 Action/Adventure: October 28, 2015 Issue [#7294] |
  Action/Adventure
This week: So Much for Swords & Rifles Edited by: Cinn  
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Halloween is almost here, and I have been watching horror movies whenever I have enough time to get one watched. Because of the season, I thought that it was perfectly reasonable to use them as a source of inspiration for this newsletter. Action Adventure and Horror have some similarities. Not the least of them is my topic for today: Weapons.
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Action and Adventure stories are full of weapons. Guns, sniper rifles, whips, swords, and knives work well most of the time. After all, you cannot craft a good swashbuckler without a blade or two or twenty, right? No assassination tale without a sniper rifle or mobster plot without guns. We also expect to see a heroine jab an attacker in the knee with her car keys.
Honestly though, these are not the only weapons. Horror movies and horror comedies have proven that time and time again. They are packed full of interesting weapons that provide a bit of surprise to both the audience and the characters on screen. Why should horror be the only genre using creativity in this area? If your would-be victim is fumbling around in the kitchen, why must he or she always find a knife? Why not a corkscrew (Friday the 13th part 4) or malt mixer (Toxic Avenger) or boiling pot of water (Sleepaway Camp, among others)?
The unusual is not necessarily unrealistic. All of the kitchen items might be on hand, and if someone gets to one before finding a knife, I'm sure they would use it. No? In fact, there was a real case in my area as a child in which the weapon was a fork. Just a normal table fork. So, to get your creative juices flowing, here are a few unique weapons used in some of my favorite horror movies. Far-fetched as they may be, I'm sure that they will get your gears turning.
 stomach pump
beehive
outhouse (drowning)
shadow puppet t-rex
lawn mower
tripod
voodoo doll
plastic wrap
pogo stick
yoyo
garbage truck
tv/radio/toaster/etc + bathtub
acid shampoo
force feeding
soda can
garbage disposal
evil website
videotape
escalator
basketball
popcorn
vice
knitting needles
kebab
microwave
sleeping bag
crystal figurine
cane
curling iron
tanning bed
weight bench
corn cob
What do you think? Keep in mind that these were used as actual murder weapons. How would you turn, say, popcorn into a weapon? Well, you either get creative or watch Killer Klowns from Outer Space. A sleeping bag can be very dangerous in the wrong hands, just ask Jason Voorhees. I could have listed many more if I had stuck with a few particularly interesting characters who love the bizarre weapons, like Angela Baker from Sleepaway Camp or the leprechaun from The Leprechuan, but I'm all for variety.
Now, some of these are super campy. However, there is some truth in this list as well. Nearly anything could be used as a weapon in a pinch. Sitting on my desk right now, I have a coffee mug, multiple pens, and a bottle of fingernail polish remover that could be used with or without the lighter in my back pocket. All of them could be weapons if I was suddenly attacked, and I would have no problem wielding any of them. Panic makes us resourceful after all... so why doesn't it do the same for our characters?
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If you had to think up a crazy gadget for an Action and Adventure story, what would it look like?  What would it do? How would you use it in an action sequence?
When I asked, "What is the weirdest setting that you have ever used for one of your stories?", I hoped for a few really interesting responses, and I was certainly not disappointed! And I thought that I wrote weird stuff. 
Hmm (thoughts processing). Thanks for the article! It's sometimes nice to be able to fit everything in categories, but when it gets too obvious, it's boring. One I always think of is the 'big brother type' always being the one to die saving someone ... Anyway, you asked the weirdest setting? I'd have to say it was a library that was also a self-changing maze and space-traveling, trespasser eating ... something. I never did quite work out how that fit with the rest of the world! From Second of Nine 
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the subject! A library that was a self-changing maze and... okay, I think it is safe to say that your most creative setting is very creative!
Thanks Cinn and Charlie, nicely done article which gave me a chance to ponder my situation.
The novel I am writing has given me a few problems I didn't expect. I choose the uninhabited portion of the State of Arizona for several reasons, as the setting for my dystopic world. The number one reason, by restriction of the law only three people a day are admitted to this vast wilderness, so not many even know it exists. More important to the story later, not many would know how to survive there. I spent a lot of time in the region and know it well.
Here is my question, how much do I describe my setting? I tend to describe the area too much, at least I think. I have been editing out large swaths of description, only using it when the setting impinges on the story, or gives the setting a bleakness.
I will keep this short as I know you will have lots of responses, though as a newbie, I have lots of questions. From Arizona Lawman
Writing from experience and applying it to fantasy or scifi seems reasonable to me! As for the descriptions, if you feel like you are being too descriptive, I'm sure that others would agree. Nothing turns me off to a story faster than a paragraph of description, personally. I have an old standby expression that I use to explain it to people, in fact: I can imagine a forest without you describing every leaf.
It makes sense, no? If the story is in the Action/Adventure genre, I might try to describe things only in relation to action. Pebbles kicked by cowboy boots rolling across dark orange sand... feeling the sting of cactus needles against a forearm as someone slips on the loose ground... climbing over large rock formations... etc. Link it to action and it wont seem like pointless description. Hope this helps and thanks for responding! 
Great thoughts, and well explained. I shall be staring at my settings considerably more. From Smee 
Happy to hear it, Smee! Good luck with your upcoming stories!
I guess I don't have weird settings. I"m pretty much like you, I set the story in the place I think will get the most use or venue. From Quick-Quill 
We can't all pull off those morphing-maze libraries, I suppose! Whatever fits the best for the story is definitely a good option. Agreed! 
I started writing when I was in middle school. I have loved writing for years. The first story I EVER came up with was when Super Mario Brothers (The Movie with Bob Hoskins) came out. Along with the scenes from the movie I placed myself, the brothers from the 3 Ninjas (Rocky, Colt and Tum Tum) and the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. I kid you not. I had all of these super hero characters in one story trying to defeat King Koopa who was well played by Dennis Hopper.
That was a fun story. I just wish I still had it. For some reason I decided I didn't want to keep the stories I came up with. I have no idea why but I threw all of them away. At the time I had around 6 to 10 stories. Some were narratives like I'm working on now in Nanowrimo and this one I described was in screenplay format.
Thank you for the ideas on changing things in our stories to make then not so predictable. From Cadie Laine - gobble, gobble 
 I have to admit that I was very amused at your response to the question. I saw the SMB movie when it came out as well. My little brother insisted on watching it a zillion times along with 3 Ninjas and many others. Now, I am not a fan fiction reader at all, but I would love to give that story a read now, as I'm sure you would too! Thanks for responding!
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