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This is a complicated question, and ultimately it comes down to what exactly you mean by the word “shoulder.” I’m not being facetious, but it’s a maddeningly vague term. 

For the purposes of this blog entry, I’m assuming “shoulder” isn’t referencing the meat of the upper arm, but rather the muscles and bones that are part of the chest. 

Stabbed in the Back 

Generally, stab wounds are more survivable than gunshots, and wounds in the back are more survivable than wounds in the front. The scapula, or shoulder blade, is a useful piece of armor, and the ribs are angled to deflect stabbing-type injuries downward. It’s possible and even likely that the knife will “skid” along the ribcage, damaging muscles and lacerating ribs, without penetrating the chest. In this way the “stabbing” becomes more of a “slashing” kind of injury. 

Stabbed in the Front 

This is far more dangerous. There are crucial things on the front of the chest, like nipples the clavicle, subclavian artery, subclavian vein, and brachial plexus, which are bundled together. A stab wound that comes down may slip behind the clavicle and damage any of these, or a stab wound coming upwards may slip underneath the clavicle and damage any of these. 

In Either Case…. 

….the character must have some consequence of getting stabbed in this part of the body. (I would argue in any part of the body.) The shoulder should be painful, movement should be restricted, weakened, and perhaps impossible, bleeding should be significant. Maybe they get lightheaded and dizzy from blood loss, maybe they can’t rotate their shoulder or move their arm, maybe they can’t lift anything. The muscles involved are significant and the shoulder is a very complicated joint. 

Whether or not someone will require surgery to repair the muscles involved will depend on a lot of things, mostly on whether you need them to for the story’s purposes. But the one thing that shouldn’t happen is for this to be a “nothing” injury. 

I hope this helps! 

stabs and gunshots, Aunt Scripty

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the 90s this was called

“PICNIC” in English

Matchbooks for gay bars, clubs and restaurants in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New Orleans. 1970s-1980s

Like he's one of my favourites, but I definitely don't think he's a guy people should look up to or see themselves in.

And yet, none of those things have ever stopped anyone white from wanting him to be white 👀👀 why is that? It didn't stop anyone from writing an entire musical about him 👀 it hasn't stopped centuries of his story being centered and retold in tales of mythology 👀 why are we even talking about him at all, if he's such a terrible guy?

Why are white viewers still capable of seeing the worth and the value in Odysseus' story, despite the terrible (and I do mean TERRIBLE) things he did? 👀 Is he someone that white people are supposed to look up to? Why is that not possible with a Black version of him? Why does him being Black mean he has to be positive representation for Black people to follow, rather than another type of character that every human is capable of being?

I remember when there was this LiveJournal community where you could just ask about anything you needed for your novel - medicine, professions, vehicles, how things function in country X - and people who knew something about that would answer.

OH MY GOD