Tell me what to say

While lethal injuries often take center stage, non-lethal injuries can create lasting effects on characters, shaping their journeys in unique ways. If you need a simple way to make your characters feel pain during a scene, here are some ideas: 

Sprained Ankle

A common injury that can severely limit mobility, forcing characters to adapt their plans and experience frustration as they navigate their environment.

Rib Contusion

A painful bruise on the ribs can make breathing difficult and create tension, especially during action scenes, where every breath becomes a reminder of vulnerability.

Concussion

This brain injury can lead to confusion, dizziness, and mood swings, affecting a character’s judgment and creating a sense of unpredictability in their actions.

Fractured Finger

A broken finger can complicate tasks that require fine motor skills, causing frustration and emphasizing a character’s dependence on their hands.

Road Rash

The raw, painful skin resulting from a fall can symbolize struggle and endurance, highlighting a character's resilience in the face of physical hardship.

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.

Deep Laceration

A cut that requires stitches can evoke visceral imagery and tension, especially if the character has to navigate their surroundings while in pain.

Burns

Whether from fire, chemicals, or hot surfaces, burns can cause intense suffering and lingering trauma, serving as a physical reminder of a character’s past mistakes or battles.

Pulled Muscle

This can create ongoing pain and restrict movement, providing an opportunity for characters to experience frustration or the need to lean on others for support.

Tendonitis

Inflammation of a tendon can cause chronic pain and limit a character's ability to perform tasks they usually take for granted, highlighting their struggle to adapt and overcome.

Looking For More Writing Tips And Tricks? 

I wrote a whole reply and it got completely eaten! No draft or anything! Nightmare.

I'm skimming the basics you already know (read more, write more, stop waiting for inspiration, skimp on speech tags and use said as often as possible when you have to, spend as much time editing as writing) to give you an abridged version of advice I'm obsessed with that I call Total the Car. (I didn't coin this idea, but I may be the only one who ever talks about it. Forgive me if you've heard this lecture before.)

This advice references Ryan North's excellent Tumblr blog, BttF, on which he did a page by page reading of the novelization of Back to the Future. Ryan North is a very funny guy, and so it's an entertaining read, but it is also educational. Back to the Future is one of the tightest screenplays ever written, and the novel is a strange, meandering mess, made more so by the idiosyncrasies of its author and the likely fact that it was based on an earlier draft of the a screenplay. This allows us to compare and contrast the two works.

Early on in the story, Biff Tannen wrecks George's car. In the novelization, Gipe calls the car "nearly totaled," which causes Ryan to melt down; why nearly total the car? What value does the car have not being utterly totaled? The state of the car is mostly irrelevant. "Total the car!" Ryan says, on his blog. "You're the writer! You have the power! Total the car!"

I love this advice. I think writers often get bogged down in details like this; we're married to realism, or some research we did, or we think that going that far will be "too much," and so we rob our scenes of their own power. The phrase "nearly totaled" is not only weaker - it lacks the emotional gut punch - but it also raises questions where there should be none.

I think, when making a choice like this in writing, you should always err on the side of totaling the car. Kill the survivors. Burn the house to the ground. Make it harder on yourself. On your characters.

Stories don't happen in the almosts. They exist in the things that happen, the things that can't be undone. I love forcing people to go through a piece and circle every "almost" and "nearly" and "started to," and force them to write the piece that would have happened if there had been less restraint.

Writing an Identity Not Your Own: A Guide for Creative Writers

Alex Temblador

A practical guide to help authors authentically write and edit a character whose identity is different than their own. Do you have the tools to authentically write and edit a character whose identity is different than your own?

It's not a subject that's generally taught in creative writing programs, and there are so few craft books and online resources on the subject. Even if you can take a seminar, class, or workshop, there's nothing like having an easy-to-understand book on hand to provide guidance and insight every time you craft characters with historically marginalized identities. In Writing an Identity Not Your Own, award-winning author Alex Temblador discusses one of the most contentious topics in creative writing: crafting a character whose identity is historically marginalized.

What is "identity," and how do unconscious biases and bias blocks impact and influence what we write? What is intersectionality? You'll learn about identity terms, stereotypes, and tropes, and receive genre-specific advice related to various identities to consider when writing different races and ethnicities, sexual and romantic orientations, gender identities, disabilities, nationalities, and more. Through writing strategies, exercises, and literary excerpts, writers will gain a clearer understanding on how misrepresentations and harmful portrayals can appear in storylines, dialogue, and characterization. Alex will guide writers from the brainstorming phase through the editing process so they can gain a full understanding of the complexities of writing other identities and why it's important to get them right.

1. Slow down at emotionally important moments.

Big emotions need space to land. If a scene feels rushed, pause the plot briefly to show how the moment affects the character.

2. Add reactions, not explanations.

Instead of explaining what a character feels, show it through physical responses, hesitation, or small actions that reveal emotion naturally.

3. Ground every scene in the senses.

If a scene feels thin, add one or two sensory details—sound, texture, smell, or temperature—to make the moment feel lived-in.

4. Let thoughts interrupt action.

A line of internal thought can deepen a scene without slowing it too much. Thoughts show stakes, fear, longing, or conflict beneath the action.

5. Expand consequences, not events.

You don’t need more things to happen—you need to show what matters. Focus on how events change relationships, decisions, or self-perception.

6. Strengthen setting where emotion peaks.

The environment should echo or contrast the emotion of the scene. Setting is not decoration—it’s emotional reinforcement.

7. Add specific details instead of general ones.

Underwriting often relies on vague language. Swap “they argued” for one sharp line of dialogue or a specific breaking point.

8. Let dialogue breathe.

Short dialogue exchanges without pauses can feel flat. Add beats—silence, gestures, interruptions—to give the conversation weight.

9. Show transitions between scenes.

If scenes jump too quickly, readers feel disoriented. A brief transition helps establish time, mood, and emotional continuity.

10. Clarify stakes early in the scene.

If readers don’t know what can be lost, scenes feel empty. Make sure the character wants something specific and fears losing it.

11. Use the “what are they feeling right now?” check.

After each major beat, ask what emotion is dominant in that moment. If it’s missing on the page, the scene is likely underwritten.

12. Expand scenes that feel “too clean.”

fixing each other's collar/zipper/tie/etc - getting unexpectedly close, breath catching when they realize (or their light touches burning into the other's skin)

^ also moving someone's hair out of their face/behind their ear

^ or touching someone's necklace/bracelet/watch

eye contact in a crowded room, but not exchanging any words/expressions - just looking at each other, the rest of the world going still.

^a(n unironic) wink in this situation. or an eyebrow raise, lick or bite of lips, or head tilt. there's something in the subtlety of it - like "this is between us"

pulling someone in by their belt loops??? this is so random idk

feeling the other's breath/lips ghosting their neck

any sort of whisper. anywhere. goddamn.

a long pause when someone is speaking, as though they lost their train of thought while looking at the other person

their bodies accidentally pressed together - being stuck in a small space, falling onto one another, or having to sit really close together. the pause when it's realized.

^this but they're hiding

"make me"

"i dare you"

"and if i do?"/"what will i get (if i do)?" "show/tell me what you want"

the pinky reach before holding hands for the first time

slow dancing (the hand placement, eye contact, proximity, MUSIC)

teaching the other something that involves physical contact (like holding their hands while trying to balance on a skateboard, or guiding their hands somewhere)

eye contact, waiting for one to fold

"don't do that to me" (tempting the other)

sharing earbuds - forced proximity, the vulnerability in sharing things that matter to them

la búsqueda = search

el valor = value / bravery, courage

la valentía = bravery, courage

la fiebre = fever

guardar = to keep, to hold / to guard guardar el/un secreto = to keep a secret guardar el/un rencor = to hold a grudge

