#action writing

I see throat punches in media sometimes, and I wanted to explain why this is such a devastating (and illegal) move. Throat punches are no joke. I've always been taught that in the same way you would never point a gun at something you don't want to kill, you would never punch someone in the throat that you didn't want to kill.

Structure of the throat: the anterior part of the throat is very tender and unprotected. Out front you have the trachea, and behind that you have the esophagus. The thyroid cartilage (this is your Adam's apple) sits at the level of your voice box (larynx). About an inch above that, usually hiding up in your jawline, is the hyoid bone.

The deluge pounded the prairie like an army of giants, its roar rivalling the rolling thunder above it. Forests of tallgrass were beaten and broken to half their heights, the soil beneath now oceans of silt and mire and sludge.

The last harpy shrieked its fury into the raging night, sensing the retreat of its sisters back to home. Electricity crackled painfully across its wings, each feather being pulled and fluffed by the storm, rain crashing into its body like arrows. What little cognitive power it possessed was screaming to follow the flock – get back to safety and shelter and warmth – before the elements tore it from the skies.

But to return empty-taloned was to forgo a reward. The harpy could feel the burst of intestines against its mouth, the gush of life-blood seeping down its throat. Chunks of carrion tossed into their enclosure were sufficient, but live prey was a rare and welcome indulgence.

Its master urged it on from the back of its mind, sharing the adrenaline and thrill and stress of the hunt. Live prey begot live prey.

Another blast of rain overturned it. Something like fear touched its gut. The storm was becoming too much. The harpy fought itself right-side up and scanned the unfurling plains below a final time.

Lightning ripped open the clouds. For a heartbeat, the floundering shape amidst the grass was illuminated as clearly as a torch in a cave.

The harpy dived. Wind and water whipped past it as it plummeted, preparing its weight to swing forward those talons and seize the target by whatever it could, snatching its quarry up to where there was no defense –

But the next flash of lightning was blinding and the harpy’s claws closed on empty air. Screeching with rage, the harpy climbed again into the storm-tossed night and wheeled around to join its flock, broadcasting the prey’s last position to its disappointed master.

Argo clawed himself free from the river of muck, open-mouthed panting with the strain. He’d felt the rush of wind above his head as he’d thrown himself down, the split-second shadow against the tempest’s light his only warning. His arms throbbed from where he’d jarred them as he’d dropped, his shoulders protesting taking his full weight just as strongly. But those were just more melodies among the symphony of agony that was his body.

For your background, if your first name starts with…

A - you’re an ex-CIA spy

B - you’re an ex-SAS operative

C - you’re an ex-hitman/hitwoman

D - you’re an ex-Green Beret

E - you’re an ex-ROK Special Forces operative

F - you’re an ex-DEA agent

G - you’re an ex-MI6 spy

H - you’re an ex-FBI agent

I - you’re an ex-US Army Ranger

J - you’re an ex-GAFE commando

K - you’re an ex U.S. Coast Guard officer

L - you’re an ex-U.S. Air Force pilot

M - you’re an ex-Secret Service agent

N - you’re a mercenary who is unaffiliated with any nation

O - you’re an ex-NYPD officer / NYPD SWAT

P - you’re an ex-LAPD officer / LAPD SWAT

Q - you’re an ex-ATF agent

R - you’re an ex-U.S. Marine

S - you’re an ex-Delta Force operative

T - you’re an ex-Navy SEAL

U - you’re an ex-MARCOS operative/commando

V - you’re a biker gang member

W - you’re a death row inmate in for some type of heinous crime

X - you’re a survivalist living in the woods

Y - you’re an ex-Joint Task Force 2 operative

Z - you’re an ex-bomb disposal unit operative (EOD)

