David M. Samuels's Blog, page 6

Phrasebook for Writing Injuries & Examples of Ways Characters Respond to Injuries

DISCLAIMER: None of the longer phrases and quoted excerpts belong to me. The point is to get your brain jogging, not to copy directly.

Pain can be useful for any writer’s toolbox. Not only can gruesome injuries help reinforce the stakes to the reader, but pain can also strike evocative sensory images if written well enough.

If you like this list, click the follow button to the right for alerts on future phrasebooks. An installment on BLOOD will be released sometime in the near future.

REACTIONS TO PAIN

“Rubbed his poor fingers”

Biting inside of cheek

Shake off the pain

“The pain was so severe his vision started blurring”

“At the same time, the pain kept the mental cloudiness at bay, was an anchor for his consciousness, a tether holding him to the world of the real”

“Letting the music lift her above the dull ache in her arm”

“The words taking my mind off the pain in my legs and the bites upon my ankles”

“The pain knocked everything out of his mind for a moment”

Squinting in pain

Gritted teeth (pain)

“The dreaminess of Soter’s expression pinched into a look almost of pain”

“Taffy’s whole body arched to the blow.”

Cupped one hand over the bruising

“Harpoon took him through the chest and he clawed feebly at it”

Pain start to burn its way through the shock

Clutched at his abdomen

Rubbing a graze on his elbow

“sucked air through his teeth” as a reaction to pain

Moaned

Hissed in pain

“Face contorted in grim expression; mask of pain”

Writhed

Voice thick with pain

“I’ll have your head for this,” I said clumsily. My lip was split and swelling

Sucked through his teeth | “sucked air through his teeth”

“His battered body swiftly stiffened into knots of bruise”

Groaning a little at the stiffness in his knee

“Sucking numbed fingers “

Face twisted

Face crumpled

TYPES OF INJURIES

“…puncture wounds kill quickly, by organ damage, whereas slashes tend to kill by shock and loss of blood” (Writing Fight Scenes by Rayne Hall)

Weals (red, swollen mark left on flesh by blow or pressure | | Tariq after punishment)

“Red welts along his cheek. Bloody scrapes on his hands”

Contusion (injury to tissue usually without laceration)

Kink (discomfort ie kink in his neck)

“Took Darry’s arm off at the elbow”

Gashed knee

Red gash

Chewed ruin

In the gusher coming from my nose

Ruptured flesh

Broken skin

Puckered wounds

Gouges

An ugly exit wound

Scar tissue

A deep cut

Messed him up good

His head all smashed up

Tore open a four-inch flap of his curiously soggy, loose skin

Toothmarks

Lacerations

Opened a gash above my eye

Puffy scratches

His right eye was already starting to puff shut

Graze

“Pink shine of freshly healed burns”

Shiny wrinkled skin (burn marks)

The bloody puncture in his sword arm

Slicing a thin red track

“splinters of white bone”

“Its innards dangled in shrivelled ropes”

Ropes of her guts

Clean through (“Someone had cut Anton’s throat clean through.”)

Took his head clean off

Dismembered

“Leaving a bloody crater where her mouth had been”

Earache

“Black rings of bruise around his eyes”

Fattening upper lip

“Cluster of raw insect bites.”

Green bruise

Livid (color of skin; having a dark inflamed tinge)

lacerated (tear or deeply cut)

Scraped

“Raw patch of skin on her elbow where she’d grazed it”

“his hands had been scraped raw by the fall.”

