You gotta fight,

if it makes sense, in your bo-ook.

I need something short and sweet today. So I present to you, the universal rules of the fight. No matter what fighting system you use; martial arts, broadsword, fisticuffs, these rules should hold true. So don’t break them in your novel or a reader will call fowl (ie. this book is  turkey, ha-ha)

-The best defense is to move outside the range of the attack. Move your feet.

-Stack your defenses. Don’t just move away from the attack but change the line, offer an active defense, etc.

-Never commit to an attack unless you control your opponent’s weapon.

-Once you have the weapon do not release control until the your opponent is no longer capable of using it. To get control you have to get awfully close, once you’re that close, releasing the weapon will likely end badly for you.

-Yield to strength, follow on weakness. Sounds snappy, what does it mean? Say your opponent throws a punch, don’t block it, meeting force with force, instead step out of his line, grab his wrist and use his already moving forward momentum to pull him off balance. (a quick pop to the back of his elbow as you have that arm, never hurt you any either) Conversely, if your opponent is pulling his arm back to stab you in an over head motion, don’t wait until his arm is arcing forward, grab it when he pulls it back, his weakest point, forcing him down. As an aside the overhead stab is a horrible fighting technique. Unless you are channeling Psycho in your book for some reason, don’t, just don’t.

-Don’t beat a dead horse. If it ain’t working, change it up.

Now that completes the official rules as provided by Michael Tinker Pearce, check him out here http://www.tinkerswords.com/.

But I found the things people said during the discussion really intriguing as well. I’ll hit you with just a couple.

-Did you know that if you take two equally trained and skill matched opponents, 10 pounds difference is all it takes to throw the fight in one direction. Toward the heavier one, FYI.

-Always think about the body’s natural defense mechanisms. It wants to protect your joints. You can use that to your character’s advantage or disadvantage as you chose.

-Women should not attempt to fight like men, they should use the natural advantages they have. Like a lower center of gravity and greater flexibility.

-And despite what Hollywood shows us daily, throwing people to the ground in an uncontrolled fall, breaks all kinds of bones, more than a few minutes at 100% exertion is going to make you very sick, if not kill you, and “clotheslining” someone requires a lot of effort and preplanning, you can’t just stick your arm out there hoping they run into it and fall down.

That concludes today’s “short” lesson. LOL. When did I get so verbose? Let’s blame it on a great panel.