir swords clashed!â level and I literally use that line I swear I did not edit this: (semi-spoilers for a near-future chapter of Continuing Education, but I donât think it ruins anything to find out that Csethiroâs mania for swordplay does not vanish overnight when she becomes Empress)
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Everyone else present seemed to think this was a perfectly lovely way to spend an afternoon. Telimezh hadnât noticed their arrival, and looked in turn at each of the two participants, who saluted him with their swords, and then saluted one another with their swords, and--
âWhat are we doing,â Cala said, as the goblin and the Empress leapt at one another, swords clashing.
âA solid parry,â Beshelar said mildly. âOh! Fantastic disenga-- ah! Oh! She has him!â
âPoint to Zhalered,â Telimezh said.
âThat was her touch!â Beshelar said loudly, finally sounding indignant.
Telimezh turned and saw him, and did a double-take, but then said, frowning, âShe didnât have right-of-way, she did not complete the parry.â
âIt was a disengage!â Beshelar said. âItâs a valid--â
âIf one does not stop the attack,â Telimezh said, âthen it doesnât matter if the return blow lands.â
âAh,â the Empress said, âbut his attacking blow did not land, there was only one contact! Avoidance of the attack is just as good as stopping the attack.â
âThis is valid,â Zhalered said, âshe won the angle, and only her touch landed, so it is just as effective as if she had stopped the attack. We concede the touch; the point is our ladyâs.â
âWe thought your attack had landed,â Telimezh said.
Both participants shook their head. âIt fell short,â Zhalered said.
âAh,â Telimezh said, grimacing. âThis is why we need line judges.â
âOr sharp blades,â the Empress said, grinning toothily.
âAt any rate,â Telimezh said, âthat brings the score to--â
âWhy have we not stopped this?â Cala demanded, finally catching up to Beshelar. âWhat is going on?âÂ
