guest Anne Fox. Anne is an author, firearms instructor, former flight instructor, and holds degrees in music and biochemistry/molecular biology. She currently spends her time writing, traveling, and participating in marksmanship competitions.Fiona
Anne we are talking about strong women protagonists today. With your background you were the living embodiment of many of our heroines. You've known strong, effective women. Let's start with what you've seen authors get right about the women, and conversely some of the mistakes you see.
Anne
Some authors correctly portray strong women protagonists as women who aren't afraid to take on a traditionally male role. This is something that I have seen in the strong women I know: they'll take on a task, whether it be entering law enforcement, going into the military, becoming a scientist in a "hard" science field like chemistry, mathematics, etc., or becoming a pilot.
Things that authors get wrong are that these women are always beautiful, always have a love interest on the side that they are subservient to, still maintain what I would call "feminine correct" behavior and language, or are "bitchy."
Fiona -
The sexualization of women. Sure, they do the "Rambo" thing with men in a lot of movies, and frankly that's the type of hero I portray in my novels. The men are sexy in their capability. The men's capacity is visually displayed through their muscles. And I'm not going to pretend I don't enjoy that.
But there are few films in which a women isn't sexualized, mainly through her clothing. And her sexualization isn't about her capacity to perform the tactical job.
Translating that to the book world. On my covers, it's been hard to the point that I've given up, to find female models looking tactically capable. That's not true of your covers. Can you speak to that?
Anne I hate that the way women with guns - and even female snipers - are portrayed is as the half-naked bimbo with a banged-up AK. On my covers, I ran out of good stock photos for depicting a female sniper, so I hired the daughter of a friend who looks like the "Hank" in my books to be a cover model and now do my own photography for the covers. This started with the seventh book of the series (Engineered for Death). She wears tactical gear and we use my own guns for the photo shoots when they require showing her in sniper mode.
Fiona
How do you approach developing your female characters?
 |
| AMAZON |
I think any author actually pulls their characters out of themselves.
In my series, "Hank" (my female unit sniper) mirrors my own love of marksmanship and long-range rifle shooting as well as flying. She also reflects my strong believe in an even-handed application of justice.
One of the medical doctors, "Doc Rich," mirrors my own self-critical inner voice: "You should eat healthier, you should take better care of yourself, it's for your own good."
The unit's forensic scientist, Doc Sue, who is introduced in one of the later books, is the person I wanted to be: a forensic scientist working in the FBI's crime lab. One embellishes the character somewhat, but essentially they're the people you've had in your head all along.
Fiona
Are there female protagonists that you think were done really well in film or TV. What aspects did you find gave them their authenticity?
Anne
In my series, "Hank" (my female unit sniper) mirrors my own love of marksmanship and long-range rifle shooting as well as flying. She also reflects my strong believe in an even-handed application of justice.
One of the medical doctors, "Doc Rich," mirrors my own self-critical inner voice: "You should eat healthier, you should take better care of yourself, it's for your own good."
The unit's forensic scientist, Doc Sue, who is introduced in one of the later books, is the person I wanted to be: a forensic scientist working in the FBI's crime lab. One embellishes the character somewhat, but essentially they're the people you've had in your head all along.
Fiona
Are there female protagonists that you think were done really well in film or TV. What aspects did you find gave them their authenticity?
 |
| AMAZON |
Unfortunately, in my genre I don't see a lot of female protagonists that are even portrayed in anything other than a supporting role.
I tend to be frustrated by watching programs (film or television) that portray law enforcement personnel in general (my series deals with a covert law enforcement unit). This is largely due to the errors I see in gun-handling, firearms use, and correct portrayal of the requirements of the law as well as the characters.
People in law enforcement are not anything like what you see in film or TV. They aren't always dead serious - if they were, they'd go insane with what they see on the job. They don't simply observe something in a detached manner - it affects them, sometimes to the point of PTSD.
They often use humor and raunchiness to deflect from the rigors of the job. This is seldom, if ever, portrayed in film or TV.
It's for this reason that I write The Unit series as I do, portraying the members of the tactical (field team) group as pulling pranks on one another, being bored during intelligence briefings, being horrified by some of the things they see, and even being deeply and adversely affected by the things they might have to do while "on the job."
I should let you know, also, that that phrase, "on the job," is what law enforcement people use to describe being on duty.
I should add, also, that suicide is a very real thing among those in law enforcement.
Fiona
Is there a passage from one of your works that you think exemplifies your protagonist using humor and/or raunchiness to deal with the situation.
Anne
Numerous ones!
A little background on this passage: Spud is Hank's "husband." I put that in quotes, because this team is so covert that they've had their deaths faked, rendering them legally "nonpersons." But the two have had a "marriage" unit-style and live as husband and wife. They are at the finale of an intelligence briefing, which Spud always leads. Spud is telling an unusual but true story taken from the news, and Hank is making commentary throughout his retelling of the story. This is from my newest release Redemption.
