Manatee Editing

I provide quality proofreading and copy editing services. Publishing a blog post or story? I can polish it up so that your readers see you at your best. I'm here to catch those small errors so that the readers can focus on the story that you created instead of getting distracted by the ramblings of the coffee-induced, 3am spark of inspiration.

[manateeediting]

My dad loved reading this series and so he gave it to me. So I started reading the first book "Semper Mars" by Ian Douglas. So far it's really interesting to see the political situation especially with what's going on in the world today. And there's 8 more books after this so I'll be set on reading for awhile! #booklover #bookrecommendations #bookstagram #readingtime #readmorebooks https://www.instagram.com/p/CN1aOb-LpIl/?igshid=339a6bor8le

[septembercfawkes]

Sanderson’s Character Scales

Hey everyone, today I’m here to share a perspective on characters that comes from #1 New York Times best-selling author Brandon Sanderson. I love learning from Sanderson because he’s prolific, experienced, and successful (Wheel of Time, Mistborn, The Way of Kings …). I also love learning from him because he shares concepts and techniques that I have found nowhere else. Lately, one of his concepts has been revisiting my mind–his character scales.

So in this post, I’m going to explain what they are and how they work, while sharing my own ideas and interpretations along the way. Let’s dig in!

Brandon Sanderson’s Character Scales

When it comes to characters, Sanderson envisions that each one has three “scales” or “dials.” Basically, these are three different components that make a character interesting to the audience. They are …

1. Likeability–how much the audience likes, empathizes with, or relates to the character

2. Competence–how skilled the character is (this often appeals to the audience through wish-fulfillment)

3. Proactivity–how motivated and proactive the character is (when the character has a significant goal and is taking action to reach it, the audience becomes invested in their journey)

These aren’t either/or attributes, but spectrums.

For example, we could say that each category can be measured from 1 - 10, one meaning the character scores very low in that category and ten meaning he or she scores very high in that category.

In BBC’s Sherlock, Sherlock scores high in competence and proactivity–he loves solving cases and he’s very good at it. In those categories, he may be an eight or nine. But when it comes to likeability, he scores lower–he’s a sociopath who can be a real jerk to people. In that category, he may be a three or four.

In contrast, Katniss from The Hunger Games is quite likeable (she volunteers herself) and competent (have you seen her shoot arrows?), but in regards to the real antagonist, she’s rather passive. She doesn’t really believe Panem can change. And for most of the series, she’s actually not very interested in defeating the government. However, by the end of the series, this is her primary goal. She grows in proactivity.

It’s possible to have a protagonist score low in two of the three. Harry Potter is likeable, but he’s not very competent or proactive when it comes to dealing with his problems. Through his journey at Hogwarts, he becomes more competent and more proactive.

Before we continue, there are a few points I need to make.

- The likeability scale is based on how the audience feels about the character, not necessarily how other characters feel about the character. You may have a character that no one seems to like (such as Harry), but the audience still likes, so he may score high there. Likeability typically relates to how the character treats others (petting the dog), is treated (usually unfairly), or how similar he is to the audience (relatability).

- Competence can be measured a few different ways. It might be something like learning magic or shooting a bow, but it may also be something more subtle, like being a skilled negotiator or a born leader or having a silver tongue. A character may be competent in more than one thing, of course, but often this category relates to skills used in the plot. For example, if Katniss is really great at card games, that’s not really related to competing in the Hunger Games, so she might as well not be great at card games–it doesn’t matter, because it’s not pertinent.

- “Proactivity” is always a term I hesitate using in the writing world because it actually means slightly different things depending on how you apply it. Structurally speaking, a protagonist must be proactive to have a great story. The protagonist has to do things to make plot happen. The protagonist has to do things to make story structure work. But characteristically speaking, a protagonist can be innately passive–meaning he or she has no real desire to move forward in the story, but is forced to because of the stakes. For example, Shrek really has no desire to save a princess, but if he doesn’t rescue a princess, then he’ll lose his swamp (stakes). He doesn’t care about Fiona, he just wants to not lose something. This is what Sanderson’s proactivity category is about–character not structure. To learn more about characteristically passive protagonists, check out “Getting Passive Protagonists to Act.”

The character scales are not restricted to protagonists. They can be applied to any character to get a better understanding of him or her. For example, John Watson scores high on being likeable–he’s probably the most relatable character in Sherlock. But he’s lower in proactivity (sometimes he wants to have a normal life) and competence than Sherlock (which is why he works well as Sherlock’s Influence Character).

In The Hunger Games, Peeta is decently high in likeability and proactivity (early on he says he doesn’t want to be a piece in the Games, he wants to show the Capitol they can’t control him), but he’s not particularly competent within the context of the plot (the Games). (However, one may argue that his likeability helps him in that he’s more likely to get sponsors.)

Let’s round out our examples, shall we? In Harry Potter, Hermione starts off as rather competent and proactive–she’s doing everything she can to learn magic. But as a bossy know-it-all, she’s not very likeable. By the end, she becomes more likeable.

Most characters will start with one or two categories high and one or two categories low.

For example, in the Farm Boy trope, the character is usually low in (pertinent) competence, higher in likeability, and maybe in the middle (a five) for proactivity (generally speaking).

Keep reading

[howtofightwrite]

Q&A: The Diversity of The Sword (and the Road to the Rapier)

im confused so did the rapier superseded the lo longsword (or what we call a longsword)?

Sort of, but saying, “yes,” would be a little misleading.

You can draw a direct evolutionary line from the 11th century arming swords (also sometimes called the, “knightly sword”) (which, you might identify as a longsword) to the Spanish sideswords, to the rapier. This can get confusing, because you could be forgiven for mistaking a sidesword for a longsword. It’s a specific blade, intended for use as a sidearm, but, “it’s a sword,” and long enough that you could easily call it, “a longsword.”

By the same logic, you would not be (completely) wrong for identifying a rapier as a “long sword.” This is why things can be difficult to parse, especially if you think of a longsword as a specific weapon.

Modern historians break medieval straight swords down into, roughly, 12 categories, named after the late Ewart Oakeshott. (Technically, is, I think the total is 27, because some types have multiple variants.)

So, the the Oakeshott Type X evolved into the Oakeshott Type XIII sometime during The Crusades, which in turn would evolve into the Spanish Sideswords (which, as far as I know, don’t have a Oakeshott Type associated with them, though the XVIIId and Type XIX aren’t far off, and are from the right era.)

The issue is, an Oakeshott Type X, and a Type XVIIId are both swords. However, those swords were manufactured based on the technology and materials available, the skill of the smith, and the intended function.

The sidesword was intended to be used as both a cutting and thrusting blade. It was intended to be light, and easy to carry, as it was a backup weapon. The rapier accentuated those traits. A lightweight blade is desirable, it’s easier to carry. The thinner blade may be aesthetically appealing, but if you have the technology to make it, the result is lethal.

So, looping back to the beginning, the real mistake is thinking that the longsword is a standardized weapon. The Oakeshott Typology allows us to categorize them into different groups, and it’s useful for tracking the changes in the designs over time, however, it’s important to remember that Oakeshott’s work was retroactively categorizing these weapons into groups. There’s no single moment that a smith sat down, stopped making Type X blades, and started making Type XIIIs. That transition happened over time. (They also would have been completely unfamiliar with the terminology, as Oakeshott was publishing in the 20th century.)

It’s probably, slightly, more accurate to think of the rapier as the result of people tinkering with, refining, and improving the longsword over the course of 600 years. (Or, longer if we include first millennia swords, in which case, you’re looking at more like 800 years of European sword design.) The rapier did not supersede the longsword; the longsword became the rapier.

If there was a weapon which superseded the longsword in Europe, it was the saber. For an extremely abbreviated history, the saber first entered Europe sometime in the first millennia, and found a home among cavalry in Eastern Europe. They started gaining popularity in the 17th century (both the sabers and the Polish Hussars who wielded them), which would eventually lead to the saber becoming the dominant military blade in Europe. You can actually see a replication of some of the transformation which lead to the rapier in how Western European saber deigns favored thinner blades. Smiths (and by this point militaries) took a design they liked, and modified it to better suit their goals. Now, the other thing which changed was the transition to gunpowder infantry. Sabers still saw battlefield use (partially among cavalry) into the 19th century, but the combat role of a sword on the battlefield was rapidly coming to a close.

So, the short version is, no, the European longsword became the rapier, and then was eventually replaced by changing fashions.

-Starke

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Q&A: The Diversity of The Sword (and the Road to the Rapier) was originally published on How to Fight Write.

[septembercfawkes]

How Premise Plays into Theme

For many writers, theme is an afterthought–something they may try to figure out once the book is mostly written. But in reality, for a lot of stories, the premise actually promises a theme, or at least, a theme topic. This may not be true of all premises, but a surprising number actually have a theme already begging to be explored.

