Remember, also, that your readers haven’t applied some arbitrary characteristics to your weapon – though the ideas attached to specific weapons may seem strange, they usually come from some facet of the weapon’s use or its depiction in culture. Usually, it’s a far better idea to think about how you want a character to be seen and arm them accordingly. That’s not to say that the weapon should dictate the character. This means that unless you’re prepared to put in a lot of work to change your reader’s mind about one particular weapon, a character’s choice of weapon has to be connected to their personality. Already ‘understanding’ the personality attached to a weapon, your reader will take that weapon as a huge clue to the nature of its wielder. For the same reason I can pick up this pencil, tell you its name is Steve, and go like this… …and part of you dies, just a little bit, because people can connect with anything.Īnd it’s not just the weapon that your reader has figured out – it’s the character who uses it. Sharks don’t even observe Shark Week, but we do. We’re the only species on Earth that observes ‘Shark Week’. Weapons are no exception, and even readers who have only ever encountered weaponry in fiction will have a definite idea about the ‘personality’ that weapons possess. We name our cars, swear at our computers and, if a child falls down, it’s not unusual to see their parent smacking the pavement in a show of retaliation. Before that, though, it’s time to talk about what your character’s weapon says about their personality. I’ll take a look at how you can invent new weapons that work for your story and how drawbacks and limits can make a weapon feel truly epic. What’s a fantasy story without a truly amazing weapon? The kind of no-holds-barred cool armament that inspires your reader to swing their arms round in the privacy of their home, imagining they’re actually getting to wield the ‘one sword’, ‘enchanted bow’ or ‘pot-bellied-pig cannon’ of their dreams? Nothing, that’s what, which is why in this article I’ll be talking about how you can set about picking the right weapons for your fantasy characters and, once you have, how you can get readers to obsess over them.
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