posted 20 May 2001

Stab That Villain! Researching Traditional Weapons and Combat
by Laura Resnick
www.sff.net/people/laresnick

Laura Resnick a.k.a. Laura Leone is the award-winning author of two fantasy novels, 13 romance novels, and 40 sf/f short stories. She also writes two regular opinion columns, one for the SFWA Bulletin, the other for Nink (the monthly newsletter of Novelists, Inc.) In her copious spare time, she wrote A Blonde In Africa, a non-fiction account of her eight-month overland journey across Africa.

When I was writing contemporary romance novels, I would occasionally write a hero or villain who carried a gun, perhaps even fired it. Although I knew nothing about guns, I found it relatively easy to research what kinds of guns to assign to these characters, what they would do with them, and what the effects would be. I consulted gun enthusiasts. I read some of the gun-and-rifle magazines which are abundantly available and full of detailed, well-illustrated articles recommending various weapons for various needs. (Do you want to shoot an intruder at night, or do you want to storm the Pentagon?)

I read nonfiction books by law enforcement officers and private detectives. I investigated research books like those in the Writer's Digest "Howdunit Series." I asked medical people about the effects of getting shot. (Don't ever shoot your hero in the large intestine. Trust me on this.) I went to a firing range and fired a few guns so that I could accurately describe the smell, sound, and feel of shooting one (damn scary, in case you were wondering).

However, when I started writing fantasy novels, things got more complicated. Whatever the unique specifics of the individual story, all heroic fantasy novels tend to be about good triumphing over evil — usually after lots and lots of effort and sacrifice — in a setting devoid of technology (i.e. no guns, stealth bombers, or Windows '98).

Well, you try triumphing over evil in a 250,000-word novel without any action scenes. I'm telling you, it can't be done. And even though, hey, I grew up in the mean streets of Blue Ash, Ohio, I soon realized that I didn't know enough about traditional weapons (sword, knife, dagger, staff, etc.) to write about them convincingly, particularly not as the possessions of characters who used them on a daily basis.

I wasn't just concerned about fighting techniques, though this was obviously important, but also about all aspects of these weapons as part of characters' daily lives. Where would you get them? How would you care for and maintain them as functioning tools in your life? Are they any good at slicing bagels? And so on.

But get this — no one of my acquaintance, not even my most right-wing friends, keeps a sword around the house to use on burglars! I've yet to speak to a medical person who has treated a sabre wound. There is no local equivalent of Target World where I can find out what it's like to wield a claymore at a target which looks, if I really concentrate, a bit like my Uncle Tommy (who once tried to drown me; but I digress).

And my initial search for written materials only discovered books and magazines which treated swords and daggers as precious collector’s items to be polished, insured, and kept under glass — something which wouldn't be useful or practical for characters using their weapons on a daily basis in the fictional war-torn society about which I was writing (a society which doesn't even have Ben & Jerry's ice cream, never mind glass cases). What was I to do?

I put out a cry for help, asking other writers to recommend good research sources, but I received relatively few replies. In fact, one writer whose weaponry-writing I enjoyed even wryly admitted to "faking it" for years and asked me to pass along the names of any good reference works I managed to dig up.

So I began educating myself. Like Madonna, I made it through the wilderness, somehow I made it through [music swells]; I speak to you now not as one who pretends to be an expert on traditional weapons and combat, but as one who can convince readers that my characters are experts — so let the church say amen!

First of all, I've amassed a good collection of reference works which have served me well. Though specific to my own research needs, I think many of these would be useful to writers of fantasy, historical fiction, and in a few cases, even to contemporary writers. This list represents the books I use regularly, keep Post-It Notes in, and have stained with coffee rings:

Iai: The Art of Drawing the Sword by Darrell Craig (Charles Tuttle Co. Inc., 1988). lSBN 0-8048-7023. Thank goodness for Japanese sword fighting arts; without them, I'd have had a much harder time finding instructional books for real sword combat. Although this one doesn't have pretty pictures like some of my other books (and I like pretty pictures), it's probably my favorite.

How does a good sword fighter think? How does he train? What would he do if three guys jumped him from behind in the dark? When using a sword as a daily tool, why do you powder and oil it? Which do you do first? How often do you do it? And what are you doing with that piece of sharkskin!

This book tells you.

The Complete Martial Arts by Paul Crompton (Roxby Productions Ltd., 1989). lSBN 1-85471-042-7. This is a full-color pictorial guide to over 25 styles of fighting, complete with traditional weapons used in various styles, from the familiar to the extremely exotic. It's been invaluable to me as inspiration for developing fantasy-world fighting styles and weapons systems.

