Weapons in Zombie stories
My characters don't use many guns in my zombie trilogy. Nor will they in my new book, which is a work in progress. Why not? Simply because I live in the UK, where guns are not as easily accessible as in other countries, meaning there are fewer of them on the streets. A proliferation of guns and bombs would just be ridiculous I think,
I am sure if I knew the right people - or the wrong ones, depending on your point of view - and if I had enough money, then there are ways I could get my hands on a gun. This in itself leads me onto the second reason why I don't write about them much.
Put simply, I don't have much clue about guns. I have used one, once, when doing what used to be called a 'Wives Weekend' when we were stationed close to an army base (we were RAF) and they offered this to any military wife who wanted to give it a try. I thoroughly enjoyed it, even though the army would have paid me money not to sign me up after my 'prowess' that weekend. But that's another story...
The old adage 'write about what you know' still applies to a certain extent, I believe. Yes, you can search online for just about anything these days, and it's true that my internet searches are many, varied and often a bit weird (insert that joke about destroying my search history if I am ever arrested, here.) My stories are only loosely based in the UK, I deliberately try to avoid name places for the reason that the reader can then set the story just about anywhere they like in their own heads. Except for the fact that one reader points out that my use of language gives me away. That's fine: I wasn't trying to be something I'm not anyway, but I know what he meant.
Anyway, the long and the short of it is, I don't write about guns because I don't know much about them and because they are not readily available in the UK. Not legally, anyway.
This leaves me with a fun challenge. My characters have to make their own weapons using whatever is to hand. You can really let your imagination go with this, plus spend hours on the net seeing what's already out there - quite an eye opener!
So there you have it. Creative weaponry wins over guns in my stories every time. Which leads me on to a question: if you had to devise a lethal weapon from things you can only find in your own house, garden shed or local shop, what would you make? No prizes, just have fun with it and please share your creativity with me. If you want me to, I will use it in my next story and credit you with its creation!
