Sword Play: Information for Writers with Eric Gates

Eric Gates

After several readers tweeted me requests this week for information on swords, I turned to Eric Gates.

Eric J. Gates has had a curious life filled with the stuff of thriller novels. Writing Operating Systems for Supercomputers, cracking cryptographic codes under extreme pressure using only paper and pen and teaching cyberwarfare to spies are just a few of the moments he’s willing to recall. He is an ex-International Consultant who has travelled extensively worldwide, speaks several languages, and has had articles and papers published in technical magazines in six different countries, as well as radio and TV spots. His specialty, Information Technology Security, has brought him into contact with the Military and Intelligence communities on numerous occasions.

He is also an expert martial artist, holding 14 black belt degrees in distinct disciplines. He has taught his skills to Police and Military personnel, as well as to the public.

He now writes thriller novels, drawing on his experiences with the confidential and secret worlds that surround us. 

Fiona - 

Welcome, Eric. As a martial artist of (WOW!) fourteen different black belt disciplines, swordsmanship is part and parcel of your training. Does it make a big difference about style issues in how a sword is used? Or is a sword a sword and every culture manipulates the weapon in the same way?

Eric - 

Good question. There are many similarities in using a sword and many differences too, that vary according to the styles and characteristics of the weapons.

In Japanese swordsmanship, a Daito (long sword) can be used one-handed (Kiritsuke) or with both hands (Kiri). In the case of a two-handed grip, each hand has a distinct and separate role. 

• The right hand, behind the guard, is used to guide the blade on its journey. 
• The left is used, with a pulling action, to impart power. 
• Both hands are used, by twisting the wrists in opposite directions without slackening the grip, to stop the blade’s motion. 
• The space between the hands is used to help create a ‘lever’-like action to impart speed to the tip.

As with all swords, the cuts are delivered not with the arms and shoulders (sorry Arnie) but with the lower part of the body (hips and legs). This was why in Japan the wearing of Hakama (the baggy pants) helped cover the feet and thus hid any clue as to how you were going to strike.

In fighting with a sword, not just the edge of the blade is used. 

• Strikes to the opponent’s hands, arms, body and weapons using the guard and the handle, even the back (non-sharp) part of the blade are employed. 
• The use of other objects, from parrying weapons to throwing weapons (to blind or distract opponents – shuriken [throwing blade] in Japan) were common too. As is the use of ‘unarmed’ combat techniques (Japanese: Aikijutsu) to unbalance, even throw the opponent, or capture their weapon and disarm them. 

Most sword fighting, from Scottish Claymore, English Broadsword, Arabian Scimitar, Chinese Jian, to Japanese katana use the body's movements as the means to deliver the strikes, especially the lower body. 

SOME VOCABULARY

The Samurai (which means ‘one who serves’) would be given his swords by the Daimyo or Feudal Lord. The two swords are known together as a Daisho and consist of:

• a Daito (the long sword, commonly referred to as a katana in the West) 
• and the Shoto (shorter, one-handed sword). 
• In turn these may be completed by a dagger or Tanto, often used to finish off the opponent on the battlefield by slipping its blade under the neckpiece of their armour once they are on the ground. 

All three are worn in the belt (Obi) in such a way they can been individually drawn without getting in the way of each other. In the Nito (or two-sword) Style both the short and long katana blades are used together, the right hand using the Daito and the left the Shoto, and both can be drawn simultaneously by someone trained in these styles.

Fiona - 
Do you think that a Japanese sword could find its way into a piece of modern literature? Or do you think it's best left to a different time period?

Eric - 

Japanese swords have been used in modern literature - the one that immediately comes to mind is Eric Van Lustbader's 'Ninja' books. Set in the present but involving a lot of ancient Japanese weapons, not just swords. 

Historically, Japanese swords found their way over to China and to Europe, and more recently, many American soldiers brought them home after WWII. So it's not completely impossible that they could appear. In Movies we have the Highlander series, the Bob Mitchum film Yakuza and of course Michael Douglas in Black Rain.

Fiona -
Who would carry such a weapon and what would their minimal training/background be (unless they were a wannabe psycho who bought a sword off E-bay?)

