Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Sword Play and Sparring at the Love Is Murder Conference and in Books



One of the highlights of Love is Murder was a sword play demonstration.

Not only when writing historical books, but also in almost any kind of novel, either actual sword play or verbal sparring is involved, sometimes both.

Can you think of a memorable sword play scene in one of your books or another's? What about verbal sparring? Please share.

10 comments:

  1. Although I can't think of any scenes to share, I did want to say I'm enjoying the pictures you're putting up to go along with your reports from Love is Murder. This sounds like a conference that really keeps you moving.

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  2. Anonymous8:33 AM

    The samurai sword fights in Shogun were fabulous. So vivid - I could FEEL my head being chopped off with one tiny slip in advantage and the mighty swoop from the razor sharp steel.

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  3. I love all the verbal sparring between Darcy and Lizzie.

    Star Wars Legacy of the Force Invincible had an awesome fight to the death scene.

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  4. Anonymous10:05 AM

    In The Shaman and the Rose, Anne has to master Satan's great sword; Dormition and face the demon-Palos when they board the Oculus Patres and attempt to take Captain Miautus by surprise.
    bill





















    m

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  5. Anonymous10:05 AM

    In The Shaman and the Rose, Anne has to master Satan's great sword; Dormition and face the demon-Palos when they board the Oculus Patres and attempt to take Captain Miautus by surprise.
    bill





















    m

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  6. OK so here's my latest scene from my WIP Mansfield Ranch (My Jane Austen YA Rewrite) It's done in a series of texts to Harrison (The Henry Crawford Character) and Lilly (Fanny Price)--Jenni



    I pushed the button and watched his text flash onto the screen.
    Told u 2 wear
    something
    nice didn’t
    i?

    Before I could stop myself I had already begun to answer him back.

    R u sayin my
    clothing choice
    isn’t nice?

    Harrison respond with another chuckle before I felt the phone vibrate again.

    Of course not
    obviously u
    think it isn’t
    or u would’ve
    takn my txt
    as a
    compliment.

    Ooh! My fingers practically flew over the keys. Take that.

    Since when is
    a txt from u
    a cmplimnt?

    His answer was just as quick.

    When will u
    ever learn not
    2 tempt me?
    don’t u no
    tht millions
    of girls would
    luv 2 get my
    txts?


    Millions?
    Millions?
    xcuse me while
    i die laughin.
    U no 1 day ur
    gonna wake
    up from this
    demented
    dream of yours
    u no the 1
    where u thnk
    every1 falls 4 u

    Harrison laughed out loud.
    I stopped myself just short of laughing with him. Class had already started. After a couple of seconds I got his reply.

    Anybody ever
    tell u ur hot
    when u flirt?

    Flirt? What in the--? Was I flirting? Eww.

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  7. I'm glad you mentioned that. My Greg McKenzie series features a couple in their sixties who've been happily married some 40 years. I decided to stir things up a bit in the last book, The Marathon Murders, so I had Greg chased by a wealthy, shapely woman, much to his wife Jill's chagrin. It made for some interesting dialogue.

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  8. A great example of verbal and physical sparring takes place in William Goldman's "The Princess Bride," (the same story as that wonderful movie starring Cary Elwes and Mandy Patinkin...) The character Inigo Montoya finds himself in a sword fight with the mysterious, masked Dread Pirate Roberts first, and all throughout the fight they spar verbally as well. Later on in the book, he meets the opponent he's been searching for all his life, the six-fingered man who killed his father and as they fight sword to sword, it's a beautiful power play of words as well. It is one of the most fantastic swordplay scenes ever written.

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  9. I used to LOVE the verbal sparring in Victoria Holt's novels.

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  10. There's a great sword fight in an old movie - and I can't remember the name of the movie or the actors. But, the fight takes place inside (a castle?), in the dark.

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