For your tragic backstory, if your last name starts with…

A - lost your wife/husband

B - lost your son

C - lost your daughter

D - lost your brother

E - lost your sister

F - lost your mother

G - lost your father

H - lost your best friend

I - lost your fiancé/fiancee

J - lost your favorite uncle

K - lost your favorite auntie

L - lost your entire team

M - lost your mentor

N - failed to save a civilian in your last mission

O - lost your protégée

P - lost your partner (non-romantic, work relationship only)

Q - just got out of prison after being falsely accused of a crime

R - dishonorably discharged for disobeying orders

S - betrayed and left for dead by your inner circle

T - lost your ENTIRE family

U - shot and went into a coma that lasted several years

V - quit your profession because of the rampant corruption you were witnessing

W - divorced from your lover

X - shot an innocent, although you had reliable information that they were a bad person

Y - spiritual reawakening that made you leave your life of violence and death

Z - developed PTSD after single-handedly saving your team from a dangerous situation

For your movie’s antagonists, if your birth month is…

January - the cartel

February - foreign terrorists

March - domestic terrorists

April - corrupt government forces trying to eliminate loose ends

May - a hostile country that hates your country

June - an elite team of thieves/bank robbers

July - a doomsday cult

August - a powerful corporation

September - the mafia

October - far-right militia / white supremacist gang

November - a private military company

Don't get me wrong, when Gege works, he REALLY works. The cursed energy power system by ITSELF is proof that Gege is bare minimum a genius when it comes to worldbuilding. But, I don't think that Gege Akutami knows how to write a story with a big cast using that system.

I'm specifically referring to how Gege has a really bad habit of benching people that are too powerful. Now, this isn't entirely a bad thing that Gege does. When he benched Gojo, it made narrative and thematic sense. I'm considering Gojo to be the exception to this problem that Gege has. But, let's look at every character that Gege has benched for what I could see to be no other reason than they were too strong in order of most to least justified.

Fumihiko Takaba: This one is definitely the least offensive benching on this list. I can imagine that Comedian is a very tough CT to choreograph in a group setting while keeping your overall serious tone. The Shinjuku Showdown for just about its entire runtime feels tense. Comedian is not only an overpowered CT, but it's also a tonally overpowering CT. You can write Comedian to be scary if you have no idea how it works; but, that's still making the Shinjuku Showdown all about Takaba and not Sukuna like Gege intended. So, having Takaba being on the Sukuna Squad would be a lot of work on Gege to properly balance. You were going to have to bench him in some way. I'm fine with him being in charge of taking down Kenjaku. That fight was probably my favorite fight in all of JJK, and, it makes complete sense as to how and why he got benched.

Nobara Kugisaki: While I'm ecstatic that Nobara's alive, it does kind of hurt the story in retrospect, even if her return was properly built up. If Gege had simply killed Nobara, then I wouldn't be putting her on this list. Because sure, Nobara had a technique that would've allowed her to damage the soul from a distance-something that proved to be INTEGRAL during Shinjuku-so killing her could make the Shinjuku Showdown a whole lot harder, but her death meant a lot to the cast. It deeply affected Yuji and caused him to grow even more as a character. So, I was willing to let it slide. But, the fact that Gege kept her alive is proof that he knew that he had made her too powerful and he wanted to use her for later. If he had built this up more instead of one passive "well she might be alive" comment, I wouldn't be complaining. However, here we are.

Hiromi Higuruma: This one is definitely the most egregious in my opinion. The fact that he is alive significantly hurts this story in retrospect. I wouldn't even be making this list in general if he was alive. Something to keep in mind is that I'm trying to look at this story from both a powerscaling and a narrative perspective. So I get why Gege killed him. Anybody with an insta-kill weapon has to be dealt with in some shape way or form. And, once again, killing him gave Yuji more motivation. I honestly don't even get why Gege did it this time with the knowledge that there isn't going to be a JJK2. Keeping Higuruma alive exclusively hurts the story. Especially because he had already mainly served his narrative purpose in the Culling Games.

B is excited to share her WIP intro finally!

