\u201cIf you don’t do it,\u201d says novelist James Grady, \u201cit is not done.\u201d\u00a0 Grady’s advice is simple and true, yet surprisingly easy for writers to forget.\u00a0 It’s obvious in the same way that\u00a0 \u201cwriters write\u201d is. \u00a0Below, Megan Crewe, James Grady, Jon F. Merz, and Steve Perry talk about what they have learned sitting in a chair and putting words on the page and how they did (or didn’t) use those lessons in the study and practice of martial arts.<\/p>\n

\nMegan Crewe<\/a> is the author of the YA paranormal novels, Give Up the Ghost<\/em> and The Way We Fall<\/em>.\u00a0 James Grady<\/a> is the author of such thrillers as Six Days of the Condor<\/em> and the recent Mad Dogs<\/em>.\u00a0 Jon F. Merz<\/a> writes the Lawson Vampire Series, Jake Thunder Adventures, and contributes to the Rogue Angle series under the housename Alex Archer. Steve Perry\u2019s<\/a> recent novels include Indiana Jones and the Army of the Dead, The Musashi Flex, <\/em>and Champion of the Dead: a Buddhist Martial Arts Fantasy Novel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

What has writing taught you about the martial arts?<\/strong><\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

Steve Perry:<\/strong> Um. I’m not sure that writing has taught me much about the martial arts. Reading has, I’ve got a shelf of books and I have read a lot of stuff on the web, but writing is ass-in-chair, words-on-paper. True, it’s a discipline, and so is the practice of martial arts, and there are some things you can lay on on a page that might stir thoughts when you workout, but overall? Not so much.\u00a0 Telling a story about getting into a punch-up is not the same as getting into a punch-up…<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

Jon F. Merz:<\/strong> Writing helps me in the dojo. Being able to embrace a certain amount of creativity is a good thing. What may seem like a trap in a fight may actually turn out to be an opportunity for me to exploit and one I may not have seen if I hadn’t been so familiar with creating twisting plot lines and working my way out of a corner I’ve written myself into.<\/p>\n

*
\nMegan Crewe:<\/strong> Working toward becoming a published author has taught me a lot about discipline.\u00a0 The patience to keep at something even when it’s hard and I feel I’m not doing it very well yet, feeling comfortable with knowing that learning will take time and work and there will be disappointments along the way, and the dedication to stick to a routine and practice regularly.\u00a0 All of that applies just as well to martial arts as it does to writing, and I think it’s helped me keep a positive attitude and realistic expectations of my own performance.\u00a0 I’ve been practicing kung fu for almost four years now.\u00a0 While I’m a lot better than I was when I started, I’ve still got a long ways to go, and I’m okay with that.\u00a0 I think I’d have gotten frustrated much more easily, and had more trouble sticking with it, if I hadn’t been a writer already.<\/p>\n

*
\nJames Grady:<\/strong> What writing has taught me about the martial arts is first<\/em>, if you don\u2019t do it, it is not done, and second<\/em>, if you try to impose the arbitrary control of your ego on your writing and disregard the facts or \u2013 in fiction \u2013 the fantasy\u2019s self-generation \u2013 what you end up with is less than what your reader deserves.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

Jeremy L. C. Jones <\/a>is a freelance writer, editor, and teacher.\u00a0 He is the staff Interviewer for <\/em>Clarkesworld Magazine<\/a> and a frequent contributor to <\/em>Kobold Quarterly<\/a>.\u00a0 He teaches at <\/em>Wofford College<\/a> and <\/em>Montessori Academy<\/a> in Spartanburg, SC.\u00a0 He is also the director of <\/em>Shared Worlds<\/a>, a creative writing and world-building camp for teenagers that he and <\/em>Jeff VanderMeer <\/a>designed in 2006.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIf you don’t do it,\u201d says novelist James Grady, \u201cit is not done.\u201d\u00a0 Grady’s advice is simple and true, yet surprisingly easy for writers to forget.\u00a0 It’s obvious in the same way that\u00a0 \u201cwriters write\u201d is. \u00a0Below, Megan Crewe, James Grady, Jon F. Merz, and Steve Perry talk about what they have learned sitting in a chair and putting words on the page and how they did (or didn’t) use those lessons in the study and practice of martial arts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/booklifenow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1279"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/booklifenow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/booklifenow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/booklifenow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/booklifenow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1279"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/booklifenow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1279\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1288,"href":"https:\/\/booklifenow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1279\/revisions\/1288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/booklifenow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/booklifenow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/booklifenow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}