#fencing tips

[cringefail-clown]

porrim and dirk are so fucking funny in turnabout au you guys have no idea. theyre each others yes man in the worst possible way.

porrims like "i want to+ get a seco+nd to+ngue piercing, but i think it might be a little much..." and dirk immidiately shoots back "Nah you're fine. Sit down, relax, and i'll be back once i alchemize the piercing and ready the needle.". kankris having an aunerysm every time he sees these two talking to each other.

[parklandfencing]

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[flgardening]

Fencing Tips You Should Not Forget

[howtofightwrite]

What is the difference between fencing and actual sword fighting, exactly? If I were to throw an olympic fencer against a master swordsperson, what would the most likely outcome of such a fight be?

The first and most obvious answer is that only one of these individuals is trained for combat.

The second answer is that only one of them uses (and trains with intent to use) a real weapon.

I’m going to assume this question revolves around an Olympic fencer dueling with a master swordsman with a live weapon and not in accordance with Olympic fencing rules. An Olympic fencer’s best chance at winning is a bout with a modern epee/saber under Olympic fencing rules and it’s also the case where (probably) no one dies or is gravely injured.

Olympic fencing is a sport. As a result of its evolution, it’s pretty much unrecognizable as even a martial form today and, in pursuit of the new requirements for winning, has divested itself of the weapon aspect. While much of the terminology remains the same, the key difference to grasp about Olympic fencers is that they’re not trained to fence around the idea that the sword in their hand is a dangerous weapon (because it isn’t.) In fact, the ultimate goal of winning in their sport (score points) is hindered by that mentality. To the Olympic fencer, it doesn’t matter if they get hit so long as they score first and have right of way when they do. If those at the top of the sport were handed a real historical epee, told to fence, and changed nothing in their approach, the end result would be a double suicide. (Which is ironic because that’s one of the reasons why the epee was restricted historically. When it came to dueling, it was a little too efficient.)

There is no caution here because there doesn’t need to be. Tactics and techniques which will cause a fencer to commit suicide against an opponent with a live blade work exceptionally well once the risk of death is off the table.

This isn’t just restricted to Olympic fencing. If you take any martial art that has transitioned to a sport and put the practitioner up against someone who kills people for a living, even if they are one of the best in their field, they will be at an inherent disadvantage. The requirements for winning according to the sport’s rules are vastly different from the requirements for winning in a life or death situation.

And that’s just the first hurdle.

The next hurdle is the weapon itself.

Duels are specifically between weapons of the same type. This rule is meant to level the playing field and ensure the duel is decided on “skill” rather than weapon advantage. Depending on their point of origin (for the purpose of this question, I’m assuming European) a master swordsman would have been familiar with and likely trained in several different sword styles, depending on era would be a master of their own school or in the employ of a noble house. If you need a comparable profession for a master duelist, think of them like lawyers. Except, the victory was decided by skill with a blade rather than a compelling argument. (We could say that skill with a blade is a compelling argument, but I digress.) One doesn’t get to be a master swordsman until after many years of study with the blade and victories under their belt. Depending on the era of history, the duel requirements of the duel could be anywhere between armored or unarmored, to first blood or to the death, and cover a variety of different swords, each with their own developed styles (and that is styles plural.)

Our Olympic fencer will be fucked by varying degrees depending on the live blade in question but, make no mistake, they’ll be pretty much fucked by any option picked. Running counter to their ubiquitous nature in popular culture, swords are not one size fits all. Outside of common principles there’s almost no training crossover. Every sword handles differently. These variations include length of the blade, length of the hilt, location of the crossguard, the weapon’s weight, the weapon’s weight distribution, the location of its balance point, whether it is primarily used with one hand or two, whether it is primarily a weapon for thrusting (the rapier) or cutting (the saber,) etc. Their grip would be off, and  probably wouldn’t be able to hold the sword properly.

The modern version of a fencing “sword” is not equivalent to any of these. Their closest stylistic match up in terms of inherited movement is the 19th century epee, but we’re still miles apart.

Then there’s the mentality issue.

The Olympic fencer hasn’t trained around the idea that death or major injury are accidental. Possible, yes, a risk, yes, but in the same way they are for any other sport. These are surprise, tragic occurrences and not part of regular bouts. For reference, in terms of the dangers of physical contact, a modern fencer faces less risk than a football player. For the master swordsman, the opposite is true. There is no variant of historical dueling which doesn’t risk death in some capacity, whether that’s a confirmed death on the dueling field itself or from an injury or infection later. Those historical circumstances where you see individuals dueling topless is (ironically) for practical reasons and not titillation. Many duelists, victorious or not, died from infection after cloth or other detritus got into their wounds. In this way, our modern Olympic fencer is less prepared than a duelist of average skill, much less a master.