I should let you know, also, that Hal is the unit's supercomputer.
“And last but not least...”
“Finally,” Hank muttered.
Five sets of eyes flew from Hank to Spud and back again.
“You can’t make this stuff up. Seems we have a woman who is an author of romantic suspense novels who wrote a story in her blog about how to murder your husband.”
“Wasn’t me,” Hank said, getting her teammates wondering.
“Later, the husband was found dying of a gunshot wound.”
“Still wasn’t me. As you can see, he’s quite alive.”
“The husband died without regaining consciousness, and the wife wrote to her fans expressing her sadness over her husband’s murder.”
“Maybe understandable,” Hank mused.
Eyebrows were getting raised.
“But a neighbor said she was acting more like it was a godsend.”
“That, too, might be understandable.”
“So, she’s been arrested for his murder.”
“Wasn’t me. Could have been me – but wasn’t.”
Hank and Spud could feel the tension in the air as the team contemplated first their dual claim of being tired and then the odd back and forth as Spud told his news story of the novelist who played out her story.
Hank sat with her chin on her hands. Moving one to tap it on her watch, she then grinned. “Hal, display team photo on monitor CR1.”
The monitor sprang to life, and a photo of the six men of the team, Spud with a Secret Service face in play and the five others wearing a standard ‘what the fuck?’ expression appeared.
Spud lowered his head, a huge grin spreading across his face while Hank started laughing out loud, nearly falling sideways into Amigo’s lap.
“See? I told you we could string them along for the entire intel meeting and get that ‘oh, no – Spud and Hank had a tiff’ look.” The other five men all scowled at her. She lifted her wrist and tapped again, this time catching the scowl. “And there’s the ‘we fell for some bullshit’ faces.”
Fiona
Thank you. I'd like to go back to the gun issues.
I have addressed some of them on ThrillWriting especially as some writers are from countries who would not have the opportunity to try what they are writing.
In my article on drawing from a side holster, I've addressed things like having breasts and shooting with the arm tucked in - great that it keeps someone from grabbing the gun, not so great in that the flash is so close to the girls.
What little points in female shooting could we include that would make gun experts like you feel comfortable with our prose.
Anne
Ok - I'll put my firearms instructor hat on for you. I teach numerous courses, including concealed carry and preparation for law enforcement qualification course of fire.
First: holstering. Believe it or not! Most women have difficulty with holsters designed for men. The reason is that women's torsos are shorter than men's, so if a strong-side holster (one mounted on the side of the body on the shooting hand side and mounted on a duty belt) is used, it can be very difficult to draw. For this reason, I always recommend to my law enforcement women that they use what's called a "dropped and offset" holster: one that is mounted on the belt, but drops about 1.5" down and 1/2" out from the belt. This corrects two problems:
In shooting from retention (the gun held against the body), for both men AND women, I train to rotate the handgun out so that the butt of the grip is against the body and the chamber is pointing to the right. This avoids
Shooting from retention is ONLY done at close range: a distance where extending the arms would make it possible for an assailant to grab the gun.
Things general to shooting, male or female:
Fiona
Thanks so much for this information Anne. From this article we know that Anne uses her own life and facets of her character to shape her prose. Since she is a tactically capable woman living in a tactical world, reading and studying her novels is a good place to go to develop your own understanding of that world.
Here's Anne's Amazon Page.
This article was written in May 2020 in the time of COVID. I hope you are reading writing and finding new ways to thrive.
Be well,
Fiona
I tend to be frustrated by watching programs (film or television) that portray law enforcement personnel in general (my series deals with a covert law enforcement unit). This is largely due to the errors I see in gun-handling, firearms use, and correct portrayal of the requirements of the law as well as the characters.
People in law enforcement are not anything like what you see in film or TV. They aren't always dead serious - if they were, they'd go insane with what they see on the job. They don't simply observe something in a detached manner - it affects them, sometimes to the point of PTSD.
They often use humor and raunchiness to deflect from the rigors of the job. This is seldom, if ever, portrayed in film or TV.
It's for this reason that I write The Unit series as I do, portraying the members of the tactical (field team) group as pulling pranks on one another, being bored during intelligence briefings, being horrified by some of the things they see, and even being deeply and adversely affected by the things they might have to do while "on the job."
I should let you know, also, that that phrase, "on the job," is what law enforcement people use to describe being on duty.
I should add, also, that suicide is a very real thing among those in law enforcement.
Fiona
Is there a passage from one of your works that you think exemplifies your protagonist using humor and/or raunchiness to deal with the situation.
Anne
Numerous ones!
