It's Labor Day, and I imagine lots of folks are going to be plopped in front of the TV, enjoying their favorite team or game or what have you... honestly, I don't know. I know very little about sports as I have never been interested in them, unless they are equestrian-related, in which case I AM ALL OVER THEM BECAUSE I OWN HORSES.
Anyway, whether or not I like sports doesn't matter here. Instead, the incredibly talented Jason J. McCuiston (Project Notebook, the upcoming The Last Star Warden, Volume 1 from Dark Owl) has taken on this subject and has given us an interesting take on how sports can actually help our genre fiction writing. I found this to be incredibly informative, so I hope you do too!
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HOW SPORTS CAN MAKE YOU A BETTER WRITER
Today, I'd like to talk about sports, specifically how they can make you a better writer of genre fiction. I think most of us (and I know this is a stereotype) who write sci-fi and fantasy are much more comfortable in a library than a gym, or more at home at a tabletop playing an RPG than on a hardtop playing basketball. I speak from experience. No one will ever mistake me for an athlete, but that didn't stop me from trying.
Let's face it: in genre fiction, there are a lot of sports. As Grandpa says in The Princess Bride: "Are you kidding? Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles..." you get the picture.
"So?" I hear you say. "How does that apply to me and writing?" Well, I'm glad you asked. I'll give you some examples from my own life.
I played high school (American) football, so I know what it feels like to take a bone-jarring blow to the helmet. I know that smell of blood you get in the back of your sinuses when you get your bell rung. I know what it feels like to have the instep of your foot touch your inner shin (not good) and then swell up to the size of a grapefruit. I know the muffled thunder and growling roar when opposing forces in pads (the modern equivalent of armor) crash together and try to break each other's lines. I've know then exultation when my side wins that struggle, and the gut-wrenching despair when we lost. I know how a field smells and feels different in the rain from one that is sun-scorched or nearly frozen with frost. And I know how it feels to see one of your closest friends carted off with a serious injury.
I played rugby in college, so I know what a femur sounds like when it snaps in half (a gunshot is a close approximation), and how the scream afterward is even worse. I know what it feels like to have your shoulder torn out of socket and then jammed back into place. I know what my lungs and legs feel like when they've got nothing left to give, but somehow find a way to run one more sprint and pile into one more scum. I know how thirty alpha males act when they try to run one more sprint and pile into one more scrum. I know how thirty alpha males act when they try to kill each other for an hour, and then party like brothers until the dawn. (I will go to my grave believing that the spirit of the Viking raid lives on in the modern visiting rugby club.)
I also took karate and kickboxing in college, and wrestled in high school, so I know what it's like to grapple with another human being in close quarters, smelling their breath and their unfamiliar scent as they try to defeat you. I know what it feels like (because I didn't make weight that week) to wrestle a giant. I know what it feels like to get hit so hard that you can't breathe and your vision goes dark and hazy. I know how it feels to throw so many punches that you wonder who's really taking the worst of the bout. Even when you win, sometimes you hurt for days.
I am into target shooting, so I know that a real gunshot is ridiculously louder than in TV and the movies. I know that burnt gunpowder smells like setting off the whole box of fireworks at once. I know that after a day at the range (or, one can imagine, a lengthy battle) your hands are black with burnt powder, and the barrel and action of your weapon are caked in it. I know that when an ejected brass casing hits your skin it burns like hell. I know how a gun can malfunction in different ways, and how to safely fix the problem. I know that real firearms experts are never nonchalant with weapons, no matter how "cool" they might be.
So you see, sports can lend a level of verisimilitude to your writing that it might otherwise lack. Even if you just go for a walk or a hike until you can't take one more step, that's useful information you can draw on the next time you write about a long and arduous journey. Do as many push-ups or squat thrusts as you can until you want to puke, then you'll get a sense of what your character is feeling when she is pushed to her physical limits. Run as fast as you can for as far as you can, and maybe you can use that when you write about your characters fleeing an alien invasion. And if you go out for a team, you might make it. Then you'll learn about the camaraderie and fellowship of folks who push themselves and each other to be their best. That certainly can't hurt, right?
So yeah, sports.
~ Jason J. McCuiston
Do you have any interesting sports experiences? Feel free to comment about them!
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