“Try and use a mirror no bullet or a knife”
– Stand and Deliver, Adam and the Ants
Well we’ve seen pieces of mirror used often in horror films, and guns and knives are obvious choices but what else could become a weapon with a little thought?
If you’ve ever read the Robert Ludlum Jason Bourne series you’ll have come across the principle that anything in your immediate surroundings can become a weapon. This isn’t a new revelation. Although many of the things you use every day would never cross your mind as being used as a weapon, in the event of a situation arising that may threaten your life you might have to reconsider. Those whose lives are dependant on their ability to react in violent situations are taught this. The rest of us barely even think about that kind of situation.
But what if it become an important factor in the survival of your character? What if they have to know what to use and how and all they have around them is the usual clutter of daily life?
Your mind will no doubt wander to the kitchen implements in the next room to find something you know that can be used as a weapon – knife, frying pan, fire. But in a real fight your opponent isn’t waiting around for you to be ready, and there isn’t a pre-designed coordinated fight scene.
Real fights are messy.
And your characters personality plays a role in how they deal with a fight, how the fight itself appears to them if you’re writing from their point of view, and how well they can throw a punch.
If your character has never fought before the chances of them being able to pull off a flying roundhouse kick are slim to none – hell even for those who have fought for years have difficulty with this one. It’s also a pretty pointless skill in a real fight.
Like I said it’s messy. The difference between a seasoned fighter and someone whose never fought is muscle memory. A seasoned fighters body already knows the moves, already knows how the hips swing to throw a punch, and doesn’t need the brain to think it through first. It’s instinct, they are trained to see the gaps, the possibilities, and even then there is no guarantee they will win. There is never a guarantee of winning.
If you’ve never fought the punch comes from the wrong place, your balance is off when you kick, you have no idea how hard you have to hit to make a difference – especially when you consider the role of adrenalin in a fight. The way it dulls pain, heightens awareness, changes time. And that happens for both fighters.
Here’s another key point – the difference between an angry fight and an emotionless one. There’s a reason fighters are told to leave their emotions at the door – you don’t fight angry.
Why am I telling you about fighting bare handed when I started out talking about weapons? Because your character is the weapon when they have nothing else to use.
But add something like a pen, knitting needle, or hair chopstick and you’ve got an instant weapon. Admittedly a little difficult to wield but they can pierce the skin and do some damage. You remember that kid at school that once stuck you with a pencil lead, broke the skin, and made your hand bleed, and they were just fooling around? Imagine the damage if you aimed your pointy stick at a neck, hand, arm, or leg. It might not stop them completely but it might slow them down. How about the eye?
Coffee mug over the head or to the face? It probably won’t smash but it will hurt. Curtain tie? If the character is close enough and doesn’t get it caught on the hook they might be able to get it around their opponents neck and attempt to strangle them.
And if it’s in a location that the character is in before the fight scene you can easily, casually, slip it into the pages of an earlier chapter – ‘can I borrow your pen Gran?’
Think about the setting for your fight scene, where it is and what’s likely to be about.
What if it’s not a fight and it’s just a straight up murder?
Well, premeditated or not might make a difference here. You could still use environmental objects, the usual methods, or you could consider something a little more unusual.
What about a weapon made of ice? The evidence would just melt away.
A gun made from a 3d printer that would only fire once and then could be melted? – Elementary
A car – the most readily available form of weapon in the modern age.
Stiletto perhaps, either the heel or a very pointy toe.
Nail gun or hammer, well pretty much any tool could be used as a weapon in some way.
Out of date weapons would also be a possibility – something used ornamentally perhaps that had been modified to work again.
Take a look around you now and tell me what you see. What could be used as a weapon if you had no choice but to defend yourself right now.
Putting the weapon in their hands
Most of the time you’ll have some idea about the weapon you plan to have your character use. And you’ll probably do quite a bit of research to make sure you have your facts right. But don’t forget to make sure it’s something believable for your character.
That’s the hard part. Keeping the fight scene or murder scene in line with the character of your, well, character. Did you mistakenly give them the fighting skills of Jason Bourne and Ronda Rousey’s love child when previously they’d been a studious, clumsy, librarian?
That’s not to say people who’ve never fought before can’t accomplish great acts of heroism and bravery but you have to remember the way they’d do it would be completely different.
If you want to research fights don’t rely on the movies. Watch MMA, watch youtube vidoes, go to a class, fight in a competition. There are a number of martial arts that will teach you about using weapons, using what’s around you, in self defence. Ask people who’ve been in real fights what it’s like, what they felt, what they were thinking.
And remember – what you think you would do in a situation is rarely what you will actually do in a situation. So unless your character has been in that situation before they’re unlikely to know what to do. If you want them to know what to do make sure you weave that knowledge into the story early on somehow. Even the fight scenes have to be believable.
Kate xxx
Horror and Fantasy Author – Also writing as K.T. McQueen. Love Western Horror, cowboy boots, my cactus Collin, & my Demon Cat.
Moths – I hate moths, the way they flutter at your face!
