Gunfights

Brisby

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Just looking for opinions here.

In western fiction, do you prefer the gun-play long or short.

L'Amour's fights are short and sweet, sometimes only a sentence. Kelton and Elmore Leonard sometimes have battles going several pages.

My preference is either, depending on how it is written. Though sometimes the 'short and sweet' I find kind of unsatisfying.

Please opine away.
 

Jett.

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The problem with long gunfights, at least from what I've seen in movies, is that the bad guys keep missing the target.

Not quite on topic, one other thing that bores me is when side characters are killed out cold by one shot, while the more relevant characters keep walking and shooting and talking with one more bullets in them.

On the same streak, hero kills red shirts left and right, but then gets all moral on the main baddie "I'm not like you, I won't kill you, you'll rot in prison, (and eventually escape)".

I guess this was (gun)fights bad tropes...
 
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Jamesaritchie

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The problem with long gunfights, at least from what I've seen in movies, is that the bad guys keep missing the target.

Not quite on topic, one other thing that bores me is when side characters are killed out cold by one shot, while the more relevant characters keep walking and shooting and talking with one more bullets in them.

On the same streak, hero kills red shirts left and right, but then gets all moral on the main baddie "I'm not like you, I won't kill you, you'll rot in prison, (and eventually escape)".

I guess this was (gun)fights bad tropes...


Well, in fairness, the good guy usually should be a better shot. Not always, but usually. Most often, he's the one with the most training, and being a good shot takes a LOT of practice.

The guys who go down with one bullet are usually hit somewhere vital, and the guy walking around with several bullets isn't. This is real life. I've seen someone take five large caliber bullets and keep going until he killed the man who shot him. With one bullet.

The "I'm not like you" is usually the difference between self-defense and murder. You can kill all the red shirts you like, if they're trying to kill you, but if you disarm one of them, or get the drop on him, main bad guy or not, and don't have to kill him, you don't.

That's just real life, too, be it the military, or the police.
 

reiver33

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I'd put it down to available cover. The proverbial dispute over cards, or the iconic face-off in the street, is going to be over pretty much before it's begun. Hiding out amongst rocks, or buildings, and banging away at each other - more in hope than expectation - and you could be there a while.
 

Jonah Hex

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I think it depends by the "kind" of the gunfight: if there is a duel, there won't be much to write about; but if there is a gunfight, it could be more eventful, maybe because there are three, four or more opponents, who take shelter from bullets, run away, and so. I'm thinking, for example, to the "Open range" final battle: more opponents, more actions, much to write about it, therefore more pages to fill.