A little background on this passage: Spud is Hank's "husband." I put that in quotes, because this team is so covert that they've had their deaths faked, rendering them legally "nonpersons." But the two have had a "marriage" unit-style and live as husband and wife. They are at the finale of an intelligence briefing, which Spud always leads. Spud is telling an unusual but true story taken from the news, and Hank is making commentary throughout his retelling of the story. This is from my newest release Redemption.
I should let you know, also, that Hal is the unit's supercomputer.
“And last but not least...”
“Finally,” Hank muttered.
Five sets of eyes flew from Hank to Spud and back again.
“You can’t make this stuff up. Seems we have a woman who is an author of romantic suspense novels who wrote a story in her blog about how to murder your husband.”
“Wasn’t me,” Hank said, getting her teammates wondering.
“Later, the husband was found dying of a gunshot wound.”
“Still wasn’t me. As you can see, he’s quite alive.”
“The husband died without regaining consciousness, and the wife wrote to her fans expressing her sadness over her husband’s murder.”
“Maybe understandable,” Hank mused.
Eyebrows were getting raised.
“But a neighbor said she was acting more like it was a godsend.”
“That, too, might be understandable.”
“So, she’s been arrested for his murder.”
“Wasn’t me. Could have been me – but wasn’t.”
Hank and Spud could feel the tension in the air as the team contemplated first their dual claim of being tired and then the odd back and forth as Spud told his news story of the novelist who played out her story.
Hank sat with her chin on her hands. Moving one to tap it on her watch, she then grinned. “Hal, display team photo on monitor CR1.”
The monitor sprang to life, and a photo of the six men of the team, Spud with a Secret Service face in play and the five others wearing a standard ‘what the fuck?’ expression appeared.
Spud lowered his head, a huge grin spreading across his face while Hank started laughing out loud, nearly falling sideways into Amigo’s lap.
“See? I told you we could string them along for the entire intel meeting and get that ‘oh, no – Spud and Hank had a tiff’ look.” The other five men all scowled at her. She lifted her wrist and tapped again, this time catching the scowl. “And there’s the ‘we fell for some bullshit’ faces.”
Fiona
Thank you. I'd like to go back to the gun issues.
I have addressed some of them on ThrillWriting especially as some writers are from countries who would not have the opportunity to try what they are writing.
In my article on drawing from a side holster, I've addressed things like having breasts and shooting with the arm tucked in - great that it keeps someone from grabbing the gun, not so great in that the flash is so close to the girls.
What little points in female shooting could we include that would make gun experts like you feel comfortable with our prose.
Anne
Ok - I'll put my firearms instructor hat on for you. I teach numerous courses, including concealed carry and preparation for law enforcement qualification course of fire.
First: holstering. Believe it or not! Most women have difficulty with holsters designed for men. The reason is that women's torsos are shorter than men's, so if a strong-side holster (one mounted on the side of the body on the shooting hand side and mounted on a duty belt) is used, it can be very difficult to draw. For this reason, I always recommend to my law enforcement women that they use what's called a "dropped and offset" holster: one that is mounted on the belt, but drops about 1.5" down and 1/2" out from the belt. This corrects two problems:
- having the handgun too high to comfortably draw from
- having the handgun grip angled into the body due to the curvature of the hip, also making it difficult to draw.
In shooting from retention (the gun held against the body), for both men AND women, I train to rotate the handgun out so that the butt of the grip is against the body and the chamber is pointing to the right. This avoids
- the issues of breasts getting in the way (the handgun should be held at the hip anyway - meaning this shouldn't be an issue to begin with)
- the slide coming back and hitting the body
- hot brass going down your neck that will burn you - although smart officers wear UnderArmor or some other style of clothing that has a close-fitting neck.
Shooting from retention is ONLY done at close range: a distance where extending the arms would make it possible for an assailant to grab the gun.
Things general to shooting, male or female:
- The finger is never placed on the trigger until you are ready to shoot. This only takes a fraction of a second, and keeps you from negligently (we don't say "accidentally" because it's not an accident - it's negligence) shooting a round before you intend to.
- You can't send 20 rounds from a 7-round magazine - if the person has a 1911 then they will have 7 in the magazine and one more chambered.
- A gun isn't carried "hot" (safety on "fire") because of the danger of shooting yourself in the leg while drawing! It's carried "cocked and locked": ready to go once the safety is moved to the "fire" position.
- Portraying exaggerated recoil is all wrong (where as the gun is fired, the end of the barrel [the muzzle] is jerked up into the air). Correct recoil management will have the gun rise slightly, then return to horizontal in response to one's own musculature and control of the gun.
Thanks so much for this information Anne. From this article we know that Anne uses her own life and facets of her character to shape her prose. Since she is a tactically capable woman living in a tactical world, reading and studying her novels is a good place to go to develop your own understanding of that world.
Here's Anne's Amazon Page.
This article was written in May 2020 in the time of COVID. I hope you are reading writing and finding new ways to thrive.
Be well,
Fiona
No comments:
Post a Comment