The Martial Arts of "To Steal the Sun"
Plus upcoming events and a synthwave samurai epic.
I've been taking Jiu-Jitsu classes this year. Returning to the training cycle has been hard since I've been on a rather long layoff.
20+ years even. Yikes.
Here's the thing, martial arts were a huge part of my life growing up. I did both Kempo Karate and Judo as a pre-teen, wrestling in high school, and then Jui-Jitsu on and off in university. And that's the formal training… so not counting my obsession with Bruce Lee's "The Tao of Jeet Kune Do" or the excellent martial arts documentary series: Dragon Ball Z.
Why am I telling you all of this in a newsletter? Well, one of my oldest friends sent me this message:
"Hey man. Saw on Twitter that you're sparring again. I read the book, what percentage of the martial arts in TSTS are based in reality?"
He saw this tweet:
When I was creating the Kithkarnin (the order of religious assassins in the book), I spent a lot of time looking at Kalaripayattu: an ancient Indian martial art. It is an incredibly intricate system with a remarkable succession of teachers and disciples.
I loved how much of the doctrine and rituals came from Hinduism's holy books, and some of that ended up making its way into how I built the Kithkarnin order.
The fighting and techniques were too hard to grasp completely... which makes sense. Martial arts need to be practiced to be understood.
So, instead, I went back to my roots for the martial system that Kahli, one of the main characters, uses.
Early in the book, we see Kahli fighting with weapons, but as it progresses, we get time with her in school, actually learning how to fight. So I wanted to share some parts from the book and discuss what real-world experiences and techniques inspired them.
I mean, there are lots of "moves" in the book. Rear naked chokes, armbars, even some lawn-sheering action... but let's dig into the meaty ones.
Submission#1
This one happens when two students are sparing. The stakes are high for our fighters - as the winner takes all atop the student rankings.
This was a D'arce Choke variation called the Brabo when I learned it: one of my favorite chokes as a kid. OK, that sounds a bit strange… umm... I didn’t go around choking people as a kid in school… much.
In the standard version of this choke, you snake your free hand under the armpit and then grab your bicep to cinch in the hold. But, as a kid in judo class (and only a few times on the playground), I used to pull it off without the added leverage of having the underarm, so I had one of the students (Hayanna) attempt it that way.
Striking forms:
My Sensei in Kenpo would allow students to do our Katas (a sequence of moves that plays out almost like a dance and shows the students’ mastery of techniques) and THEN ask us questions. Of course, as a writer, you want to make things harder on your characters than in real life, so…
If you love those kinds of sequences and you want to see the absolute perfection of it: watch the below. Rika Usami is just amazing. The snap of her gi and the speed and precision of her movements.
I watched this a few times when I was writing early drafts of the book, and it still mesmerizes me.
Submission #2:
This one is my favorite, and I hope to pull it off in my classes—though that might be hard with these hips.
Just to set this scene up… This continues the student fight in submission #1, but the tables have turned.
So this submission is a classic in Jiu-Jitsu. Arm locks are some of the most dangerous things in martial arts, BUT sometimes snatching the arm for a choke is more fun! This was a pretty tricky maneuver to describe in the book -- so I ditched the initial name I had for it (ziggurat) and ended up calling it a triangle in the book's final draft.
The choke or the armbar (from triangle) is fascinating to watch people land.
Before we tap out on this subject, here is one thing I try to keep in mind when I obsess about this kind of stuff in my work:
In writing and in any good storytelling — its great to have authentic or well thought out action, but what drives the scene is the drama between the characters. So, for the #amwriting crowd, that’s my tip: Drama first, action second.
Events
So you might have seen that I was in Vancouver at the February FanExpo, meeting fans and signing books. My favorite thing, besides actually writing books, is meeting people who like to read them!
If you live in the Toronto area and are going to be at the Comic-Con on March 18 or 19 -- please come by and see me in artist alley.
I'll post on my Twitter (@sheldoncarter) when I know exactly my booth location.
Synthwave Samurai Epic
This is my current writing project! Its working title is Aardehn: Blood Riders, and I’m working on it with my good friend and phenomenal artist, Eric Vedder.
This project is a cinematic novel — meaning there is sequential art (you know, a comic) and long-form prose (you know, a regular book) combined to tell a story you can both experience and imagine.
Something unique that you haven’t seen before. Here’s the striking first image from it:
Expect lots of info from me on this in the next months as it’s my daily writing project.
That said, since you read newsletters, you can sign up for more info about this project here.
That’s it for now.
S.M.
TO STEAL THE SUN is available in: