… Or An early surprise and the smoked meat buffet!
I thought today deserved a post about something I, and pretty much everyone else, loves; receiving gifts and succulent BBQ. Well… not everyone likes BBQ, I can tell you that, but there’s enough people out there that this would be something to talk about. But, we all enjoy gifts of any kind, whether it’s for a holiday, birthday, thank you, or just because.
What brings this up, you ask?
Today was the day my store, Wal-Mart 576 in Tulsa, OK, had our “Christmas Party”. Because it was held in-store and only the food was catered, I had to put the quotes around Christmas Party. Not a very good party.
Anyway, our food was catered by ‘Billy Simms BBQ’ which is based here in Tulsa. About all I can say that is memorable is the place was started by a former OU football player. The food, while good, was okay, but nothing to get excited about. It is well worth a mention for the catering and what they offered to all of us hungry associates. No one likes to spend money on lunch or bringing in food every day.
There was the standard pulled pork, bologna, hot links, chicken and different sauces to meet everyone’s tastes. I had the mild sauce which was a little on the sweet side. The sauce was good. Billy Simms could market this if they only added a bit more seasoning to it then the entire US could fall in love with it. Sadly, it didn’t quite meet the hype I’ve heard but at least it was good.
In my book, Billy Simms’ BBQ gets a 3.5 stars. They’re good, but they could do a lot better. Maybe take a few pointers from Dad’s BBQ in Pryor to make it really sing.
Oh, but that just brings us to my favorite part. On accident, I got one of my Christmas gifts early this year. I gave Dave the links to the two books I wanted most and they are available on Kindle, as well as hardback and paperback. Naturally, I got the Kindle version and downloaded the Kindle for Android on my phone. He also has access to my wish list on Amazon, so there’s plenty to pick from to make me very happy.
The books I want are “Writing Fight Scenes” and a book on how to write facial expressions (sorry, the title evades me right now). If you can’t tell, I got Writing Fight Scenes.
I will admit I need some help writing fight scenes and this book is good. It breaks the fight scene up into two categories; gritty and entertaining. Gritty fight scenes are short but give details on the blood and gore, violence and emotion. Entertaining scenes go more into the acrobatics and showmanship and tend to be long with a lot of details of the characters and how they are moving within their landscape. Believe it or not, Princess Bride was referenced for entertaining fight scenes; especially where Inigo fights the Baron. Saratoga was pointed out for examples of gritty fight scenes. Even better, there are YouTube links so you can go check them out.
The author even goes to explain some about the weapons, the different basic, types of swords, magic, daggers/knives, and even hand to hand combat. There’s also a breakdown of the different stages within the fight itself and gives ideas on how to build suspense to the actual fight.
Five chapters in and I now know that my fight scenes aren’t the best because I’m missing a few key elements, but the action movies that I love have enough in them I at least have a grasp of what is needed to make them decent before I got this book.
I really love this book. It is one of many that I need to help improve things. It is also proof that a few re-writes are in order to improve a few things. 😀 For the curious, you can see my wish list on Amazon by looking up my username of SabbathSilverclaw. There’s plenty of selections to pick from and you may find an idea or two for yourself in there.
Candace Gauger 
I bought this eBook from a recommendation by one of my writing friends and it has been an inspiring, useful tool. Rayne Hall writes clearly and concisely with an easy to follow structure.He begins with the basics of writing fight scenes with mood and style: gritty or entertaining. Then discusses how location is used in fight scenes and a structure that fight scenes should follow.Hall describes a number of various weapons commonly used in fiction from swords and daggers, staffs, axes, clubs to firearms and variables in between. He offers background knowledge on their uses, strengths and weaknesses. At the end of each chapter he offers a helpful list of `blunders to avoid’.He also covers unarmed combat, magical weapons, self-defence and strength versus skill. He discusses the psychology of fighting: how adrenaline and hormones affect the fighters and how men and women react differently in fighting situations. Other topics covered include animals, armour, group fights, battles, siege warfare, nautical fights and how fights are portrayed in different genres.Hall covers writing tips such as using euphonics, pacing and dialogue. One thing I like about this ebook is that Hall offers links to useful YouTube videos and websites to demonstrate the information he describes. Hall has undergone extensive research to make this ebook a useful background on weapons for any writer choosing to use them. Many tips and tricks within the book has inspired and enhanced my own writing to make it more accurate and believable.