Is the Olympic fencer ready to put their life and body on the line? To risk death, permanent injury, a potential blinding in one eye, in a bout that, at best, involves zero physical protection? I’m not sure. Probably not off the cuff. It requires a different mindset.

Are they ready to inflict damage on another person? Are they ready to kill another person? And even if they’re ready, are they willing to? Are they resolved to? Are they ready to risk their own life in pursuit of it?

The Olympic fencer is on the starting line with these questions.

The Master Swordsman has already answered them.

One of the difficult aspects about writing violence and characters who practice martial disciplines with intent to exercise those skills is internalizing the risks involved and ensuring their a natural part of your character’s mindset and their approach to combat.

Fiction is an illusion. Your narrative’s world is as real as you, the author, choose to make it. Characters are immortal, have infinite stamina, possess skill with every weapon, are unbeatable unless you choose otherwise. Regardless of reality, if you choose to make an Olympic fencer and a Master Swordsman fight exactly the same way with the same skill set, that’s how it is.

I’ve seen plenty of published authors treat swords as universal and modern Olympic fencing like it lends their character any real martial skills. (I mean, beyond excellent conditioning.) You can do it and get away with it if that’s what you want. Personally, I find it less interesting because it cheats the character out of their growth. Also, you don’t need to lean into that approach for “Girls Can Fight” or as a way for a female character to gain combat skills because there were female fencers who trained on the blade.

Ways for the Olympic fencer to win:

Dumb luck.

Yeah. That’s it.

The Master Swordsman should knock the blade out of their hand, take the Olympic fencer under their wing as their apprentice, and wander the world together solving crimes.

10/10.

-Michi

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[tracle0]

Sword-fighting tips, from a fencer

I've been fencing for only a few months, but in the time, I've noticed a few things that could help with writing in general.

You don't talk during a bout. This is both a rule and common sense - you get breathless, dancing back and forth, there's no time for a homoerotic back-and-forth. Save that for before, or after.

It's fast. Incredibly fast. Granted, this does depend on which sword you fight, but that's only because of the different rules - good fencers are fast and smooth and it happens so fast it's hard to see the blade move.

Speaking of which - good fencers are smooth! This goes into several areas.

Footwork - incredibly important. You can recover from sloppy swordwork, but footwork is foundational to victory. Fencing footwork looks a lil goofy, but it does genuinely help with balance and speed of movement.

Most of the weight is on the back leg, for launching off with, or, if retreating, the weight shifts to the front leg to launch you backwards.

Swordwork - sloppy swordwork is... alright, but not ideal. For most fights, you want to work on point control - where the tip of your blade is going. I struggle with this myself still, but common practice includes knotting some thick rope, dangling it from a branch or something similar, and letting the rope sway, then trying to hit the knot.

Additionally, any experienced fighter will be incredibly aware of distance - what's the closest they can be without getting hit? How far away can they be but still able to hit? These things determine duels.

How you hold the handle of the sword can actually help your chance of winning quite a lot - one of our instructors says he holds it like you'd hold a bird's body - firm enough so it won't fly away, but gentle enough to not hurt it. This means, that when you go to strike, you can squeeze your hand, and the blade will clear the distance much faster.

Good parries can determine your victory or loss. Often, a parry-riposte can get you the point, or win you the fight - where you get the opponent's blade away from you, then hit them quickly as they're vulnerable.

Depending on your intent in a fight, you may want to dodge instead of parry, though - launch yourself backwards when you expect them to strike to make them miss. In fencing, this would mean (in sabre and foil) that the priority (and ability to get a point) switches to you, whereas in a real match, this could just give you distance if you need to plan a new attack or get away.

Watch fencing matches! If your character is:

Slow and methodical, psyching their opponent out - watch epee

Fast and brutal, hitting hard and relentlessly - watch sabre

Flourished and dignified - watch foil

[thatsbelievable]

[toyastales]

A delightful garden wall!

[talbaquix]

A layman's guide to olympic fencing—

for writers, artists, olympic fans, or the otherwise curious.

disclaimer: i say layman for a reason! i'm not at all a professional, or even good, but i have been fencing (very) recreationally at an amateur level for ~7 years. also, my exposure to sabre is extremely limited, and i am speaking from an american POV, so please feel free to correct me on any points you see necessary. :)

long post incoming...

So, what is "Olympic fencing?"

