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Mar. 6th, 2010
Untitled Part Deux
Mar. 6th, 2010 10:10 pmA kind of sequel to this post.
I'm sometimes boggled by what seems to be a reluctance on some whumpers' part to go into any kind of detail over an injury, most especially it's location. That is, they'll say a character is injured - often refer to "the injury" or "the wound," go into details about the pain and make mention of the blood (if there is any) - but it feels like forever before they tell us where the injury is (I'm thinking the arm, and several paragraphs or chapters later, we finally learn it's the chest, or stomach, or leg). In some cases, we're never even told where the character is injured (yes, I have read stories where that's happened).
Maybe it's just me being a detail junky, but I like knowing as much as possible about a character's injury, most especially it's location. The location doesn't have to be precise - that is, I don't need to know that it's exactly five inches below the nipple or anything like that. Nor do I need it spelled out in precise medical terms. But I don't appreciate vagueness as it makes it hard to form an image of the situation in my mind. I especially hate having to readjust to what I'm reading because I assumed an injury was in one place only to have it located somewhere else.
Edit for major case in point: So I'm reading this story in which the character was shot in the back, but we're never told where in the back. The bullet lodged in the bone, but we're never told which bone. Why does it matter? Because if it's the backbone then the character won't be able to move his legs, and the other characters involved - most especially the doctor - should be rather concerned about that. If it's the shoulder blade (and so far I'm assuming it is since no one is worrying over the character ever walking again) then he'll have issues with his arm. Why the author couldn't have just said where the bullet was located beyond "back" is beyond me.
I'm sometimes boggled by what seems to be a reluctance on some whumpers' part to go into any kind of detail over an injury, most especially it's location. That is, they'll say a character is injured - often refer to "the injury" or "the wound," go into details about the pain and make mention of the blood (if there is any) - but it feels like forever before they tell us where the injury is (I'm thinking the arm, and several paragraphs or chapters later, we finally learn it's the chest, or stomach, or leg). In some cases, we're never even told where the character is injured (yes, I have read stories where that's happened).
Maybe it's just me being a detail junky, but I like knowing as much as possible about a character's injury, most especially it's location. The location doesn't have to be precise - that is, I don't need to know that it's exactly five inches below the nipple or anything like that. Nor do I need it spelled out in precise medical terms. But I don't appreciate vagueness as it makes it hard to form an image of the situation in my mind. I especially hate having to readjust to what I'm reading because I assumed an injury was in one place only to have it located somewhere else.
Edit for major case in point: So I'm reading this story in which the character was shot in the back, but we're never told where in the back. The bullet lodged in the bone, but we're never told which bone. Why does it matter? Because if it's the backbone then the character won't be able to move his legs, and the other characters involved - most especially the doctor - should be rather concerned about that. If it's the shoulder blade (and so far I'm assuming it is since no one is worrying over the character ever walking again) then he'll have issues with his arm. Why the author couldn't have just said where the bullet was located beyond "back" is beyond me.
