WEAPONIZING your CHARACTERS

There is something brilliant in selecting a weapon for a character that not only works for what must be done story-wise, but which defines the character in specific and perfect ways.

Wasn't that fun?

Not always, but often, there is more going on than just arming your characters. Sure, it could be a world where blades are commonplace and no one is startled by seeing a man with a blade on his belt. But maybe it is a world where only certain people have blades. Then it is a status symbol, displaying power and evoking responsibility. Or maybe, as the Walking Dead franchise is pretty good at showing, the taking up of the weapon is symbolic of the change of mindset in the character.

Did the character fashion the weapon out of ingenuity and need?

Was the weapon a gift of rank?

Was it earned or taken by force?

What did the character go through

to get to the exact place in time

where he could claim the weapon?

What did possessing that weapon mean to the character?

You could feel what the weapon meant to him, right?

Approaching with disbelief, yet in need.

The childlike wonder and joy in claiming the weapon.

The confidence gripping it bestowed him.

The freedom from the chains it gave him.

And what about a character who does not need a visible weapon to

Destroy an Enemy With His Mind?

And what about those who are not the obvious product of fiction,

but who are real and could be in line behind you at the grocery

or in the apartment upstairs, or the cubicle next to you?

 I'm talking about the subtle, sweet faced character armed
with something that cuts deeper, slower,
and does every bit as much damage
as a well-honed and poison-tipped blade.

"If that's how you remember it."

"Gaslighting is a form of emotional abuse where the abuser manipulates situations repeatedly to trick the victim into distrusting his or her own memory and perceptions. Gaslighting is an insidious form of abuse. It makes victims question the very instincts that they have counted on their whole lives, making them unsure of anything. Gaslighting makes it very likely that victims will believe whatever their abusers tell them regardless as to their own experience of the situation. Gaslighting often precedes other types of emotional and physical abuse because the victim of gaslighting is more likely to remain in other abusive situations as well."  (Article this is from is HERE)

I don't think this would be easy to write (both emotionally and tactically), though with the latter the problem of showing the reader everything the victim-character is buying little by little while the reader screams, "You know better!"

Guns, Knives, or Magic: Arming Your Characters

Weapons. Weapons. Weapons. How do I choose if my characters should bear arms? How do  I choose with what I arm my characters?

Genre and time period act as first-round filters of exclusion. Genre because ray guns aren't plausible in Contemporary Inspirational. Time period because Queen Elizabeth did not have a light saber (Walsingham probably would have peed with glee, but still).

Penchant and personality? The most important parts.

Everything a character wears from Underoos to a Claymore says something about the character. It also says something about their preferred environments and the social situations in which they often find themselves.

• Someone who wears a garrote disguised as a necklace? Overconfident Assassin. Requires close proximity and shadows. Has exceptional grooming so as not to give themselves away before the kill.
• Someone who carries a broadsword with a jeweled hilt? Noble Soldier. Requires open space and short timelines of actual conflict (like 5 mins or less). Accustomed to big, bold displays of aggression.
• Someone who wears a pendant filled with poison? Duplicitous Celebrity. Requires an atmosphere of distractions yet uninterrupted delivery of product. Is often seen yet not noticed.
• Someone carrying a Thales LithgowF90? Modern Day RAA Soldier on maneuvers. Requires intel, orders, and a war-torn environment. Functions best as one part of a whole. Team player.

Vadrigyn, the protagonist in my high fantasy LARCOUT? Venomous parasites that grow from her palms. Requires foe to be within reach. What does that choice of weapon say about her? That she's unaccustomed to a kind touch, to intimacy.

Her nemesis? Carries a cudgel but uses his magic to move stones to crush her. Requires area where rocks are present and for target to be within line of sight. What does it say about him? The unused cudgel represents the art of distraction and deception. The use of stone slabs to crush people? He has a penchant for excessive force.

With the choice of preferred weapon, you're also introducing weaknesses. 