First and foremost, it is a sport. Not a fight, not a duel—a sport. One of five that have been permanent fixtures since the very first modern Olympic games, actually—hence the name! While other similar sword-wielding activities (such as historical European martial arts (HEMA), kendo, or wushu for example) may occasionally be referred to as "fencing," most people (me included) define fencing as this specific sport, and use other classifiers to categorize the rest.

Originally, fencing began as a form of military training in Germany and Italy, before spreading recreationally across more areas in Europe. Currently, the fencing scene is almost uncontestedly dominated by Italy, France, and Hungary, though both China/HK and the US have had some pretty stellar wins more recently.

In addition, French has a pretty large influence on fencing terminology and language, at least in the West. Be prepared!

The Basics

Three Weapons

Fencing is divided into three disciplines, each with their own equipment, strategies, and ruleset. They are as follows:

Épée: The classic. The heaviest and most defensive of the three blades, épée's simple ruleset allows for more elaborate strategy and really lives up to fencing's moniker of "physical chess." In épée, the entirety of your opponents body (including face, toes, etc!) counts as valid target area and all hits must be scored with the tip of the blade. In case of a double-touch (relatively simultaneous hits from both opponents), both opponents score points.

Because there's no need for specific target areas, épéeists enjoy minimal equipment, forgoing lamés (electric jackets, pronounced luh-may) and mask cords in exchange for a larger bell guard to protect the hand (that big bit of metal at the end of the blade). Épéeists can use pistol grips for more point control (molded to fit a hand), or a french grip to get a little bit of extra distance (red stick grip).

Épée bouts are stereotypically known for being slow and boring, since the absence of right-of-way (explained later) allows more freedom in trying to sus out opponent reactions and strategize, and the whole-body target + double-touch system means there's more benefit to fencing slowly in comparison to sabre or foil. It's not uncommon for épée bouts to begin with both fencers being carded for passivity! There's a lot of bouncing back and forth in the middle.

Saber (Sabre): Fast, slashing, and aggressive. The fencing you see in movies? Sabre. It's the only cutting weapon, where the entire length of the blade is able to register contact with the opponent. In sabre, the target area is the upper half of the body (including the face, but excluding the hand) and their lamés reflect that. Sabre also employs what is known as right-of-way/priority/advantage (from here on abbreviated as RoW) which, in the case of a double-touch, essentially gives RoW—and therefore the point—to the "aggressing" fencer at the referee's discretion. RoW is pretty complicated, but is very influential in how both sabre and foil play out.

In their ready (en garde) position, sabreists also hold their blade vertically to protect the face (as opposed to foil and épée, where the blade is held horizontally to keep the point towards the opponent). Sabreists also need special masks to register hits, as well as a mask cord to connect it to the rest of the electric circuit. Sabre bell guards are kinda swoopy and extend downward (think pirates) and are always "french grips" (aka just a stick).

Sabreists are generally known for being (respectfully) batshit insane and dramatic as hell. Bouts are extremely fast (rarely more than a few seconds) and look simple, and rely much more on pure athleticism and fast reaction times than épée. Most bouts consist of the two fencers running towards each other, maybe a parry or two, then both fencers scoring hits with a fair bit of screaming and angrily pointing at the ref. Oh wait, did I say running? Sorry, I meant advancing, since sabre is also the only discipline where crossing-over with your legs got banned because people just started sprinting towards the middle instead of actually fencing. Love them for that.

Foil (Fleuret, rarely): Oh, foil. The artistic middleman. Originating as a practice weapon, foil tends to sit in the middle of épée's careful point-control and elaborate strategy and sabre's split-second reactions and fuck-it-we-ball energy. Yet somehow, it ends up being more nit-picky and complicated than both. It has the smallest target area of the three, only covering the torso, as well as the lightest blade. Touches are only registered from the tip.

RoW's influence is noticeably large, since, compared to sabre, the longer bout times actually allow for opportunity for RoW to be traded between you and your opponent. Foil can almost be thought of as turn-based combat. Fencer A initiates the attack first, now has RoW, lunges and misses, which gives RoW to Fencer B. Fencer B attacks, gets parried (back to Fencer A), A extends, B counterattacks, A gets the point.

Foil stereotypes aren't as strong as épée or sabre stereotypes, but foilists are generally known for either being super pedantic and arguing w/ the ref about RoW or whipping their blade around constantly & being flowery (hence, "fleuret"). Because of how bendy the foil is, foilists can also do cool stuff like flicks (snapping your wrist so that the blade bends around, oftentimes to hit your opponents back) and can also get into pretty funny in-fighting situations a bit more often than sabre/épée (since corps-a-corps contact isn't allowed in fencing, and stepping back means you lose RoW, there's a lot of awkward up-close poking).

