Oh, thumbs.  Well ...
Hey, I agree with Mary.  We should remember that getting together is
fun.  When can we meet?

Deborah

Mary Ross wrote:

> No spilled entrails, just biting people's thumbs off, huh? I sort of
> agree with everything that's been said thus far.  Not only is blood
> and gore unnecessarry, I think a detailed description of every swing
> of the blade is a bit much except for certain genres.  Those of us
> that aren't into fighting forms or weapons or anything tend to gloss
> over that sort of description anyway, as it's frankly pretty boring if
> you're not interrested. I was also wondering, are we ever going to
> have another meeting?  I haven't been able to make it to one yet but
> now I've changed me work schedule to have weeknights free.  It would
> be nice to have a little confab every now and then.~Mary~
>
>      ----- Original Message -----
>      From: deborah a. chester
>      To: [log in to unmask]
>      Sent: Monday, February 16, 2004 9:46 AM
>      Subject: Re: [PWA-L] Combat!
>       The amount of detail depends on the stakes in the combat
>      scene.  If everything is on the line for the viewpoint
>      character, then naturally more detail is expected, because
>      instinctively readers understand that length can/should
>      indicate the degree of importance.  On the other hand, if
>      it's just another slog in the gladiator arena, skim over the
>      thing.  As for the fight scene in Hamlet, the emotion and
>      sacrifice were the thing, not every en quarte, parry, and
>      riposte.
>
>      Another factor is taste.  Just how gruesome do you want to
>      be?  I landed The Alien Chronicles book deal because I can
>      write exciting action without spilling entrails all over the
>      page.  Brutality and gore, just for the sake of it, is
>      gratuitous and unnecessary.
>
>      DC
>
>      Kent Graham wrote:
>
>     > A member of the historical fiction mail list posed this
>     > question -- in part -- yesterday.  I can think of several
>     > responses, ranging from philosophical to technical
>     >
>     > "If there is anything in our [human] history, that is
>     > always
>     > present, is combat. Wars, fights, quarrels are
>     > something never gone. But how do you describe this
>     > kind of violence?"
>     >
>     > <snip, in which he complains about how few pages Tolkien
>     > uses to describe combat, as opposed to how many he uses to
>     > describe walking around and climbing mountains>
>     >
>     > " I think readers want to read about details when it
>     > comes to fighting. If I were to write something
>     > similar to The last Samurai (which is a movie, I
>     > know), I would describe every move, every gesture,
>     > every thrust of the sword. I wouldn't do something
>     > like Shakespeare in Hamlet: "Hamlet and Laertes
>     > fought."
>     >
>     > What do you think?   How much is needed?    Is it
>     > desirable to describe "...every move, every gesture,
>     > every thrust of the sword"?  And if so, how do we describe
>     > it?
>     >
>     > Scribite!
>     > kent
>