Sword fighting

Hi Sarah!

I’m not an expert when it comes to sword fighting either! But here’s a couple things I found helpful for those fight scenes.
The reason I find sword fighting so difficult to write about, is because it in itself is merely two men executing attacks and defenses with their weapons. (And I don’t know any technical terms for how they maneuver their weapons) No matter how exciting and magnificent it can be to watch on t.v. it’s just hard to get that same thrill written out on paper!
So instead of the focus of the scene actually being on the terms used for their swords clashing together, try putting the focus on the main character’s emotion during the fight.
Ask yourself what the reason is that these two men are fighting.
If you’re telling it from the common solider’s point of view… is he fighting because he’s jealous of the knight? He could show that by stepping forward and challenging the knight to a duel. It could be shown through how harshly or wildly he swings his sword.
Or is the common soldier terrified of the knight, but steps up to protect his family from the unjust knight. Show the soldier gaining confidence in the fight as he remembers it’s for his family’s safety that he fights.
Or perhaps it told from the knight’s perspective. What does he think about this common soldier?
From whomever’s perspective it is told, fist ask yourself why the sword fight is taking place and then use the emotion of why their fighting to fuel the scene.
This way even if you don’t know the technical terms for a sword fight, your scene has its place in your story. (My sword fights include a lot of clashes and clangs 🙂 )
You’re telling the main character’s story, so your readers aren’t going to be disappointed if you put the focus of the scene on the character’s emotions and don’t give them this technically correct battle scene. They want to hear about your character more than the best term for blocking a blow.
For the reality of it though, I will say that I do know sword fights are extremely dangerous, and excruciatingly difficult. Both the knight and the common soldier are at risk of being severely injured or even killed. It’s helpful to remember the physical aspects of a fight, such as how sweaty they’ll get, how tiered they may become (the longer they fight, the more weary they’ll become) the vibration you’ll feel on your arms when the swords clash together. Some of these aspects can be told to illustrate how the battle is going.
Hope that’s helpful!

Hmm, well yes, I have more suggestions than I have time to write down, but I’ll start with some basics.

First of all, how much training does the soldier have? If he has just picked up a sword recently then that is a rather interesting situation. Beginners have no idea what they are doing and tend to be wild, aggressive, and unpredictable. This can confuse even professionals and so put them at a disadvantage. If however the professional retains his wits and acts carefully and decisively, the novice doesn’t stand a fraction of a chance. If you don’t have much knowledge on sword fighting, you might have your soldier be a novice because novices may do almost anything and you can hardly portray their tactics incorrectly. If however you wan’t your soldier to be experienced, you will have a harder time writing an accurate fight scene. The flip side of this is that, if you succeed, your fight scene will sound more interesting.

During the 1300s broadswords were in their prime. Strikes were almost always delivered with the edge rather than the point. Swordsmen would assume a stance with one leg in front in a firm position almost as if they were stepping forward to deliver a speech. Advancements or retreats were generally made by swinging the back leg to the front or vice versa. Blows could be sent at any part of the body but, contrary to what you might think, the legs were actually a prime target since they were often easier to hit than other areas but would still disable an opponent. The basic rule to block against any sword attack is to follow your opponent’s blade. Hence if he is striking to my left, I will move my blade to the left and knock his out of the way before it hits me. Also, If he strikes to my left and I follow with my blade, but then he drops his blade under mine and attacks my right, my response would be to follow his blade over to the right side and then knock it out of the way either to the right or left depending on what type of block I am using. There are many different guards, defensive moves, and offensive moves which deserve their own special attention in broad sword fighting, but I can’t go into detail on these now. If you would like to study such details, I would suggest consulting a manual. I would suggest Medieval Swordsmanship by John Clements. Generally, when you are defending against an attack, you will take a step back. When you are attacking, you will take a step forward. Two vocabulary words you may want to know are parry and faint. Parry means block. Faint means pretend to attack one part of your opponents body and then switch to another all in the same fluid motion.

Hope this helps. Don’t worry about asking too many questions.

Hi Rolena,

I have never heard that if a blacksmith doesn’t make a sword to precise measurements that it will break, but I doubt it. Swords were made in all different sizes. Perhaps if the smith made the blade excessively thin or long, it might break, but I am sure there are a wide range of sturdy designs.

As to a dagger vs. sword fight, it would depend on the skill of the fighters. Not the skill of one to the other (since you assume it to be equal) but the skill of both on a scale of terrible to unbeatable. If they are both novices, the fact that one has a longer blade would no doubt decide the battle. I would place the dagger wielder’s odds at about 1 to 6. If they are experts, the dagger wielder would have odds more like 1 to 2. The tactics a dagger wielder would need to follow are simple. He would need to stay out of the sword wielders reach as much as possible, while still staying close enough to tempt his opponent to strike. As he jumps from side to side avoiding the blows, he must watch his opponents every move. You normally do this, but he would have to pay especial attention. He must observe each habit or flaw and watch for any openings. He could block his opponents blade with his dagger, but this would be hard as the speed and power of the sword blow might be able to plow right through the defensive maneuver. His only hope is in closing in. He could throw his dagger, but that would probably not cause a fatal wound and then he would be unarmed. His chance to close in will probably come in one of two ways. One, he could rush in when his opponent has just attempted an unsuccessful blow at him and is just about to retire. Two, he could use his dagger (or hand actually) to push his opponents blade out of the way as he rushes in. He may have to resort to using his hand to grab his opponents blade, for even though it will cut him, it may save his life. If he has the opportunity, a safer method with similar results would be to grab his opponents wrist. As a side note, it is almost never a good idea to hold a dagger with the pommel at the top of your fist and the blade at the bottom. 99% of the time it is best to hold it like you would a sword with the blade being on the top of your fist and the pommel below.

