It seems that in the nineties the niche carved out by ninjas was dominated by Tong and Triad style Asian criminals, more closely based on contemporary reality. But there are important elements of the ninja mythos that are not fufilled by Tong style martial arts gangsters. Probably the most important is the concept of an abstract code of criminal honor, which is replaced in the Chinese system by a system of personal and familial honor. Closely connected is the idea of formal schooling in the art of being a ninja. While the guan ji connections in the Chinese underworld often involve the relationships between a master of martial arts and his students, it is not as though there is a material equivalence of knowing one of the various forms of wu shu and being professionally employed by a certain organization.

Also, aside from the failure of Chinese gangs to meet the romantic appetites of western literary archtypes, there is also the fact that Chinese gangs are a real and intransigent fact of life for too many people. The fact that these highly skilled killers with no legal documentation do actually exist and roam about our cities tends to reduce their appeal as subjects for light fiction. It makes them seem more like real life criminals, less like apt subjects for fantasy.

Many people think ninja stories and many other types are insensitive or steriotypical or some such nonesense. I think it is too bad that many types of stories are avoided because of fear of not being published because of political correctness.

Is it possible that there is a disjuncture between your level of sophistication as a martial artist and the level of sophistication appropriate for the story?

Maybe you would have to write at a level below your level of understanding? "Man!", Ralph said, "I don't know what happened, it was over so fast, but it seems like that guy, he just kinda twisted the other guy's wrist and the sumbitch just fell down!"

I have had only one occasion (thank god!) to use the martial arts training I received and I couldn't begin to tell you what I did, even though I was there. All I remember is some guy coming after me with a knife and then me picking him up off the ground, and nothing in between. So, even though I was somewhat trained (my master would probably disagree, "Mike, you so CLUMSY!"), I couldn't even begin to write about that episode in the manner in which it must have occurred. You might, but I couldn't.

What I am really finding hard to explain, in realistic terms, is how the character came by the martial arts training and then almost coincidentally gets into a situation where he\she needs to use it.

I keep thinking of the Power Rangers. Each episode had the Rangers fighting a monster or something, and they almost lose, then they pull out the Sword of Power, or whatever and win the day. "Gee, glad we had that Sword of Power or we would have lost."

I want to write about a believable character who has everyday problems and dilemmas. And although the character is just a normal person, they have also trained as a martial artist. I've tried several different motivations for the character to start and continue this training. That part usually comes out OK. Then (and this is where the contrived sounding part comes in) he finds himself in a situation where all the training pays off. "Gee, sure am glad I trained for this situation."

Every time I come to that part, it comes out sounding like another Jackie Chan "set-up" movie. - By the way, I'm not knocking Jackie, he is great. I suspend my belief a little to still enjoy his movies, but I'm aiming for something a bit more realistic and with a more emotional punch. I want to write something that martial arts practitioners could read and like enough to recommend to their friends as a good portrait of the martial arts culture and lifestyle.

I guess it is just the nature of the beast. As a writer, I am contriving to put characters into situations that look hopeless, but that they will overcome - hopefully. Maybe, no matter how I approach it, as soon as I mention that the person trains in martial arts, automatically the reader knows that at some point that training will come into practice. Like a guy that packs a gun in his briefcase, obviously, he is going to pull it out and use it at some point.

I remember in one of OSC's writing books he mentions that bringing a gun into the scene automatically triggers tension in the story. So maybe martial arts, which is a weapon, will always draw a lot of attention to itself.

Look at what happened to me, it was a Friday afternoon, and I was in Chihuahua, Mexico. I had spent all week assessing a chemical process that a local chemical waste handling company was using. I finished early Friday afternoon, and took advantage of my spare time to see a little of the local scenery. I had just enough time before my flight to walk over to a local museum. On my way, I walked past several local bars.

What I did not know is that the Mexicans were mad at us yet again for something incredibly arrogant that our President had said that week. Further, all the factory workers had just gotten off shift and as it was the end of the month, they had a handful of pay. So, they all went to the bars to celebrate and watch their politicians expostulate about us gringos on TV. They were primed and ready by the time this fat, blond gringo walked by.

The doors to one bar opened up and a gang of scruffy guys came out. One walked up to me and grabbed my shirt with one hand and pushed a knife towards my belly with the other. After I picked him up from where I threw him, I saw that his gang was somewhat taken aback, and rather than yield the advantage, I pushed him as hard as I could ahead of me through them until we got past, then dumped him onto the pavement and went on my way to the museum. Hardest thing I ever did was to not look back. I was shaking so hard I almost couldn't walk and I didn't really enjoy the return trip.