First, what do I mean by premise? Because a quick search online shows me multiple writing websites that define it slightly differently. Most will agree that a premise is the main idea of the story. It’s usually 1 - 3 sentences that say what the story is about, typically the setup. This means it has a character, a goal, and a conflict. It’s basically the same thing as a logline, if you are more familiar with that term.

Before we start writing, most of us have some idea of a premise, even if we haven’t officially written it down and ironed it out. As we brainstorm and work on the story, that may become more defined. Here is an example of one:

When Fa Mulan learns her weakened father must go to war to fight the invading Huns, she secretly disguises herself as a man to take his place.

So we have a character, Mulan, promised conflict with the Huns, and how that affects her family, and a sense of desire illustrated by proaction–she takes her father’s place.

And would you believe it?

It already has thematic elements begging to be explored!

The most obvious one is gender. The protagonist is trying to pass as the opposite gender. Just this setup already tells us that we are going to be including her personal struggles with that. How can you not? And if you didn’t, the story might feel like it’s lacking–like you are possibly dancing around a topic that deserves to be addressed.

So in a sense, at least one of the theme topics is already decided just by the premise.

Let’s look at what else we have going on in that single sentence. We have both a personal problem and a public problem: Mulan’s family life and the Huns invading China. So we will probably need to be addressing both of those. Looking at the setting and the fact that Mulan is going in her father’s place, which is a no-no, we might start to get ideas for a second theme topic that should be addressed: honor.

Already, just from the basic idea, the setup of the story, we have two theme topics.

Let’s look at some more examples.

When an ogre, Shrek, who craves solitude discovers that fairytale creatures are being exiled to his swamp by Lord Farquaad, he sets out to reclaim his property–while reluctantly being befriended by a very social donkey. But when Shrek meets with the lord, a deal is struck that he must rescue Princess Fiona, who is awaiting her true love in a tall tower guarded by a dragon.

Okay, so just from this setup, we have some great things happening. As always, notice how the writers created contrasts. Shrek craves solitude, and the worst thing that can happen is having his home overrun with magical creatures AND having to pal around with a Donkey who will never shut up. To make matters worse, he has to rescue a (at this point) seemingly stereotypical princess who is awaiting her true love (and his kiss), but he’s an ogre.

We have a character, with a desire, with conflict.

And look at that! Just from the setup, I see some theme topics that are aching to be developed and explored. We’ll want to be addressing something with solitude and socializing, and also probably disappointing others by not meeting expectations.

Sure, this maybe needs a bit more work to nail down specific themes. But if you are familiar with the story, you’ll see how these things tie into the bigger theme of not judging others based on their appearances. (Ogres are like onions!)

Here is Arrival’s.

Linguistics professor Louise Banks leads an elite team of investigators when gigantic spaceships touchdown in 12 locations around the world. As nations teeter on the verge of global war, Banks and her crew must race against time to find a way to communicate with the extraterrestrial visitors. (source)

Take a moment and look at that setup. That premise. Do you see any theme topics that are begging to be addressed?

The most obvious is language/communication.

Which will feed into a higher, linguistic concept that language itself affects–literally–howour minds process the world.

This is also played into not only by trying to communicate with aliens, but with “nations teeter[ing] on the verge of a global war”–communications between nations, and humans as a whole.

Premise plays into theme.

And another:  

A penniless son of a tailor strives to eventually work his way to the top and give the love of his life the life of her dreams by putting together a show full of oddities and outcasts, in what will become the first ever circus.

Here is a premise for The Greatest Showman, but I also want to illustrate how even just concepts themselves can hint at a theme. Obviously a story about P. T. Barnum is going to be a story about the circus. What theme topics could a circus naturally invite?

Well, historically, the people there were considered “freaks” by society. It seems that many people who joined the circus back then were outcasts with little chance of climbing the social ladder. Seems like a good theme topic to explore would be “belonging” and its relationship with society.

But, really, you could keep brainstorming and researching circuses and find other features that beg to be discussed, like the circus animals. What topics and ideas relate to that? The most obvious would be to discuss how animals are treated. But you could also play around with it and look at how humans behave more like animals to each other, than the animals.

Or maybe you want to explore how audiences or humans in general want to be fooled, as exemplified by them attending the circus. Or the irony that they pay to see the same people they threw out on the street.

Really, there are a whole bunch of thematic threads that could relate to circuses. But The Greatest Showman’s premise helps bring in thematic focus.

(Though, technically, you could also do it vice-versa–find the theme topic you want and then build to a solid premise.)

