10 Non-Lethal Injuries to Add Pain to Your Writing
If you need a simple way to make your characters feel pain, here are some ideas:
1. Sprained Ankle
A common injury that can severely limit mobility. This is useful because your characters will have to experience a mild struggle and adapt their plans to their new lack of mobiliy. Perfect to add tension to a chase scene.
2. Rib Contusion
A painful bruise on the ribs can make breathing difficult, helping you sneak in those ragged wheezes during a fight scene. Could also be used for something sport-related! It's impactful enough to leave a lingering pain but not enough to hinder their overall movement.
3. Concussions
This common brain injury can lead to confusion, dizziness, and mood swings, affecting a character’s judgment heavily. It can also cause mild amnesia.
I enjoy using concussions when you need another character to subtly take over the fight/scene, it's an easy way to switch POVs. You could also use it if you need a 'cute' recovery moment with A and B.
4. Fractured Finger
A broken finger can complicate tasks that require fine motor skills. This would be perfect for characters like artists, writers, etc. Or, a fighter who brushes it off as nothing till they try to throw a punch and are hit with pain.
5. Road Rash
Road rash is an abrasion caused by friction. Aka scraping skin. The raw, painful sting resulting from a fall can be a quick but effective way to add pain to your writing. Tip: it's great if you need a mild injury for a child.
6. Shoulder Dislocation
This injury can be excruciating and often leads to an inability to use one arm, forcing characters to confront their limitations while adding urgency to their situation. Good for torture scenes.
7. Deep Laceration
A deep laceration is a cut that requires stitches. As someone who got stitches as a kid, they really aren't that bad! A 2-3 inch wound (in length) provides just enough pain and blood to add that dramatic flair to your writing while not severely deterring your character.
This is also a great wound to look back on since it often scars. Note: the deeper and wider the cut the worse your character's condition. Don't give them a 5 inch deep gash and call that mild.
8. Burns
Whether from fire, chemicals, or hot surfaces, burns can cause intense suffering and lingering trauma. Like the previous injury, the lasting physical and emotional trauma of a burn is a great wound for characters to look back on.
If you want to explore writing burns, read here.
9. Pulled Muscle
This can create ongoing pain and restrict movement, offering a window to force your character to lean on another. Note: I personally use muscle related injuries when I want to focus more on the pain and sprains to focus on a lack of mobility.
10. Tendonitis
Inflammation of a tendon can cause chronic pain and limit a character's ability to perform tasks they usually take for granted. When exploring tendonitis make sure you research well as this can easily turn into a more severe injury.
This is a quick, brief list of ideas to provide writers inspiration. Since it is a shorter blog, I have not covered the injuries in detail. This is inspiration, not a thorough guide. Happy writing! :)
Looking For More Writing Tips And Tricks?
Check out the rest of Quillology with Haya; a blog dedicated to writing and publishing tips for authors!
always thought that it was crazy other folks with adhd couldn't focus on podcasts when i was totally immune from that issue
then quarantine happened, i stopped driving long distances every day, and you will never fucking believe what I learned I can't do
Wait. Do people just sit down and have a podcast without any other sides, like it's a full meal? Podcast is something you ADD to other activity. That's like eating a bowl of cilantro and going "mmm yummy salad"
Writing fight scenes requires a delicate balance of action, emotion, and detail to keep readers engaged and immersed in the moment.
Here are some tips to craft compelling fight scenes:
Know your characters: Understand their fighting styles, strengths, and weaknesses—are they offensive, or defensive? Spontaneous, or strategic? Trigger-happy, or reluctant? Their personalities and motivations will influence their actions and decisions during the fight.
Create tension: Build tension leading up to the fight to increase the stakes and make the action more gripping. Foreshadowing, verbal sparring, or physical intimidation can all contribute to a sense of anticipation.
Use sensory details: Engage the reader's senses by describing the sights, sounds, smells, and physical sensations of the fight. This helps to create a vivid and immersive experience—but make sure not to overdo it. Too much detail can distract from the adrenaline of the fight.
Maintain clarity: Ensure that the action is easy to follow by using clear and concise language. Avoid overly complicated sentences or excessive description that could confuse readers.
Focus on emotions: Show the emotional impact of the fight on your characters. Describe their fear, anger, determination, or adrenaline rush to make the scene more compelling and relatable.