Eric - 
Many wannabes out there! Also many bad (i.e. dangerous) swords. Over here in Spain, there's a huge industry in Toledo dedicated to making replica swords - both of real weapons from history, and the sort that turn up on GOT or Lord of the Rings. Anyone can buy them, but most are useless as anything other than wall-hangers - they are made from poured metal (hopefully, but not always steel) using molds. 

It takes a good year to learn the basics of how to use a sword - and I do mean basics. Otherwise the probability of injuring yourself or others is very high.

Fiona - 
The sword is an intimate weapon. And by that I mean there are ways to wound someone hands-off, guns being the prime example. What kind of personality might gravitate to the use of a sword as their weapon of choice. It's so different than a knife - convenient, small, close proximity battle while a sword is a dance really - arms length, full body...

Eric - 
Yes, I agree. Swords are an intimate weapon. Anyone can shoot a gun (apologies, milady) but just to make a basic strike with a sword means learning a skill that involves both mental and physical expertise. To then face an opponent, similarly armed, requires understanding strategy, tactics, body language, internal energies, terrain managment and being better with your sword than they are with theirs. Above all it require two things: patience and absolute relaxation in your body and mind. Someone who impulse-bought a sword on EBay doesn't seem to fit the bill.

Fiona -
When you read a sword scene in a book, what makes you roll your eyes and skim forward? (I'm thinking things that defy physics and anatomy here)

Eric - 

Two basic areas: all this nonsense about swords being imbued with magical properties when they are made because they are dipped in human blood (which would cause a hot piece of steel to warp and break instantly) etc. No, all they ever used was water (salted usually) or oil. Second issue is really a multiple. All the nonsense people repeat because they've seen it in a movie. I’d like to highlight five common mistakes regarding swords that Hollywood especially has propagated throughout the years:

1. When placed on a display rack, the Japanese katana swords should never be simulating a smile, rather a grimace (i.e. a bump in the middle). I see this constantly in movie & TV. The reason is simply you do not want the wood on the inside of the scabbard (saya) in contact with the cutting edge when in storage. 
2. You can always tell when a non-Japanese has trained an actor in wielding a katana – both hands will be gripping the sword handle (Tsuka) together. A Daito (the long sword) is gripped with the right hand behind the guard (Tsuba) and the left at the end of the handle. The space between allows for greater control and leverage during the strikes. In fact, the left-hand little finger and heart finger are the most important in gripping the sword (which may be why the Yakuza, the Japanese mafia, so fond of carrying katana, have to chop off the tip of their little finger in penance if they screw up something – this would make using a sword efficiently extremely difficult and result in the decline of their importance in the organization). Usually when I see this, the instructors for the movie/TV show are Chinese as this manner of gripping the two-handed sword is Chinese, not Japanese, in origin. 
3. A mistake made often by fantasy writers: in a battle scenario, the kind of sword you want to have is one which can slash and hack. The ‘coolness’ of a rapier-like blade is offset by its impracticality in this kind of situation as superficial cuts and stabbing don’t get the job done. This kind of weapon was employed for one-on-one duelling (especially in France) and is just not suitable (even for small girls, sorry GOT fans) as they are easy to break when they go up against a more solid blade. Incidentally, this is probably why certain writers imbue their dainty weapons with ‘magical’ properties. 
4. Remember that scene in Kill Bill 2 in the trailer - just wouldn't happen. Anyone with a minimum of training can draw a sword within the width of their body, flip it around so the pointy bit is aimed at the opponent and strike... and do it quickly. Plenty of room to swordfight in a trailer - could this be a new sport? 
5. Another fallacy - sword weights and the huge, bulked up people that many would believe are needed to use them. Most swords, worldwide and throughout history were between 1 and 2 kilos. Those big battle broadswords used in the middle ages rarely exceeded 4 kilos. You need to remember that moving something of a certain weight at a speed that would allow kinetic energy to help do some damage will tire you out even if you look like Schwarzenegger. (Incidentally, when he was filming Conan in Cuenca in Spain, he trained with a Japanese friend of mine at the Japanese Cultural Centre in Madrid - they didn't get on, to say the least - Arnie wanted a lot of twirling and stuff - useless - and the swordmaster wanted to teach classic swordfighting - Arnie left after a couple of weeks.)

