How about that?
I’ve been doing some research for a story that just won’t go away in my head. One of the characters needed an indoor sport for the wintertime, something that would seem to go naturally with someone who’s bright, quick, educated and agile. Fencing came to mind. Besides, I like the outfits. Not quite so well as soccer, his summer recreation, but still, it beats hockey.
Anyway, I was researching open-source content management software earlier this evening and followed a “look what we did with this software” link to a British fencing club. I learned a lot and none of it gets in the way of the story or character.
This lead to googling on “rochester fencing” to see if there was a club around here I could visit to pick up some of the flavor. I knew they had one at the University of Rochester, but imagine my surprise when I found the Rochester Fencing Club is halfway between here and work. Who knew?
Further, it’s one of five national training centers for international and Olympic competition and they have a beginners course for just $80 that meets once a week for six weeks. Even includes all equipment. Better still, I’d already decided the character would go fencing Tuesday and Thursday nights. Guess when their intermediate program meets?
So along with some positive feedback I’ve gotten on testing the storyline and sharing some odd paragraphs around, I’m taking this as a signal that I’m on the right track with this story.
January 21st, 2005 at 10:06 am EST
Did you know I was a fencer in my youth? There’s a photo of me in fencing gear on my pictures page. Fencing is a bit like chess – you have to think several moves ahead, but then you have to be quick enough to make the moves. I gave up fencing at the age of 24, when I found that my body was slowing down faster than my brain.