Subject: Re: [FFML] [Essay] Battle Choreography
From: demonsword@vasia.com
Date: 9/26/1997, 9:55 AM
To: fanfic@fanfic.com

Just a small piece of advice to add to all this violence...

The Wildeman noted that actual knowledge of actual martial arts 
helps in writing hand-to-hand fightscenes. It really does, so go 
learn a martial art now! (But take note that knowledge and skill
in Street Fighter does NOT help you in this respect! ;) 

However, since not all of us are inclined towards the
martial arts, I can offer another piece of advice, and that
is: "One of the best ways to get a better idea of how to 
write 'em is to read 'em."

As fanfic people, we all probably love reading, and I
can probably estimate that more than half of us here 
were not introduced into reading by fanfics, but rather
by pocketbooks or novels from the local bookstore.

As much fun as fanfics are, they're only amateur
works which do not have the full-time dedication
of the author and an editor, and so even the most
well-written fanfics are a bit rough in places.

As such, it is always a good idea to use as reference
a published work of good standing. It is from these 
published works, which underwent serious editing by 
their (hopefully) certified editors, which can really help 
us improve our writing. 

Anyway, what I'm trying to get at is that I have one
particular set of novels in mind that can help an author
write better hand-to-hand fight scenes, both small and
large scale. This is the trilogy which first introduced me
to good, well-written melee fight scenes, and by far of
the hundreds of novels I've read, nothing has bettered
it.

The novels I'm talking about are the Icewind Dale trilogy
and its sister trilogy, the Dark Elf Trilogy. These novels,
by RA Salvatore, contain some of the best fight scenes
ever written. Try to read some of the novels and take note
of the excellent fight scenes. You won't be sorry.

The novels are, not surprisingly, fantasy novels, and were
published by TSR (the perpetrators of the Dungeons and 
Dragons hobby). To help any of you interested in finding
a these books, here's the complete list of titles in the trilogies:

Icewind Dale:
1.) The Crystal Shard
2.) Streams of Silver
3.) The Halfling's Gem

Dark Elf:
1.) Homeland
2.) Exile
3.) Sojourn

Anyway, there's another set of continuation novels, but they
suck so I won't even mention them. At any rate, I've said
enough and I've beaten around the bush so many times that
there's a dirt path around it, so I'll leave it at that.

Ja ne!