Park: Okay so today Barb and I are going to discuss our new binge-watching show that isn’t 1966’s DARK SHADOWS: a little show called FORGED IN FIRE. Forged in Fire seems like a sort of reality show//contest show, and in some ways it is– but not like the others of its kind. Forged in Fire is about blacksmiths making knives and swords. Each round we eliminate one of 4 guys that we start with– last guy gets 10 thousand dollars. …But it’s so much better than that even makes it sound!
Barb walks into the room: –I get frustrated that I can’t find the type of horror I like! Hell, I watched a 1983 film called “Screamtime,” an anthology film, just because I got so desperate. It is poorly directed, although the performances are decent, if not Oscar-worthy. The first story started out well, but descended into a bunch of running and screaming. Sigh. The set up was good, so the ending was frustrating. The set up: an older man is barely making a living as a puppeteer. His wife and son do not respect him. The son (stepson?) tries to destroy the Punch and Judy puppets. Dolls-type mayhem ensues. The third one was fun, although it was just Dolls done with garden gnomes. The second one, though, I am still thinking about. The set up: a young couple move into a house and the young wife starts having visions of violence. It’s an oft done sort of a thing, so I didn’t expect the twist at the end. So, one out of three ain’t all that bad. The second one reminded me of what you’d get in an Amicus anthology, just more crudely directed. …Okay, we’re talking FIF now? Cool.
Park: Barb loves that the show (Forged in Fire) is– well, okay, yes, about awesome swords from history– but also about CRAFT. It’s about respect– and camaraderie– for a certain type of artistic craft that not everyone commonly practices.
Barb: Okay, but before we get to Forged in Fire, I want to give a shout-out to the YouTube channel “Oversimplified,” which has short “South Park”-esque takes on history. As a history buff, I love this channel. It’s start, it’s funny, it’s well researched, and I always learn a lot. If one is a fan of “Horrible Histories,” “Oversimplified” is the channel for you. One more thing I’m going to say about “Oversimplified,” related to craft– yes, sure, you can’t have “Oversimplified” without “South Park” and “Horrible Histories,” but Oversimplified has its own reason for being, its own signature style, and it’s also the simplest way to understand the hows and whys of history, as opposed to just a lot of dates and numbers. I always wanted to learn the whys and hows of history, and finally someone is aiming their work at me, the target audience.
Park: Oh absolutely, Oversimplified, we recently binged THAT until we’d watched them all pretty much. And that’s a nice tie-in with “historical swords and weapons,” too (Yay Punic Wars Parts 1 and 2)! I tried not to oversell it, but Barb could tell that I expected her to get excited about Hamilcar Barca and his son Hannibal (and she did!)
Barb: Okay, now Forged in Fire. You started watching FIF when we had to be separated because of our house repairs. You started watching “Oversimplified” and FIF because you were tired in the evenings from all the furniture you had to move around. You told me about the show, and I promised I’d watch it when I returned home.
Park: And watch Forged in Fire together we did! After just one episode, she wanted another! After 2 or 3, she wanted to watch them all, like me!
Barb: I wanted to watch FIF because you always say, “Can we watch this weapons expert talk about X or Y?” and I always agree. Here’s an example of what Park always likes to watch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3h5OlgoSc4&list=WL&index=24
Barb: As a side note to writers– we live in an era where experts will go online and explain concepts for you, so there is no reason whatsoever to skip the research part of being a writer. Google and YouTube, as well as your local library, can be your best friends when starting out as a writer. Please do not just glance at Wiki. Do research beyond the obvious. I mean, I remember hating American Horror Story for doing a season in New Orleans, and not doing more than the most cursory research into voodoo. I mean, come on guys, Papa Legba is not voodoo’s version of the devil. He’s an old man gatekeeper to the other loas. It’s like saying Santa is Satan! Yeesh.
God, how many times have I gone on Facebook just to look at the art groups and ghost story groups I lurk on, only to say, “Hey, I want to research that!” Sometimes, I even get a story out of it. A writer simply must keep their radar up at all times. I learned about “Screamtime” from my British horror films group on FB. I know that FB is old hat now, but I still love my art groups.
Park: Absolutely! And Forged in Fire is teaching us about swords and forging!
