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Gun Mistakes in Fiction Writing: Handgun Edition

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Re: Gun Mistakes in Fiction Writing: Handgun Edition

#101

Post by gherkinnn »

short_sells_poo wrote: post #78
kriro wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a decent argument for using today's words even for settings that are no the current world. But for fantasy specifically I find it breaks immersion quite a bit. I'm not convinced by the "language changes over time" line of argument. If you take it to a bit more of an extreme it would also be fine to have characters say "cool" or even use some gen-z-ism etc, because hey words change meaning over time after all.…

You raise a good point, but where would we stop? Should movies depicting medieval events use medieval English? It was the lingo at the time after all.

As an example, "Hitting it out of the park" has no business in a medieval setting.

Re: Gun Mistakes in Fiction Writing: Handgun Edition

#102

Post by bebe9494i4 »

jdkwxnkwxnsk wrote: post #98
bebe9494i4 wrote: post #5

[flagged]

Now this is certainly a take. A bad one, surely, but a take nonetheless. Don’t pet strange dogs. Don’t let your children pet strange dogs. Don’t mess with animals you don’t know unless you’re willing to risk being bitten or worse. Simple as that.

[flagged]

Re: Gun Mistakes in Fiction Writing: Handgun Edition

#104

Post by calyth2018 »

rayiner wrote: post #42
doikor wrote: post #37

One thing I have noticed messed up in a lot of fiction (written/tv/movies/etc) is how loud guns actually are. Scenes of multiple people without any hearing protection emptying their guns that doesn't have any kind of supressors/silencer multiple times in a closed space (usually a single room) and then just casually chatting with each 5 seconds later. In general the sounds of guns are very bad in most movies/tv shows…

I wonder if part of this is also failing to consider the acoustic effect of loud sounds in enclosed spaces. Guns don’t sound nearly as loud if you only shoot outside.

Guns are still not hearing-safe outside. And if you're indoors, you probably should double up on the hearing protection (foam plugs with over the ear protection on top)

This one is not that surprising in mass media - there's no way the good guys and bad guys are going to take a pause and actually put on PPE before the shoot out.

Re: Gun Mistakes in Fiction Writing: Handgun Edition

#105

Post by arjie »

short_sells_poo wrote: post #78
kriro wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a decent argument for using today's words even for settings that are no the current world. But for fantasy specifically I find it breaks immersion quite a bit. I'm not convinced by the "language changes over time" line of argument. If you take it to a bit more of an extreme it would also be fine to have characters say "cool" or even use some gen-z-ism etc, because hey words change meaning over time after all.…

You raise a good point, but where would we stop? Should movies depicting medieval events use medieval English? It was the lingo at the time after all.

I suppose it’s just a matter of the audience and balancing legibility and plausibility depends on whom you’re writing for. For me, if Legolas was aura farming while Gimli rizzed up Galadriel while Saruman wants to hop on a palantir call that wouldn’t work but perhaps a day comes when that’s enjoyable for someone.

The market for these variations is controlled by IP law, not by demand for writing them or reading them. Emily Wilson’s controversial (for silly reasons, in my opinion) translation of Homer demonstrates what’s available in this genre.

Perhaps one day Gimli will rizz up Galadriel and Sam will say “bye-eeee” as Gollum falls into Mt Doom. One might even get to the stage where an LLM sits in place of the text and translates live into your own hyper-personalized idiolect or more usefully into that which will never take you out of the scene.

Re: Gun Mistakes in Fiction Writing: Handgun Edition

#106

Post by calyth2018 »

542458 wrote: post #22
defrost wrote: post #3

(28th June 2021) .. and I didn't find a Mistakes: Long Gun Edition.

I'm not a deep-in-the-weeds expert, but if I had to put together an "obvious long rifle mistakes in fiction" article, it’d probably be: * People pumping shotguns after every round, or unnecessarily cycling the bolt after every round * Wrong action type for the gun * Wrong shotgun ammo for the context * Wrong safety type for the gun (most long guns have safeties, but they are operated in a variety of ways) * Magazine…

Buckshot spread is another common mistake in fiction, e.g. when it's close you still need to aim

Re: Gun Mistakes in Fiction Writing: Handgun Edition

#107

Post by thrill »

darksaints wrote: post #62

One of the things about fiction is that it gets almost everything wrong. It isn’t just guns. It’s professions like spies and snipers, cars, boats, planes, programming/hacking, radios, technology, etc. And those are just the areas that I personally know they get wrong, because I know more than the average person in those areas. Some people judge fiction way too harshly for inconsequential but inaccurate details which…

When a certain now famous (in those circles) narrator was first getting started he mentioned on his FB page he wanted help with pronunciation of certain military terminology. I offered to help, knowing people in many fields plus my own. And ... my goodness, the absolute poor quality of some the writing he sent me. One author would use the full terminology for every firearm every time he looked at it, picked it up, loaded it, holstered it, drew it, released the safety, fired it, cleaned it, thought about while in the shower, whatever. You got tired of reading about the "Heckler & Koch HK45 Compact Tactical (HK45CT) MK-24 Mod-0" fully spelled out three times a page.

And then the author with his own specialty started writing about my field ... oh so badly.

So, knowledge of weapons doesn't translate in knowledge of writing (or vice versa). My only criteria any longer is just don't say "clip" unless your character has scored himself a Mauser C96 or similar and we're good.

Re: Gun Mistakes in Fiction Writing: Handgun Edition

#108

Post by fractallyte »

dn3500 wrote: post #7

I'm not a handgun expert at all but I've caught a few of these, like the guy who racked the slide on his revolver. The author who really impressed me, although not with his handgun knowledge, was Tom Clancy. I was in the anti-submarine warfare business in the 1970s and some of what he wrote in Red October I only knew from classified sources.

Precedent: A 1944 science fiction story accurately described an atomic bomb – so much so that it prompted a visit from the FBI to the NY office of Astounding Science Fiction. Definitely a point of pride for editor John W Campbell.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadline_(science_fiction_stor...

Re: Gun Mistakes in Fiction Writing: Handgun Edition

#109

Post by m463 »

doikor wrote: post #37

One thing I have noticed messed up in a lot of fiction (written/tv/movies/etc) is how loud guns actually are. Scenes of multiple people without any hearing protection emptying their guns that doesn't have any kind of supressors/silencer multiple times in a closed space (usually a single room) and then just casually chatting with each 5 seconds later. In general the sounds of guns are very bad in most movies/tv shows…

The only time movies try for sound accuracy is with flashbangs.

Re: Gun Mistakes in Fiction Writing: Handgun Edition

#110

Post by [deleted] »

defrost wrote: post #50
EdwardDiego wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not handguns though. Well, not legally.

Yes, handguns - police, military, some security, and gun clubs all have hand guns. Steps you need to take to legally obtain a handgun (in Australia) - https://www.ssaa.org.au/?ss_news=handgun-ownership-facts-in-...

[deleted]
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