Is it normal guns in horror stories usually bug me?

So I’m an aspiring writer, and while horror isn’t my main genre, if I ever feel like I’ll write a quick horror story as a part of a collection of short stories I hope to write some day. Now, I often avoid having characters use guns in general, but I do make exceptions (like one poem I wrote that described the way people died, if I felt it worked with the flow) but for whatever reason I always make it a revolver. I’m not entirely sure why, maybe because it has that Wild West feel, or it just appeals to me. Idk.

But the main reason is this: my favorite horror stories are ones that feel ancient, like these horrors have been around since the beginning of time, and guns, while an old invention, are nowhere near that archaic. I personally prefer knives if a weapon must be used by the villain, as those have been around a LONG time and can often lead to much slower, much more painful deaths!

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57% Normal
Based on 7 votes (4 yes)
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Comments ( 4 )
  • Guns are “overpowered” a lot in most cases, usually leaves things pretty boring. In most any case any problem can be solved by shooting the bad guy in the head, so I can see why they can be boring and predictable to use.

    And as my girlfriend likes to suggest in almost every action or horror movie we have ever watched together, “Just shoot him!” isn’t very fun.

    Though, one story I read from a local writer had this long and crazy action story, you followed this main character through all of this drama and suspense, just for him to accidentally shoot and kill himself during what you think is a transition scene. Something about the casual and abrupt death of such an important person was so shocking it ended up working really well. Just one slip and it’s over just like that. Scary and sudden realism.

    I’m going off on a tangent now, but the melee and hand to hand action is usually much more entertaining!

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  • CozmoWank

    You can have a long, slow, painful death with a gun. It all depends on the location of the wound.
    There are 3 ways to die from a gunshot wound:
    1- Headshot, shuts down the central nervous system. Quick.
    2 - You bleed to death. Slower.
    or
    3 - Infection sets in and you die from sepsis. Slowest.

    But write about whatever works for you.

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  • Tommythecaty

    It’s because guns are very impersonal. They lack the horror element.

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  • FromTheSouthWeirdMan

    Yeah makes sense

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