One thematic problem that can come up, is that the author picks a theme topic that doesn’t really fit the premise.

However, you can surprisingly get a lot of theme topics to fit a lot of premises. For example, we could have instead made Shrek explore communication–the topic of Arrival. After all, Shrek craves solitude but is paired with Donkey, who talks nonstop. He also has to learn how to communicate with Farquaad and Fiona.

But could we have made Shrek explore the topics of gender and honor? Well … perhaps, but not as powerfully or as apt as Mulan, which frankly begs for it.

Could we put the theme of communication and language into The Greatest Showman? Well … perhaps, but the story would likely change quite a bit to meet that need, and it almost seems like that would be a missed opportunity to pick a theme topic that resonates more closely with circuses, like belonging. Now, imagine picking a topic that has little to do with the story you’ve decided to write–it’s going to create problems, probably some of the most common problems that writers run into when it comes to theme (such as being too preachy)–because it’s unnatural. So instead, look at the premise of your story to help you identify what theme topics you should probably explore–and troubleshoot which don’t fit in as easily.

[manateeediting]

I think the latest rendition of Sleeping Beauty got a few budget cuts #ferretsofinstagram #petsofinstagram #furnoodles https://www.instagram.com/p/CNl2Y4nrJu9/?igshid=v2oilvufv0pk

[team-carryon-my-free-willed-sons]

So after a couple years of hard work and effort my first book is available in paperback! I’m so excited! You can get a copy on Amazon, at Books-a-million, at Chapters or any other major bookstore! Now on to Book Two!

[manateeediting]

Ah yes, I'm glad we got a bed big enough for Rose. She is the queen of this house. It's exhausting work but someone has to do it. My SO found her starving and pregnant in the desert and nursed her back to health, so I think she's earned the bed. <3 #rescuecat #catsofinstagram https://www.instagram.com/p/CNjWPqDLQNg/?igshid=7fq0gbh1prk

[manateeediting]

With everything that has been the year 2020 and 2021, I know my mental health has been really low. For whoever needs to hear it, it’s okay if you’re not feeling you’re best. I know I’ve been doing my best and it’s not that great but it’s all I’ve got. And that’s okay. Take care of yourself! It’s been tough, but we’ll survive and move through this!

[thewritershandbook]

[theliteraryarchitect-deactivate]

Pros and Cons of Self Publishing

Recently I got a great question in my Ask from someone who wondered whether they should self publish their novel or not. Here’s my response.

Self publishing can be really satisfying for some writers. But whether it’s right for you or not depends what your goals are.

Here’s a rough list of the pros and cons of self publishing, in my opinion:

Pros:

You can get your book out into the world without waiting for it to be traditionally published.

Self publishing can give you a sense of completion for a project that can feel really nice.

Self publishing gives your friends, family, and probably at least a few random readers a chance to read your work.

You maintain total control over your work. You get to decide what to write, how to edit it, what cover design you want. If you decide to take your book out of print, make a second edition, or release a sequel, that’s also up to you.

Cons:

If you self publish your novel, it will often (but not always) prevent you from traditionally publishing it in the future, if you want to do that.

It’s rare (but not impossible) for a self published book to sell very many copies.

If you don’t have an established fan base, you might not sell many copies to people who aren’t your family or friends.

If you want to sell to more than your friends, family, and established fan base (if you have one), you’ll need to do a lot of marketing, which can be time consuming and sometimes expensive.

In summary, I’d say if you think that self publishing your book will feel good and give you a sense of completion about your project, you aren’t worried about trying to traditionally publish it in the future, and you won’t be bummed if it doesn’t sell very many copies, go for it! I know lots of writers who have self published from this mindset, and they were really happy they did.

But if you’re totally attached to your book being a wild bestseller and don’t already have an established audience, self publishing might let you down.

Really it’s up to you, but definitely take time to clarify for yourself what you hope to achieve by self publishing and whether that goal is within the normally expected range of possibility before you embark. You’re more likely to achieve your goals and meet your expectations if you spend time clarifying your goals and researching your expectations first :)

[theliteraryarchitect-deactivate]

How to Make a 3D Mockup of Your Book for Free

Hi friends! While I wait for the paperback proof of The Complete Guide to Self-Editing for Fiction Writers to arrive in the mail this week, I’ve been creating some 3D mockups of the book to use on my site. I tried out a ton of tools, both paid and free, and found two services I really like. I wanted to share them with you all to save you the hassle of doing your own research if you ever want to do this for one of your books. It’s REALLY EASY to do and both of these tools are completely free with no account required to download your images.