Fiona - 
LOL - why does that not surprise me about Arnold? I love the phrase "terrain management" - I'm assuming this means you don't trip over the brambles in the pathway?

Eric -
Terrain management refers to the place where you fight. You see many movie fights staged on flat areas with no obstacles. That doesn't happen. The footing could be icy, sandy, rocky, uneven, a mountain track with a drop-off, a small room...You have to know how to use the environment to your advantage, and to the opponents' disadvantage as well . 

After searching old backup copies of stuff on DVDs I came across the attached pic. It shows several interesting aspects of TM. The technique we did took place on the edge of a small wood on a very sunny day, relatively early in the morning - hence the dappled lighting effect. 

Now depending on where you were standing, your form and movements were diffused by this - instant camouflage as the human eye tries to adjust to the sharp localised differences in light.

I used this by applying an Aikijutsu technique which spun the other guy around so his face was pointed into the sunlight. I then applied pressure to his knees with my own, taking advantage of the slope of the hill and loose dirt underfoot, to make him lose his balance. Capturing his left elbow and steering it using the grip of my own sword, resulted in the point of his weapon piercing the earth, thus reducing its threat level to me. Finally, I moved in for the 'kill' cut with a reverse forward grip on my own Daito.

Fiona - 
So very interesting.
Thank you so much.
Learning in a Do jang. I often thought we should be training in real life situations. And real life clothing. I think that's a big hole in MA training.

Eric - 
The gear we wear for sword training, from the tabi shoes through the Hakama pants and wide-sleeved jackets, is exactly what was worn by the samurai when not using armour. The latter, even replica, is far too expensive for training purposes, so it's as good as it gets. 

When I teach self-defence, we do train with street clothing though, and common improvised weapons. That's the basic difference between (using the Japanese terminology) a -do (such as Karate-do, Ju-do, Aiki-do etc) and a -jutsu. It's not just about the former being focused on competition (even if it's just about doing a better Kata than the rest); it's a state of mind. 

Modern clothing is not designed for fighting, so it makes an interesting element to take into consideration both negatively (what you can't do) and positively (what your opponents can't do) and exploiting the latter is half of the fun. 

Also being able to fight inside vehicles, subways, aircraft, trains, and all the other places we take for granted in our lives is so different from what you learn on a tatami (for example, I learnt to roll out of throws on a marble floor - that way you get it right the first time or it hurts). The change in perspective is also remarkable: you see your world in a different way. That magazine on the table, the coaster under your drink, the coffee in your cup, the mug itself, the pencil in your pocket, the chair you're sitting on etc all become potential weapons...as long as you know how to use them. 

And no, it's not about learning Jason Bourne-like techniques with a rolled-up newspaper; it's a mentality-shift, based solidly on science (physics, anatomy and math, mainly geometry) which can be taught and easily assimilated with a little practice. 

My own approach is what I call the "toolbox method." There's no point learning specific techniques to counter predefined situations because the odds of that situation happening exactly as you practiced are pretty remote. So the trick is to have a stack of options available, easily combined amongst themselves, to respond. Just like the handyman who is faced with a repair - he may not have the precise tool he needs, but he does have the knowledge of what needs to be done and what the capabilities of his tools he has will allow. It's the Swiss Army Knife/MacGiver mentality at work; all about breaking mental boundaries. 

Fiona - 
Funnily enough, I unschooled my kids and their education is based on what I call my "Toolbox Philosophy." 

I'm interested in the concept you mentioned  about being relaxed in mind and body. THAT is a task easier accomplished in a setting with a sparring partner - what does one do to prepare for a real battle with a vicious enemy? How does one learn to maintain or compartmentalize the adrenaline so that they can stay in their place of Zen quietude and perform at top level?

Eric - It's not Zen, as such. The Japanese call it Mushin (literally 'No Soul'). It's like a blank slate on which you are waiting for someone to write something. It is not easy to learn yet all competent fighters, of any discipline, usually have this. It frees your training and your body. Many 'arts' teach you to maintain a tense body position (Karate for example) yet any muscle group MUST relax before it can move a limb so tensing beforehand, then relaxing just wastes time. It's a dance, as you say. The more relaxed you are, the more you go with the music and integrate your movements with your partner/opponents then the better things will go for you. 

Fiona - 
What do you want us to know about the sword experience so we can translate it into our writing. By this, I'm really asking if you can share how it feels to you - the weight in your hand, the air whistling past the blade, what happens to your body when you are struck or conversely land a strike. This is a huge hard question.

Eric -

Okay, I'll give it a go: In combat, sword or otherwise, you strive to attain a state where you trust your training to keep you out of trouble. There's no time to think out a move, your body is being hammered with adrenaline too, as you say, which can play havoc with basic control. Then there's the amygdala and the fight or flight issue. If you choose to fight, you can give in to an adrenaline-fueled reaction (and become much easier to defeat). So maintaining calmness especially in your mind, and the body relaxed, opens the door to whatever you need.

When fighting, you are not conscious of holding a weapon. If you have trained well, it has become an extension of your own body, like moving a hand or foot. You don't think, just do. That sounded very Yoda-like, didn't it - I'm even turning green - must be the adrenaline!

 After it's all over, then you notice the adrenaline and throw up!

Adrenaline and heave definitely go together.

Fiona - 
Yes, my heroine from my Lynx series, Lexi, vomits a lot. Poor girl.

What do you wish I had asked you today?

Eric - 
Best sword in the world? 

This is a discussion that has been raging for, probably, centuries. Some say the Japanese katana blade, others those made from Toledo steel and yet others, the famous Damascus steel blades. For a combat sword to be outstanding, it needs to be both strong and flexible (did you know you can bend a good Daito blade sideways almost back on itself without it breaking), relatively lightweight and easy to maintain on the battlefield....

And, why do I look so fat in that video?

I have a habit of stuffing notebooks and coloured pens down the front of my training jacket to explain stuff in class - occasionally other weapons to throw etc. as a surprise for the students. What I had that day, I can't remember - probably as it was a Black Belt class, the notebook and pens.

Fiona - 

Before I ask the obligatory question about death-defying experiences, I wanted to tell folks that Eric's book won

GoodReads BOOK of the MONTH February 2015

BUY IT NOW

Outsourced - 

Outsourced’ features a New York-based writer of thriller novels who receives a mysterious package from a fan. That fan turns out to be a professional killer. That’s just the start of the writer’s problems; problems that escalate way beyond anything he could have imagined on the pages of his novels, as death and destruction follow rapidly.

Just when matter cannot get any worse for the novelist, he learns a high-tech Intelligence agency has been tasked with obtaining the contents of the package too, and they will stop at nothing to achieve that goal. They have their own global agenda. The agent assigned to the task is out of her depth working on US soil and her methods are unsuited to a civilian environment. As pressure mounts for her to achieve results, she becomes more and more radical in her approach.

And, if that’s not enough… the sender wants it back, and his methods are even more direct and violent! He believes the contents of the package were used to try to kill him and his aim is to recover them and exact his revenge on the writer.

Fiona - 

Were any  of your scars made with the tip of a sword?

Eric - 
Scars - yes I have a few but can't tell you where or how I got them, sorry, (none of them from a sword though.) I do have the one on my forehead from when I did a science experiment at age 4 - what's the hardest, my head or a ceramic tile? Guess which won?


Harrowing experiences? Jumped between skyscrapers and got shot at on the same day when doing a security penetration test for a client... no more details available. Does that count? How about being scheduled to fly one morning, cancelling at the last minute due to clients' planning issue and aircraft falls from sky killing all aboard (I recently heard that it may have been a bomb with another passenger as the target).

Fiona - 

Yowza! Now here I am with the dilemma - if travelling with you, do I insist that we are side by side for my own protection? Or do I require my own car and separate hotels for my own protection? 

Eric - thank you so much for such fabulous plotting fodder. So incredibly interesting. 

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SEALed: Information for Writers with Navy Veteran Stephen Templin

________________________________

Today our guest is Stephen Templin

Steve is a New York Times and international bestselling author. His books have been translated into thirteen languages. Before becoming a full-time author, he completed Hell Week, qualified as a pistol and rifle expert, and blew up things during Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) training.

After the Navy, he became a missionary then tenured professor at Meio University in Japan for 14 years, where he practiced the martial art aikido. His PhD is in education. Steve lives in Dallas-Fort Worth (stephentemplin.com)

Fiona - 
Hi Steve, thanks for coming and hanging out with us. So SEAL training, huh? How did that become your goal?