Include strategic elements: Incorporate tactics, strategy, and improvisation into the fight to make it more dynamic and realistic. Think about how your characters use their surroundings, weapons, or special abilities to gain an advantage.
Balance dialogue and action: Intersperse dialogue with action to break up the fight scene and provide insight into the characters' thoughts and intentions. Dialogue can also reveal or support the characters' personalities and motivations.
Keep it concise: While it's important to provide enough detail to immerse readers in the action, avoid unnecessary padding or overly long fight scenes. Keep the pacing brisk to maintain momentum and keep readers hooked.
Show the consequences: Illustrate the aftermath of the fight, including injuries, emotional trauma, or changes in relationships between characters. This adds depth to the scene and helps to drive the story forward.
whats up?? would you mind giving prompts for “movement”? take for example: “She walks over to the boy”. Instead of saying “She walks”, i would like something more creative?
Synonyms for "Walk"
stroll
saunter
amble
trudge
plod
march
stride
wander
ramble
advance
make one's way
traipse
prowl
skip
Synonyms for "run"
dart
sprint
rush
dash
hurry
scurry
scuttle
charge
gallop
bound
fly
scamper
sprint
race
jog
trot
I hope this helps! Let me know if I got what you wanted :)
Tips for writing those gala scenes, from someone who goes to them occasionally:
Generally you unbutton and re-button a suit coat when you sit down and stand up.
You’re supposed to hold wine or champagne glasses by the stem to avoid warming up the liquid inside. A character out of their depth might hold the glass around the sides instead.
When rich/important people forget your name and they’re drunk, they usually just tell you that they don’t remember or completely skip over any opportunity to use your name so they don’t look silly.
A good way to indicate you don’t want to shake someone’s hand at an event is to hold a drink in your right hand (and if you’re a woman, a purse in the other so you definitely can’t shift the glass to another hand and then shake)
Americans who still kiss cheeks as a welcome generally don’t press lips to cheeks, it’s more of a touch of cheek to cheek or even a hover (these days, mostly to avoid smudging a woman’s makeup)
The distinctions between dress codes (black tie, cocktail, etc) are very intricate but obvious to those who know how to look. If you wear a short skirt to a black tie event for example, people would clock that instantly even if the dress itself was very formal. Same thing goes for certain articles of men’s clothing.
Open bars / cash bars at events usually carry limited options. They’re meant to serve lots of people very quickly, so nobody is getting a cosmo or a Manhattan etc.
Members of the press generally aren’t allowed to freely circulate at nicer galas/events without a very good reason. When they do, they need to identify themselves before talking with someone.
In writing, epithets ("the taller man"/"the blonde"/etc) are inherently dehumanizing, in that they remove a character's name and identity, and instead focus on this other quality.
Which can be an extremely effective device within narration!
They can work very well for characters whose names the narrator doesn't know yet (especially to differentiate between two or more). How specific the epithet is can signal to the reader how important the character is going to be later on, and whether they should dedicate bandwidth to remembering them for later ("the bearded man" is much less likely to show up again than "the man with the angel tattoo")
They can indicate when characters stop being as an individual and instead embody their Role, like a detective choosing to think of their lover simply as The Thief when arresting them, or a royal character being referred to as The Queen when she's acting on behalf of the state
They can reveal the narrator's biases by repeatedly drawing attention to a particular quality that singles them out in the narrator's mind
But these only work if the epithet used is how the narrator primarily identifies that character. Which is why it's so jarring to see a lot of common epithets in intimate moments-- because it conveys that the main character is primarily thinking of their lover/best friend/etc in terms of their height or age or hair color.
I keep thinking about this post. Did you let me? As in did you not save me? and Did you let me? as in did you allow me the comfort of your embrace at the expense of your own pain, knowing tomorrow I would be back and fine but you’d still be feeling my blood against your skin?
obsessed with characters being saved against their will. being knocked unconscious and carried away from a danger they won't stop trying to fight. being shoved through a portal somewhere far away and safe right before it closes. trying to self-sacrifice only to have the exact person they're trying to save swap their places at the last second. getting the only cure to the disease or curse bc the person administering it loves them too much to give it to anyone else, including themselves. being thrown to safety right as they had accepted dying. someone else they thought had gotten to safety running back to drag them out of danger. it's so fucking tasty
Summary: After what feels like months apart, Laudna and Imogen are reunited.
Note: I was inspired by @toodrunktofindaurl 's art recently and had to write this.
