Rory Miller - Violence: A Writers Guide

A Writers Guide

by

Rory Miller

Published by Rory Miller at Smashwords

Copyright 2010 Rory Miller

http://chirontraining.com

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If youre reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Cover design by Kamila Zeman Miller

TABLE OF CONTENTS

In which we do a quick check to see how different your worldview is from that of a force professional.

In which we discuss many of the elements that surround an act of violence.

In which we discuss three stages of an assault, and some other details.

In which we reveal some of the thought processes of a violent criminal.

An overview of cops, operators and even the OPIEC character.

In which we explore a little of how differently men and women fight.

Wherein the reader is introduced to the effects of fear on mind and body.

A discussion of the nuances of mano a mano combat

The finer points of the notorious blunt object

Knives, swords, spears and axes

An overview of the great equalizer

Modern technology attempts to stop criminals without hurting them

That is a gun in my pocket, but I am happy to see you.

Riots and war and pig piles! Oh my!

In which we attempt to shed the blinders of the modern age

A short, emotional list of common mistakes in fiction and cinema

A writers eye and voice are in the details. Here are a few.

I should explain myself, and also give an introduction to what you will get in this little book.

My name is Rory Miller, but Ive been called Sarge in a jail, sensei in a dojo and abu Orion in Baghdad. Rory is fine.

I dont write fiction. I do write fight scenes. I have written some of the most realistic fight scenes ever because they have to stand up in court. Conflict is the core of drama and much of my adult life has centered around conflict. The good side is that I know a lot about real violence. One of the many downsides is that I know enough that most fiction is infuriating to read.

What follows wont teach writing techniques . If you are a good writer or at least learning to be a good writer, you know more about the nuances of plot and point of view and voice than I do.

What I will try to do here is introduce you to the world of violence. To the parts that people dont understand. The parts that books and movies get wrong. Not just the mechanics, but how people who live in a violent world think and feel about what they do and what they see done. The psychological, physical, and spiritual reality.

Once upon a time, I was sitting on a panel, Bashing Your Way Through: Writing Realistic Fight Scenes at the Oregon Science Fiction Convention. The moderator, a very nice lady named Jayel Gibson, opened the panel by declaring, NO ONE engages in violence except out of great fear, great anger, or great desperation.

I do it for money, I said.

Jayel almost choked, but we became good friends.

Violence in our culture is treated like a taboo or at least an aberration. Stylized violence is everywhere, but real information is rare and actively discouraged. In a lot of ways, most modern Americans and Europeans know as much about violence as they learned about sex in junior high school locker rooms.

So here are some myths and platitudes and how professionals feel about them:

Violence never solved anything. This platitude is so patently and obviously false that it takes some pretty special mental gymnastics to say it, much less believe it. The fact is that some things, especially dangerous things happening very fast , can ONLY be solved by violence. This adage frequently infuriates professionals because sometimes the problem they have solved with violence was their own survival or the survival of someone they loved. Survival is pretty hard to devalue.

Violence is the last resort of the ignorant only shows the ignorance of the person stating it. It would be an ideal truth in a homogenous society of wealthy people with equal education. It is one of those ideas that only works if everyone involved chooses to believe it and the first person to reject the idea will dominate, kill or enslave the others. It is especially funny because many people who deal professionally with violence are pretty well educated and worldly. To hear such a pronouncement from someone who chooses to be ignorant about violence sigh. Maybe Unthinking platitudes are the first refuge of the ignorant.

Violence begets violence. Sort of. But thats kind of like saying Sickness begets medicine. Heres the deal, and its one of the basic truths. Violence is dangerous and it hurts and there is no guaranteed win, but an act of force is the only thing that can stop an act of violence. If a crowbar is coming at your head, there is no form of negotiation that can help in time. If part of the other guys definition of a win is to enjoy you broken and begging, there is no win-win. You must understand that not only are there people who enjoy debasing others, they have been very common throughout history and they are still the norm in certain cultures.

Because we live in a society where hunger is rare and there is a rule of law and invading armies or bandits stealing food and raping are unheard of, we forget that this level of violence was the norm for most of human history. Pockets of it exist in even the most affluent society. And it can erupt when things start to break down.

Why do people use violence? Because it works. Violence works . Characters may need tortured reasons and justifications for their depredations. Real criminals (and Im talking low-level street hustlers, not some psychopathic super-criminal) dont need rationalizations. It just works.

The following hyperlink leads to a video can be hard to watch. It is a Russian video of a crack addict attacking a fifteen year-old girl for her purse. She died after some time in a coma:

RUSSIAN MUGGING

You can choose not to watch the mugging if you dont want this sort of thing in your head. Many people dont. But it may be harder for you to understand this book, and real violence, if you close your eyes to it.

You may have worked your whole life to get your credit rating and savings. A crook can get your ATM card and your PIN with a few minutes of judicious beating. Dont lose sight of this fact, not in your fiction and not in your real life: people use violence because it works and the less people are prepared for it, the better it works. The more peaceful a group, the easier they are to victimize.

What follows talks about levels of violence. You can apply it to your characters, but I want you to think of it in terms of your life. Its important to understand the levels because people (including authors) can rarely imagine upwards. In other words, if you live at a low level of violence, the motivations and beliefs of someone who functions at a higher level may be completely alien to you.

Most groups (offices, associations, gym classes, schools) are made up mostly of good people who avoid conflict. Nice people. They are the backbone of society and people generally seem to believe that this attitude is what humans should aspire to.

Nice people are easy victims for manipulators . Manipulation is an extremely low level of violence, but it is violence. Gossip, subtle bullying, understated threats, chilling someone out and forming alliances are all types of coercion.