Steve - 

I've been interested in military/spy stuff since I was a kid. And writing.

In high school, I read a lot about the Vietnam War and was impressed with the SEALs, so I joined the Navy to become a SEAL.

I read about terrorism in Europe, and I was interested in fighting terrorists.

Fiona - 
So off you went to training. Were you in the SEAL Challenge in high school - the men who knew they were headed for SEALS - or did you join the navy with the hopes of becoming a SEAL?

Steve - 
Yeah, guys today can sign up for a contract before boot camp. There were no contracts when I went in. No special group, we were just lumped together with the other Navy guys.

I took a physical screen test (PST) during boot camp to get in SEAL training but failed my first attempt. So I spent time on a ship as a sailor and prepared to take the test again.

Fiona - 
What kinds of things were in the screen test and how did you prepare to meet those qualifications on the next round?

Steve - 
At that time, there was a timed swim, 35 push-ups, 35 sit-ups, 6 chin-ups, and a timed mile run.

I failed the swim.

Being in the Navy, I had easy access to pools when my ship wasn't underway. So I practiced. I sucked at swimming without fins, but once they put fins on me, I was a fish. 

And I kept training the other parts of the test: push-ups, sit-ups, and running.

Later, when I took the test, I passed the swim by one second.

Fiona - 
What happens next?

Steve -
After the PST, there's medical, dental, psychological, and hyperbaric chamber testing.

So out of about 100 guys who applied, I was the only one who passed.

That was just to get into the training.

Fiona - 
Explain the hyperbaric chamber test and your experience in it.

Steve - 
It was a compression chamber where they simulated diving deep.

The guy before me panicked before reaching depth, and he failed. Somebody else's ears or nose bled.

It's helpful to yawn a lot and clear the ears while going down in depth. They do the simulation by air pressure. They don't do it anymore.

Those of us who were accepted to training did what was called indoctrination. the hardest part of that was drown proofing, where they tie hands and feet together and jump in deep end of pool.

Then we had to perform a variety of tasks while tied up in the pool:
* bob from surface to bottom so many times 
* swim length of pool and back
* do dead man's float 
* forward somersault 
* backwards somersault...

After indoctrination, guys were ready to quit already.

Fiona - 
You said you went through psych testing - can you give us an overall idea of what they were looking for?

Steve -
Just trying to weed out crazy people, I think. Asked questions for example:
*Have you ever read Alice in Wonderland?
*Do you ever hear voices in your head
*Would you like to become an interior designer.
*And they asked a number of the same questions more than once.

Fiona - 
Alice in Wonderland? - who hasn't read that book - it's sort of quintessential childhood stuff. Having talked with a friend who does mass killing studies -it's Catcher in the Rye that's the issue book.

Steve - 
They might've asked about that, too. I hadn't read Alice in Wonderland.

Fiona - 
Most of what one hears about SEALS has to do with physical strength and endurance - but much of that is psychological. Which of your character traits did you see mirrored in the other men who successfully made it through SEAL training?

Steve - 
SEALs would say "mental toughness" but that's sometimes difficult for outsiders to understand. I'd describe it as strong self-efficacy.
In other words, a strong belief in completing a task or group of tasks.

Physically, water polo guys do best

Fiona - 
And mentally?

Steve -
Chess players
If you play water polo and chess you got a good chance of making it.

Fiona - 
Very nice - did you do either?

Steve - 
I played chess

Going through SEAL training is very mental. The mind controls the body, too.

Fiona -
When you went through your training - the horrible hell week is what we've seen depicted - do you also undergo psychological training like an elite athlete would?

Steve - 
I think hell week is quite unique. Elite athletes quit all the time.

Image of BUD/S trainees covered in mud during Hell Week. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Going without sleep for 5 1/2 days and hallucinating dreams while awake is something few elite athletes experience
And that isn't the hardest part.
The toughest part is the cold.

Most people have experienced 1st degree hypothermia: numbness in extremities and mild shivering.
We were in the water constantly and mostly in stage 1 hypothermia.
They also put us in stage 2 hypothermia: violent shivering and mind slowing down.