The solider with a sword? Can't use it in close quarters. Can easily be separated from it. The soldier using the automatic assault rifle? Easily spotted. Dependent on ammunition and proper function of multiple mechanical parts. Venomous parasites? Can't lay a hand on something without burning or killing it. Stone Mover? Loud noise. Big mess. Structure collapse.

Those who are adept at wielding their preferred weapon are also dependent on it, because repeated use--that whole "the weapon is an extension of self" belief--has created a series of habits during defense or aggression. Those habits can (and should) be used against the beloved character(s).

Yeah but MAGIC...

Creating a unique magic system for your world and characters is awesome and fun...and still bound by a logical give and take. It still needs to be a dance of strengths and weaknesses. It still needs to show balance within the character and within the world. "All Magic comes at a cost..." because it needs to to make good storytelling. Otherwise willynilly unbridled unchecked use means there's no character growth. No character growth means it's a boringass story. So, when constructing a new world of magic and assigning who can do what, ask if the magic enhances the character through:

• Describing the character's station/class
• Reflecting the character's environment
• Caging/hampering the character with dependencies
• Exposing unique habits
• Succumbing to assorted weaknesses borne of wielding said magic.

So, dear readers, when next you think of putting a flail, a Beretta, or an amulet in your characters' hands, consider what that weapon is really saying about your characters.

Why Carry a Big Sword?

One reason I love the cover of THE TALON OF THE HAWK – and what readers always say, too – is that you can’t go wrong with a big, mother-effing sword. 

I love this character, my warrior-princess and heir to the high throne of the Twelve Kingdoms, because she does carry a big sword. Goes without saying that she knows how to use it. It was super fun for me to get to write a warrior heroine who’s really good at what she does. Maybe it’s what I write, but it seems like I don’t get that many opportunities to write a woman who is a dazzlingly skilled fighter.

In fact, when I got this cover from my publisher, I gasped aloud. I loved loved loved how Ursula’s sword shines, her heir’s circlet and her thousand-yard stare. In a state of thrilled excitement, I showed it to my husband. Know what he said?

“That sword is too big for her—she could never swing it.”

More than a little tartly, I replied, “Does it help to know she’s not entirely human?”

At which point he backed off, really fast. No doubt due to that honed spouse’s sense of when they’ve put their foot in it and domestic discord is barreling down the track at them like a drunk driver on the wrong side of the highway. To be fair, he and I studied Chinese martial arts together for many years, and our teacher very much emphasized what female fighters could do versus male fighters—particularly as regards upper body strength. And he doesn’t read my books.

 

But man, way to harsh my buzz!

Especially because I don’t think—maybe I’m wrong and, boys, correct me if I am—that men ever look at a cover with a male hero carrying some improbably large and heavy sword and say, “No way he could swing that thing.” Instead we know it’s fantasy. That’s why we want that story—for the fantasy of the badass hero or heroine who *can* do this thing that would never occur in our reality.

It does, however, point up that these considerations must be weighed. Thus this week’s topic: Choose Your Weapon: Arming Your Characters—how do you choose, from what do you choose, and why?

For me, arming Ursula with a sword wasn’t a decision. When she first walked onto the page as a character, she had her sword in her hand. It becomes an integral part of her character—including the jokes that she sleeps with it. She also uses a variety of knives, but the sword is her primary defense. It’s also a character metaphor, as she holds everyone not just at arm’s length, but at sword length. The jewel in the pommel of her sword holds great significance in the overall story arc, too.

On the other hand, Dafne, the heroine of book 4, THE PAGESOF THE MIND, is a librarian. She’s never going to swing a sword. I did, however, get to write a terrific scene (to my mind!) of Ursula teaching Dafne basic self-defense—with short daggers much more suited to Dafne’s size and strength.

But, you’ll notice, Dafne IS carrying her mother-effing weapon on the cover also. 

We all have our strengths!