Dramatic Fights
An interesting problem I’ve run into as a writer is where to build dramatic tension. Often in works of fantasy writers like to use the duel as a place to build suspense, or to throw in spontaneous witticisms to help with character development. For me, personally, the duel is a terrible place for this. The reason I say that is because I’m a practitioner of Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA). This is a rather broad classification used to cover a wide range of fighting styles used throughout Europe. My group, Medieval and Renaissance Swordsmanship (MARS), focuses on swordsmanship of late Medieval and early Renaissance masters. As a result of this study I’ve learned that duels last about ten seconds. Not really enough time to dispense plot development. Another side benefit is I’ve learned that using wooden swords as a training tools, as is often the case in the media, is a terrible idea. I won’t go into specifics right now, but suffice it to say that a blunted