Time for my two cents on the issue:
In stories which occur in a military setting, familiarity with the
military
helps give the story a proper feel. Personal experience is very
good for
that, perhaps even best, but reading and research can help
enormously, as
well. What you have to get into your writing is enough military
realism that
the work doesn't scream out to the person with some casual military
knowledge
that the author is screwing up big time.
I have to admit this is a biggie. Writers such as Jamie Wilde (Ranma
Goes to War), the aforementioned AOD and even (shameless plug) my own
Evangelion: the Bond series all delve heavily into the life of the
military. You cannot get that realism level unless you've been a
blueshirt (or cammies, for you non-squidlings)or done an intense
amount of research, and even then there are some aspects which you
cannot understand unless you've been in those sorts of situations.
I have seen authors who try to do the military bit and fail, simply
because of stupid things that in some cases, could have been solved by
asking someone with a military background. In some cases, even the
source materials themselves fail (in Robotech, the rank system done up
by the original writers is a bit out there; Rick Hunter goes from
Sergeant to Lieutenant to Commander to General to Admiral--anyone spot
the errors?), but those sorts of errors are few. If you're going to
have the military in your fics, at least do yourself and your readers
some justice and do research, or ask one of the military types here on
the list. Admittedly, most of us here are US military (in fact, if
I'm not mistaken, most of the milpers here are USN), but we do know
something about other militaries.
However, I do have to admit one other thing: don't go overboard. My
first part of ETB was filled with so much military usage that a lot of
readers said I overwhelmed them with terms like CINCPACFLT (Commander
in Chief, Pacific Fleet, folks) and Mk62B2 ASROCs (Mark 62, Block 2
AntiSubmarineROCkets).
Whatever you do though, at least try to be accurate with the military,
lest you run the risk of being keelhauled from stem to stern (that's
Naval talk for getting flamed).
===
Rob
(Run and play, and while away the hours.... --The Sundays)
ashita@cchono.com ashita@rocketmail.com AIM: CaliCatCaf
http://www.geocities.com/~calicatcafe
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Pagoda/2314/sailormoon_ax/
http://www.bigfoot.com/~StudioYOGIPIGS
http://members.tripod.com/nekohanten
When I get angry, Mr. Bigglesworth gets upset. And when Mr.
Bigglesworth
gets upset... people die!
-- Dr. Evil
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