Barb: I like watching the show with you because you are an experienced fencer, so you know more about the blades than I do. Remember how I insisted that we buy a book on historical weapons from Half Price Books because I felt that someday we might need to know more about weapons for fight scenes?
Park: Pffff, we have more than one of those!
Park: But yes, I certainly do remember!
Barb: FIF fits right into your experiences. Whereas– I come from the old Hollywood tradition of swashbuckler films. …I did not expect much from FIF. I thought it would just be like “Iron Chef” with blades instead of food. I expected something a little campy and reality-TV-trope-based. And there is a little of the reality TV tropes in it, I admit. When Will on Forged in fire yells, “X competition is OVER!” I always think of that old show we watched with the handmade robots that fought against each other.
Park: BATTLEBOTS!
Barb: Battlebots! Damn, if ever a show needs to make a comeback, it’s Battlebots!
Park: Wow, think what they could probably do with Battlebots now… (Park Googles) –Hey honey, it turns out they did make a little more Battlebots more recently! From Wiki: “A six-episode revival series premiered on ABC on June 21, 2015, to generally favorable reviews and ratings… Additionally, ABC renewed BattleBots for a seventh season, which premiered on June 23, 2016… In February 2018, Discovery Channel and Science picked up the show for an eighth season, which premiered on May 11, 2018… A ninth season, 2019… tenth season 2020… eleventh season 2022… twelfth season 2023… Two spin-off competitions, BattleBots: Bounty Hunters¸2021 on Discovery+.[4][5] A second spin-off, BattleBots: Champions…” …Now I gotta figure out how we can best watch those…
Barb: Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised that the FIF judges were experts in their fields. None of them are there for fame. They’re there because this ancient craft of weaponry matters to them.
Park: Yes! Forged in Fire is often lighthearted, but when it comes to the craft it’s solemn and very serious.
Barb: I mean gosh, remember all the conversations we’ve had about bell guards and other guards on swords? How we’d look at sword books and say, “Yeah, that’s the guard I want on my sword?” All craft should be taken seriously. The world itself is made of craftsmanship.
Park: Yes! And this show absolutely lionizes skill– although they do push functionality over artistry, which sometimes seems just a little too bad, but I do also understand how that evolved out of safety– MAKE SURE IT DOESN’T BREAK WHEN WE’RE TESTING IT is more important than Pretty. …Then again, when all else is a tie, a prettier/more decorative weapon can push you over the top.
Barb: A handmade blade is a perfect example of what I call Commercial Art. Yes, a blade must look cool, but the blade must also perform. And by “perform,” I mean, the blade must give the people what they want. Too much art, you have something to hang on the wall and not use. Too much performance without bespoke artistry and you might as well just buy some knives off of the Internet.
Barb: It’s the Etsy shop philosophy of art. The work must perform, it must be what the audience wants, and it must be art. Hence, I call it commercial art.
Park: Right. Its continued survival depends on giving people a result they want– it’s not just a thing to look at one time or whatever.
Barb: –Which leads what FIF and the art/craft of professional writing have in common. Please list what a journeyman writer can learn from watching FIF– I’ll start: Writing is not a one-and-done thing. Writing is a craft that takes a lifetime to get good at, just like being a weapons-maker. Many writers today want instant gratification: “Okay, I wrote a book during Novel Writing Month, now I’ve put it on Amazon, so give me money.” Uh, dude, no. You don’t have a book, you have a rough draft. Just like in the first round of FIF, the bladesmiths don’t have a knife as much as the potential for having a good knife. That knife-with-potential must then be ground down, reconfigured, the edge geometry must be thought about more, and a handle that works for that blade must be made. In short, the blade is edited, just like a rough draft must be edited.
Park: You know, that’s a very good point. Forged in Fire’s “we want to see you fix these flaws in your blade if we let you move on to round 2” totally enforces the Multiple Drafts theory of creating! Just like the college I teach at!
Barb: You don’t give that product to the “judges,” that is, the audience and the critics, if it is not a sturdy, well made piece of craft. Because, if you don’t work to perfect that work of art, you have the potential for CATASTROPHIC blade failure! …And then the judges don’t want to see anything else you do because your piece of craft already “didn’t make the cut.”
