Kent at [log in to unmask] will take care of it.
DC

"Charli.M.Weir-1" wrote:

> How do i get off of the PWA-L Mailing list????
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "deborah a. chester" <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: 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
> > landedThe Alien Chronicles book deal because I can write exciting
> > actionwithout 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
> >