Goblin-in-the-rain - Meta

Low level/continuous pain tips for writing

Want to avoid the action movie effect and make your character’s injuries have realistic lasting impacts? Have a sick character you’re using as hurt/comfort fodder? Everyone has tips for how to write Dramatic Intense Agony, but the smaller human details of lasting or low-level discomfort are rarely written in. Here are a few pain mannerisms I like to use as reference:

General

Continuously gritted teeth (may cause headaches or additional jaw pain over time)

Irritability, increased sensitivity to lights, sounds, etc

Repetitive movements (fidgeting, unable to sit still, slight rocking or other habitual movement to self-soothe)

Soft groaning or whimpering, when pain increases or when others aren’t around

Heavier breathing, panting, may be deeper or shallower than normal

Moving less quickly, resistant to unnecessary movement

Itching in the case of healing wounds

Subconsciously hunching around the pain (eg. slumped shoulders or bad posture for gut pain)

Using a hand to steady themself when walking past walls, counters, etc (also applies to illness)

Narration-wise: may not notice the pain was there until it’s gone because they got so used to it, or may not realize how bad it was until it gets better

May stop mentioning it outright to other people unless they specifically ask or the pain increases

Limb pain

Subtly leaning on surfaces whenever possible to take weight off foot/leg pain

Rubbing sore spots while thinking or resting

Wincing and switching to using other limb frequently (new/forgettable pain) or developed habit of using non dominant limb for tasks (constant/long term pain)

Propping leg up when sitting to reduce inflammation

Holding arm closer to body/moving it less

Moving differently to avoid bending joints (eg. bending at the waist instead of the knees to pick something up)

Nausea/fever/non-pain discomfort

Many of the same things as above (groaning, leaning, differences in movement)

May avoid sudden movements or turning head for nausea

Urge to press up against cold surfaces for fever

Glazed eyes, fixed stare, may take longer to process words or get their attention

Shivering, shaking, loss of fine motor control

If you have any more details that you personally use to bring characters to life in these situations, I’d love to hear them! I’m always looking for ways to make my guys suffer more write people with more realism :)

Some Grackles! These birds are incredibly common but I still enjoy watching them.

just found out about this cute little birdy and i am in love

Villa Serres Vertes

“I could never be an entomologist. bugs creep me out” sucks to suck because I’m a real-life pokemon trainer. like look at these and tell me they’re not pokemon

like are you serious. have fun doing whatever you’re doing ill be at the arthropod zoo… also known as the motherfucking pokemon center

Sometimes “rizz” (charisma) just isn’t enough. To attract a mate, a male Lady Amherst’s Pheasant (Chrysolophus amherstiae) will engage in an elaborate courtship dance. What’s more? He has dazzling plumage to add to his appeal, along with tail feathers that can reach an impressive 31.5 inches (80 cm) long!

While this bird prefers to stay on the ground, it occasionally takes flight to escape from foes or to reach treetop roosts. One might spot this species in parts of Asia, such as southwestern China, where it inhabits bamboo forests.

Photo: Henry Koh, CC BY 2.0, flickr

#birds #birdsofinstagram #wildlife #biodiversity #nature https://www.instagram.com/p/CoIsMKPvrKN/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

“This is your daily, friendly reminder to use commas instead of periods during the dialogue of your story,” she said with a smile.

Career Suicide

(available on amazon)

learning from the reblogs of that post that there's a lot of people out there under the impression that "kill your darlings" means "kill your characters" and that's the funniest possible interpretation of that phrase

rainbow lobster