BreadQueen

But ALSO! The best thing about writing injuries is that there is so much variation.

I spent a few years as an EMT, and I saw people walk away from vehicle rollovers with nary a scratch... and also, I saw people break their knees because they sat down. I've seen a guy get lifelong impairments out of falling off something twelve feet high, but I know someone who survived being stabbed over a dozen times with no lasting (physical) injuries. There's range.

In nearly any given situation*, a realistic level of injury is anywhere from "Dies within five minutes" to "Dies 73 years later surrounded by grandchildren and great-grandchildren, having zero long-lasting repercussions from that incident."

*Not every situation, mind you; papercuts are generally exempt

If you don't mind a ramble (because I haven't done a fun character injury ramble in a while so I shall use this as an excuse)...

The key to writing realistic injuries is to start with what you want to happen. It's your character and your scenario, so start with what you want to happen for Plot Reasons.

Example:

You know your character gets in a car crash with a wall, and you want them laid up for a week, but able to move around with minimal pain soon after. Cool. Now that you have your desired outcome, you can run through the scenario. You won't want your character ejected or to have a major head impact with the windshield, so they were wearing their seatbelt. You want them to still be able to walk, so the dashboard probably didn't crumple in on them. That means they were either in a car with good safety ratings, or they weren't going super fast, or a combination thereof. But you do want them a little bit injured, enough so they don't want to go on that hiking trip for another week, so make sure they were going fast enough to get some good ol' whiplash.

Another example:

You want your character to make a dramatic exit out the window, and you want them to be limping a little for dramatic effect as they head off into the forest surrounding the castle. Nice, we love a good dramatic window exit. But you want to make sure the character won't be out of commission for the battle in a fortnight's time. This could totally be a first-floor window, or even a second-floor one. But what if it really needs to be the fourth floor, for pre-existing scenario reasons? Well, maybe there's a balcony halfway down. Or maybe there's a nice slanted roof underneath that broke their fall. Or maybe the castle is built into a cliff so the windows on that side of the castle are only ten feet up. Or maybe they clung onto ivy outside, which ripped out of the wall a bit but was enough to slow them down. There's all sorts of ways you can play this off!

Rather than trying to make a scenario and then fitting the injury into it, come up with the injury (or at least, level of injury) and plan out the details of your scenario around it.

The only caution is to make sure to build scenarios realistically—like, I could totally see a character being able to keep going after being stabbed because it was a shallow wound. But if they get a shallow stab wound... and they only get ✨grazed✨ by a bullet... and they happen to survive a terrible car accident because they were in the best possible seat... AND they were pushed out of an airplane but their BFF managed to skydive right out after them and caught them... that's getting to be a little much. XD Any of those is realistic except maybe the last; IDK, I know injuries, not skydiving, but too many near-misses in a single story starts to feel like plot armor.

You pause before reacting, even if it’s just for a second.

You notice your thoughts instead of immediately believing all of them.

You have moments, small, quiet ones where things feel a little lighter, even if they don’t last long.

You are starting to recognize what hurts you, even if you don’t know how to fix it yet.

You come back to yourself a little faster than you used to.

You let yourself rest sometimes, without as much guilt.

You are more aware of what you need, even if you struggle to give it to yourself.

You are trying. Even on the days where it feels like you are failing, you are still here, still moving through it.

You have days that feel okay, and instead of them feeling impossible, they feel… real, even if unfamiliar.

You are learning that not every thought deserves your attention.

You are still hurting sometimes, but it doesn’t feel exactly the same as before.

Healing doesn’t always look like big changes.

Sometimes it looks like this, small shifts, quiet awareness, softer moments that come and go.

And even if it doesn’t feel like progress, it is.

You are not stuck in the exact same place you were before.

Something in you is changing.