Some Positions

En garde: the basic fencing position. In essence, a squat, with one foot facing forward and the other turned out, roughly one and a half foot-lengths apart. This is the basis from which all other movements—the lunge, the advance, the retreat—should be executed, and the position fencers return to once an action is completed.

Lunge: the quintessential fencing attack. From en garde, extend your dominant arm, kick out your front foot, land forward, and extend your back arm for balance. To recover, bend your back leg and return to en garde.

Parry: the most basic piece of defensive bladework that every fencer learns, with the "beat" serving as its offensive counterpart. Consists of hitting your opponents blade to prevent a touch. There are nine different parries in classical fencing, but the most common (in foil/épée) are the four and six, which defend the inside and outside lines respectively.

Ettiquette & Other Fun Facts

All fencers must salute their opponent, referee, and audience (if there is one) before and after the bout. Usually just consists of "nodding" at the salutee with your blade before the mask is donned. At the end of bouts, a handshake with your opponent using your non-dominant hand is also expected. Many people substitute/add on to the handshake by tapping blades instead.

Unlike in tennis, seeing a fencer hold up a one on their hand after a touch is an acknowledgement of the opponent's point, whereas a closed fist is a claim of theirs.

When fencing without a ref, many people will slap their thigh to indicate the start of a bout.

Fencers may not speak while the mask is on.

Fencing clubs are also sometimes called salles.

While electrical equipment can vary between disciplines, all fencers are required to wear knickers, a plastron (under-arm protector), a body cord, a jacket, a glove, and a mask. For women, a plastic chest protector is also required. In sabre and foil, fencers also wear a mask cord and lamé.

The first safety rule most fencers learn is to never raise your blade towards someone without a mask on, and it's taken pretty seriously. Because the back of a mask is exposed, its also a big big no-no to turn your back to your opponent during a bout or otherwise lower your head.

Common Terminology

En garde, prez, allez! - On guard, ready, fence! Used to signal the start of a bout.

Halt! - Said by referees to. halt the bout.

Strip/piste - The surface on which fencers fence. Usually around 2m wide and 14m long, the lines on the piste also dictate where fencers must move to to begin bouts, and where they're considered out-of-bounds. Sometimes, they're on raised platforms. Yes, people have fallen off, yes, it's extremely funny.

Feint - Probably what you think it is.

Disengage - Moving your blade in a little circle to avoid contact with what is usually an incoming parry/beat. On a very basic level, straight attacks beat disengages, disengages beat parries, and parries beat straight attacks.

Fleche - An explosive running attack. Due to not being able to cross-over, sabreists use "flunges" instead, a mix between a fleche and a lunge that essentially entails flinging yourself at your opponent in a flying lunge.

Balestra - hop :)

Riposte - An immediate attack done after a defender's parry. Usually heard as "parry-riposte."

Tempo - A kind of nebulous concept, but very similar to the musical definition of the word. The pace of a bout, sorta. Often used when someone is advised to break tempo or if one fencer is controlling the tempo of a bout.

FAQ

Why are the blades bendy? To keep us from dying, mainly. What, you want the metal pole people can throw at each other at the same speed as a bullet (literally) to be solid? Also, blades break a lot already, especially in the hands of the inexperienced—they'd snap a hell of a lot more if they weren't flexible. Ouch.

Does it hurt? About as much as getting poked really hard with a steel stick would. Leaves bruises often, but cuts very rarely. You get used to it. The real kicker is staying in en garde for that long. Trust me, your quads will be screaming.

Is it- No, it's not dangerous. If you follow the rules, fencing is actually extremely safe, especially compared to contact sports.

Does a red light mean no touch? No. One fencer is assigned a red light that lights up whenever a touch is made, and the other is given green. In sabre and foil, yellow (sometimes white) means whatever the fencer hit was off-target, and should not be counted as a point. Épée doesn't have an off-target light, since épéeists don't wear lamés.

How do the masks know when a point is scored? Often asked upon seeing the little lights on the side of masks light up upon touches. Unless you're "dry fencing" (no electricity), you're typically hooked up to a circuit. If you fence épée or foil, there's a little button on the end of your blade that registers when pressure is added onto it. When a hit is scored, the signal goes through the wire in your blade, up your body cord, and eventually to "the box" (and your mask if you're fancy), and the corresponding light is flashed.

Why hold your hand behind your back? Most people don't! Some beginners do it to prevent themselves from reflexively moving their non-gloved hand in front of them when being attacked (which is against the rules), but most fencers either keep their hand relaxed at their side, raised in a t-rex pose, or occasionally above the head.