Stage 3 is dangerous, and they tried to keep us out of that: shivering stops, and person becomes an idiot, not knowing where he is or what he's doing.

There is no Stage 4, only death

Fiona -
Has anyone ever died during hell week?

Steve - 
No one has died during Hell Week to my knowledge. The instructors are very careful.

Fiona - 
What tricks did you personally employ to succeed? - Were you tempted to ring the bell or was that off the table for you?

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Steve - 
The bell was never an option for me. When I was in the most pain (freezing) I visualized a better place (warm).

I hear that a lot of guys think about quitting during hell week. I don't know how they could wrestle with that and do all we had to do.

It was all I could do to focus on surviving.

Some of the most athletic guys don't make it through hell week and some of the weakest guys do.

Fiona - 
Your books are about SEAL team six is this correct?

Steve - 
All of them deal with SEAL Team Six in one form or another, yes.

Fiona - 
SEAL Team 6 is now called DEVGRU - can you tell us who/how/why the men get chosen for this assignment and how it differs from a traditional SEAL team?

Steve -
Usually the top SEALs volunteer or are asked to volunteer for DEVGRU. They do a lot of the national priority jobs:
* hostage rescue 
* capturing/killing terrorists 
* counterinsurgency, etc.
The Bin Laden raid is their most famous operation.
DEVGRU is pretty thorough about their screening. Guys still have to go through what is called Green Team training, so they have to pass that before becoming a part of DEVGRU

Fiona - 
While a traditional team would...

Steve - 
A traditional team is capable of most of the same things, but DEVGRU has a group of guys on standby constantly. So when the president give the green light, they can be anywhere in the world within 24 hours or so.

Fiona - 
How do you keep your SEAL characters from becoming caricatures? How do you keep them three-dimensional.

Steve - 
Just by drawing on personal experiences, observations over the years, and so on. I think dialogue is important

Fiona - 
Is it hard to write the specialized SEAL-speak, making it correct and yet understandable to the non-military reader?

Steve - 
As a professor, I taught English to speakers of other languages, so it's easier to explain SEAL talk to Americans than English to non-Americans.

Fiona - 
What do you see written incorrectly that you wish you could teach writers so they'd get it right?

Steve - 
The loud, muscle-bound characters are less common. 
And a triathlete physique is more desirable than a body builder. The SEAL job is more of a marathon than a power lift. And it doesn't take much strength to kill a terrorist. Or anyone. The pull of a trigger requires very little strength.

In Zero Dark Thirty, the guys were shouting a lot when they took down bin Laden. In real life, guys know each other and have been doing the deed for years -- no need for words.

Fiona - 
You have a new book out can you give us a synopsis?

Steve - 

Chris Paladin leaves SEAL Team Six to become a pastor, but CIA spook Hannah Andrade pulls him back into Special Operations Group, the ultra-secret unit that SEALs and others served under to eliminate Bin Laden. Chris and Hannah are joined by Delta Force’s Sonny Cohen to stop a new terrorist threat from launching a deadly cyber-attack against the United States.

Fiona - 
At ThrillWriting we always ask: What is the story behind your favorite scar - and barring favorite scar story can you tell us a harrowing tale that you survived?

Steve - 
During SEAL training, we were landing our rubber boats on the rocks at night: night rock portage. We got flipped out of the boat by the waves and landed in the water and on the rocks. I got caught between the boat and a boulder.

Waves just kept pushing boat against me and filling with water. The pressure was so strong, I thought my chest was going to burst. I really thought I was dead. I've passed out under water, but that was peaceful compared to the rock.

I was sandwiched between boat and the boulder. About 7 guys couldn't pull it off me. They finally caught a lull in the waves and pulled it off while I pushed. And I got out. I really thought I was dead.

Fiona - 
How did they know you were under there?

Steve - 
They saw me. I think another guy was trapped with me. We were standing. A boat weighs about the same as a small car when full of water. 

Fiona - 
Thank goodness they did! Thank you so much Steve for sharing your expertise.

You can find Steve's books at stephentemplin.com

Fiona Quinn's Newsletter Link, Sign up HERE

Thank you so much for stopping by. And thank you for your support. When you buy my books, you make it possible for me to continue to bring you helpful articles and keep ThrillWriting free and accessible to all.