A Little Hurt

Our characters are put through hell, sometimes literally. They get wounded or bashed about in pursuit of their goals. We do this to create tension and obstacles to their goal. Generally speaking, fantasy writers are, in effect, a somewhat sadistic bunch based on what they make their characters endure. But, of course, it’s for a good cause, isn’t it.

Well, just over a week ago, I had an accident. Nothing broken, thnakfully. But I did fall on some hard surfaces. The plural is that I was standing on a piano stool. The leg gave way and I tumbled onto a low wooden table in front of me and the wooden floor. Not exactly forgiving, really. I was dazed and hurt a lot. After resting a bit, I recovered and spent the rest of the day doing things around the house, not thinking too much of the injuries I’d suffered, though they were present in the background as a dull pain.

It wasn’t the same in the morning. My hurts had seized up. I had major bruses on my legs and left arm. They’d all festered overnight and boy were they painful. I’m still sore and fragile, especially my left arm which still hurts a lot when it is at rest. It stiffens up in a painful way and it’s painful to use it until it gets back into some sort of shape. I can feel it twinge as I type these words.

Now, it’s a long prologue to the main point as writer. The whole episode has made me reflect on the kinds of injuries we inflict on our characters and the kind of post injury condition they are in and how rapidly they might get back (or not!) to some prior physical shape. All too often, we’re happy to have our character suffer a severe battering or even some injury and yet, not two days later, engage in some pretty wild gymnastics. It’s unreal.

Of course, we have to pace the story so that readers don’t get bored. Nevertheless, the consequences of any injury should have a material impact on the story. The risk of a debilitating injury should also make the character a bit more cautious when it comes to dare devil stunts and fights. It will make them more realistic and such risks and consequences are fodder for the plot. By largely ignoring this aspect of perils, we do our stories a disservice.

My accident has a silver lining therefore, as it has prompted me to consider the above and to think how I might incorporate this in a future story.

For the record, I do have a partially written piece where the main character, a wizard, gets shot by an arrow and thus is incapacitated and has to rely on his apprentice and a vagabond to help him out. Of course, he still has to be well-enough to be functional at the climax.