Helmet? Mask.

Sword? If you want.

Touché? Often "touche," actually. No accent.

Paralympics? On (stationary) wheelchairs. Extremely cool, actually, and very hard. Check it out!

Expensive? To get all your own stuff? Yes. But most clubs will rent you equipment, or sometimes lend it for free! But yes, more expensive than, like, soccer. :(.

Is it fun? Absolutely. To quote some random internet user, "it's like chess, at 90 miles an hour, oh and there's swords!" I would 100% recommend it to everyone, especially if you're on the older side (fencing isn't super age-restricted at all—seeing a 12 y/o and a 70 y/o facing off on a club piste isn't uncommon!) It is exhausting, exhilarating, and super, super fun. Give it a shot!

.

Please feel free to send any and all questions, corrections, or musings my way. Thanks for reading—I hope this was interesting and/or useful!

[airlocksandaviaries]

So, You Want to Write a Sword Fight.

Welcome to Your Local Sword Girlboy’s crash course on how to write a sword fight! We’re going to cover all the basics, from understanding context, to pacing, even some good ways to research! So buckle up gays, and let’s learn How to Sword.

First, what kind of sword are you wielding? There are so many different swords and forms and they’re all very different. But not only in the way you might think. Obviously the way the swords are held and wielded and the weight they have makes a difference how you write the battles, but even more so than that is TYPE OF FIGHT. Sabers, Epées, and Foils all have specific ways their bouts are set up and executed, and it has to do with a highly important cultural system of honor. Is this an honorable bout? Or a fight for survival? Or a fight for revenge? How much do these characters respect each other and how desperate are they?

This will affect the setup of the fight more than you think. For example, the target area. Or other weapons involved. If it is an honorable fight between two parties that respect each other, they will only hit on the front area of each others’ target, and will only make contact with their blades on each other. If it is a fight for survival, however, all bets are off. Any area on each others’ bodies is valid target area, and they might be more inventive while fighting, like slamming each other with the hilt, or using another improvised weapon nearby to win. It’s important to consider.

Now let’s talk about types of swords specifically. Sabers, Epées, and Foils are all incredibly light and whippy, and are held with one hand. They can be maneuvered very fast and can perform some very fast actions, and are GREAT for feinting (more on this later). They can change direction quickly with a whip of the fingers, and are usually used in very honorable bouts. Foils and Epées are for stabbing, while Sabers are for slashing opponents. All of these swords, though, use VERY small and quick movements. The fighter wielding one of these even makes themself smaller with a squatting stance and only one side facing the opponent. Everything is quick and precise. Footwork is key.

Rapiers and cutlasses are heavier, but still operated with one hand. These are favored by pirate types, and are used for slashing and sometimes stabbing. Another detail is that these can also be accompanied by a parrying dagger, held in the opposite hand as the Rapier and used for blocking the opponent’s blade out of the way.

Now the one you’ve been waiting for, longswords and broadswords (and lightsabers as well). These are usually two handed weapons, but can be one-or-two handed. They are heavier, and take more strength to control, but believe me when I say they are NOT clunky or slow. You CAN perform a feint with a longsword. I HAVE done it before (not successfully, but that’s just a skill issue on my part, let’s not dwell on it). The way these swords are maneuvered are with wider swings, for cutting OR slashing, and to protect the whole body. Footwork is important as well, but it’s terrible on the knees if you run too much with these (because they’re so goddamn heavy) so it’s not like you can run a marathon with a longsword like you can with a foil or saber. (of course if it’s a lightsaber all bets are off bc that thing is made of light and it's wielded by a space wizard so whatever).

Alright next. Let’s get GRANULAR. Let’s talk about very specific types of attacks and blocks and how to phrase this. Now, don’t worry, you don’t have to be a fencing expert to talk about the specific moves, because the audience will understand what you’re saying. It’s just about being specific enough to where you can paint a picture in their heads but not too specific to where the fight loses its suspense.

So, first, let’s talk about attacks and blocks, and what to call them. For any sword, extending the blade is holding it out in front of you. Thrusting is when you make a jabbing attack with the blade. And finally, lunging is when you throw your body forward with the attack, specifically throwing out your front leg and leaning into it, while keeping your body level with the floor to keep balance and make it easy to recover into a guard position.

Now for blocks. Pushing the blade out to block the opponent’s blade is called a parry. When you attack your opponent back immediately after taking their blade in a parry, it’s called a riposte. You don’t need to use this word, though, because I’ve found that just saying something like “They parried her blade and then thrusted towards her chest,” works quite well. 