Oh boy, I knew as soon as Daeus saw this post he would be off! I was just waiting for it! So glad we have an expert here to tell us what we don’t know.
Now I have a question.
Isn’t the footwork employed in fighting with a dagger pretty similar to the footwork employed in fighting with a sword? (A broadsword). I have a fantasy hero who is practically an expert with a knife, but had never handled a sword in his life. Assuming my above assumption is correct, shouldn’t this character be able to pick up sword fighting technique much better and quicker than someone who had never studied either sword or dagger? Please don’t be soft— if this is not the case, tell me without hesitation. You know I could use some help in this area… 🙂
And just out of curiosity, I have been searching around for different instructional videos just to get the general feel for broadsword technique, and it seems to me that broadsword fighting does not require nearly as much footwork (or at least, nearly as much highly complicated footwork) as fencing. Is this just me?

Hey Sarah,

In every fight scene you have to show character. If you don’t you’ve failed. Use the five senses. Use short sentences. You should not describe everything. Don’t assault the reader with hard-to-understand fighting terms If the reader doesn’t understand. You’ve failed.

Well Mark, I would disagree. Not that you have to have a character— obviously, there’s no other reason to write a fight scene than if it is affecting one of your characters— but that you should not describe everything, and that you should use short sentences. Now it sounds like I’m nitpicking, but I have very legitimate reasons for presenting these arguments. At least, I think I do. 🙂
I think you have to slow down a lot and describe every move carefully and with precision if you want to make a fight scene believable and realistic. Don’t try to move at the same pace as the combatants, or you will come out with a jumbled tangle of words that will sound rushed, stilted, and too general to be understood. Half of writing is conveying an image— no one likes to look at a blurry, ill-defined painting. Obviously, don’t go into too much detail— ‘he moved his foot forward, the heavy iron of his greaves weighting him down. His foot was in the air— it neared the tip of the nearest tussock of curly marsh grass— it touched the first shriveled blades— it slid down amongst them, almost reaching the bloodstained, trampled muck— it came to rest at last, and he rocked forward on his shins, causing his boot to sink deeper and deeper into the mire.” WAY TOO MUCH DETAIL. If you describe every single movement with that much detail, one fight scene will dominate five or six chapters. But do describe the important moves carefully and precisely. Don’t describe the gore, though— mention the blood, but don’t, please don’t, mention it squirting everywhere or pooling around the severed limbs lying on the battlefield or anything like that. Obviously war will have those, but you don’t have to be disgusting in your descriptions.
I guess my argument is not against short sentences, but against using them blindly. ‘He stabbed, then retreated. He ducked, then lunged forward and stabbed again. Blood trickled into his eyes, making it difficult for him to see. Stumbling backwards, he tripped over a broken shield. He fell to the ground, and flung up his arm to defend himself. His enemy’s sword came flashing down in a glittering arch.’
That’s a very choppy fight— and maybe that’s what the writer was aiming for. Maybe it’s a teeth gritting, sheer determination, brute strength fight. But not all fights should be like that. Sometimes it is better to employ a smooth, graceful, twisting, dancing style of sentence, if that is the way the combatants are moving. ‘He lunged forward, his body taut and hard with the tension of the moment, his eyes shining bright and determined beneath the shattered visor of his helmet. Their two blades met with an ear-jarring clang, and for a moment they struggled against each other in grim silence, each striving to sweep the other’s blade aside and close for a fatal thrust. Only iron strength could support the strain for long. He [our main character, who doesn’t have a name, poor fellow] felt his arm beginning to give way, and with a sudden shout and one last burst of determination twisted the tip of his sword over the sword of his enemy, throwing it aside and up and turning on his heel with one fluid motion to avoid the deadly blade as it whistled over his head in a flashing arch.’
Does that make sense?
Another thing I like to do is utilize my surroundings— are my characters fighting in a warehouse? Have them use bales of wool or casks of wine for weapons, shields, or traps. (Seriously, would you like to get hit in the head with a keg of molasses?)
Are they fighting in a kitchen? Have them throw kitchen utensils at each other; have the brick bread oven pose a very serious threat for whoever got pushed into it; have the barrels of flour get overturned and spilled into your character’s eyes. This not only spices up the scene, it makes it so you don’t have to rely so heavily on the technical fighting terms or just the same moves over and over. Hope this was helpful, because it certainly is long. 🙂