Even if it’s slow. Even if it’s subtle.

can be made platonic if

you try hard enough

Name: Twilight Sparkle 

Source: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

Gender: Female

Age: Young Adult/Teenage

Type: Aspergers/High Functioning

Status: Minority Headcanon

No where in canon or otherwise is Twilight Sparkle actually identified as autistic. There are actually many ambiguously/potentially autistic characters from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, such as Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, but there is only one who I’d consider an autism spectrum disorder to be the best explanation for their behavior. That would be Maud Pie, where the only realistic explanation I can find for her all consuming obsession with rocks is that she is on the autism spectrum. However, it’s pretty obvious she’s not actually intended to be autistic, and she’s just the foil to Pinkie Pie. Most her “autistic” traits, such as her monotonous voice and bluntness, are just to make her be more like a rock. It stands that cartoons are not realistic, so it’s okay for an ordinary character to only like one thing as long as they are meant to be flat, not rounded. It’s really a good thing that she isn’t the token aspie, as not only is she rather flat and likewise not a very good representative of the autism spectrum, but considering the moral of episode she appears in, some people might get the wrong idea. Essentially it explained that you aren't going to friends with everyone, even if you share similar interests, but that’s okay, and you like them. The problem is if Maud is interpreted as being autistic and the only autistic character, it may send the message you can’t actually be close friends with autistic people on a personal level, and can only admire what they do. So, considering all that and the fact Maud has so far only appeared in one episode, she’s a poor example to discuss. 

So why, of all the ponies, am I writing about Twilight Sparkle? Aside from her being the lead character, interpreting her autistic directly complements the overarching plot of the series. If any character was meant to be autistic, it would be Twilight. The central premise of the show is that Twilight Sparkle, the personal protegee of the princess-regent/sun goddess Celestia has been sent to the town of Ponyville to study friendship. Essentially, despite being extremely smart academically, she’s lacking in the social department, and is being instructed in social skills. This is an expirience that may resonate with autistic people who may have attended specialized social skills classes in school. It certianly had an impact on me. Prior to seeing the show, I was embaressed of the fact I was autistic, especially the fact I had to take social skills classes, even long after I had gotten out of them. Seeing Twilight Sparkle, a genuinely likable lead character, in a simular situation taught me that I didn’t need to be ashamed and that when people said they liked me, they meant it. Later in the series she becomes the Princess of Friendship, which while not a typical expirience for people with autism, sends a powerful message if she’s interpretted as being socially disabled:just because someone is autistic doesn’t mean they can’t be a great friend (and yes, autistic people need friends just like anyone else), and that even someone disabled can end up excelling in an area that most people would find impossible without certain abilities.

Aside from that, she doesn’t really show any significant social impairment; the only real autistic traits she demonstrates are the class B criteria, basically what the internet seems to think Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is. She rigidly follows schedules, needs everything to organized, ect. And yes, these are actually symptoms of autism, not OCD, though the traits are common among people with OCD. It’s debatable if this impairs her daily functioning or is otherwise clinically significant enough to merit diagnosis, but even it is, she doesn’t show the more specifically autistic traits of stimming or a single all encompasing interest like Maud’s rocks. While that doesn’t rule out autism by any means, when with the relative lack of social impairiment Obessive Compusive Personallity Disorder seems to be a more appropriate fit. Still, I think she could be written as autistic without changing her personality at all. Aside from being female and a rounded character, she doesn’t exactly break any Aspergers stereotypes. While certainly not every autistic person fits the stereotype, there’s nothing wrong with that as many autistic people do in fact relate with her, and there needs be more autistic role models, especially female ones as autistic girls do in fact exist.

Despite the benefits of having her become officially labeled as autistic, I highly doubt the writers would do so even if they accepted the possibility. This is because mental illness and developmental disorders are essentially taboo in children’s entertainment. A perfect example of this has actually been demonstrated within the show, where a character initially came across as mentally disabled, but was then completely altered. I included a clip showing the change below. While there were some problematic elements with the scene, the change essentially sent the message that mentally disabled characters should not be represented whatsoever, which is much worse. Okay, stupid characters drawing from mental disability stereotypes are allowed; as long as they are male, as seen with the charaters of Snips and Snails. Apparently, girls aren’t allowed to be disabled, they have to be “perfect”, though the fact the stupid male trope exists solely to cause problems and be the butt of jokes doesn’t help either. The show did later having an episode alluding to physical disability, but even that was never directly mentioned. But even if she will never canonically autistic, she can still serve as an excellent role model to autistic people and othes, and if someone chooses to think that she is autistic in order to better relate, that is perfectly fine.  

Anyways, that’s besides the point, mostly just saying I’m not a big my little pony person