Mangled

Bodies that gaped with ragged wounds

Stab-wound

“Chest shredded by bullets”

Hip abraded (rubbing away by friction)

All nicked up

Purpling bruise

“Blooms of bruise”

Bruised in shades of green and blue

“Ruso frowned and then wished he hadn’t, because it pulled on the stitches”

Rekindling the pain of her wounds

The pains in her body came alive

Dull ache

Spike of pain

“The pain sharpened – locking her for a moment with shut eyes and clenched teeth – and then it sank back to its usual level and she breathed out gratefully”

“Stabs of white pain shooting from it in rhythm with her pulse”

“The pain there suddenly, jabbing him with sharp edges”

“Leg felt a lot better with the bandage on tight: a throbbing pain instead of a burning one”

“Blood replaced by battery acid”

“Slams ice through my arm at the elbow”

“Every breath twist hot knives in his chest”

‘Upper arm exploded in pain”

“Reawoken the itches on Ruso’s back”

Ribs screamed in complaint

“Simon shrugs and then flinches at the lightning strike of pain”

“The lightest breath of breeze bruised my face.”

“He reached up to wipe the rain from his eyes and winced when his hand brushed across the torn and swollen skin.”

“Tried to shift, but a sharp spike of pain stopped him”

“One of the bruises Tamas had given me found a hard edge somewhere and began protesting.”

EXPERIENCE OF PAIN

His back was killing him

Aggravate the injury

“pain ripped through her spine”

“Islands of pain all over his body”

“The pain sharpened inside her”

“Ablaze in fiery pain”

Pain erupted

“Her wrist feels stabbed through with hornets”

The splitting pain

Gnawing pain

“send agony splintering through my face.”

“pain flaring up his side”

Pain swelled to bursting point

Twinged (sudden, sharp localized pain)

Ankle still tender

Arm flared with pain

Winced, jarred his ankle

Painful cramps wracking his stomach

Pain ebbed

“Every jolt and bump sent blue lightning up his legs”

His joints burned as if padded by coals

“Every step sledgehammers a railroad spike into the side of my right knee”

“pain curled its burning fingers into his flesh”

“knots of spasming pain”

“He could feel the cut throbbing, as if it was keeping time with the rhythm of the hammer”

“When he tried to move it, he felt a sting, as if a wasp had burrowed into the joint”

‘A rock hit the back of her head, and a black flash exploded behind her eyes”

“His legs knotted into cramps that felt like somebody had sunk dry ice meat hooks into his thighs”

“Felt as if his arm was ready to fall off”

““The cuts along his back were lances of fire.””

““remained bent over, as the worst cramp yet kicked him in the belly with the power of a horse’s hind hooves.” Ankle tender

“When Rictus swallowed the keen spearpoint etched fire on his throat”

Tore a hot line along her ribs

(Image source: http://coolvibe.com/2011/104-digital-art-action-scenes/battle-lost/)

Of Steel That Stings & Other Sharp Things | FREE Today! [9/6] | High Fantasy Heist

What’s a noble to do when he’s challenged to a duel he can’t win? He calls in Emelith the Finder, career criminal. In order to save the life of her client, Emelith must sabotage a duel by breaking into the opponent’s manor and swapping his sword with a fake one.

Regional Map:

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Of Steel That Stings & Other Sharp Things | High Fantasy Heist | Free Today! [9/6]

What’s a noble to do when he’s challenged to a duel he can’t win? He calls in Emelith the Finder, career criminal. In order to save the life of her client, Emelith must sabotage a duel by breaking into the opponent’s manor and swapping his sword with a fake one.

Regional Map:

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Phrasebook for Medieval & Fantasy Clothing | Materials & Ornaments (Writer’s Reference)

Image: conner.faw@gmail.com

IG: Badbucket

DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything long or within quotes. The purpose here is to get your brain jogging, not to copy prose directly

Subscribe for future installments on different articles of clothing.

