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 steel sword is a far better training tool than a wooden replica and the broken fingers of my fellow practitioners will attest to that.

Anyway back to my point.  Where do I put in dramatic tension, at least in a verbal sense, if I can’t use the ever popular duel?  That’s where another part of my life comes into play.  When I was in high school I participated in sports.  I loved competing.  And the lead up to a game, match, meet, event was a time of reflection and preparation.  That was where personal development happened.

Now I can take these two points and create scenes that are filled with tension, character development, and even spontaneous witticisms (though I struggle with being “witty”) while staying true to what a duel would really be like. 

I know there are people out that that would say, “So what?  It’s a fantasy world, right?  Who says things have to be the same for my world or your world?”

For me it has to do with the suspension of disbelief.  I’m already asking people to accept magic, dragons, demons, elves, and so forth.  Throwing in duels that last too long to be realistic is simply asking too much of the reader.  And I am aware that there are other arguments out there, but for me this is the answer.  I have to find the times in between the action, in between the fighting to put in the dramatic, the plot, the development.  That’s what works for me, at least in fantasy settings.  Things are different when dealing with nearly invincible super heroes.