Christine Frazier’s Better Novel Project is hosting my post today, 6 Tips for Writing Fantasy Weapons. Frazier also drew the illustrations in this infographic by hand, which shows you how much time she puts into making the site one worth checking out.
Since releasing The Writer’s Guide to Weapons, I’ve been surprised by how often I’m asked about fantasy weapons. I didn’t include a section on them in the book, but maybe that was a mistake. I underestimated how much of an impact weapons creation has in the fantasy genre. This post is me making amends for that, and I hope to include something similar to this should there be a second edition.
That said, it might surprise some to know that despite there being no rules for fantasy weapons on the surface, there actually are guidelines to follow. Even though they’re completely made up, there are some aspects of fantasy weapons that can’t be imagined away. There’s plenty of reality in that fantasy.
Even if you don’t write in this genre, give 6 Tips for Writing Fantasy Weapons a read. I think you’ll find it interesting.
The Writer's Guide to Weapons 
Will do. Now you’ve got me curious.
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On “Match the Weapon to the User”, here is a wrinkle about pistols that most people won’t know:
Small semi-auto pistols are HARDER to work the slide on than big semi-auto pistols, assuming the same caliber of ammunition between two pistols. This is because the springs on the smaller, shorter pistol have to be stiffer to provide the same amount of resistance overall as the springs on the larger pistol. Practically, this means that a smaller pistol might LOOK like it would be better for someone with weaker hands, but they may actually find it next to impossible to rack the slide on it and chamber a round.
This DOES NOT apply to revolvers, which makes a small revolver a good choice for someone with small hands looking for a gun that’s easy to use.
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That can be true, too. With that article, I was creating a rule of thumb easy to understand for writers who didn’t want to get that technical. The trouble with any generalization with weapons info is that there are tons of exceptions.
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