MATERIALS

Bombazine (a twilled dress fabric of worsted and silk or cotton)

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Camlet (a medieval Asian fabric of camel hair or angora wool; European fabric of silk and wool; a fine lustrous woolen)

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Calico (a plain-woven textile made from unbleached and not fully processed cotton. It may contain unseparated husk parts; fabric is far less fine than muslin, but less coarse and thick than canvas or denim; very cheap)

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Samite (a rich silk fabric interwoven with gold or silver threads, used for dressmaking/decoration/tapestries in the Middle Ages)

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Muslin (lightweight cloth cotton in a plain weave)

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Brocade (rich fabric, usually silk, woven with a raised pattern of gold or silver thread

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Taffeta (a crisp, plain-woven lustrous fabric of various fibers used especially for women’s clothing)

Organza (a thin, plain weave, sheer fabric traditionally made from silk)

Chiffon (light, sheer fabric typically made of silk or nylon

Satin (smooth, glossy fabric typically of silk [subset])

crushed silk

padded silk

“A dress she and Malorie sewed from an old bedsheet”

sackcloth

Oilskin (heavy cotton cloth waterproofed with oil)

linen

“Cape of woven sea grass”

(vair = the bluish-grey and white fur of a squirrel prized for ornamental use in medieval times)

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ermine

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yak fur

ostrich-leather

sheepskin

leopard skin

otter fur

sealskin

Suede (leather, esp kidskin with the flesh side rubbed to a velvety snap)

kidskin (“kid-gloved”)

doeskin

buckskin

fawn leather (“pale fawn breeches”

horsehide

goat leather

dogskin

Chamois (soft pliable leather made from sheepskin or goatskin)

crocodile skin

white/red fox fur

Clothing woven from reeds

Gauzy (nightdress)

Lacy

Fleecing

“Toga spun from superior wool”

Homespun/roughspun

Quilted _ (“made of two layers of cloth filled with padding held in place by lines of stitching)

Scratchy wool

Threadbare

Lumpy sweaters

DECORATIONS

Emblazoned with image/letters (conspicuously inscribe or display a design on something)

Embroidered (ornamented with needlework)

_-trimmed (ermine/fur)

A robe patterned with salt flowers

“His purple robe was patterned with yellow and gold thread depicting stylized birds and intersecting swirls and branches”

_ studded with _ (“heavy gold pendant, studded with sapphires…”)

Sequin (a small plate of shining metal or plastic used for ornamentation especially on clothing; hair | “silver sequins on his black vest-cloak”)

“crocheted borders”

“purple-bordered togas”

Pouffes (puffy part of garment/accessory [Ottoman])

Puffed sleeves

Blue velvet embroidered with gold knots around the neckline

Jeweled

Spangled (sparkling) (“slippers of spangled silk.”)

“Shawl trimmed with glimmering green scrollwork”

Kill Creek by Scott Thomas {Haunted House Book Review}

During my recent “haunted house” binge, I uncovered what may be one of my favorite works in the subgenre so far. KILL CREEK by Scott Thomas follows four horror authors as they spend the night in a haunted house for an “interview” conducted by an Irish trust fund baby. Don’t think for a moment that this book repeats those old tropes of surviving a haunted house for the night. No, the Finch House haunts each author in a way that will resonate with any writer out there.

I think this quote will help give you an idea of what I mean without spoiling anything:

Blog Host: “I can’t force you to do this [spend the night at Finch House]. You’re free to leave now. Or you can stay the night—we have rooms booked for each of you at a hotel on the Plaza—and you can leave in the morning.” He leaned over the table, the spotlight overhead casting long streaks of shadow down his face. “Or you can come with me to Kill Creek and, by the first of November, you won’t just be the four most famous horror authors in the country; you’ll be the four most famous authors on the planet.”

“We’re already famous,” Sebastian countered, his posture stiffening. (Sebastian is the old-school literary horror writer).

Wainwright slowly nodded. “Yes, sir, you are. To a certain generation. But what happens when they forget you?”

He looked to Daniel Slaughter (a writer similar to RJ Stine of Goosebumps). “Or they outgrow you.”

To Moore (edgy author of violent erotica). “Or they misunderstand you?”

To Sam (main character). “Or they give up on you?”

