Stephen Drivick's Blog - Posts Tagged "guns"
Guns
This is my seventh entry in the A-Z Blogging Challenge for April. Today we look at the letter G-Guns.
I have to admit to something. I have two zombie novels to my credit, and I don't know anything about guns.
I'm not totally clueless. I know how a gun works and the different types of guns – handgun, revolver, shotgun, rifle, etc. I'm talking about specifics. Things like brand names, the myriad of different calibers, and what gun is appropriate for the situation at hand. You can't get around it. If you write a novel about zombies, guns are going to show up.
I read a zombie apocalypse novel a few years ago that went to the extreme. The author was no doubt a gun enthusiast because he lovingly described in great detail every one of the main character's firearms. From the smallest back-up pistol to the largest rifle and beyond, the guns were each given a paragraph. They became characters in the novel. They almost had their own personalities.
When I started writing Sometimes We Ran, I knew I couldn't go in that direction. I didn't know enough, and research on the internet would bog me down and trigger a visit from the FBI to check my computer history.
I went a little more general. John, my main character, carries a “handgun”. He gives Claire a “small revolver”. People use “automatic rifles” or “small machine guns”. No brands or calibers are mentioned. I trust the reader to kind of fill in the gaps. When I mention “shotgun”, the readers can picture whatever shotgun they want.
So far it has worked. In fact, it was mentioned in a review as being a positive. I figure the people in my zombie apocalypse world were regular people, and didn't know much about guns. They learned fast though. They didn't want to become zombie food.
You don't have to know everything about something to write about it. You can generalize a little and still have a great story. Research helps a little, but don't get bogged down.
But don't ask me about guns. I may have written two zombie novels, but I don't know a thing.:)
I have to admit to something. I have two zombie novels to my credit, and I don't know anything about guns.
I'm not totally clueless. I know how a gun works and the different types of guns – handgun, revolver, shotgun, rifle, etc. I'm talking about specifics. Things like brand names, the myriad of different calibers, and what gun is appropriate for the situation at hand. You can't get around it. If you write a novel about zombies, guns are going to show up.
I read a zombie apocalypse novel a few years ago that went to the extreme. The author was no doubt a gun enthusiast because he lovingly described in great detail every one of the main character's firearms. From the smallest back-up pistol to the largest rifle and beyond, the guns were each given a paragraph. They became characters in the novel. They almost had their own personalities.
When I started writing Sometimes We Ran, I knew I couldn't go in that direction. I didn't know enough, and research on the internet would bog me down and trigger a visit from the FBI to check my computer history.
I went a little more general. John, my main character, carries a “handgun”. He gives Claire a “small revolver”. People use “automatic rifles” or “small machine guns”. No brands or calibers are mentioned. I trust the reader to kind of fill in the gaps. When I mention “shotgun”, the readers can picture whatever shotgun they want.
So far it has worked. In fact, it was mentioned in a review as being a positive. I figure the people in my zombie apocalypse world were regular people, and didn't know much about guns. They learned fast though. They didn't want to become zombie food.
You don't have to know everything about something to write about it. You can generalize a little and still have a great story. Research helps a little, but don't get bogged down.
But don't ask me about guns. I may have written two zombie novels, but I don't know a thing.:)
