First, here is a very lovely pic, Space Exploration-Styx by Santa Norvaisaite. Source: https://santanorvaisaite.com/projects/PXW313?album_id=2158539
So this blog isn’t going to be about the picture above, but about a book I was reading today. In it, they talk about a piece of technology. They mention having to get used to a manual safety on a gun because they use Biometric gun grips. I’m not an expert on guns, I’m competent. My biggest ‘gun accomplishment’ to date is earning the most ‘A zone’ hits in a practical shooting competition. I managed this feat of basic accuracy by going so slowly that I nearly placed last. The competition was a lot of fun. So don’t take anything I say about guns as gospel. So why am I writing this? Because what I want to address isn’t about guns. It’s about storytelling and how I’d want someone to deal with me when I eventually make the same mistake. (Because we all do.)
So what mistakes did this author make? First, he gave the character a Glock with a manual safety. Glock safeties are internal. To use it, you just pull the trigger. There are actually some Glocks with manual safeties but they are rare. Then, they kind of just assumed that biometric gun grips work. The thing about a system like that is that it has to work 100% of the time. Even if you or it are covered in demon goo, blood, or dirt. I don’t currently know of a system that is able to work with that in theory. Most importantly, he assumed that a biometric grip would be a replacement for a safety. While I don’t personally carry a gun with a safety, I wouldn’t necessarily want my gun to be ready to fire anytime that I’m just picking it up. The combination of these three completely kicked me out of the narrative of the book.
Much as I’m complaining here, the book wasn’t really about guns. It was about fighting demons who want to rule the world. Well, it’s also about the fact that the main character isn’t proficient with guns as the other character. It’s also about the relationship between the three characters in the scene. Of those four things, the accuracy about what they said about guns is the least important thing. Because of that, I’ll continue on because I’m connected to other things in the story than guns.
I don’t know if the author wants to know if he’s wrong. I think I probably would. I think if I made a mistake that kicked someone out of a book, I’d like to know. Perhaps even fix it. But what I really want is for someone to keep reading what I’m writing and connecting with the world and characters that I’m creating. That’s the thing that is most important, and what I want to happen when people read what I write.
In summary, I read a book that I enjoyed that has this moment where they say something weird about guns and kicked me out of the story. However, I think we need to understand that those details aren’t really what we are reading for. We are reading for connection, conflict, and character.
I hope you have enjoyed my rambling musings and that’s it for today.