I will always remember that little episode, and I enjoy re-telling it You'll notice that the most interesting parts (well, to me, anyway) have nothing to do with the actual use of the martial arts.

Could you have the tension OSC writes about simply because your character is armed (with himself) and is walking into a situation he doesn't understand at all? The reader, seeing both sides, would be suitably informed, and the tension would develop in the reader's mind rather than on paper.

Note that the tension would not have anything to do with the particular use of a martial arts technique, or series of techniques.

OK, I'm sure this overly simplistic, unsophisticated, etc, but I think that if you are having problems with setting up a situation so that is does not come across as "Jackie Chan-esque", then you should be asking yourself if you should even introduce the martial arts into that scene.

Of course, all experienced writers are fond of this truism. If you're character knows martial arts, then at some point that skill must enter play.

It doesn't always have to be in the typical manner. She could get in the situation, forget all her martial arts training, and just hit the guy with her handbag (I believe this story was told by Dr. Laura i'm-glad-she-doesn't-bother-with-her-insanely-hard-to-spell-last-name). Or he could experience an epiphany about how nice the man was to offer to only take his wallet, and hand it over without even trying to fight (Mark Salzman, a world famous martial artist and writer, may or may not have made this story up out of whole cloth).

If I have a story about a guy that stumbles across evidence of immortals living in society (ala Highlander, vampires, or what have you), then his background as a private investigator/handwriting expert/heredity researcher or whatever is going to be an important part of that plot structure. But at the same time, it could just as easily have been a minor element in the character development, like the fact that Jackie Chan is a celebrity chef in Mr. Nice Guy. It doesn't matter that he is a chef particularly, it matters that he has an entire life completely divorced from violence, so that he can be Mr. Nice Guy. He tries to solve things through negotiation and appeals to the police at first because he isn't The Punisher.

I have to confess I don't know much about the differences between many of the martial arts but I looked into Ninjas specifically for the purpose of this thread. They sound interesting and they would make an excellent addition to many a story.

I especially like the emphasis on stealth. I'm even thinking of converting a character from a WIP to a ninja. She is an assasin so it might work. Don't know. Must read more

So he may either act weak or afraid, or perhaps he uses his superiour balance, agility and speed in a way that would seem plausible for a normal person. For instance, instead of throwing his attacker across the room or killing him outright with strategically placed hand, instead he simply sidesteps and sticks out his foot and trips the attacker!

It could actually be a fun exercise to see how a ninja "in disguise" would deal with an attacker without overt use of martial skills!

Susan

quote:

---

If there is a ninja on the wall in the first act, by the end of the play he must flip out and kill people.

---

We to do a show (overt puppetry) where we were dressed in all black with hoods. We used to say, "You might be wondering why we're dressed like this." One of the team would strike an absurd karate kid move, with approriate vocals. The team leader would shoot them a scathing look and say, "We are not ninjas."

Like ninja magic and flying. Sure, we see plenty of stabbing from ninjas, and that's certainly resectable, but one thing that we don't show enough in fiction is ninjas flying. I mean, aside from stabbing, that's pretty much their expertise. How sweet is that? When I write about ninjas, I promise you they will fly.

I hereby make a solemn vow to all of you, that one day I will publish a story with a ninja wailing on his guitar in it.

From what I remember, it was about this Chinese martial artist who was a very quick study. He'd gotten into a contest with a bunch of Japanese martial artists to determine which country's martial arts were the best.

He was going to go up against a whole list of Japanese martial arts specialists, one by one, and some of the corresponding Chinese martial arts he knew and some he didn't know, so the movie is partly about how he learned (very quickly) the stuff he didn't know, and then about how he used it against the Japanese martial artists (the last one was a ninja) in the contest.

quote:

---

Aren't ninjas always in disguise? At least that is how I've read them. Even the word ninja is derived from a word meaning "with stealth", or some such thing.

---

I was picturing a modern day American ninja, let's say, that doesn't want anyone to know he is a ninja. So, in effect, he has a "secret identity".

BTW, I don't know how accurate it is as a depiction, but a neat (and very small) book to read is "Wisdom from the Ninja Village of the Cold Moon" by Stephen K. Hayes.

As for ninjas... there is going to be a new TMNT movie coming out - so if they are being resurrected, then there must be a resurgence of interest in ninjas, yes? (or maybe just marketing stuff)

Bruce Lee once punched Jackie Chan