Pop quiz: Do you know which traditional Asian fighting art uses oars and tortoise shells among their weapons?

Nunchaku: Karate Weapon of Self-Defense by Fumio Demura (Ohara Publications, 41st printing in 1995!). lSBN 0-89750-006-7. This is a short, easy, thoroughly illustrated book about using the traditional Japanese flailing weapon (made so famous in the West by Bruce Lee). The back cover also lists an extensive array of Asian fighting arts books available from the same publisher, ranging from the obviously useful (Knife Self-Defense for Combat) to the esoteric (Won Hio and Yul-Kok).

The Weapons and Fighting Arts of Indonesia by Donn F. Draeger (Charles E. Tuttle Co., Inc., 1993). lSBN 0-8048-1716-2. Although possibly a little exotic for a historical writer, this book is a gold mine for a fantasy writer, full of descriptions of fighting techniques and drawings of weapons I could never have imagined (including weapons which, according to Indonesian tradition, possess magical qualities).

Arms & Armour of the Medieval Knight: An Illustrated History of Weaponry in the Middle Ages by David Edge and John Miles Paddock (Crescent Books, 1993). lSBN 0-517-10319-2. A little slow-going if you don't find the subject fascinating (I don't), this book nonetheless offers thorough and detailed information, some excellent diagrams, and lots of good pictures.

The Art of Japanese Swordsmanship: A Manual of Eishin-Ryu Iaido by Nicklaus Suino (Weatherhill, Inc., 1995). ISBN: 0-8348-0300-3. Another Japanese fighting art instructional, this book is particularly good in terms of explaining blade choice, quality, care, and maintenance. (What do you do after someone has bled all over your sword?) Like Iai, it also describes a number of fighting scenarios in step-by-step sequence.

Weapons: A Pictorial History by Edwin Tunis (World Publishing/Times Mirror, 1972). lSBN 0-529-03702-5. This out-of-print book is worth looking for. A simple historical review of Western weapons and military styles/strategies from the Stone Age through modern times, it provides good drawings and clear explanations.

What happened in a siege (apart from a lengthy interruption in pizza delivery)? How did archers function in battle? What was so great about Roman soldiers? Read on, MacDuff!

The Art of War by Sun Tzu. (Okay, I don't know if his last name was Tzu or Sun, so cut me some slack.)

This classic work of military strategy (quoted constantly in James Clavell's Noble House) was written more than 2,000 years ago by "a mysterious Chinese warrior-philosopher."

No, it doesn't tell you how to wield a sword, break someone's ribs, or clean a blade; it teaches intelligent strategy and tactics. I find it indispensable for making my characters seem like they know what they're doing in combat, battle, and politics. Sun Tzu helped me figure out time and time again how my impoverished and out-numbered good guys could get the upper hand against their enemies.

This is in public domain and available in many editions. I used to have an edition which contained lots of commentary; I found I was unable to wade through it. I now have the tiny Shambhala Pocket Classics edition (ISBN 0-87773-537-9) which contains a bare minimum of commentary, just enough to clarify Sun Tzu's maxims for me.

A Collector's Guide to Swords, Daggers, & Cutlasses by Gerard Weland (Chartwell Books, Inc., 1991). lSBN 1-55521-726-5. A couple of excellent diagrams in this book clearly label/explain the parts of a sword (did you know there are over a dozen?). A simple but thorough color pictorial guide of swords through the ages, this book explains their uses, their strengths, and their weaknesses. This is another book I have found very useful and well worth getting.

I research both armed and unarmed combat because, gosh, sometimes characters don't have their weapons with them. One of the interesting — and challenging — things about traditional weapons and combat is that there are hundreds (probably thousands) of different styles. Now there are hundreds (perhaps thousands) of kinds of guns and rifles, but there aren't whole art forms and subcultures devoted to different ways of pulling the trigger.

Traditional weapons and combat, however, differ tremendously according not only to what period you're studying, but also what society — and even which part of what society you're studying. In Indonesia alone, for example, there are literally hundreds of styles of the national fighting art, penjak silat. These styles aren't subtle variations, either; they range from animal styles such as Tiger Style and Monkey Style (remarkably different from each other) to styles which appear almost dance-like (indeed, they were practiced as dances to fool the colonial masters who had forbidden traditional fight training). Moreover, each style comes with different weapons, and some styles emphasize weapon-use more than others.

