Comments for Hand-to-hand: An Interview with Alan Baxter at http://awritergoesonajourney.com , comment 1 to 4 out of 4 comments http://awritergoesonajourney.com Tue, 07 Sep 2010 20:39:29 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://awritergoesonajourney.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=596:hand-to-hand-an-interview-with-alan-baxter&catid=129:reality-bites&Itemid=223#comment-28 Jim - great comments, thanks for sharing. Alan - good lucj with, hope the article helps. - Alan Mon, 09 Nov 2009 03:56:53 +0100 http://awritergoesonajourney.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=596:hand-to-hand-an-interview-with-alan-baxter&catid=129:reality-bites&Itemid=223#comment-27 That was a great interview guys. Well done! I'll try to keep all of that in mind, Alan, when I'm working on the fight scene in the NaNo story that I'm working on. - Alan W. Davidson Sun, 08 Nov 2009 17:03:02 +0100 http://awritergoesonajourney.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=596:hand-to-hand-an-interview-with-alan-baxter&catid=129:reality-bites&Itemid=223#comment-12 Hi Alan, Absolutely spot on - agree with everything written. I have about 25 years experience with use of force situations - many were daily - everything from restraints and disarming blokes with shivs up to and including chemical munitions, full on riots and deadly force. While I am trained and respond instantly with a variety of weapons including pencils, belts, batons, handguns, assault rifles and chemicals - I also realize that I am a 53year old fat man now. I am also a writer with a few short stories under my belt and a reasonable vocabulary so my escalation of the use of force now begins with irony moving on to satire and finishing with sarcasm - trust me by the time the situation calls for it, I dish it out - I've actually broken a number of very hard men with sarcasm. On the other side of the coin - unless you are constantly in these situations you are not properly emotionally or mentally equipped to react - the reaction is the key, it is the thing that becomes instinctive and is the difference between life and death - as you say either the fight or flight and you have to know which one to take and when. The other fact that I agree with is that after a number of encounters it does all become natural - you are very calm and then it all turns into a strange sort of a game - calmness and supreme self confidence even in the face of a very aggressive oponent will often be enough. Sometimes it gives you time where you can actually make a conscious decision to find out what happens if you make a comment so far out of context of the situation - will it serve as a diffuser or whether you need a heavy slap with shudder. I have never bothered to write a fight scene - the ones I have been involved with are over in seconds with very little fuss and bother. Most of the other incidents I have witnessed begin with the victim being completely unaware he is targeted ie sitting on a toilet etc - over in seconds. Depending on how serious the agressors are, and there are usually more than one - especially for a planned assault, the victim doesn't know what hit him - there is none of the pre-incident threats and verbal you see on the movies - real life demands they are not given a chance. Head, face and neck injuries are the most common with shivs and blades when they mean business - these are often fatal. Body wounds are usually meant as last warnings. Cheers, Jim Poulos aka Cheyenne Warlock - Cheyenne Warlock Wed, 04 Nov 2009 09:55:59 +0100 http://awritergoesonajourney.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=596:hand-to-hand-an-interview-with-alan-baxter&catid=129:reality-bites&Itemid=223#comment-11 Thanks for the chat, Phill. If anyone has any questions coming up from the interview above, feel free to drop a comment here and I'll do my best to answer. - Alan Wed, 04 Nov 2009 05:44:26 +0100