A bit of shameless self promotion:
Published early 2008, as part of a continuing series presented by author Holly Lisle: this little book (a PDF download, $9.00) has been well received. As far as I know, the only comprehensive guide for writers - all writers. The "introduction" below, should make that clear.
(*click on the image for details*):
Click on the image to enter Holly Lisle's Shop - you will find many useful guides and tutorials - the rest of this series and much more, by Holly Lisle and other authors.
About this booklet:
Back when the West was wild, a Quaker farmer came home from
hunting some game for the family pot and surprised a notorious
bandit robbing his kitchen. He raised his fowling gun but the outlaw
just laughed:
“You will not shoot me, you are a Quaker” he said as he reached for
his own holstered revolver.
The farmer kept his musket steady on his visitor and said “I hope not
friend, but thee be’st standing in the very place I wish to shoot”
A bad story and no doubt the farmer would have been a wayward
member of the Society of Friends at best, but it does show the mixed
feelings so common when matters of guns are dealt with. Nowadays,
when the west is probably much wilder and everywhere in the world
there are perpetrators of violence with guns and others with guns
trying to stop them, firearms may be seen as the root of evil or the
final defense against it.
Hate them or like them (there are reasons enough for both) guns are frequent props in fiction writing and of course, prominent in very many news stories. In this little book I’ve tried to avoid ethical or political sides in the ongoing gun controversy. There are many excellent references on that issue.
I’ve been around firearms for more than four decades, some of it as a spare time job as firearms instructor, technical advisor or as a writer on the subject but most of it for sport in good company, shooting targets at ranges and inevitably, shooting the wind during refreshments afterwards (as fishermen’s fish tend to get bigger in the telling, shooter’s target scores tend to get closer to the bull’s-eye).
There is little here about the shooting sports. Spectators at many rifle
or pistol tournaments should pick a blade of grass nearby and watch
it grow, for excitement, while competitors work themselves into a
Zen like trance to put a hole in a bit of cardboard far away. Shot
gunners swing their barrels towards apparently empty space and
boom boom! Cusses or congratulations all round. There are action
variants of the sport that can be fast and furious: Events that
simulate utterly unrealistic scenarios like hasty movie sets, where we
middle aged citizens pant and grunt our way around a course
blasting paper bandits and, though we enjoy ourselves thoroughly,
there is more sweat than SWAT. Or historical reenactment events,
costumes and all, sometimes on horseback: Cowboys, pirates,
soldiers and brigands; belles and maidens; costumes and uniforms
that can span several centuries, messing about in noise and acrid
smoke from old time black powder. That said, I’ve been privileged to
see such dedication and skill, amazing accuracy and incredible speed
from sport shooters that I doubt could be matched by very many
pros. Of course, our targets don’t shoot back, we just pretend they
do.
This little book is about another kind of pretending, fiction writing.
Also about reporting the truth as in covering events in the news or
history. In each case, about truth to our readers. Whether we are
writing about murder and mayhem, agents, spies, soldiers or action
in romantic escapades, when our scenes must show working firearms
I think we owe it to our readers render them as truthfully as we can.
This isn’t always the case. Movies and journalists in all media are
worst, but occasionally a novelist will try and spice up a situation with
some detail of the hardware and its operation, bungle and blunder on
as unaware as an airhead telling a dirty joke in polite company. Many
readers would read on regardless, others would be jarred and some
even throw the book away in despair. In any case it isn’t good
manners, and that book can get the same condescending
consideration as the lout that has been rude without realizing it.
I’ve picked thirty-three places where I think it’s easy to get things
wrong. Most of the time I will describe a bit of what’s going, where
errors can be made and how to set them straight. I suggest reading
through at least once, skim some of the technical parts but
remember they are there for future reference. No doubt there are
mistakes within the mistakes; these are mine and please don’t
hesitate to point them out to me when you spot them
That's all for now. Thank you for your visit. Come back soon. Next up would be "links" ... "about", some other work, a contact form.
And this piece of shameless self promotion should be relegated to another page.
