Benjamin Sobieck's Blog, page 9
October 29, 2015
Writing Tips: 10 Ways to Research Weapons Without Touching One
Rachel Amphlett writes thrillers, most notably the Dan Taylor series, from her home in Australia. You might recognize her from the James Bond movie, The World is Not Enough, where she was an extra. (OK, you wouldn’t have known that without reading her bio, but how cool is that?) In all seriousness, go check out Amphlett’s bio. Guitars, […]
October 22, 2015
What’s the Difference Between a Pistol and a Revolver?
TLDR: Pistols are handguns with one or more stationary chambers. Revolvers are handguns that use multiple rotating chambers. Don’t use them interchangeably. Aaaaaand I can already hear my inbox filling up after posting the TLDR up top. But before you fire off a sternly worded letter through the contact form, give me a chance to explain. […]
October 15, 2015
A Key Concept About Self-Guided Bullets
DV Berkom is a thriller writer who wrote to me recently with a question about using self-guided bullets in her WIP. Berkom’s question brought up a key concept about self-guided bullets that I think pop culture gets wrong. Here’s an example of what I’m talking about: Here’s Berkom’s question, re-posted with her permission: The year is 2006…I was thinking […]
October 8, 2015
Step-by-Step: How to Load and Accurately Shoot a Pistol
Sue Coletta is a crime author and writer bud of mine with a new book out this November worth your time, Marred. I’m interested in how Coletta approaches the weapons in her work, seeing as how she came up with a primer called 60 Ways to Murder Your Fictional Characters. What follows is her guest post […]
October 6, 2015
Tips for Creating Fantasy Weapons for Fiction
Christine Frazier’s Better Novel Project is hosting my post today, 6 Tips for Writing Fantasy Weapons. Frazier also drew the illustrations in this infographic by hand, which shows you how much time she puts into making the site one worth checking out. Since releasing The Writer’s Guide to Weapons, I’ve been surprised by how often […]
October 2, 2015
Thoughts on Being Featured on Wattpad
The terrific folks at Wattpad (aka “the Youtube of books”) are featuring my novel, Glass Eye, for the next six months. This means you can read the novel in its entirety for free here on Wattpad. What’s in it for me if it’s available for free? Like a lot of writers using Wattpad, this is something […]
October 1, 2015
What’s the Difference? Machine Gun vs. Submachine Gun
TLDR: Submachine guns use handgun ammunition. Machine guns use rifle ammunition. If a gun-toting character pulls the trigger and holds it there while the business end goes bang-bang-bang, then there’s an excellent chance that firearm is a submachine gun or a machine gun (warning: does not apply to characters requesting someone pull their fingers). But […]
September 28, 2015
Chase Baker and The Vikings’ Secret (A Chase Baker Thriller #5)
Franchising Isn’t Just for Fast Food Restaurants Chase Baker is a character created by Vincent Zandri, an author of thrillers I admire quite a bit. The series of novels are a little like The Da Vinci Code meets Indiana Jones, with more Rambo and less down time. Readers seem to enjoy the tales, which combine an occult secret (for […]
September 24, 2015
.25 Caliber Handguns: Avoid at All Costs?
TLDR: If you can help it, a character might be better off with a handgun with more bite than a .25 caliber. Last week’s post about the .25 caliber “lady’s gun” used by James Bond kicked off some interesting feedback from followers of this blog. Some agreed with my take that the ability to be accurate […]
September 17, 2015
“Lady Guns” for Female Characters? Not So Fast
TLDR: Firearm experience, hand size, general physical condition and purpose matter more than gender when it comes to assigning handguns to female characters. When it comes to handguns, it seems to me there’s a tendency to assign fictional female characters smaller calibers than males. I’m here to tell you that’s a mistake, and ironically I’ll use […]