Expect the sort of character-driven horrors seen in works by Stephen King, Joe Hill, and Paul Tremblay (as opposed to the slasher atmosphere of Matheson’s Hell House etc.) Also expect to feel downright moved by some passages. Here’s one of my favorites:

Sebastian ran a finger over the spines of the books on the shelf. It did not matter to him what the titles were. They were books. They were filled with thoughts. Their relevance was debatable; he was sure some were exceptional while others were the works of lesser minds. He was not above calling a book unreadable. But their literary merit wasn’t important at this moment. They were words strung together to represent the firing of neurons and the transferring of information through synapses. They were human minds set into paper, and Sebastian loved every single one of them, even the ones he found disposable.

Like that blasted Adudel book, he thought.

Yes, even the Adudel book deserved to exist, because the man himself had sat down and pounded keys until all of the clutter in his brain was carefully organized and displayed for others to experience.

This is why we do it, Sebastian told himself as he looked down the row of leather-bound tomes. To live on. To exist when we stop existing. To be remembered.

“It’s a beautiful room.”

So if you’re not only looking for a fantastic haunted house book, but also a deep outlook on writing as a profession, look no further than KILL CREEK.

Of Steel That Stings and Other Sharp Things: A Thief’s Tale {Preorder}

What’s a noble to do when he’s challenged to a duel he can’t win? He calls in Emelith the Finder, of course. In order to save the life of her client, Emelith must sabotage a duel by breaking into the opponent’s manor and swapping his sword with a fake one.

If you enjoyed the Emelith story from THREE NIGHTS IN FARAL-KHAZAL, you’ll love this adventure in the northern reaches of Euvael.

Terms and Phrases to Help Describe a Character’s Ancestry & Family

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Wellborn

Gently bred

“Traced their roots back to this golden age”

“Traced their descent/could trace his descent way back to”

Could trace his lineage (“all the way back to Alexander”)

Of ignoble birth

Freeborn

Masterless

Clanless

Low birth (“his low birth would cost him respect”)

Born to wealth

“Without a drop of royal blood in him”

“A bit full of himself, but that would be his Lannister blood.”

Blessed with (phys/ment attribute)

Parentage (immediate ancestry)

Ancestry

Blood ties

“Let’s hope you’re forged from the same iron as your father.”

A chip off the old block

Cast from the same mold as _

Rowing’s in the blood

The brains of the family | “You’re obviously the brains of the family”)

Well-heeled (well-off; rich)

A born soldier

Childless

Fosterling

Lastborn

By-blow (illegitimate child | “He was some knight’s by-blow, people said

Firstborn/secondborn/thirdborn

Baby sister

Da

Grand-dam (grandmother/old woman/female ancestor)

Brother-by-law (Peter McLean)

Brother-in-claim (Maurice Druon)

The intended of his nephew.

My father the Duke

An off-relation

Progeny

Offspring

Firstborn

Next-of-kin

Kinfolk

Grandfolk

Eldest

Sister-dear

IMG SOURCE: https://zombiesruineverything.com/2015/06/19/mbti-game-of-thrones-houses/

50 Types of Rooms for Brainstorming Medieval and Fantasy Architecture {Writer’s Resource}

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Image from Final Fantasy IX

1. Buttery, where the drink was kept… a pantry, for bread, dishes, and utensils, with a passage between leading to a kitchen outside. (Frances and Joseph Gies, Medieval Villages)

2. A “solar,” a second story either above the service rooms or at the other end, may have housed a sleeping chamber. (et. al.)

