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.

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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/)