Martial based story themes?

[Nyrotic]

Ok, so apart from being a martial artist, I've also got a very powerful lust to WRITE. I've already got a basic plotline for a story down for the most part, however I'm planning on giving some heavy martial art overtones. What are some good themes, like 'overcoming oneself' or 'not giving up in the face of adversity', that I might be able to use.

-Nyrotic

(Not sure if this is the correct place to put this, but since it generally deals with martial arts I figured I'd put it here.)

 

[Blindside]

A couple of themes that I'd like to see that are inherent to the martial arts, but aren't often addressed.

If you ain't cheatin' you ain't trying.

Size matters.

"Unarmed hand-to-hand fighting does not change through the ages; only the name changes, and it has only one rule: do it first, do it fast, do it dirtiest." -Lazarus Long (Robert Heinlein)

 

[tshadowchaser]

often talked about but hardly ever in a friendly manner:

the politics of upsurping ones instructor
the false knowledge vs true knowledge or the passage of knowledge in the form of writing
The hidden knife vs the seen weapon
mans ability to forget all his moral training to pursue revenge
mans quest for revenge and his quest for the knowledge to enact that revenge and what he finaly dose when he has the ability to enact it ( dose he or not)

 

[Blindside]

often talked about but hardly ever in a friendly manner:

the politics of upsurping ones instructor
the false knowledge vs true knowledge or the passage of knowledge in the form of writing
The hidden knife vs the seen weapon
mans ability to forget all his moral training to pursue revenge
mans quest for revenge and his quest for the knowledge to enact that revenge and what he finaly dose when he has the ability to enact it ( dose he or not)

Nice!

 

[CuongNhuka]

While I cann't give you any new writing ideas, I can tell you that I have done the same thing, sorta. I have a VERY over active imagination, and an intrest in Philosophy and Theology. At a point I gave up trying to explain Philosophy/Theology to people, so I started to write. I've written short storys that are about trying to express philosophic concepts. I've also written (well, started to write. I'm an ADD kid) chapter books that, again, are mostly about expressing Philosophic concepts. Many of my storys involve a charcter(s) who do some form of Martial Arts. Why is off topic.

Good luck though!

 

[Christina05]

A couple of themes that I'd like to see that are inherent to the martial arts, but aren't often addressed.

If you ain't cheatin' you ain't trying.

Size matters.

"Unarmed hand-to-hand fighting does not change through the ages; only the name changes, and it has only one rule: do it first, do it fast, do it dirtiest." -Lazarus Long (Robert Heinlein)

I agree.

 

[bushidomartialarts]

Go read Joe R. Lansdale, Stephen Barnes and/or Walter Jon Williams.

All three are accomplished martial artists who write books with strong martial arts content. Excellent examples of how to write a story about martial arts without writing a story that's just about the martial arts.