3. oratory (small chapel)

4. Counting room (merchant)

5. One-room lodgings

6. Main room

7. Atelier (a workshop or studio, especially one used by an artist or designer)

8. Minor state apartments (“where they dump lesser ambassadors, trade attaches, counsel for appellants in civil cases, unimportant dependents and poor relations”)

9. walkway/Covered walkways

10. Lavatory (room or compartment with a sink or washbasin and toilet)

11. Scullery (small (kitchen or room at the back of the house used for washing dishes and other dirty household work)

12. Foyer

13. private chambers/bedchamber

14. Workrooms

15. Lavatorium

16. The back office

17. Chancel (the part of a church containing the altar and seats for the clergy and choir)

18. The drawing room

19. Mezzanine (a low story between two others in a building; typically between the ground and first floors)

20. Vestibule (an antechamber, hall or lobby next to the outer door of a building)

21. Backroom

22. Bowels (large structure ie palace)

23. Passageway

24. corridor

25. Common room (of a tavern)

26. Barroom | taproom

27. Tablinum (in Roman architecture, the room situated to one side of the atrium and opposite the entrance used for storing family records or tablets)

28. Innyard

29. Churchyard

30. Courtyard = yard

31. galleries/gallery

32. Cellar

33. Root cellar (Leibowitz)

34. “storage vaults”

35. Privy (a toilet located in a small shed outside a building or other building; an outhouse)

36. Guardrooms (room in a military base used to accommodate a guard or detain prisoners)

37. Sickroom

38. Infirmary (in a monastery)

39. Courtroom

40. Taproom

41. Silo (grain)

42. Herbarium (room or building housing a collection of dried plants; a box cabinet or other receptacle in which it’s kept)

43. Staircase-tower

44. Larder (a place where food is stored [pantry] | stockpile of food)

45. The loading bay (warehouse)

46. The service wing

47. In the South Library (manor)

48. Banquet hall

48. Council chamber

50. Boudoir (woman’s bedroom or private room)

Structural/Placement Phrases

The next room

“room off the kitchen

“the gallery overlooking the courtyard”

“There was a comfortable room in the curve of the tower wall”

“the next chamber” (“retrieved another [stool] for himself from the next chamber.”)

“the narrow hallway… ran between the reception room and the kitchen area.”

“The study opened onto the back colonnade”

“A long hall stretched ahead to the giant glass doors at the other end of the house, and through them I glimpsed a second room…”

“The Liber Conflagrantia took up an entire floor of the Tower of Magisters.”

“The curtained space just off the kitchen”

“The corridor ends in a large square kitchen, and off that run other smaller room”

“Wall abutted the rock”

“The attic stretches the length of the house”

““the tiny common room that separated the flight deck from the galley and sleeping quarters.””

“Master bedroom runs the width of the building”

“Shed built against one wall”

Tommy’s room is a rectangle, half as wide as it is long (Paul Tremblay)

Rotunda (a round building or room, esp one with a dome)

The next room

Doubled (“the Ballenhaus, the building that doubled as a warehouse and a town hall…”)

Author Interview: PETER MCLEAN (Priest of Bones | War for the Rose Throne)

Q1: The War for the Rose Throne trilogy is awesome for all sorts of reasons, one of my favorites being its characters. There are plenty of theories on developing characters floating on the Internet, but do abide by a particular process? For example, some writers don’t name their characters toward the end whereas George RR Martin mentioned on a “TIFF” interview that names contribute to his character design.* Do you use character questionnaires? Etc.

Oh, I have to have a name first and foremost. There’s a power in names, for sure. A name can tell you a lot about a character, about things like class and social standing, and the sort of background they’re from.

From the name “Bloody Anne” for example you can tell that not only has she obviously led a violent life, but that she also comes from a social strata where one’s family name isn’t important enough for her to need to mention it. I always start with a name, and use that to let me discover who this person is and where they’re from.

From that you can work outwards, taking their place of origin and making them a product of their upbringing and lived experiences. A character who grew up in a major city is going to have a very different lived experience to a farm kid, for example, and that sort of thing all helps shape their personalities.

I don’t use character questionnaires as such but I keep a fairly detailed character bible with an entry for each character, noting down easily forgettable things like skin and hair and eye colour, left or right handed, any scars, tattoos or distinguishing features, verbal tics or favourite expressions etc. If they’ve been through major events or traumas those get logged too, and that helps me stay consistent with their characterisation from book to book.

