Violence for Writers by Mark Chisnell
If nothing else it’s
an eye-catchingly counter-intuitive title... and after all that baby-talk last
month, I probably needed something gritty and thriller-ish to get back on
message. It’s always a popular question when I tell people that I write
thrillers; how do you know about the fighting and violence? I’ve had a stock
reply for many years; the mostly middle-class reading audience only experiences
violence through books, films and video games anyway, so as long as a story
sticks to the conventions of the genre, no one is going to have much of a
problem.
Most people seemed happy with the answer, but I
was never entirely happy with that as the end of the research process. So I
used to email questions to a friend who’s an ex-Royal Marine – what kind of weapons and strategy would you use
to attack the bridge of a container ship? It turns out that that’s just the
kind of simple question that gets you flagged on NSA and GCHQ watchlists...
Still, my friend’s answers were always helpful. I hope
they gave the action-set pieces in my books a reasonable amount of authenticity
– and the replies often came with entertaining holiday snaps of my friend; the
one of him driving around Baghdad in a beaten-up sedan with an inflatable shark
on the roof, and a semi-automatic dangling out of the window was particularly
memorable...
I’m always on the look-out for ways to improve
my writing though, and as the research is the best part of the job, I don’t
need much of an incentive to read a book that might help. So when I saw this
recommendation from Barry Eisler – a thriller-writer whose work I admire for its
authenticity – I went straight out and bought it; ‘Violence: A Writer's Guide’ by Rory Miller.
Rory Miller is the author of several books on the impact and reality of violence,
and speaks from lots of personal experience as a prisoner officer and martial
artist – this is his blog.
I wouldn’t be writing about the book if I wasn’t about to endorse and pass on
the recommendation.
Miller starts
his book by taking apart many of the assumptions that we writers, readers and
movie-watches make about violence. We’ve all seen and know about the magazines
that never run out - magically refilling with bullets every time the hero gets
into trouble - but even movies heralded for their realism get it wrong
somewhere. Everyone, says Miller, dies screaming for their mother. No
exceptions. Well, maybe just Tom Hanks at the end of Saving Private Ryan
(unlike the rest of the cast).
Did you
know that ‘a man with a knife could
consistently close a distance of seven yards and stab or slash faster than an
officer could draw his firearm. This means that within seven yards, a knife is
an immediate deadly threat.’ No, neither did I, but I have a feeling that
it’s going to have an impact on an action-set piece that I write one day. I was
finishing up my latest story (a short called The Sniper) when I came across
Miller’s book, and so I went back through it to test its assumptions against my
new knowledge. I didn’t do too badly, it’s a Vietnam War story and I had
researched that conflict quite heavily before I started writing. Nevertheless, I
still added and changed a few details, but I’m going to leave you to find
them...
Connect with Mark
Chisnell online at:
Twitter: http://twitter.com/markchisnell
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/markchisnell
Comments
"Everyone, says Miller, dies screaming for their mother. No exceptions."
Chilling - really brings home the reality of the situation. Details like that make it much more real.
So I'd be interested to hear what you make of Miller's biomedical material, Lydia - can he be trusted?! The bits I did know about all rang true.. so I hope he's a good second source for you, Susan.
And I'm always listening for the second click on the phone, Roz, and now I take the 'power' position in cafes and restaurants (or at least check to see who has got that seat), and watch who's behind me in every reflective surface... etc!!