Benjamin Sobieck's Blog, page 13
June 2, 2015
Win This Cool Knife and an Autographed Book
Click Here for Details and to Enter the Giveaway To celebrate the release of The Writer’s Guide to Weapons: A Practical Reference for Using Firearms and Knives in Fiction later this month, I’m excited to bring you a cool sweepstakes that you can enter DAILY. I’ll give one lucky winner a signed copy of the Guide. Then I’ll do you one […]
June 1, 2015
8 Writing Websites for Researching Guns and More
If you like what I do here at CrimeFictionBook.com, then I think you’ll enjoy these websites, too. Internet Movie Firearms Database You might’ve heard about the Internet Movie Firearms Database before, but consider this your reminder. If you spot a firearm in a movie, this website has it cataloged. It’s the other half to what […]
5 Writing Websites for Researching Guns and More
If you like what I do here at CrimeFictionBook.com, then I think you’ll enjoy these websites, too. Internet Movie Firearms Database You might’ve heard about the Internet Movie Firearms Database before, but consider this your reminder. If you spot a firearm in a movie, this website has it cataloged. It’s the other half to what […]
4 Writing Websites for Researching Guns and More
If you like what I do here at CrimeFictionBook.com, then I think you’ll enjoy these websites, too. Internet Movie Firearms Database You might’ve heard about the Internet Movie Firearms Database before, but consider this your reminder. If you spot a firearm in a movie, this website has it cataloged. It’s the other half to what […]
May 28, 2015
How Well Can a Typical Vehicle Stop a Bullet?
TLDR: There are too many variables to call a definite yes or no, but any rifle from a .223 on up at a distance of 100 yards or less stands the best chance of penetrating a typical vehicle. This is a good time to mention my disclaimer. It makes sense that characters hiding from gunfire […]
May 21, 2015
Jimping: The Secret Shortcut for Choosing Characters’ Knives
Jimping: Not a Dance Even though it sounds like yet another dance move I’ll never try without a few drinks (joke’s on you, suckers, I don’t drink), “jimping” is not at all related to limping, jumping or even pimping. When we’re talking about writing knives in fiction, jimping is the row of toothy grooves roughly located where the […]
May 18, 2015
Assault Weapons vs. Assault Rifles vs. What You’ve Heard
One of my favorite crime writers, Benjamin Whitmer, author of my pick for the best crime novel of 2014, Cry Father, made a post on his website today that caught my eye. It mentions a bit about politics and the president, two subjects I try to avoid on this blog, but I couldn’t ignore his […]
May 14, 2015
How Gun Smoke Can Shape a Scene
Crime writer James Pierson dropped a question into the comments on the What’s that Smell? Cordite vs. Gunpowder vs. Propellant article, and I thought it’d be helpful to turn it into its own post. As always, I’m happy to help with any writerly questions on guns and knives. Just leave a comment or use the submission form. […]
May 7, 2015
What’s a Good Cop Knife?
The post What’s a Good Cop Gun?��attracted a nice chunk of traffic, so I figured it needed a follow up post about “cop knives.” That’s not a term I’ve heard used often in fiction or writing groups, but for the sake of this post let’s assume it means “a knife a law enforcement character would […]
April 29, 2015
What’s that Smell? Cordite vs. Gunpowder vs. Propellant
TLDR: Avoid depicting��cordite, use gunpowder as a default, reference propellant to look like a smarty pants. When articles debunk common firearm tropes in fiction, they usually mention how the “smell of cordite” isn’t in the air after a gunfight. Cordite’s heyday as the powder that makes a gun go��bang��started in the late 1800s and ended […]
