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I agree with everyone else, but I’ll add one thing: Look up Turkish composite bows. Those things were used by ancient Turks and are just about the best bow you can get. They used layers of animal horn, sinew, and wood to make the bow snap. As a result, they could shoot huge distances, like 400 meters. Of course that required about 100 lbs of force. 🙂
The internet has more info
A Kapeefer for life!
Compendium of KP Literature: kapeeferliterature.wordpress.com@that_writer_girl_99 *sees everything on bows and archery and swords* I have a compound!
Yes, I’m still learning and I haven’t fired it much recently (It is cold here.). But I have a few things to say from what I learned.
!. Hold the arrow with three fingers, not your pinky. It will throw the arrow off, if you do.
2. Right handed people hold the bow in their left hand. Opposite for lefties. Also the bows are different for lefties and righties.
3. You can only notch the arrow in two different directions, you want one of the feathers to be facing out. if it is facing the wrong direction it can damage the feather when you fire it, cause it would hit the bow. Though I suppose this wouldn’t concern you if you were firing at a monster, you are probably not going to get it back…I have no idea if that is helpful or not. *shrug*
@ethryndal @skredder that was great I learned something!IMMA KAPEEFER! Til we're old and gray!
@Ethryndal That recurve picture looks almost exactly like the recurve we use.
Secondly, you really have researched archery. Impressive. Most impressive.
@That_Writer_Girl_99 *shoves spectacles up on nose quite scholarlyly* I back up what she said. Mostly because my dad’s an archer and several of us amateur archers, so I know at least the basics. 😉 I especially concur with the part about, like, pain when the string hits your arm. PAIN. If you’re shooting the bow correctly though I don’t think that’s supposed to happen, so there must be a lot of consistently incorrect archers for them to have a habit of wearing arm guards. ;PAnd I especially especially concur with the part about how hard it is to pull a bow. If your character has never pulled a bow back, he will not be able to do it on the first try. (Or second.) Unless it’s with a few pounds draw weight only, in which case the bow won’t be doing its work, because that’s not enough force behind the arrow to really do anything. It’s quite demoralizing. 😛 I think I can pull up to 30 lbs currently, but my dad’s compound (which variety, as noted, does look sorta modern for fantasy. It’s more gadgety (with a lot of plastic and non-fantasy looking stuff on it), which makes it more accurate, but far less romantic looking.) is somewhere between 65 and 80 lbs, and I’m pretty sure it’s 75. None of us but him can even pull it back an inch. It’s so laughable to see him pull it back like one can stretch a rubber band, and you think, ehhh, that’s easy. But then you try, and it feels basically like you’re pulling against the weight of the world *sorrow*
That to say, it can obviously be done, but you have to work up to it. It’s because pulling a bow utilizes muscles near the back of your shoulder that aren’t used very much in normal everyday life, so you have to do specific exercises for those otherwise undeveloped muscles, and work your way up in draw poundage by baby steps. It’s sore work to be sure. 😀 But if your character really needs to be an archer…he’ll get there. (If they’re already practiced and strong enough though, so much the better for them.)
Also, I can forgive Legolas for this because he’s an Elf (not so sure about Susan Pevensie), but the actual human cannot shoot so many shoots in such quick succession, aside from the issues of nocking and drawing, because you have to aim, and aiming with a bow takes a steady everything. With compounds it’s more accurate because you have a scope or some sort of aiming device on it, but with recurves and stuff it’s just your eyes, and those can prove really inaccurate. Especially on a narrow target. So aiming takes longer than that, and unless you have Elf eyes and reflexes, you can’t just go bam bam bam and expect to hit your mark at all. *fatalistic shrug* Such are the ways of life.
Hello! I’m back to this wonderful pointy topic!
I finally got swords in my novel! Well….they’re practice blunts, but I got to write the word “sword” so I’m pretty happy.
But I don’t know how to teach someone to use it. Has anyone ever written a scene where your MC is taught to use a sword? Because I am rather clueless.
ENTP, Aether-borg Hero with cape obsession and fascination with swords.
https://forums.theaetherliHonestly, from what I’ve seen, it seems better to not directly describe the moves a character is doing in a fight scene, and instead focus on the emotion and feel of it. Allow me to demonstrate:
Original – “John executed a perfect overhand cut, which Xavier quickly blocked with a hanging point.”
And yes, I did just pull two random, very different names from my hat. There must be time travel in this novel…
The example I over-exaggerated above is what I did for the majority of my writing history. And whenever I was pressed to change it, I resisted, thinking that my changes would make the fight boring. Alas, not all is lost:
Edited – “With a roar, John bashed at Xavier’s defenses. His throat tightened—the man seemed to know his every move.”
That applies to fight scenes—now, about training. Yay!
Things that help your training scenes seem real. By this, I mean “historically-accurate”, but that might not float your boat, so take what you will from this.
1. Research old sword fighting manuals (ie. from the 1300s, etc.) I put a link earlier in one of my previous posts to this thread.
2. Youtube videos! These can definitely help you see what different techniques look like
3. Try it. I truly doubt my swordsmanship abilities are equal to that of Aragorn—but it can help you figure out what you can explain in your scene.
I hope this helps! Once again, take what you will for your story.
Jackson E. Graham
Thank you, @warrioroftherealm! That’s really helpful!
(Confession: I am “fascinated with swords” [see signature] but am actually rather a noob at swordfighting.)
ENTP, Aether-borg Hero with cape obsession and fascination with swords.
https://forums.theaetherli@aislinn-mollisong Yes, I once wrote a scene where my MC was taught to use a sword. There are of course many different approaches to teaching someone sword fighting, mainly depending on how much time is available. Generally, you’re taught footwork first, then sword drills are added on. A sword drill is a single maneuver practiced over and over.
I agree with Jackson that you don’t want to get too technical when describing sword fights, but a little bit of technical knowledge can be helpful. For instance, it’s helpful to know that a common tactic is to beat your opponent’s sword to knock it out of the way or get him to overact trying to block you so you can strike at him easily from the other side. It’s helpful to know that while swinging your body round 360 degrees for a blow may look dramatic, it exposes your back and is never practical.
So, yes, the finer details of sword fighting should rarely, if ever, appear in your story. At the same time, the basic details are important.
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Thanks, @daeus!
You know what? Funny thing happened today. I was actually thinking about trying to write this part, when lo and behold, the book my mom was reading to us (Prince Warriors) (awesome) had a scene where the kids were taught how to use their swords! So I have a rough idea of what the scene should look like.
ENTP, Aether-borg Hero with cape obsession and fascination with swords.
https://forums.theaetherli@That_Writer_Girl_99 you’ve already got tons of advice and all that, but if you ever need specific tips or anything, hit me up! (I’ll probably respond faster on facebook than here though, to be honest :/) I do archery (started a few years back on a 20 lb and can now shoot 60+ lb) and have used recurve, long bow, and compound. I’ve made my own arrows in the past as well so if you need tips on that… *fingerguns*
Sword and knife fighting, feel free to tap me with that as well. I’ve done a fair amount of self-taught (with books, youtube and other online sort of things) training with both of those. Various different swords and fighting styles as well.
So yeah. Aside from the general knowledge that you’ve already got here, if you ever need more scene-specific tips, I’m available. 😉
Writing Heroes ♦ Writing Hope // janemareeauthor.com.au
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