Aosto
Sage
This is in response to a previous thread of mine, but I feel it needs it's own discussion.
In my opening scene my MC is struck in the shoulder by an arrow. His initial response is to locate the source of the arrow and avoid further injury. He felt a sudden pressure below his shoulder blade, his arm weakened, but there was no immediate reaction to pain.
In my own experience, having broken several bones, I find that pain isn't the immediate reaction. I have always located the injury, assessed my damage, and assessed what caused the injury however pain was not my first thought.
Take for example when I broke my collar bone while ridding my bike. My first reaction was "I fell" my second reaction was "the bike is on me" and I then attempted to get the bike off me with the affected arm, only noticing a decrease in function. Thirdly i though "I should get up" again using the arm that was rendered useless after applying pressure to it. I then evaluated the cause, the ramp broke causing my tire to hit the curb and flip the bike forward making me land nose first and flipping over the handlebars.
I only felt pain about 30 minutes later on the way to the doctor. It was similar when breaking my ankle in skateboarding.
So, my question is, how do you respond to injury in a novel. If your character is shot by an arrow does he immediately squeal out in pain? I think he would not, obviously pain will follow and that will be clarified, but the initial response shouldn't be pain.
In my opening scene my MC is struck in the shoulder by an arrow. His initial response is to locate the source of the arrow and avoid further injury. He felt a sudden pressure below his shoulder blade, his arm weakened, but there was no immediate reaction to pain.
In my own experience, having broken several bones, I find that pain isn't the immediate reaction. I have always located the injury, assessed my damage, and assessed what caused the injury however pain was not my first thought.
Take for example when I broke my collar bone while ridding my bike. My first reaction was "I fell" my second reaction was "the bike is on me" and I then attempted to get the bike off me with the affected arm, only noticing a decrease in function. Thirdly i though "I should get up" again using the arm that was rendered useless after applying pressure to it. I then evaluated the cause, the ramp broke causing my tire to hit the curb and flip the bike forward making me land nose first and flipping over the handlebars.
I only felt pain about 30 minutes later on the way to the doctor. It was similar when breaking my ankle in skateboarding.
So, my question is, how do you respond to injury in a novel. If your character is shot by an arrow does he immediately squeal out in pain? I think he would not, obviously pain will follow and that will be clarified, but the initial response shouldn't be pain.