la espina = thorn

la bandera = flag, banner

la cinta = tape / ribbon

el frenesí = frenzy

la culpa = blame, guilt

reventar = to pop, to burst

el poder = power, ability poder = to be able to

la decepción = disappointment decepcionar = to disappoint

ahogar = to not be able to breathe, to choke, to sputter ahogarse = to drown [ahogar is most commonly related to "drowning", but it can be used like toser "to cough" but usually in the sense of not being able to catch one's breath, or when the air is especially bad - it's not always "to choke on something" but means that for whatever reason someone can't breathe easily]

desahogar(se) = to vent, to unburden oneself, to rant [lit. "to un-drown"; this is when you "get something off your chest"]

el carbón = coal / charcoal (not to be confused with el carbono which is "carbon", the element) al carbón = grilled [lit. "(cooked) by/over coals"]

el vapor = vapor, steam al vapor = steamed [lit. "(cooked) by/with steam"] a vapor = steam-powered

a toda máquina = "at full speed", "full throttle" [lit. "at full/all machine"]

desolar = to ravage, to raze, to devastate

recurrir (a algo/alguien) = to make use of, to have at one's disposal [with people this is "to turn to" or "to rely on" - if it helps, recurrir is related to el recurso "resource"]

cerca = close, nearby / circa, around [a time]

acerca de = about, concerning

acercarse = to get closer, to approach

a partir de = "starting from" a partir de hoy = "from now on" [lit. "starting today"]

desde = from, since

hacia = toward/towards

arriba = up, going up hacia arriba = upwards, moving up

abajo = down, going down hacia abajo = downwards, moving down

llamar = to call (on the phone) / to call out (to someone) llamarse = to be called, to be named [lit. "to call oneself"]

brumoso/a = foggy, hazy, misty

turbio/a = shady, sinister, unsavory

patinar = to skate / to skid el patinaje = skating (sport)

helar = to freeze helar la sangre (a alguien) = "to make someone's blood run cold", "to make someone's blood curdle", to scare someone very badly

la cornisa = ledge

el lujo = luxury de lujo = lavish / "deluxe"

atisbar = to glimpse / to watch

el luto = mourning estar de luto = to be in mourning

acometer = to charge at, to rush / to assail [it's understood as "to run at" or in euphemism "to take on", but this is almost like "to run straight at (to attack)"]

la queda / el toque de queda = curfew

el cucú = cuckoo bird (also sometimes "cuckoo clock" but it is the bird first) jugar al cucú = peekaboo [imagine a cuckoo clock and it's very much that]

la frontera = frontier / border

el límite = limit / boundary

exculpar = to exonerate, to acquit [lit. "to remove blame/guilt"]

supurar = to fester / to ooze, to exude

fomentar = to encourage, to promote / to incite, to stoke

el punto = point / dot, mark / stitch / a time period / spot, place

el conejo = rabbit

la química = chemistry el químico, la química = chemist, someone who works with chemicals or chemistry

la ampolla = blister / bulb [the glass part of a lightbulb; also "ampule" in science equipment]

herir = to wound

la herida = injury, wound

la cicatriz = scar

inmutable = unchanging

el ocio = leisure

cómodo/a = comfortable

apretado/a = tight, crowded / squeezed

atestado/a = crowded, full of people

la seda = silk (ir) como la seda = to go smoothly, "smooth as silk", to not have any problems

el grano = grain / (coffee) bean / pimple al grano = to the point

rotundo/a = resounding, emphatic / "rotund" negar(se) en rotundo = to flat-out refuse, to deny out right

surgeonsblog

article i found this from^ (w/even more resources)

redwoods medical edge

^article where i found that

this article is short/basic/doesn’t link anywhere else, but i found it very helpful anyway

supposed to be good but to me, seemed difficult to navigate. (dp lyle)

this on the otherhand, is the jackpot (novelmalpractice)

tumblr blog centered around this topic

this is more about the common pitfalls/anachronisms of medical fiction but still helpful

writing medical scenes: useful links by paul anthony shortt

the last one im going to include is an article by a doctor about common mistakes in popular medical shows, i liked this one

V.E. Schwab's advice for creating memorable characters - works for both protagonists and villains

It also ties neatly into the simplest version of the formula for getting people emotionally engaged with your characters: or how to build the moment in which your character starts moving from their initial state to the state in which they'll start changing their own lives.

