Why Every Author Should Take Martial Arts at Least Once

As both a Martial Artist and an Author, I love talking about this topic because once I started taking taekwondo, I both fell in love with it and started writing differently. Martial Arts is something that people don’t necessarily think of as being a “fun” thing (more along the lines of violent) but I love taekwondo. And while it is not for everyone, it does have some benefits for Authors. Especially my fellow fantasy peeps. 😉

We love Martial Arts in my house. Long before I set foot on the mat, my sister was the fighter. She was my consultant on all things fight scenes for years. (Third degree black belt, certified instructor) Then my brother joined. For a few years it was the two of them, and then I finally crumbled. I joined, and my dad soon followed. So clearly, we like taekwondo. 

The thing that still makes me laugh though is how long I resisted even trying a class. I flat-out refused to do it. But now that I’ve been doing it for over a year, a few things have changed. Yes, it is a great form of exercise and good for your health, but more relevant to my authorship, it’s helped me so much in my writing. 

One of the things I see people forget about in writing all the time is how little it takes to hurt someone. That might sound a bit violent, but it’s true. Humans are fragile creatures, and it really doesn’t take much to put us out of commission.  

A couple months ago I was having a discussion with my Master about killing someone in real life (We were practicing knife defense, I promise there was a reason) and I was offering alternatives to unaliving the attacker. Now, all of these alternatives involved some form of violence that would allow me to get away. But just about every example I offered got the same answer. “Nope. That would still kill someone.”

Case in point: Your character is not invincible. 

Nowadays, along with the side effects of judging every cinematic fight scene ever to exist, I’m a lot more skeptical of seemingly invincible characters. I passionately love Captain America and will defend him against any criticism. However, in Avengers: Endgame, there is a scene where he gets slashed on the inside of his thigh. In real life? He’d be dead. His femoral artery would be gushing blood all over and he would just bleed out. In the movie? Doesn’t even faze him. 

Are you starting to get my drift? 

Basically, something will hurt more than the media tends to show us. For example, as someone who has been kicked in the face (several times) a couple of things happen. Number One: Your eyes water. Always. Your body is making sure if anything got in your eyes, it gets out immediately. Number Two: Your nose will probably bleed. If it doesn’t bleed, it’s definitely going to hurt. I see far too much nose-punching without the accompanying eye-watering. It’s actually pretty annoying when you’re in the middle of a match and someone bops your nose. 

Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about that handy little thing by the name of adrenaline. When you’re in a fight and your body is pumping out adrenaline so fast you can hear your own heart thudding in your ears, yes, you can handle a lot more than you would under normal circumstances. I’ve done it myself. It involved a lot of wooden boards, some bruises, and a lot of yelling. But please, for the love of good writing, don’t chalk everything up to adrenaline. It won’t fix the blood that your body is steadily losing. Gaping wounds cannot be ignored. You can’t “push the pain aside and keep fighting.” I mean, maybe you could, but in about one minute you’re going to be crumpled on the ground from the blood loss. 

Now I don’t think that the only reasons authors should try martial arts is to get kicked in the face and see how fragile people are. Though that is a contributing factor 😉.  When I started writing fight scenes after a few months of classes, I had a much better grasp on what was actually going on during that fight. I knew what it felt like to punch someone. So when I started to write a bare-knuckle fist fight, I knew that everyone’s knuckles were going to be sore afterwards. That fists could cause a lot of damage. And I could adjust the scene accordingly. 

I also got exposed to all kinds of cool weapons. My sister was kind enough to provide me with ample displays of weapons, which included but were not limited to, bo staff, nunchuck, scis (like knives but not sharp all the way around) and my personal favorite, kamas. This is the weapon Fletcher uses, for my TTD fans out there. At the studio I saw moonblades, double swords, ball and chain. Yes, swords and knives are great, reliable weapons. But personally, I like to spice it up a bit. 

After taking even one class, you know that those two month training montages just do not make sense. They aren’t physically possible. A year… maybe. I would still lose to my sister’s seven years of training compared to my one and half, though I’m bigger than her. 

By the way, you don’t have to take taekwondo. You can try Krav Maga, karate, jiu jitsu, whatever floats your boat. Just get a bit of fighting experience. Or find someone willing to be your consultant, like my sister was. She would answer all of my weird questions such as “Hey, if I were to punch someone in the throat, what would happen?” She still informs me of anything unrealistic in my books today. 

I think every author should try a martial arts class at least once because it gives you a glimpse into what you’re actually writing about. Now you know, even if just a little bit, how these things work. And when you go back to write them, your fight scenes will be transformed.