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If you're reading a crime fiction book and the protagonist (an ordinary human being, not a superhero) jumps over a small house in order to catch a villain, what would you do?"
Quit reading? Keep reading? Vomit? Does suspending disbelief extend that far? I'm willing to bet that many readers would go: Aw, COME ON! And put the book down. (Well, maybe not a Charlie Huston book.) But most.
So what would you do if the protagonist of a story sticks a pistol in his belted waistband then runs down the street, jumps a fence and climbs in a window with the gun still in place.
I read that scene in an otherwise excellent crime novel called the Ghosts of Belfast. And similar stunts in nearly every other crime novel, TV show and movie I've read or watched.
Well, I'm here to tell you: It can't be done. I've tried with a semiautomatic and a revolver, both unloaded, and usually by the forth or fifth step of the jog, I'm grabbing to keep it from popping loose or worse, sliding down into my ass crack. Jumping a fence? Climbing a window? LOL!
Now, they make pancake holsters that fit either inside or outside of your pants, and it can be strapped in so that it will stay in place. And some of the best writers, Connelly and a few others, use this device.
Maybe it is because I was a reporter for so many years. But, though I am willing to suspend disbelief to a great extent, I demand a certain sense of realism concerning the laws of physics, etc. etc.
Is it stupidity or laziness that this continues to show up? I think both. Some (too many) crime writers have never even handled a gun. But many have--CJ Box and Stephen Hunter come to mind. But many others know how ludicrous this is and write it in anyway because that's what everybody has come to accept.
I have to admit, if a book is good enough (the Ghosts of Belfast. Check out my review on Goodreads.com), I'll grouse a bit and usually keep reading. But you'll never find it in one of my stories, unless you pry it out of my protagonist's cold, dead ass crack.
***yes, a repost
If you're reading a crime fiction book and the protagonist (an ordinary human being, not a superhero) jumps over a small house in order to catch a villain, what would you do?"
Quit reading? Keep reading? Vomit? Does suspending disbelief extend that far? I'm willing to bet that many readers would go: Aw, COME ON! And put the book down. (Well, maybe not a Charlie Huston book.) But most.
So what would you do if the protagonist of a story sticks a pistol in his belted waistband then runs down the street, jumps a fence and climbs in a window with the gun still in place.
I read that scene in an otherwise excellent crime novel called the Ghosts of Belfast. And similar stunts in nearly every other crime novel, TV show and movie I've read or watched.
Well, I'm here to tell you: It can't be done. I've tried with a semiautomatic and a revolver, both unloaded, and usually by the forth or fifth step of the jog, I'm grabbing to keep it from popping loose or worse, sliding down into my ass crack. Jumping a fence? Climbing a window? LOL!
Now, they make pancake holsters that fit either inside or outside of your pants, and it can be strapped in so that it will stay in place. And some of the best writers, Connelly and a few others, use this device.
Maybe it is because I was a reporter for so many years. But, though I am willing to suspend disbelief to a great extent, I demand a certain sense of realism concerning the laws of physics, etc. etc.
Is it stupidity or laziness that this continues to show up? I think both. Some (too many) crime writers have never even handled a gun. But many have--CJ Box and Stephen Hunter come to mind. But many others know how ludicrous this is and write it in anyway because that's what everybody has come to accept.
I have to admit, if a book is good enough (the Ghosts of Belfast. Check out my review on Goodreads.com), I'll grouse a bit and usually keep reading. But you'll never find it in one of my stories, unless you pry it out of my protagonist's cold, dead ass crack.
***yes, a repost
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