First, you figure out the one important thing the character believes that they're wrong about. There's usually a core misperception that they haven't examined. Once they're forced to engage with it, it'll start to change everything about their perception of the world they're inhabiting and/or the people in it.

Then, as V.E. says, you identify the character's great desire and their great fear: the thing that character wants more than anything, and the thing or situation that terrifies them, and that they'll go to any lengths to avoid.

And having identified these two objects or situations, you build a situation in which the two forces will be in close, direct opposition to one another... then drop the character down in between them, and squeeze. Those two opposing forces become the jaws of a vise... and you crank the vise more and more tightly closed until the character has no choice but to acknowledge those opposing forces, and start (even in a small way) to deal with the pressure being exerted and push their way through.

This does not have to be, initially, a great climactic moment. In fact, it works better if it's not. It's more effective if your character has a brief low-intensity brush with these conditions-in-conflict early on. That way, when your big resolution scene comes along about two-thirds or three-quarters of the way along through the story arc, you'll have set up a resonance between that earlier hint or intimation of what's to come, and the really big blowoff. Your readers will recognize the resonance—the throb of tension between the two occurrences, like the vibration of a plucked string—and will find satisfaction both in the true resolution having been partially telegraphed earlier, and in how it's now being experienced and resolved in full.

This approach also allows you to set up more minor resonances between the realization of the conflict and its final resolution. These can serve to bind the structure of the work more closely together: to make it look (and be) less like a series of loosely strung-together plot events, and more like a unified whole, in which ripples of story business flow backwards and forwards, interpenetrating and influencing one another, and hinting at the big one to come.

But none of this can happen until the paired and opposing what-do-they-most-desire, what-do-they-most-fear axes have been defined. So that's a subject it's smart to spend some while thinking about (and for all your characters, not just the major ones), to be sure you're getting it right.

Basically George R.R. Martin made horse riding nomads with appearance based upon native american halloween costumes and their entire culture is murdering each other over the slightest dispute and raping each other randomly

And he claimed it was realistic and similar to what real nomadic cultures were like

These blog posts basically take that claim and beat it to a pulp with such elegance and brutality it's a treat to observe even not having read the books

Martin's understanding of history comes from a bunch of TV and racist stereotypes, NOT actual research

When you buy a bottle of wine in a (nicer) restaurant, generally (please note my emphasis there, this is a generalization for most restaurants, but not all restaurants, especially non-US ones) you may see a waiter do a few things when they bring you the bottle.

The waiter presents the bottle to the person who ordered it

The waiter uncorks the bottle in order to serve it

The waiter hands the cork to the person who ordered the bottle

The waiter pours a small portion of the wine (barely a splash) and waits for the person who ordered it to taste it

The waiter then pours glasses for everyone else at the table, and then returns to fill up the initial taster's glass

Now, you might be thinking -- that's all pretty obvious, right? They're bringing you what you ordered, making sure you liked it, and then pouring it for the group. Wrong. It's actually a little bit more complicated than that.

The waiter presents the bottle to the person who ordered it so that they can inspect the label and vintage and make sure it's the bottle they actually ordered off the menu

The waiter uncorks the bottle so that the table can see it was unopened before this moment (i.e., not another wine they poured into an empty bottle) and well-sealed

The waiter hands the cork to the person who ordered the bottle so that they can inspect the label on the cork and determine if it matches up; they can also smell/feel the cork to see if there is any dergradation or mold that might impact the wine itself

The waiter pours a small portion for the person who ordered to taste NOT to see if they liked it -- that's a common misconception. Yes, sometimes when house wine is served by the glass, waiters will pour a portion for people to taste and agree to. But when you order a bottle, the taste isn't for approval -- you've already bought the bottle at this point! You don't get to refuse it if you don't like it. Rather, the tasting is to determine if the wine is "corked", a term that refers to when a wine is contaminated by TCA, a chemical compound that causes a specific taste/flavor. TCA can be caused by mold in corks, and is one of the only reasons you can (generally) refuse a bottle of wine you have already purchased. Most people can taste or smell TCA if they are trained for it; other people might drink the wine for a few minutes before noticing a damp, basement-like smell on the aftertaste. Once you've tasted it, you'll remember it. That first sip is your opportunity to take one for the table and save them from a possibly corked bottle of wine, which is absolutely no fun.

