How To Accurately Describe Pain In WritingÂ
Pain can be an interesting emotion to write about. It gives authors the liberty to merge their characterâs emotions and surroundings to create beautiful metaphors and graphic descriptions that draw their readers in and convey their characterâs struggles. However, if done wrongly reading your descriptions of pain can feel like a chore to your readers. Unsure how to accurately describe pain in your writing? Here are some tips to help you get started.Â
As humans, we possess five senses that dictate our reactions to the world around us. When writing, it is important to use these five senses rather than just relying on what your character can see. Talk about the sound, the smell, the taste, and even the feeling.Â
If your character just got burnt, talk about the sound of sizzling flesh and the slight numbness they feel. Mention the terrible smell of burnt flesh, and make your character feel dizzy with fear as their eyes finally land on the horrific wound.Â
Internal bleeding makes people spit blood and taste iron and partially healed wounds feel itchy and irritant.Â
There is so much more to pain than what you see, and simply talking about your characterâs wounds isnât nearly enough to make your readers wince in second-hand pain. In fact, they are more likely to skim your passages in boredom.Â
Show your readers what your character is experiencing, and then go on to describe their reaction to this situation.Â
Build It Up, Then Break It DownÂ
Pain doesnât just suddenly come from nowhere. It starts with something small, blossoms, and then spreads. Your character wonât just suddenly get a third-degree burn the size of a baseball by leaning against a hot steel wall for the briefest of seconds. It starts with a light reddish-brown mark, then darkens, maybe even blisters.Â
You canât go from 0 to 100 in one sentence. You need to build it up and show your readers how your characterâs pain was found. Then, break it down.Â
Pain doesnât come from nowhere, but it doesnât suddenly disappear either. Show us how your characterâs wound heals. Does the wound mark from where they hurt their knee turn into an ugly brown shade for a couple of weeks? Do their burns gradually fade from red to pink, or turn darker?Â
Itâs important to show your readers the aftermath of your characterâs pain. A character who just had a bullet pulled out of their shoulder with a hot knife canât suddenly just jump up and start firing at the enemy with perfect aim.Â
You donât need to overdo it and constantly mention their wounds during the healing stage, but something as simple as âher bandages uncomfortably scratched at her back every time she lifted her hand to eatâ or âhis fingers subconsciously shifted to run over the remains of his burn mark even as his eyes remained trained on the blackboardâ will suffice.Â
How Does This Affect Your Character?Â
Physical pain aside, wounds can also have an effect on your characterâs dynamics with others as well as your plot.Â
Itâs important to take into account how they got this wound, how the other characters might react to it, and internalised conflict caused by it. Maybe your character injured their fingers during a game of volleyball and now theyâre staring at their final exam paper with tears of frustration brimming their waterline because it hurts too much to write.
Maybe your protagonist suffered a small burn while sneaking out to go to their friendâs house and their parent or mentor saw it. Or maybe your protagonist won against the antagonist but suffered a grave injury to their legs and now cannot fight during the next confrontation, resulting in a chaotic outbreak at their headquarters.Â
Think about the internal as well as the external damage your characterâs wounds can cause, and then use that as a plot device to further your book.Â
Itâs very important to accurately portray your characterâs level of pain and consider whether or not they would realistically incur such injuries from such a wound. When writing about a characterâs wound or pain consider doing some research about that type of wound.Â
Here are some things you need to check when researching the wound type:Â
How much blood would they loose with this type of wound?Â
What are the side effects?Â
How long will it take to heal?Â
How long does it take for a wound to get to that extent? (for example, if youâre writing about a third-degree burn, research what it takes for a burn to be considered third-degree).Â
What are the major veins, arteries, and other important body parts in that part of the characterâs body? For example, if your character is supposed to be injured on their arm but itâs not supposed to be serious, you need to consider whether the wound could realistically have ruptured their radial artery, resulting in death.Â
Will there be any scarring? What about any long-lasting wound marks?Â
You could also take a look at historical events similar to the one youâre writing. For example, if youâre writing about an assassination attempt consider researching the most historically renowned assassination techniques.Â
Itâs also a good idea to ask your families and friends about their experiences with the type of wound youâre writing about (so long as itâs not a sensitive topic). Maybe you have a cousin who suffered a third-degree burn once or a classmate who has a scar from a graphic wound across their arm.Â
I hope this blog on how to accurately describe pain in writing will help you in your writing journey. Be sure to comment any tips of your own to help your fellow authors prosper, and follow my blog for new blog updates every Monday and Thursday. Â
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