Option #1: Smartmockups


Smartmockups offers 3D mockups of all kinds (t-shirts, coffee mugs, business cards, etc.). I used their site to create and download this cool 3D mockup of my ebook on a tablet and phone:

What I like about Smartmockups:

No account required to download your mockup.

Download as many free mockups as you want.

Internal cropping tool–if you look closely you can see that these covers don’t exactly match the device’s dimensions, however I was able to crop it within Smartmockups without creating a new image.

Transparent background

Multiple download size options


Keep in mind you will need a cover image that you created elsewhere to upload into their editor.

To find their free mockup templates, go to their site > Browse All Mockups. From there, choose your category on the left, then filter by “free.”

Option #2: DIY Book Covers 


I also liked DIY Book Covers, and used their site to download these paperback and mixed ebook + 3D paperback mockups:

The quality is not as high in my opinion, but it still looks much better than comparable tools I found online, plus you can download as many as you want without making an account.

What I like about DIY Book Covers:

Easy-to-use tool

Transparent background (be sure to download in PNG)

Option for an image of a paperback next to an ereader, which is not available in Smartmockups

No account needed for free downloads

The site has a lot of other information and tools for authors, like a cover design creator, tutorials, and marketing advice


From the homepage, go to Book Design > 3D Mockups. Again, you will need your own cover image to upload. One thing to note is that I could not get the DIY Book Covers uploader to work in Firefox. I had to use Safari.

If you have tools you like to use to make 3D Mockups, please share them! These are the two that worked for me but I’m sure there are other good ones out there. I liked that they were free, high-quality, and I wasn’t required to make yet another online account in order to download them.

Hope this helps!


[publishinggoblin]

How to Self Publish

So, you wrote something. You want to put it into the world.

Here’s what you need to know:

Self publishing will almost never, on its own, pay the bills. You will not probably sell very many copies unless you are very intense on marketing or you already have a following that wants to purchase something you wrote.

This is the simple fact of being a writer. If you want to become a new york times best seller, you either need to publish with a publishing house, or you need to have a MASSIVE following before self publishing.

That being said, do not be deterred. I’ve written and helped publish over 20 books and projects, and I still have a day job to 1) pay the bills and 2) help fund my projects. The day job is how I earn money (for now), but what I do for a living is 100% creation. 

First, re-read your book. Is it clear of errors? Do you have friends who want to read it to see if it’s meandering or unclear? This is true for fiction, poetry, TTRPGs, and more. Have other people look it over. It’s always worth it.

Then, you can do some research into the ways to self publish, i.e. the sites that will help you print, but I have found personally that Lulu is one of the best/cheapest options. I have moved largely towards Drivethru’s sites, DrivethruRPG and DrivethruFiction, just to consolidate my stuff. The pricing and quality is pretty similar to Lulu, but I do poetry and don’t feel Drivethru is the right place.

Note that self publishing doesn’t require paper copies, like through those sites. You can also just have an itch.io, or an etsy shop, or an internet store front for PDF copies alone.

If you are doing all the work yourself, be sure to take some time to be thoughtful with your book’s layout. If you are making something to look fancy, with a neat layout, be sure to take your time with it. Look through fonts to find nice ones. Use a fancy one for titles/headers or the book’s title, and a clear to read font for the body text. If you are using art or borders or fancy stuff, be sure to check out other books of that book type to figure out what you want to include in the design for yours. It’s okay to steal design ideas, color palletes, or general shapes of the layout, just dont go stealing logos or actual design elements from the other texts.

Most printers also offer advice or tutorials on how to make your book print ready for their manufacturing needs. Be sure to read those thoroughly, especially the first time.

Then, once you’ve order a print proof from them, you can start selling right away. From there, as a solo artist/self published artist, you will 100% be doing all your own marketing. Almost none of the print on demand websites that you can use for this will do any of the marketing for you, at least without you paying for it. So post on your twitter, your tumblr, your facebook, your instagram. Include links, and post once a day (or more, once in the morning, once at night) leading up to the release, and for a week or more after. Don’t be afraid to support yourself!

If people have specific questions, or specifics on items other than books, I’d love to answer on here!

I have some experience on Kickstarters and more!

[manateeediting]

Glad the new fur noodles are getting along. This is one of the few pictures I could take of them that wasn't just a running blur lol

[writing-prompt-s]

“No man can kill me” “I know, that’s why I sold my soul to an ancient eldritch abomination to take you down instead” “You what?”