If you've sipped the wine (I generally smell it, I've found it's easier to smell than taste) and determined that it is safe, you then nod to your waiter. The waiter will then pour glasses for everyone else at the table. If the wine is corked, you would refuse the bottle and ask the waiter for a new bottle. If there is no new bottle, you'll either get a refund or they'll ask you to choose another option on their wine list. A good restaurant will understand that corked bottles happen randomly, and will leap at the opportunity to replace it; a bad restaurant or a restaurant with poor training will sometimes try to argue with you about whether or not it's corked. Again, it can be a subtle, subjective taste, so proceed carefully.

But also, this is why reading comprehension is a skill. Because what Sanderson is doing with his epic fantasy is expecting that the reader is coming in knowing that the book is going to be laying out an expansive and mysterious world, which will be gradually explored and explicated over the course of the story. 'Way of Kings' is especially egregious in this because (as noted by the original questions) it doesn't even start by introducing you to the humble (farmboy, traditionally) protagonist whose situation you might understand a bit before it unfolds; it starts by introducing a dozen different mysteries and proper nouns, and asking you to keep them in mind as you read to discover what they are.

This isn't a bad approach, but it is a specific one, and if a reader has asked 'what's a good fantasy series to start reading?' it's entirely possible they don't _know_ that this is a mode of reading/writing. If what they've read before has been books that start off introducing one character for them to relate to, and here's the interesting quirk of their situation, it's perfectly reasonable to wonder why, after three pages of reading, they don't know what's happening.

This is not to say that other ways are dumb or bad, either. 'Hunger Games', eg, starts off with 'here's a poor girl trying to keep her family fed in a bad situation' before it gets into more of the complexities and layers of the story. On the flip side, I've meet Sanderson fans who struggle with other fantasy novels because they get so wrapped up searching for the 'system' of magic that they don't appreciate anything else that, eg, Le Guin is doing.

If you want to read more about the particular ways that scifi/fantasy expects readers to be reading, this essay by Jo Walton is really good.

I watched it before I met her at a con in 2017, and I've watched it many times since. I revisit it every time I need to reassure myself that I'm going the right direction, and every time, something clicks for me.

✨ 504 documents center around accommodations only (including medical). accommodations allow the student different access to the curriculum in some way while still upholding them to the same standards of learning. for example, a student might have accommodations for 50% extra time on tests/quizzes, reference or formula sheets for math tests, sentence starters for english class, assistive technology like text to speech/speech to text, tests given in a low-stimulus location, etc.

✨ IEP documents, while they almost always do grant accommodations, also must include modifications which change the actual content of the class in some way. common examples of curriculum modifications could be a reduction in the material for classwork and homework, separate and reduced tests, a difference in expectation for output (for example, on a project, a student may be graded based on a different rubric or based on effort vs correctness), placement in a skills development/learning center/resource class, etc. IEPs may also grant services to the student like speech and OT.

✨ IEPs also may include a BIP, or a behavioral intervention plan (BIPs can technically exist independently from an IEP though that's rare). a BIP is used to provide strategies for harmful and/or destructive behaviors. BIPs are granted after a long data-collection process, so in my experience they are very individualized. examples could include the use of a 5-point scale, lots of walks to cool off when the student is feeling dysregulated or when prompted to by the teacher, breaks with preferred activities after completing x amount of nonpreferred tasks, a goal chart to track progress, a safety plan, etc.

So, in short:

Character is being held to the same standard of material but just needs changes in how the material is presented or accessed? 504

Character is behind held to a reduced or otherwise altered standard of material or requires additional support with alternate learning environments, smaller class sizes, and more staff? IEP

Character's disability is manifesting behaviorally and is causing them to engage in dangerous, harmful, or destructive behaviors (like getting into fights with students or destroying school property)? BIP