__
They barely made it into the small room of the Inn before Imogen's mouth was on Laudna's. Imogen pushed Laudna deeper into the room and closed the door behind them pressing her to it. Her arms never left Laudna. They were in her hair, on her shoulders, everywhere.
“I'm here, Imogen.” Laudna whispered between kisses, holding Imogen tight, trying to prove that this was real, that she was here, and they were together again.
I don’t want to lose you again; I don’t think I can survive it. Laudna hears in her head as Imogen deepens the kiss.
Imogen. Laudna moans as Imogen's hands hold her by her hips, pulling her flush against her warm body. Imogen shifts and the friction of her knee against Laudna's middle make her gasp. Laudna bucks her hips trying to increase the friction between them. Slowly, Imogen begins to pull the skirt up, revealing cold pale skin for her to touch. Her hand lowers to Laudna's center; her thumb lightly adding pressure to her clit. Laudna's head tips back and hits the door with a soft thump at the pressure. Imogen uses the opening to kiss her neck. She grazes her teeth at the skin before soothing it with a lick and a kiss.
I want you so bad. Laudna hears as Imogen slips a finger, then another into her. Laudna gasps as the pressure continues to build. You're wet already. Imogen continues pulling a whimper from Laudna’s mouth.
"So wet." She whispers out loud. She can feel how close Laudna is. With her free hand, Imogen caressed the side of Laudna’s face, her thumb running along the shell of her ear so tenderly before kissing her there. Her hand falls lower to her neck and down her chest. She can feel how hard her nipples are through her blouse. She lightly grazes them with her thumb. “So sensitive.” She continued when Laudna whimpers.
Laudna’s breath is rough and shallow, she doesn’t know how much longer she can hold on.
“Gods, Imogen.” Laudna groans trying to pull Imogen closer to her. Her nails dig into the soft skin of Imogen’s waist as she begins to unravel.
"Let go baby, I got you.” Imogen says and Laudna comes.
They stand like that for a moment, neither of them moving. Imogen’s fingers still inside Laudna. After a few seconds, Imogen’s thumb circles Laudna’s clit one more time before pulling away. Laudna groans involuntarily, missing the feeling of Imogen inside her.
“Imogen, that was -“ She pauses for a moment, “ I have no words.”
Imogen pulls Laudna closer to her, as Laudna pushes her lightly towards the bed not letting her put too much space between them. Imogen fiddles with Laudna’s skirt until it drops to the floor. Laudna pulled her own top over her head before reaching over to Imogen and delicately removing the top of her outfit.
Her hands are soft and cool on Imogen's heated skin. Laudna touches and caresses every inch of skin she frees. She can see the lightning scars that cover Imogen's skin. She traces them lightly and making Imogen’s breath catch.
"Do they hurt?" Laudna asks softly, tracing one with her index finger that runs through Imogen's heart. Her hand finds Imogene’s breast and pinches softly at her harden nipple.
Imogen groans her breathing shaky. “Sometimes.” She replies and Laudna immediately pulls her hand away away but Imogen catches it and brings it up to kiss her palm.
But not now, not when it’s you. She guides her hand back to her breast, squeezing with her, watching Laudna. Her eyes are so dark, there is so much want in them. Still holding onto her hand, she moves it lower until both their hands are between her legs.
"Laudna." Imogen rasped as Laudna takes control of their hands and guides Imogen to touch herself.
"It seems you are also drenched, darling." Laudna’s voice is low as she teases Imogen with her own fingers. Imogen's eyes fluttered closed as she begins to put more pressure. Laudna suddenly pulls Imogen's hand away. "That's my job, darling." She says before pushing Imogen onto the bed and dropping to her knees.
Laudna doesn’t waste time in removing the clothes that remain. Her hands are cold on Imogen's thighs as she pushes them apart. She trails kisses from her knee to the inside of her thigh, one leg, then the other. The blush on Imogen's face travels down to her chest as Laudna slowly teases a cold finger through her folds.
Laudna, please. Imogen thought.
"I want to hear your voice, darling. Tell me what you need." Laudna demands continuing to run her index finger down and her thumb up putting pressure on Imogen's clit.
Imogen gasps Laudna's name and clenches her fists on the sheets.
"I want your mouth on me," She says, her voice airy and desperate, “and your fingers inside of me." Imogen's eyes don’t leave Laudna's as she slips a finger inside of her, once, twice.
