Hands-On Experience

Hands-On Experience

So, I had been holding off on announcing this because I wanted to surprise a few certain people, but now that I have I can finally say… I’M IN TENNESSEE!

To visit.

Yes! I am in TN, and I am having an awesome time with my friends! There was no reason to come down here other than to just hang out with my buds from high school. We’ve been sharing jokes, laughing, went to see Guardians of the Galaxy in theaters, playing video/board games (because we’re nerds, SHUT UP!) and, the thing that ties into the main topic of this post, sparring.

Yes, we’ve all been sparring with each other. All of us have, in one form or another, been trained in some form of combat (karate, boxing, weapons, etc.) and when we’re all together we like to compare skills. I’m the boxer of the group, so of course I go at everyone with my fists raised and my legs planted firmly on the ground. Which, if you have read my stuff, is how most of my characters fight.

Which brings me to the point of this blog post. A lot of my writing – as is a lot of others’ writing, I’m sure – is derivative of real life experiences. So, of course, whenever I write fight scenes (which there are quite a few of in Dehumanized) the fighting style at least resembles a boxer’s.

Now, you already know all of this stuff. I’ve said it more than once on Facebook, in other blog posts, and to those who were interested. So, why am I explaining this all over again? Well, calm down and let me tell you!

My friends and I have sparred every night since I arrived to TN. We do Light Touch sparring so that we don’t actually hurt each other, although that rule quickly goes out the window once we get into it. At this current moment I’ve got a cut lip, pulled shoulder, and my jaw/nose aches like hell. And although it kind of sucks to be busted up like this, it made me realize that it’s a great experience to take and convert into my writing. Since I know what this feels like I can accurately describe it when my characters end up like me: beaten up.

You could say that I’m doing some research for my writing by fighting with my friends. Although my face, body, and knuckles hurt like a bitch I am able to improve my writing abilities thanks to it!

Let’s hope though I don’t get the chance to describe what it’s like to have a bone broken during a fight…

-Michael