Experience being the greatest teacher, I have found enrollment in fighting arts classes extremely useful. I think the ideal fighting teachers for a writer are those who focus their teaching on real-life situations, real combat, real wounding, and real killing. (How many people, after all, want to read an epic fantasy novel about characters who fight evil by scoring points, winning trophies, or changing their belt color?) Finding the right teacher or right group is a question of hit or miss, of course. My advice: A group in which cops are students (or if a cop is the teacher) is likely to focus more on reality than on the tidy rules of a competition ring; ask for recommendations from likely sources (that sc ruffy guy working out with fighting sticks in your local park, for example); and keep an eye out for fighting arts which aren't yet widely commercialized in the U.S. — things like bondo, kali or penjak, for example.

As an on-and-off fighting student, I've learned many things which I've used in my books; I've also used my classmates on numerous occasions to figure out how to make a scene work: "One guy is armed with a nunchaku," I might say to my teacher and classmates, "which he uses with real skill. He knows his opponent is nearby, but it's dark and he can't see him. The opponent has a dagger and needs, by the end of the scene, to disarm him without hurting him too much and to immobilize him long enough for them to exchange some dialogue." My teacher, my classmates, and I have experimented with my various scenarios, trying moves and counter-moves until coming up with a progression that works well.

However, you need not make the commitment to a regular weekly (or thrice-weekly) fighting class to enjoy the benefits of some direct experience in weapons and combat. Look around — many places offer short introductory courses which at least expose you firsthand to new ideas, experiences, and techniques. I, for example, once took a four-session introductory course in fighting with a staff (like Gabrielle, the sidekick in Xena). A survivalist school in the next county offers one-day hands-on seminars in knife fighting (as well as courses in guns and rifles). I developed a very serious respect for bladed weapons when I saw an FBI training video wherein officers armed with guns (in both real-life and re-enacted scenarios) were defeated by opponents using only a knife.

While really firing a gun helped my ability to write about it, I already knew (thanks to my uncles) what it was like to kick and hit someone, to fall to the ground locked in mortal combat (because it was my ice cream, dammit). Not everyone does, though. Want to find out, so you can describe it with veracity? Model Mugging, based in Oakland, California, originated a 24-hour introductory course (spaced out over a week or two) that lets you find out what it's like, for the purposes of non-lethal self-defense (i.e. you train to a knock-out blow); this class, or a variation of it, is now offered in a number of other cities. By the way, note of interest: it was in Model Mugging that I learned just how many people teach "self defense courses" who haven't the slightest idea what they're talking about; two — two! — of my fellow classmates were self-defense teachers who admitted to this. [note]

Attending training seminars, which only last a day or two, is another useful experience. Again, martial arts tend to be most pertinent to this article, since these arts focus on traditional weapons as well as unarmed combat. Famous teachers like Danny Inosanto demonstrate so much in a seminar that you couldn't take notes fast enough to record it all. I once watched Herman Suwanda, a great Indonesian penjak silat teacher, demonstrate a few dozen ways to kill someone just using a sarong — a simple piece of clothing! If you don't want to participate, I imagine most seminars would welcome a paying attendee who just wanted to watch and take notes. Ask some local martial arts groups to put you on a mailing list for upcoming seminars.

For more Western-oriented traditional weapons and fighting, one can always investigate the Society of Creative Anachronism, the local Renaissance Fair, and the arms and armour specialist at the nearest big-city museum. Other more specifically-focused societies, such as the Arabian Knights Equestrian Combatants, a group in my community devoted to horses and combat on horses, often emerge from the roots of the SCA. As with martial arts, investigating the subculture through personal attendance, magazines, newsletters, the Net, and seminars will usually eventually lead you to the information or opportunity you seek.

Having prepared myself so well for writing fantasy... I then realized that I didn't know enough about horses to write about them as daily "equipment," either. Sure, I had a horse growing up (whom my mother scathingly referred to as Rex The Wonder Horse), but all he did was eat lots and terrorize our dogs. He was too chubby for battle, and far too lazy to haul busy fictional characters over rough ground for days on end. He had not prepared me well to write heroic fantasy. Consequently, I came up with a Really Good Excuse for the absence of horses in my first two fantasy novels. However, bright writer that I am, I've somehow wound up planning a new book wherein the characters eat, sleep, live, and sometimes even procreate on horseback. And I'm starting from scratch. Any suggestions?

Editor’s Note: Contact information about other self defense and martial arts schools, particularly women-centered schools, is available from the National Women’s Martial Arts Federation at www.nwmaf.org/links.html. These schools often offer self-defense classes at low cost.

This article was previously published in Nink, the monthly newsletter of Novelists, Inc.