Setting: just the fight, open field, training hall, something non-lethal

Characters:

A, fights with shorter blade, something with some body to deflect (saber, short sword, dussak, etc.).

B, longer blade two-handed (longsword and minium, probably something closer to a montante or "greatsword").

B's sword makes large, looping passes as it sweeps through the air. It's for show more than anything, even so, better to be outside it's reach than in. A paces left, then right, B has a circle the length of a man around him secured more tightly than a fortress.

"Even if he stops swinging that thing around like a ribbon dancer, it's still out ranges my blade by a forearm," A thinks to themself.

A tries a testing lunge. Poorly timed, their sword, hand, and arm are turned 90 degrees by a ringing blow from B's weapon.

*clank*

A deflects a follow-up chop from B at the last second, bracing their blade with two hands and staggering from the force

A steps back a full pace out of range of the greatsword

B takes a half step forward, a waltz between the two

One two, a sword tip denied

Three four, a probing thrust shut down

One two, a whining swing from the larger blade

Three.... there

An opening at the top of one of B's ranging swings, not enough to get a swing in, but just enough to get uncomfortably close.

B watches and waits. He knows A's going to try something stupid. "It's their nature," he assures himself.

Could he have just stood his ground and used his weapon like spear, yes, but there's so little flair to that, and it's always about the flair. So he again he loops his sword around and....

A moves, fast as they can

B sees the charge and accelerates his swing

A sees the greatsword begin to move, they brace, sword against bicep, arm curled into a triangle, knees ready

"This is it," they both think

BANG

The larger blade impacts, the shock is stunning. Like a stone down a cliffside, a tree felled by axe, or a thunderclap.

B feels his arms jutter from the sudden stop, then something else. A pressure, a throb in his face that keeps getting worse

A's fist finds its mark square in his jaw. It wasn't a great punch, but it would do. As B staggers A presents their sword to the side of his neck

Start of my huge rant because I spend my work days handling shooting and stabbing victims in the OR and these things irk me (and hey, maybe some writers might like to know).

Rule numero uno is to stop the bleeding. Literally the biggest concern. You can't do anything if they bleed out so pressure or a tourniquet is the biggest thing...especially if there is a big spurt of blood that usually indicates an artery has been hit. (Arteries are high pressure and will bleed A LOT, so they can bleed out very quickly.) Also a tourniquet will hurt because you are squeezing a limb so hard that blood won't flow to it, it's not going to feel "better". Also also these are not meant to be a long term solution because no blood flow = tissue death and possibly losing a limb but if it's preventing them from bleeding out, losing a limb is the lesser of two evils.

If they're getting to a hospital or any form of medical personnel say, within a couple of days, don't worry so much about going to extensive lengths to clean it. It's gonna get an irrigation and debridement (I&D) often under anesthesia if it's really bad or at least with pain meds if not, and they'll be given a bunch of antibiotics. You splashing that bottle of Tito's on them is only going to cause some extremely unnecessary pain and someone who is already at risk of going into shock doesn't need that.

You should NOT remove the bullet/knife. In some instances it could be wedged in somewhere that is actually stopping the worst of the bleeding and you removing it? Without someone who can surgically (I mean actually surgically not with some tweezers) remove it and stop any bleeding? Bad idea, bro. You also just don't have to remove it period. There are many instances where if the bullet is not in a place that's going to harm the patient we'll just leave it because going in for it would cause more damage than leaving it. So cutting and digging into anyone when you aren't a trauma surgeon is a no-go.

So I know someone might say "wait...put pressure on the wound but don't remove anything?!" Basically, if there's a bullet somewhere in there but you can't see it? Pressure. If there's a knife then if you can, wrap something like a towel or Tshirt around where it's coming out and hold the knife steady, but DO NOT push in or pull it out. The knife is acting as the "stopper". If they already pulled it out - cause that can be an automatic panic response to "something is sticking out of me" - then pressure.