Classical Whump

I was going to say “cage-free” up there too but then I realized that’s not always the case…

Anyway. Here’s the thing, folks. It could just be the blogs I happen to follow, but I’ve noted a fairly recent trend of people lumping torture fic in with whump fic, or using the terms interchangeably. Specifically, I’ve seen posts implying that there needs to be a “whumper” character hurting a “whumpee” for a fic to be considered whump (and while this isn’t inherently torture, most of how it’s interpreted as prompts and fics tends to be).

I just wanted to set the record straight. There is no need whatsoever for one character to purposefully/personally hurt another character in whump. That’s just limited thinking. Heck, the only thing “required” for a whump fic is a situation in which one character accepts their vulnerability in a situation (and, arguably, overcomes it with or without help), which usually involves an injury or illness. *Old man voice* back in my day, “whumper” was a term exclusively used for a person who enjoyed consuming/creating whump content. 

Can torture be a part of the injury or the cause of the vulnerability? Sure! Is is required? Absolutely not! In fact, I’d argue that torture is only a very small segment of the whump world, and similarly, the presence of torture does not a inherently a whump fic make. (Straight up non-whump torture fic exists, and that’s fine to use/enjoy as it’s own tag/separate category!)

So, what other situations can you use to create whump without using a “whumper” or torture?

Accidental

Falls- tumbling off a cliff and breaking a bone

Burns- saving another character from a fire and ending up with their own injuries

Bites/stings- sticking their hand somewhere to accomplish a mission, ending up envenomated

Poison- accidentally eating something not meant for eating/surviving an assassination attempt

Friendly fire- character ends up accidentally shooting his friend

Lost- hungry, tired, cut off from all communication or resources

Environmental

Storms- whumpee gets hit with flying debris

Floods- whumpee gets swept away from friends and injured

Lightning- whumpee gets struck by lightning

Cold- falling into an icy lake or being stranded in the cold with no way to warm up

Heat- dehydration, heatstroke, hyponatremia from needing to do hard work in the heat

Collapsed building- getting trapped when a building collapses

Low-resource setting- something that would be perfectly treatable is now possibly deadly due to not having the right equipment/medication

Violent

Active shooter- whumpee catches a stray bullet and has to wait for the building to be cleared to get help

Bombing- getting caught up in a blast, losing hearing or vision, catching shrapnel

War- high stress, bullets, bombs, desperate people, getting trapped behind enemy lines without help

Bank hostage situation- busman’s holiday-type situation where the whumpee just happens to end up trapped and needing rescue without being the target- possibly injured, ill, or slated to be killed

Emotional

Fear- specific phobia or just plain situational fear

Another characters death- mourning, grief, disbelief

Mental illness- specifically ones that mess with the ability to regulate emotion

OR ‘PEAKED’

BUT PIQUED

‘PIQUED MY INTEREST’

YOU ARE NOT ‘PHASED’. YOU ARE ‘FAZED.’

IF IT HAS BEEN A VERY LONG DAY, YOU ARE ‘WEARY’. IF SOMEONE IS ACTING IN A WAY THAT MAKES YOU SUSPICIOUS, YOU ARE ‘WARY’.

ALL IN ‘DUE’ TIME, NOT ‘DO’ TIME

‘PER SE’ NOT ‘PER SAY’

BREATH - THE NOUN FORM

THEY ARE NOT INTERCHANGEABLE

WANDER - TO WALK ABOUT AIMLESSLY

WONDER - TO THINK OF IN A DREAMLIKE AND/OR WISTFUL MANNER

BALL- A FUCKING BALL