SIDE NOTE: if both of your opponents have the same pronoun set, I’m so fucking sorry. It doesn’t get any easier. It’s the Gay Fanfiction Dilemma, I’m afraid. But if you’re already versed in that, use the same workarounds for pronouns and titles for fighting as you do for fucking, it works pretty much the same way ;). (But PLEASE don’t be afraid to use their names. I promise nobody is going to kill you if you say the characters' names twice in a single paragraph. It’s MUCH better than having to read “the blond” or “the tall one” or “the younger woman.”) Basically, just use their names a lot. It’s quicker and I promise you it works.

Now where were we? Ah yes. Attacks and blocks. I already covered those, but surprise, there’s a secret third thing, and it’s my very favorite move. Feinting. It’s quite simple really, it’s an extension of the blade, a faked attack, to get your opponent to try to parry or block or move their blade, only to switch your movement to avoid their blade and attack them back. It’s fun and can be extremely effective, and it also can be used in many different types of ways. Any way you can get your opponent to try to parry your blade in one place, like a high or a low attack, expect where their blade is going to be, and then avoiding it works as a feint. Or you could engage the blade, and move it around with your own blade to get it away from your target area and slide in for a riposte. This is my specialty. And it makes a KILLER shiiiiiiing sound as well. It sounds confusing, but it can actually be written quite simply. Let’s give an example:

“A thrusted out their blade in a feint. But just as B’s blade leaped for it, A withdrew their arm and took B’s blade up in a quick engagement. They swung it around and metal scraped against metal as A pushed B’s blade away from pointing at their chest to a harmless position beside their thigh. Then, in the same flowing movement, blades still locked, A pushed their blade back up for a deadly thrust at B’s chest.”

Not bad, if I do say so myself. Although this comes from having executed that maneuver a hundred times personally. There’s still hope for you though, as a non-fencing sword writer, I promise! You just gotta research and read a bit. But more on that later.

Next let’s talk about footwork. It’s not the most important part of the fight, but it is worth mentioning every once in a while in your scene, just to give the audience a sense of space for where your characters are, especially if they’re in a precarious position like a mountain or a pirate ship. Remember that swordfighting requires a LOT of backwards and forwards movement on both parties’ parts, so give your characters lots of room!

That brings us to our next point. Pacing. Now, here’s something you NEED to know about real life sword fights. They are MUCH faster than you think they are. Most of the fight is pacing back and forth, trying to gain right of way (if you’re in foil), and testing your opponent to see where they’ll go. Just a few seconds of blade engagement, and then it’s back to pacing back and forth to see who’s going to jump first. Also some testing to see how trigger happy your opponent is but thrusting towards them and seeing if they’ll attack back or retreat. Basically, irl sword fights are just 70% foreplay and 20% actual stabby stab. 

But this is not great for fun sword fight scenes! Remember it’s okay to stretch the truth, and focus on the swordplay actions, stretch them out as much as necessary. Especially if your characters are superhuman. Just consider throwing in a few moments of pacing and sussing each other out, I promise it’s worth it. Not just to break up the constant fighting, which can get tiresome, but also because characters get tired too! Superhuman or not, fighting is exhausting on all parties. It’s not unusual for two sword fighting individuals to suddenly break and have a moment of analysis, slowly circling each other. I promise it won’t break your tension, if anything it will just increase it.

Now let’s talk about how to ACTUALLY get better and writing these scenes. And no, I’m not going to say ‘practice.’ Because while practice is important, so is RESEARCH and OBSERVATION.

There’s many ways you can research and observe as a non-sword individual! First I recommend watching clips of actual sword fighting, specifically women’s olympic foil (because they have the most technique out of all the other swords and categories). Also, watching sword fighting scenes in movies is good. It’s a dramatized version, of course, but that’s exactly what we’re trying to achieve in writing. It’s good to watch the character’s perspectives as they fight, and how the action washes over us as an audience.

Finally, I recommend actually reading sword fights in stories. The best author for fantasy sword fights, hands down, is R.A. Salvatore. His books are super cool D&D fantasy quest stories centered around a badass but also cute and compelling Drow character who gets into sword fights ALL THE TIME. And nobody writes a sword fight like Salvatore. Reading his work has probably helped me more in writing sword fights than my actual knowledge of how to sword fight.

I hope this has helped somewhat! Or was just fun to read. Either way, I enjoyed writing it. I love writing sword fights and I love sword fighting and I love helping, so I was happy to make this. Also, I have lots more technical knowledge I would love to share on this subject, so if you have anything you want to know about how swords or sword fights work or how to write something, I’m open for asks! Even if I don’t know you! Feel free to reach out with a question or a comment, I’ll geek out about swords any day.