[writing-prompt-s]

A voice has been narrating your life ever since you were little. Occasionally it announces a new chapter, marking a turn of events in your life. Today it announced “Epilogue”.

[sandydragon1]

Things to Consider when Creating a Magic System

What are the drawbacks of using magic? Does it have mental, physical, and/or emotional consequences for the user?

What tools are needed to harness magic? Wands? Spells? Magical artifacts?

How do people learn magic? Instinct? In school? From family members?

Can everyone use magic or are only certain people capable of using it?

Is the capability to use magic hereditary? What about different ways of using magic (transformation powers, teleportation, etc.)?

What is impossible for magic to do?

How long does it take to master different magical skills?

Can creatures other than humans learn magic? Are different creatures better at using different kinds of magic?

Does it require spells to be spoken, written, or thought?

Is it possible for someone to lose their magical abilities?

How do characters’ emotions affect their ability to use magic? Do their emotions affect the magic’s intensity or controllability? 

How does the strength of a person’s magical abilities change as they age?

Can people normally perform any kind of magic or can they only perform things that fall under their specialty? Are their exceptions?

What rules restrict magic use in society?

How do people’s magical abilities impact their career prospects?

What kinds of magic are the most feared or seen as the most powerful? Which are seen as mere jokes?

How do people use magic to help with everyday tasks?

Can magical energy be stored for later use?

What objects or other factors can amplify someone’s magical powers?

When do magical abilities initially manifest? From birth? At a certain age? Under certain conditions?

What is the first spell a character is likely to learn?

What happens if a spell is performed incorrectly? Nothing at all? A weaker version of the intended results? Pain?

Can different spell casting methods be used to obtain the same result? What are their advantages and disadvantages?

[wordsnstuff]

Resources for Writing Injuries

Patreon || Ko-Fi || Masterlist || Work In Progress

–

Head Injuries

General Information | More

Hematoma

Hemorrhage

Concussion

Edema

Skull Fracture

Diffuse Axonal Injury

Neck

General Information

Neck sprain

Herniated Disk

Pinched Nerve

Cervical Fracture

Broken Neck

Chest (Thoracic)

General Information

Aortic disruption

Blunt cardiac injury

Cardiac tamponade

Flail chest

Hemothorax

Pneumothorax (traumatic pneumothorax, open pneumothorax, and tension pneumothorax)

Pulmonary contusion

Broken Ribs

Broken Collarbone

Abdominal

General Information

Blunt trauma

Penetrating injuries (see also, gunshot wound & stab wound sections)

Broken Spine

Lung Trauma

Heart (Blunt Cardiac Injury)

Bladder Trauma

Spleen Trauma

Intestinal Trauma

Liver Trauma

Pancreas Trauma

Kidney Trauma

Arms/Hands/Legs/Feet

General Information | More

Fractures

Dislocations

Sprains

Strains

Muscle Overuse

Muscle Bruise

Bone Bruise

Carpal tunnel syndrome

Tendon pain

Bruises

Injuries to ligaments

Injuries to tendons

Crushed Hand

Crushed Foot

Broken Hand

Broken Foot

Broken Ankle

Broken Wrist

Broken Arm

Shoulder Trauma

Broken elbow

Broken Knee

Broken Finger

Broken Toe

Face

General Information

Broken Nose

Corneal Abrasion

Chemical Eye Burns

Subconjunctival Hemorrhages (Eye Bleeding)

Facial Trauma

Broken/Dislocated jaw

Fractured Cheekbone

Skin & Bleeding

General Information (Skin Injuries) | More (Arteries)

femoral artery (inner thigh)

thoracic aorta (chest & heart)

abdominal aorta (abdomen)

brachial artery (upper arm)

radial artery (hand & forearm)

common carotid artery (neck)

aorta (heart & abdomen)

axillary artery (underarm)

popliteal artery (knee & outer thigh)

anterior tibial artery (shin & ankle)

posterior tibial artery (calf & heel)

arteria dorsalis pedis (foot)

Cuts/Lacerations

Scrapes

Abrasions (Floor burns)

Bruises

Gunshot Wounds

General Information

In the Head

In the Neck

In the Shoulders

In the Chest

In the Abdomen

In the Legs/Arms

In the Hands

In The Feet

Stab Wounds

General Information

In the Head

In the Neck

In the Chest

In the Abdomen

In the Legs/Arms

General Resources

Guide to Story Researching

A Writer’s Thesaurus

Words To Describe Body Types and How They Move

Words To Describe…

Writing Intense Scenes

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Masterlist | WIP Blog

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