Keeping her sense of humor.

388: She laughed out loud at the idea.

Norwescon 37. Day 1.

So, I just spent four days at Norwescon. Attended lots of panels. Talked to lots of people. Had lots of fun. Took lots of notes.

I already posted most of the pictures to Facebook, so I won't bother to do that here as well. So, here's a distillation of some of the notes of some of the panels I went to. Dunno if anyone but me will have any interest in any of this, but here it is. Feel free to post any comments or questions. (Anonymous comments are screened to weed out spam, mindless flames, and silly stalker people and will be made visible after I see them).

We got there Thursday, registered, and went to opening ceremonies, which consisted of a brief conversation between the host and each of the Guests of Honor. I didn't take notes of the other panels I went to Thursday.

First panel I took notes at was Friday at noon. Description from the guidebook:

Writing a hand weapon combat scene. Two warriors armed with swords face each other. One moves, the other counters. So begins the combat scene, one of the most difficult of writing tasks. Now you can watch two fighters move through the dance of combat, and write as they move. You can direct their moves in real time, while watching from different angles. Then share your descripton of the action with other participants and the fighters.

It didn't really play out that way. Some people called out different scenes they wanted to see, and for the most part the "panelists" mostly talked about how Hollywood versions are nothing like real life, and they kept trying to give advice to what to do if in such a situation in real life (mostly, run away). And, repeatedly, pointed out that for instance most knife fights aren't really combat as much as dancing around, one person swipes or stabs and the other person runs off or bleeds. Well, that's all well and good to know, but it really isn't a "combat scene" if there isn't some kind of combat.

Near the end of the panel, one woman pretty much forced them to step through a fight including move, counter move, and counter-counter-move, etc. It was kind of cool, but nothing that I haven't seen or participated in a hundred times in the dojo.

So, a couple of notes from the panel:
At the beginning, while waiting for it to start, and the panelists to get organized, one of the guys running it was talking to a woman, I thought I'd try to write a description of their conversation, but only got as far as:

The older man stood, back bent, leaning forward, unbalanced. The staff in his hand rested on the ground, but did not support his weight. The woman he was speaking to ad taken a step back, her back straight and front knee bent. She was obviously prepared to move, and quickly, in any direction.

Other notes:
There was a bit of discussion about killing vs stopping an opponent. In a knife fight, especially, it's quite easy to do lethal damage to your opponent but not fast enough to prevent him from doing the same to you.

To stop an opponent with a knife (according to our moderator) requires catastrophic structural damage, lots of it and fast. He also like to point out that such damage was "not pretty", as if any wannabe writers present would be unaware of such a thing.

In the quick mock battle: Stab forward with a knife. The other guy grabs his arm, holding it at bay, then stabs forward with his own knife, and the first guy grabs that arm. Now they're each holding the other's wrist and basically dancing.

Better fighting technique is to step off the line, and neutralize the others weapon. Which made me realize that, yeah, there's gonna be a big difference between a fight scene between skilled and unskilled opponents. I tried it both ways:

He grabbed his opponents wrist, and held the knife at bay. He tried stabbing forward with his own knife only to find it similarly held by his opponent. Pushing forward and down, he found his strength nearly equally matched. He tried to twist and turn to free himself while keeping the other knife as far from him as possible. The two men turned about, dancing in a circle, each trying to bring his own knife toward the other.

Or, with one slightly experienced person:

He slid a half-step to the slide, avoiding the thrust of the knife. He guided the stiff arm of his opponent past him with his left hand while bringing his knife down with his right. When it hit bone, he stepped forward, behind the other man, turning, and pulling the knife out and along the back of his neck as he went. There was a lot of blood but he didn't know if he'd hit anything vital. Continuing the movement, he brought the knife back in a circle and stabbed upward into what he hoped was a kidney. The other man stiffened and he pushed him away, stepping backward and dropping back into a ready position.

A smart person who is actually bent on killing the other would, of course, take this opportunity to press the attack if needed. (of course, waiting makes sense if the person is either not smart, or not determined to kill the other guy. Letting him run away would also effectively eliminate the threat.)

Some other notes:
For maximum effectiveness, grab the weapon, or arm that holds it, either before it swings, or after it's gone by, not as it comes in. Don't meet force with force, wait until it doesn't have any force behind it, then direct it's movement.

Bad fighters will have huge movements, flailing, big swipes, slow overhead swings, gripping a sword in both hands and hacking away as if they're chopping wood.
Good fighters will stack defenses, avoid being where blows are coming, and control the others weapon while keeping control of their own as well.

Armor: You cannot get through good steel plate armor with a sword. You can only poke at weak spots, or points the armor doesn't cover. However, a dagger, axe, or hammer can get through it pretty well, or dent it to the point where it becomes an impediment to the wearer.

"The Paladin" by C.J. Cherryh was recommended as an example of a book containing immersive fight scenes without any details that would give away the fact that she has no idea what she's talking about.

Fighters should keep moving throughout, no locking weapons and glaring at each other, and the "sword press", where the good guy blocks the mighty downward blow of the bad guy, who then slowly presses his sword closer to the good guy's face, should be avoided at all costs.

The "Errol Flynn move" - which doesn't really work in real life: Slide sword forward, catch hilts and twist while turning, sending the sword flying from the other person's grasp.

Think about the feet. Even if you're not describing where the fighters' feet are or which way they are pointing, you should know it.

All swords have some flex. If you grab a sword by the blade, and bend it, even just a little bit, the person holding the other end can't slide it back through your hands. They pull, and if they're stronger than you or have better balance, they pull you along with the sword. (I have no idea if this is actually true. I suspect it is not, but have never actually tried it.)

In the case of fighting with mismatched weapons (Sword vs. Unarmed, Gun vs. Sword, etc), the strategy is the same: Step off the line, close the distance. Of course, if you have the gun, the strategy is the opposite: create the line, keep the distance.

Best strategy for fighting multiple opponents is to keep them between you and the others. That way, you're fighting only one at a time. This could be fun to describe - how a character maneuvers his opponent into getting in each other's way.

Norwescon, 2nd panel

Friday, 2pm - World Building

This was a panel about geology, not writing. From the guide book:

A worldbuilding panel on world-creation. Can planets only form along with stars? Are there planet types other than terrestrial and gas giants?

Actually, a pretty fascinating panel, led by a geologist, Dr. Stephen Gillett.

One of the audience members brought up the ice-house/green-house cycle. Dr. Gillet pointed out that Earth my be "unusually dry for an earth-like planet".

Complaint was made of the tendency of science fiction to have mono-climates, (desert world, ice world, forest moon, etc.). However, it's possible that Earth is actually among the most diverse, climate-wise, of any other planet, due to its specific mixture of water and land. Other planets in the solar system have different mixtures and do tend more toward having a planet-wide climate, with much less longitudinal variation.

One of the problems with settling Mars, more so than the thin atmosphere, may be that there doesn't seem to be any potassium there. It's an essential mineral for humans, and may have to all be imported from Earth.

There is climate model software for the ancient Earth, in which you can look at it and vary the parameters. Unfortunately, I didn't get the name.

There is also an excellent video somewhere online of continental drift. Googling the name "Chris Scotese" should find it.

Earth has as much CO2 as Venus does, but most of it is locked away in limestone.

Veer is... miffed.

389: At the moment, she could think of no reason to cut him any slack.