I think leaving the gun is definitely more of a plate than taking it.  Why would anyone leave a perfectly good gun lying around?  You can never have too many guns.
I suppose it would make a difference if the character is a pacifist who detests weapons.  All I know is, if I killed a bad guy I'd take his gun.  That would be the first thing I'd do as soon as I killed him.  Even if a villain is dead, I don't want a weapon near him.  

Jessica Lada
________________________________________
From: PWA Inside Talk [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of canadianokie [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, March 24, 2010 11:05 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: The Gun on The Mantel

How important is the gun?  Is it a character in the story?
If there's no further use for the gun, ditch the sucker.
If the villain isn't dead, then leaving the gun there will give him a reason to use it again later--definite plate.
If the villain is dead, the hero can take/toss it/leave it right after he checks the villain's pockets for extra cash.  But, if the gun is important in the story, you have to mention what happens to it.

If you think the gun is a plate, you can always bring it down right away.  The hero can wander back to camp and toss it in a munitions pile.  Plate down.

There's my two cents--you get what you pay for.  :-)

--Jocelyn Pedersen



On Mar 24, 2010, at 10:42 AM, Michael Wilkinson wrote:

> I think his taking the gun is less a plate than his leaving it--people just tend to take useful things from their dead enemies it seems. Of course, this kind of depends on what kind of gun it is, the character of the hero, etc., but in general I'd say if he takes it, it's less expected for it to come up again.
> As for disposing of it, there's always the possibility of it getting knocked over a cliff by someone with more martial arts skill than the hero can handle... Very bland, yes, but I'm not familiar enough with the story to offer anything else.
> Good luck!
> Michael Wilkinson
>
> On Mar 24, 2010, at 8:38 AM, Meghan Barnes wrote:
>
>> Question, dear writer friends:
>>
>> I'm editing a sci-fi fantasty. There is a battle between the hero and villain, and the hero wins. The villain dies. The hero leaves to go back to his camp without the gun, also leaving the dead body.
>>
>> When I read, I wasn't so convinced the villain was dead (and really don't think he should be, but that's another story), so I told him the hero should take the gun.
>>
>> Here's the question.
>>
>> Is his leaving the gun more of a plate than his taking it? (If he leaves it, does it have to come up again?)
>>
>> Or is his taking the gun more of a plate than his leaving it? (If he takes it, does it have to come up again?)
>>
>> How do we dispose of this gun best if it's not going to come up again (even though it should, but again, another story).
>>
>> Thank you for your second, third, and fourth opinions.
>>
>> MB