Anyway that’s it my writer friends and fellow sword enthusiasts, good luck and happy writing! <3

 @veradragonjedi

[whosname]

[hadesfucks]

Fencing Informational for fic writers!

Guys please do some research on fencing before you write it into your Wednesday fics like please….

Foil, Sabre, and Épée, are all different styles named after the sword used in the style. No one is fencing with an Épée against a Sabre.

Foil has specific rules like Right Of Way, and touches only count if they’re in the upper torso section covered by a fencing jacket.

Sabre also has right of way but a point can be made by the tip and side of the blade, as well as being able to score a touch anywhere waist up (excluding the hands).

Épée is for psychopaths and masochists (aka anyone who knows how to have fun). A touch can only be scored with the tip of the blade BUT there is no right of way and the entire body is game. From the head to the hands to the little toe, even if you just straight crotch shot them. I personally think it would be wednesdays favorite.

Sorry for the big block of text, happy writing!

[pastafossa]

how long did it take for your fanfiction to start getting some recognition? did you "advertise" it or "promote" it in any way?

i know that people say this doesn't matter, but i feel like even if you love writing the feeling that you're just talking to yourself gets pretty exhausting at some point. so i'm not talking about having thousands of readers but rather like. what's your advice to have readers at least?

- someone who hasn't even started writing their ideas yet...

LONG POST INCOMING.

First I want you (and everyone else reading who may be struggling with this) to know I'm absolutely with you and generally think 'it doesn't matter' is a horseshit answer. It's this weird thing we do in fanfic that we generally don't apply to other artforms that I've seen. If you're a painter, a playwriter, a novel writer, and you say, 'I want at least a few people to love my paintings, I want some people to come see my play, I want my novel to be published and do at least ok' we all support them, we nod, we agree, we talk about how they can do that successfully. It's considered normal to want some amount of success. But hold up fanfic instead and it becomes, 'how dare you want that praise, you're being egotistical, you should be writing only for yourself'. I'm not saying you can't do that - there are some who do - but it's definitely this bizarre switchup to say there's this single artform in which we can't want attention on our work and that there's something wrong with us if we do. That can be an absolute creativity killer depending on what kind of writer you are (hi, extrovert writer here who only gets writy writy juice from social interaction - aka comments and discussion. So I totally get it being exhausting just doing this on your own).

So let me say this categorically: you're allowed to want things. You're allowed to want kudos, comments, and hits. You're allowed to want messages and asks. You're allowed to want some readers you can talk with about your story.

You. Are. Allowed.

Ok, now that that's out of the way.

Edit: more below the cut cause I didn't realize the length of this on mobile

TRT definitely didn't get popular overnight. The first four chapters were sporadic, and then I took a hiatus due to life things for a couple years. During that time, it kept slowly ticking up bit by bit on AO3, with occasional comments. Iirc it was hovering somewhere around 700 kudos by the time I came back in Jan 2021 - and that's a awesome! It's big! But it's also a number that was gained over a few years, to put it in perspective. It absolutely took off after I came back though, and over the past 2 years both TRT's popularity and the stats of my one-shots in the fandom have grown. Part of that's just the time frame (TRT's been up about 6 years), but it's also due to a couple things that I think built up TRT's popularity.

Building a tumblr presence was huge. Ironically I didn't really intend to do it for advertising; I just wanted a place readers could ask questions or we could all freak out about Matt or I could post some drabbles or updates on the fic. But considering the fact that AO3 and tumblr are the top fic sites online, I wound up promoting my fics unintentionally just by being a friendly, happy tumblr user and fandom goer. All I did was follow the courtesy rules I knew - post stuff regularly, reblog, comment, make friends with other writers, just be friendly in your neighborhood because you love the lady with the gif flower shop on the corner or the wise old pizza maker who serves hot fandom takes all day long. I built familiarity with my writing and name by posting short fics, and by taking part in challenges and prompt lists and short requests for drabbles if I saw them, though that's something that's hard to do if you don't have time (I've got less time now, but I started this blog in the early pandemic so I had aaaaall the time in the world to write and was using it to stay sane). I tagged religiously because I LOVE tags, but that helped, too. Tumblr's search system is half broken but the half that works means people CAN find your writing even if they aren't following. Doing all this over here got me a huge boost over on AO3.