Park: Yes! And that’s after you’ve started your draft! Before you even get there– as a judge was saying in the interview we were reading this morning during breakfast– before you even come on the show, you need to prepare! Be ready to be flexible and to think outside your usual comfort zone! Practice things you don’t normally do before you come on the show! Because otherwise, you’re more likely to panic and/or give up! Certainly the same is true for writing! Research things, obviously, but also– what if you start feeling like you’ve written yourself into a bit of a corner? Just like on Forged in Fire, sometimes you have to be prepared to say “darn, this isn’t working,” and back up to the last place it was working! The odds are that it’ll be better to back up– even if you lose a whole chapter you wrote– and to come at the story a different way than for you to get more and more frustrated trying to force something that isn’t going to work!
Barb: Yeah, exactly! One of the things I love about Forged in Fire is the emphasis on a craftsperson’s “signature style”. When I read older works, I encounter the author’s “voice,” their “signature style.” With newer books, I often see people who follow all the rules, but they might as well have put their ideas into an AI, because they so often don’t have a “signature style” –it’s all “meh.” I’m not paying for a book that doesn’t have a personality behind it. I want to read someone who has a “signature style.” Otherwise, why write? Writing is about the craftsperson giving the audience something that no other author can: themselves.
Park: Right. When judging, they’ll say “we can see that you put a lot of yourself//your own style into this. You did something different.” (meaning, in a good way.)
Barb: Writing isn’t about putting a bunch of ideas and authors one likes in a blender and saying, “This is me.” No, it isn’t you. It’s everyone you like without you contributing your unique personality to it.
Park: They’re very positive, and so they’re always looking for good things to say as well as critical things. Part of that is because they don’t ever want to encourage anyone to just give up on trying! So they like going out of their way to praise a bladesmith’s individuality, amongst other things.
Park: (responding to the last thing Barb said) Right. They want you to learn HOW to do things from other smiths– how long should this type of steel be heated, and how hard does it get? –but looking at those around you and trying to copy what others are doing isn’t good! You might start copying their mistakes! We’ve seen it happen! We’ve seen a smith quench their blade in water instead of oil– even though quenching in water is MUCH riskier because it cools down too fast– just because they saw the person next to them do that! And then their blade is warped, or worse, cracked and/or brittle!
Barb: Yeah. You can’t blindly do what others do just because that’s the way it was done in the past. One has to have a deep respect for the past without being overly tied to it. I liked what David said in the interview we read about not being too tied to rules. What did he say again? I’m blanking out.
Park: “Don’t let other people’s opinions discourage you from doing what you want to do. There’s a word that should never be uttered in the presence of a creator or an artist, and that is ‘should.’ The only person allowed to say ‘should’ to an artist, as far as I’m concerned, is the artists themselves. As far as the creative process goes, don’t let anybody tell you ‘you should.’” That was judge David Baker (middle chair), the one who makes all the sample historical weapons for the show.
Barb: See, I loved that quote because there’s a whole cottage industry of authors telling other authors what they should/must do and what an author shouldn’t/mustn’t do. And I see a lot of authors use that kind of advice as gospel and they never try anything different. Without risks, we get no innovation. And without innovation, a craft dies.
Park: Oh, yes– the judges get very excited when they learn a new trick! Or when they see someone doing something smart that they seldom see! Like the guy who tested his steel with a magnet because really intense heat affects magnetism and when the magnet stops wanting to stick, he knows the steel is hot enough! These judges don’t see a technique that’s honestly new to them very often at all, but when they see something that’s even close, they– as I said– get very excited! This is part of the reason they so often give them scrap metal to forge with! What will you make from this scrapyard? What will you pick to work with? How will you change what you find into something new? (Of course, another part of the reason is that in the 20th century, this is all that aspiring bladesmiths could FIND to work with, was “reclaimed” steel. But the other part is– try something you’ve never tried before! Part of being good at this is the ability to adapt and do something that’s new, or at least new to you!)
Barb: And that is where I think we’ll end this edition of “Forged in Craft.”
Where we’re watching FORGED IN FIRE: https://play.history.com/shows/forged-in-fire/unlocked
The OVERSIMPLIFIED videos: https://www.youtube.com/@OverSimplified
We watched some of the OVERSIMPLIFIED videos a while back, but we came back to watch them all after I was reminded of them by this guy’s videos: https://www.youtube.com/@CGPGrey
I started with this one just because it came up in my feed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LMr5XTgeyI
But here’s another couple of interesting ones:
Okay that’s it for now!