“Oh Gods, yes!” Imogen cries as Laudna does exactly what she asked for.
Laudna adds a second finger and Imogen's head lulls back breaking the eye contact with Laudna. She feels Laudna's mouth kiss the inside of her thigh. Then higher, until she can feel her tongue pressing on her clit.
“Oh, yes. Just like that." Imogen's knuckles are white from the death grip she has on the bedsheets. Her breathing is shallow, and she can feel the heat pulling low in her belly. Laudna flicks her tongue and sucks at Imogen’s clit as her fingers curl inside of her. Imogen moans and she doesn’t know if it’s out loud or in her head.
“You are so wet Imogen,” Laudna says. “That's it darling, such a good girl.” Laudna picks up the pace. “Come for me, Imogen.” Imogen lets out a moan as her body trembles from her orgasm. Laudna slows but doesn’t stop. And before Imogen can think to pull her up, Laudna's fingers began to pick up speed again.
"Laudna." Imogen half moans, half whines as her body reacts. The heat is still there, the want and the need intensifying. This time Laudna is less gentle as she fucks her harder and faster. She leans up and pulls Imogen down to meet her for a kiss as she continues to thrust her fingers inside of her.
She can taste herself on her lips. Groaning Imogen can’t help but rock her hips meeting the rhythm of Laudna’s thrusts. Laudna adjusts and changes the angle of her fingers and Imogen lets go. She feels herself crack open as a sob escapes her. Laudna doesn’t stop until Imogen’s orgasm ends. Slowly, Laudna pulls her fingers out and begins trailing them up Imogen's stomach and chest. She circles one nipple, then the other before pulling them into her mouth.
Imogen watches through half lidded eyes as Laudna moans at the taste.
"You taste divine." She said before leaning down to kiss Imogen gently. Together they make their way under the covers of the bed.
"You take such good care of me." Imogen says once Laudna wraps her arm around her still naked body.
“I will always take care of you, Imogen.” Laudna says pressing a cold kiss to her shoulder. “Just like you take care of me.” Imogen hums in response and yawns.
“Love you, Laudna.” She says pulling her closer before she drifts off to sleep.
Summary: Vex has Keyleth up against the wall, and oh what a great time they are having.
Vex pushed Keyleth against the wall and Keyleth yelped at the sudden cold contact on her bare back. Their hands intertwined and were held up against the door by Vex.
“Now, now dear. Remember what we said. You have to be quiet." Keyleth's moan died in her throat as Vex brought down her left hand and traced Keyleth's lips with her thumb before moving down to her neck and then lower, teasing the exposed skin due to Keyleth's falling dress.
“Keep your hands up, Keyleth." Vex said with her lips practically pressed to her ear. Vex held her pined to the wall with a knee between her legs. She could feel just how much Keyleth was enjoying this and she couldn’t help but smirk. “You are being such a good girl for me, Kiki.” Vex purred before kissing right below her ear and lingering. “Such a good girl." She whispered again almost to herself.
“Vex." Keyleth whimpered her arms were hurting but she didn't want to disobey Vex. Her voice pleaded for her to hurry up. “Please."
“Hmm?" Vex’s left hand continued to traveled down to Keyleth’s thigh then up to pull the dress slowly up, she wanting to feel every inch of her. She dug her nails into the soft skin of her hip, enough to leave a small mark but not enough to really hurt her. “Use your words darling." Vex cooed not letting her own urgency betray her.
Vex brought down her right arm and tangled her fingers into the soft red hair pulling it slightly to get Keyleth to look at her. “What do you need, darling?" Vex asked as if she didn't already know.
She wasn’t always like this. Long ago she was sought after and searched for. She was revered for her wisdom and voice. Now all she does is smile. There are no words that leave her lips, there is no need. She can see what they need before they see it themselves.
She watches the woman leave as her world turns and shifts and changes. Watches her forget what just happened and continue on her way.
Forgotten. That’s what she is now. Years will pass and that woman will try to remember the day her life changed and have no idea when it happened. She will smile and say she didn’t even notice it changing. But it’s a lie. She remembers the day just not what happened. A moment of clarity or was it cloudiness; did her world clear up or did it become hazy? Has she been living her truth or simply living in the fog?
It doesn’t matter, not to her. She will have been there for someone else again and again, and again. Always smiling. But is she happy?
snowghoul
romaincrisis
2087
