In case anyone was wondering, a writer often gets his inspiration from works by other writers. I don’t necessarily mean fiction – of course I get my inspiration from other works of fiction. I mean non-fiction. Whilst being slightly obsessed and fascinated by anything martial, I don’t exactly have the experience to talk or write about it directly. I was in the army for a bit, I did kung-fu for about six years, I collected swords for a few years but what do I know about sword play? I read a lot of fantasy, I even owned a comic book shop with some good friends. An expert? I don’t think so. Let’s face it, Rapture has a lot of sword play in it and to write it properly, I needed to know what I’m talking about. Good fantasy, in my opinion, also needs to be authentic. Before you say anything, the irony of this doesn’t escape me.
What I mean is, if I’m writing about a sword fight, it needs to be believable, it needs authenticity. I wished I’d done kendo, but I didn’t so all my knowledge around sword fighting essentially comes from books. In terms of references, I read a lot of books on the techniques of sword fighting but I kept returning, time and again, to a book I’d discovered some years ago. Miyamoto Musashi. The Book of Five Rings. Look him up (and the book), you won’t be disappointed. More on this later…
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Phillip W. Simpson
Phillip W. Simpson is an author of YA and children's books.
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May 2019
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