I will say that if you can have a fandom tiktok presence, there's a lot of fic reviewers, edits, and good stuff that can get your fic some readers (I've had some people do this on tiktok for TRT and it sent a surge over). I personally haven't done anything there yet, in part because while I'm on tiktok I try to keep my actual, real person accounts separate from my fic/fandom accounts and i haven't bothered to make a second account solely dedicated to the Pasta name yet.

Longfics on AO3 have the advantage in fic stats in the sense that every time you add a chapter, it gets bumped to the top of the front page and you get seen again. Eventually a lot of people will click out of curiosity. They may not, however, give you a lot of user subs or add to your other fic stats at first, whereas if you do a bunch of oneshots you're more likely to get user subs but less hits on each fic. This is a decision you'll have to make, and I know folks in both camps who built their followings using different methods on each. Either way, it helps if you're posting regularly, either in a long fic or one-shots. I call this the Stephen King method, who said he just writes a ton and throws it all at the wall, and eventually you get enough good despite the bad that you start building a following.

Learn learn learn. This is standard fic advice I always give, but it's still relevant. I think one of the reasons imo TRT has done so well is that I've spent a lot of time over the years learning how to write and edit - I read a ton of books (sometimes just to figure out HOW good authors structure their stories), I took a lot of English classes, I've taken some creative writing courses in my spare time. That two year hiatus was heavily spent doing a lot of research and practice around an original novel I want published one day. And I used ALL of that in TRT, just to see what it was like to put it all together. Be hungry for knowledge, be hungry to learn. The more you learn, the better your fic will be, and the more people that will click.

That learning also includes a looooong string of fanfics that started at a very novice level (hello 12 year old me), to fics that were ok and did moderately well but weren't anything huge. Hell, I had a tumblr account for my previous fandoms before I wandered over to Pastafossa, and while those fics did decently, I never had the huge reaction I've gotten here. But I used each and every one of those fics to learn and grow and adapt. Treat your own fics the same way. If it doesn't get hits, try to learn from it before moving on to the next idea a little wiser and a slightly better writer than before. There will always be people who start to follow you along the way.

A small one, but important: I swear to god, do not shit-talk yourself. Not in the summary, not in the tags, not in the A/Ns. I'm not talking, 'this is my first fic!' That's fine. I mean trashing your own work. Shit like, 'ha ha this sucks, it's terrible but oh well' will absolutely lower your stats, because people will believe you and will ditch your fic. On top of that, it's just mean to yourself, and as I said above, you want to be a good person in the fandom neighborhood. That means not breaking the windows of your own house.

People generally think of summaries as a side note, but a shitty summary can absolutely tank your stats. Treat it like the rest of your fic - this is the trailer before the movie, and it's a huge element of what gets people interested in the first place.

Lastly, like I said at the top, the biggest factor is time. There are people who post one fic and explode in popularity, absolutely. But far, far more little followings are built on the bones of time, of abandoned fics, of muttering and highlighting phrases in books in the middle of the night, of trying and trying and trying until we have at last have a breakthrough and then drag that breakthrough forward with us to the next fic. TRT is absolutely one part lightning in a bottle - the biggest success I've ever had anywhere with my writing, a confluence of fandom factors and world events that gave people (and me!) time to write and read. But it's also standing on the back of whole lot of fics I wrote that look like everyone else's: ones with no comments, low interaction, insults; ones where I had precisely zero idea of what I was doing, but wanted to try anyway. And the way I got through that, as a writer who needs interaction in order to create, was by building friendships in fandom so that even when a fic didn't do all that well, I still had friends I could talk to about the characters, the world, the fandom itself. I asked friends to look them over and give advice. I had friends being my cheerleaders. And if you're an extrovert like me, or just a writer who needs that to create, then those connections are vital as you build up a following.

That's a lot of what I've done. I know there are other ways to build a following, but this is generally what I've done, what I've learned to do, and it seems to have worked. Just remember that there are no bad fics - just learning opportunities. Learn something, and that fic's a success, and work as hard as you can to make those fandom connections to carry you through the process.

I absolutely hope to see your work around one day, so that I can be on of those followers!

[ksodirty]

2 of my best friends didn’t get this and got me wondering how many other people didn’t get it and just didn’t tell me lol

[hasarjunadoneanythingwrong]

Did you know that Arjuna was revealed for Samurai Remnant?

WELL, I GUESS IM DEFINITELY BUYING IT NOW?

[suave-hogan]

Okay but why is the GROBB shirt so soft??

The orange is also a bit darker than expected, but it’s nice and vibrant

Sorry to say this, but I think I just accepted GROBB into my home

[tired-reader-writer]

Reading the new chapter, their faces fucking sent me, lol.