A Little Thank You to ARMA

Sometimes in the course of writing, I find myself writing about something of which I have little firsthand knowledge.  This was certainly true during my last project, which involved sword-fighting.  I will confess that I have swords--three of them, if you don't count one purely decorative one--but I haven't had a whole lot of opportunity to fight with them (though there are a few people walking around who should be grateful that I refrained from doing so.)

Filmmakers have choreographers who assist them in coming up with swordplay scenes that are visually exciting, and which last as long as the drama of the scene requires.  It's a little more difficult to convey such drama in writing, especially if all you're going to write is five minutes-worth of, "thrust, parry, thrust, parry, slash, evade...." Besides, I wanted the scenes to be grittier, more realistic. Ah, thank you, ARMA!

ARMA, the Association for Renaissance Martial Arts, is a very serious player in the growing world of Western martial arts, which refers to the personal combat weapons and styles that were in use in Western Europe prior to the large-scale adoption of firearms in the 16th century. Eastern or Oriental martial arts are such disciplines as judo, kendo, and karate, and these are what most people think of when they hear the term "martial arts." Being tied to cultural and spiritual beliefs and traditions as well as to military ones, Oriental martial arts have been passed down as living knowledge from generation to generation to the current day.  Not so for Western martial arts, a discipline that was essentially abandoned once firearms came to predominate in battle.

Groups such as ARMA have researched existing historical texts on hand-to-hand combat used in Western Europe during the Middle Ages up into the 16th century.  Some of these texts and training manuals are extremely detailed in both description and illustration.  Based on them, and through practical application, this and similar groups have resurrected these martial arts, and continue to train and teach them to enthusiasts. 

Through a number of short videos made by ARMA in particular, I was able to study the various moves.  I was then able to adapt them for the scenes I was writing, and it appears to have worked very well, lending a crispness and a clarity to those scenes that I would probably not been able to achieve, otherwise.  Once again, thank you, ARMA.