Anonymous asked:

Doc what’s the key difference between hangers, sabres, messers, and falchions? Blade type? Curvature?

This question comes up quite a bit, and I’m sure there are some folks out there who will want to argue some of the finer points of this rather quickly dashed-off response, but here goes:

Hanger: A somewhat informal and very broad category that generally refers to a type of short sabre, like a cutlass. The “hanger” designation originates (I believe) in Britain, referring to the cross-belt and frog system for wearing it, but hunting swords throughout Europe and the Americas are also often called hangers. Blade length and guard are variable. Picture below is a modern production hanger by Old Dominion Forge.

Sabre/Saber: A single-edged, one-handed weapon typically longer than a hanger, carried by cavalry soldiers and by officers of infantry and artillery. The British, I believe, define a sabre by its blade shape, while the French define by the hilt/guard shape. The example below is French (18th c.), but would meet both British and French definitions.

Messer: Messer in German just means “knife”. There are all kinds of different messers for all kinds of uses. These are also often one-handed (not always), and single-edged. The Lange messer, Grosse messer, and Kriegsmesser are the most common martial forms, and although blade styles can be quite variable, including shape and length, all are distinguished by a knife-style handle, rather than a sword-style handle (see chart below of the Elmslie messer/falchion typology). Example below from Tod’s Workshop.

Falchion: Like a messer, wide variety in terms of blade shape and length, but always single-edged. The distinguishing feature is the sword-style hilt assembly (again, see the Elmslie messer/falchion typology chart). Example below is 15th c. Italian.

Zoom in to the typology below and you can see how interchangeable falchions (F) and messers (M) can be – it really is the handle/hilt assemble that makes the difference here.

#writing reference #writing resources #writing research #knives #sabres #weapons #writing historical fiction

lova-writes reblogged

wildswrites

epees

Some resources for those writing medieval-type stories:

letswritestories101

look, someone I own my writer’s life

#writing resources #writing research #middle ages #medieval #writing historical fiction #link list

lova-writes reblogged

thebibliosphere

ghostflowerdreams

Writing Research - Victorian Era

In historical fiction it is important to be accurate and the only way to do so is to research the era. What is highly recommended by many writers is to write your story first. While writing your story, mark the parts that you’re not sure are correct and then do the research after you are done. This is to prevent you from doing unnecessary research that may not be relevant to your work. You want to spend your time wisely! Or you can just research as you go, it’s really whatever works for you since there isn’t a “wrong” way to research.

To begin, the Victorian era of the British history (and that of the British Empire) formally begins in 1837, which was the year Victoria became Queen and ends in 1901 – the year of her death. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence for Britain. Some scholars date the beginning of the period in terms of sensibilities and political concerns to the passage of the Reform Act 1832. [1]

Names

Society & Life

Commerce

Entertainment & Food

Hygiene, Health & Medicine

Fashion

Dialogue

Justice & Crimes

#writing resources #writing reference #writing research #writing advice #link list #victorian england #writing historical fiction

lova-writes reblogged

shaelinwrites

killhimagain

I just found an amazing website for writers.

While I was searching today for some prices of things in the 80s, I found this website:

As you can see, it is full of info about prices of things and of wages in the past (In the U.S. mostly, but it has a few lists of prices in other countries). This is so much more useful than simply an inflation calculator, which doesn’t account for the supply and demand of goods and services, and is often inaccurate.

Some information that you can find here:

- Cost of groceries.

- Cost of a meal at a restaurant.

- Rent prices.

- Cost to buy a house.

- Cost to mail letters.

- Gas prices.

- Bus fares.

…And much more.

For example, here is the price of a pound of ground beef in the Midwest in 1984:

And not only do they list the prices of things and the general average wage, they also provide average wages for specific jobs.

For instance, how much did social workers in Los Angeles make in 1945?

Approximately $2k dollars a year, it seems. (That was $1 an hour!)

So, yeah! I just thought I’d share. Warning, though, it is pretty hard to navigate on mobile. I’d suggest using your computer if you can.

#writing reference #writing research #website #cost of things #writing historical fiction