Writing What You Know

I always hated hearing that when I was in an English or creative writing class. When I was little, my mother read Anne McCaffrey books to me, and my dad read me Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser. I was a hardcore ElfQuest fan by the time I was in first grade. I always knew that you could dream worlds and make them so real that you'd want to go live there.

If I were to write the story of my life, there are undoubtedly things that would sound like a fantasy novel, especially some of the ridiculous drama my best friend and I managed to manufacture. I'm not sure how well my creative writing teachers would have responded to tales from the blacksmith's daughter about dreamberry wine (made from what turned out to be nightshade berries...it's a good thing I never tried to drink my concoctions), her witch mother, meeting William Shakespeare, demonic possession, and space badgers.

I've always enjoyed dreaming up new worlds. As I've gotten older, the work I put into world building has grown deeper and more complex. In a new world, you can make up all of the rules...but those rules have to make sense, and they have to be internally consistent.

Everyone will create in their own ways. I like diving into research and finding out what's really happened, what's been practiced, and what's been believed. I can usually take reality as a springboard for my own worlds, and I like to think that even if I never mention most of the research I undertook, knowing and understanding what I do lends my worlds a deeper kind of authenticity that I've so desperately admired from many of my favorite authors.

So, even if there's a katana in your story that has some sort of enchantment that does make it possible for it to cut through steel and necks without pausing, there had better be a good reason it can do that. And every other sword in existence had better not be able to do the same.

I do think that no matter how you work, you should take what chances you can to find out more about things that are in your stories. If you're writing a period piece, or something in a world where men or women fight with rapiers, find out if there's a fencing school near where you live. You don't have to go take lessons, but at least go and talk to the people who work and teach there, and if they'll allow it, watch people practicing.

You can also find your local chapter of the SCA and watch the light weapons fighting. If you're writing about quasi-Medieval settings, watch the heavy weapons fighting. If you can get to a Renaissance festival, watch the joust. While they may not necessarily be the most accurate representations of what happened, the people involved to go to great lengths to try to make it so, and they're better examples than most of what you'll find in movies (sadly).

If you're writing a story involving guns, I highly recommend actually handling one. You don't have to go out and buy one, and I won't insist you actually fire one. But even if you absolutely hate them, and part of your story is to speak out against them, you will still come across better if you know what you're talking about. Sounding like a nitwit won't help you make your point. Find a reputable gun store and go in. Take a look at the stock, and talk to the people who work there. I've never run across anyone in a gun store who has been rude or unpleasant to me, and they've always been eager to help. Try holding a real gun. Find out how to check to see if it's loaded, and how to actually load it. See what the weight is like in your hand, how the grip fits in your palm (or if it's a rifle, what it's like to pull it up to your shoulder to sight. Just be sure to do so away from any other living people. It's bad manners to point guns at people unless you really mean it). If there's any out, try picking up a box of ammunition. I've been around the stuff all my life, and the weight still surprises me.

Anyway, all of this is my long and rambling way of saying this:

I know what I already know about weapons. I know what I've already done with them. I'm hoping to create a useful resource for people who need to know more about them, but I have a terrible habit of assuming that if I've actually learned something, everyone else probably already knows it, too. After all, I'm usually the last to know anything.

So, out of any of you lovely people who might still be checking by here, what are you hoping to find out? What do you need or want to know about? Do you have any specific questions, or are you just swinging by here looking for general information?

If you don't want to post something in the comments, email them to me at thedeadlypen at gmail dot com. I'll make questions anonymous, but any and all questions will be posted here, so maybe someone else who wanted to know the same thing will also get the answer.