Q2: Do you worldbuild before you plot? In his online lectures (linked below for readers), Brandon Sanderson told the class that he drafted ~1,000 pages of worldbuilding for Elantris. Not to harp on about George RR Martin, but he started ASOIAF with the Stark/direwolf scene and the world of Westeros unfurled from there. Where would you place yourself between those poles?

Oh good grief no, I can’t imagine doing 1,000 pages of worldbuilding! I work from a completely character-driven perspective, and let the world develop around those characters as the story unfolds.

So far in War for the Rose Throne we’ve seen two cities, Ellinburg and Dannsburg. Obviously there are others, but I don’t know what they’re called and won’t decide until I need to mention one. I think it’s all too easy to get so caught up in building worlds that you don’t ever get around to writing the story, and obviously that’s no help to anyone.

That said, when I do build a place, I’m a stickler for making sure it actually works. I always wince a bit when I’m reading something and there’s a huge city in the middle of the desert, for example, with no indication of where their food and water comes from. Call me a logistics nerd, but even if those details don’t actually go into the book I always make sure it works in my head if nothing else.

Q3: I’m sure you’re sick of us readers saying this, but Priest of Bones/Lies is fantastic for fans of Peaky Blinders in the same way The Royal Tenenbaums is fantastic for fans of Arrested Development: similar motifs, different atmospheres. Do you agree with that comparison, or do you think your work resonates more strongly with a different source? What works influenced WFTRT the most? (Also, do you have a preference for the acronym?)

I’m just pleased to have an acronym, to be honest! I do get this question a lot, and yeah, I think it’s a fair one. I do tend to wear my influences on my sleeve and I’m not ashamed to admit I’m a big Peaky Blinders fan, and a fan of gangster films and mob stories in general. When my agent and I were selling the series we actually pitched it as “The Godfather with swords”, because that’s pretty much what it is. WFTRT is a gangster family saga in the tradition of The Godfather and The Sopranos and sure, Peaky Blinders, it’s just set in a Tudor-esque fantasy world instead of New York or post-war Birmingham.

Q4: Just because they’re underrated in general, what’s your favorite literary journal? Any favorite fantasy short stories?

I’m a big fan of Grimdark Magazine (and had a WFTRT short story in issue #18) which attracts some top-tier authors, including Lord Grimdark Joe Abercrombie himself in the latest issue.

Fantasy short stories are often tricky as you have so little space for worldbuilding or scene setting unless it’s a spin-off from an existing property, but I really enjoyed Joe’s Sharp Ends collection of First Law stories. I write a lot of short stories myself, mostly for Warhammer 40k, and again there the worldbuilding is already done for you so you can just concentrate on the characters and the plot. Writing stand-alone short stories is a distinct skill, and it’s not something I specialise in.

Q5: If you had any advice to give yourself as a noob writer, what would it be?

Finish the thing. In my writing youth I was forever starting projects and never finishing them, but it’s only once you have a complete draft that you can really get down to the work of turning it into a good story. I always say that the editing phase is where you carve your statue – drafting is dragging the block of marble into the studio in the first place.

-Peter McLean

TWITTER:

@PeteMC666

WEBSITE:

Talonwraith.com

Priest of Bones:

“Hunger and the Lady”:

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfffCzEZwqI

** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v98Zy_hP5TI&t=9s

*** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OG2-6Tj51FM

14 Things to Ask Your Characters (Characterization Questionnaire/Workshop)

1. What would completely break your character?

2.  What was the best thing in your character’s life?

3, What seemingly insignificant memories stick with your character?

4,. What is your character reluctant to tell people?

5.. Any friends your character has? How many do they want?

7/ Major flaws? Fears?

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8.1) Positive Traits (any of which might work against them/a flaw)

8.2) symbolizing trait

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9) things that push their buttons?



10) No tolerance for _

11) What would your character give their life for?

12) What does your character pretend to care about?

13) Image projected versus image internal

14) Prejudices?