Writing Traumatic Injuries References

Writing Traumatic Injuries References

So, pretty frequently writers screw up when they write about injuries. People are clonked over the head, pass out for hours, and wake up with just a headache… Eragon breaks his wrist and it’s just fine within days… Wounds heal with nary a scar, ever…

I’m aiming to fix that.

Here are over 100 links covering just about every facet of traumatic injuries (physical, psychological, long-term), focusing mainly on burns, concussions, fractures, and lacerations. Now you can beat up your characters properly!

General resources

WebMD

Mayo Clinic first aid

Mayo Clinic diseases

First Aid

PubMed: The source for biomedical literature

Diagrams: Veins (towards heart), arteries (away from heart) bones, nervous system, brain

Burns

General overview: Includes degrees

Burn severity: Including how to estimate body area affected

Burn treatment: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd degrees

Smoke inhalation

Smoke inhalation treatment

Chemical burns

Hot tar burns

Sunburns

Incisions and Lacerations

Essentials of skin laceration repair (including stitching techniques)

When to stitch (Journal article–Doctors apparently usually go by experience on this)

More about when to stitch (Simple guide for moms)

Basic wound treatment

Incision vs. laceration: Most of the time (including in medical literature) they’re used synonymously, but eh.

Types of lacerations: Page has links to some particularly graphic images–beware!

How to stop bleeding: 1, 2, 3

Puncture wounds: Including a bit about what sort of wounds are most likely to become infected

More about puncture wounds

Wound assessment: A huge amount of information, including what the color of the flesh indicates, different kinds of things that ooze from a wound, and so much more.

Home treatment of gunshot wound, also basics More about gunshot wounds, including medical procedures

Tourniquet use: Controversy around it, latest research

Location pain chart: Originally intended for tattoo pain, but pretty accurate for cuts

General note: Deeper=more serious. Elevate wounded limb so that gravity draws blood towards heart. Scalp wounds also bleed a lot but tend to be superficial. If it’s dirty, risk infection. If it hits the digestive system and you don’t die immediately, infection’ll probably kill you. Don’t forget the possibility of tetanus! If a wound is positioned such that movement would cause the wound to gape open (i.e. horizontally across the knee) it’s harder to keep it closed and may take longer for it to heal.

Broken bones

Types of fractures

Setting a broken bone when no doctor is available

Healing time of common fractures

Broken wrists

Broken ankles/feet

Fractured vertebrae: Neck (1, 2), back

Types of casts

Splints

Fracture complications

Broken noses

Broken digits: Fingers and toes

General notes: If it’s a compound fracture (bone poking through) good luck fixing it on your own. If the bone is in multiple pieces, surgery is necessary to fix it–probably can’t reduce (“set”) it from the outside. Older people heal more slowly. It’s possible for bones to “heal” crooked and cause long-term problems and joint pain. Consider damage to nearby nerves, muscle, and blood vessels.

Concussions

General overview

Types of concussions 1, 2

Concussion complications

Mild Brain Injuries: The next step up from most severe type of concussion, Grade 3

Post-concussion syndrome

Second impact syndrome: When a second blow delivered before recovering from the initial concussion has catastrophic effects. Apparently rare.

Recovering from a concussion

Symptoms: Scroll about halfway down the page for the most severe symptoms

Whiplash

General notes: If you pass out, even for a few seconds, it’s serious. If you have multiple concussions over a lifetime, they will be progressively more serious. Symptoms can linger for a long time.

Character reaction:

Shock (general)

Physical shock: 1, 2

Fight-or-flight response: 1, 2

Long-term emotional trauma: 1 (Includes symptoms), 2

First aid for emotional trauma

Treatment (drugs)

WebMD painkiller guide

Treatment (herbs)

1, 2, 3, 4

Miscellany

Snake bites: No, you don’t suck the venom out or apply tourniquettes

Frostbite

Frostbite treatment

Severe frostbite treatment

When frostbite sets in: A handy chart for how long your characters have outside at various temperatures and wind speeds before they get frostbitten

First aid myths: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Includes the ones about buttering burns and putting snow on frostbite.

Poisons: Why inducing vomiting is a bad idea

Poisonous plants

Dislocations: Symptoms 1, 2; treatment. General notes: Repeated dislocations of same joint may lead to permanent tissue damage and may cause or be symptomatic of weakened ligaments. Docs recommend against trying to reduce (put back) dislocated joint on your own, though information about how to do it is easily found online.

Muscular strains

Joint sprain

Resuscitation after near-drowning: 1, 2

Current CPR practices: We don’t do mouth-to-mouth anymore.

The DSM IV, for all your mental illness needs.

Electrical shock

Human response to electrical shock: Includes handy-dandy voltage chart

Length of contact needed at different voltages to cause injury

Evaluation protocol for electric shock injury

Neurological complications

Electrical and lightning injury

Cardiac complications

Delayed effects and a good general summary

Acquired savant syndrome: Brain injuries (including a lightning strike) triggering development of amazing artistic and other abilities

Please don’t repost! You can find the original document (also created by me) here.

World Building Resources

World Building Worksheet (Great for Fantasy/Science Fiction)

Forms of Government

Types of Art  - Perhaps the culture you’ve built doesn’t emphasize painting and drawing, but glasswork or sand art as an art form. Be creative.

7 Deadly Sins of Worldbuilding - What NOT to Do

Cyberpunk Derivatives (Steampunk, Clockpunk, etc.)

Rules of Building Believable Mythology

Fantasy Resources

Medieval Demographics Calculator

Fantasy Calendar Generator - (Can also be used for Sci-Fi)

Social Organization - List of Worldbuilding Questions

Random City Generator

Guide to Fantasy Subgenres

Types of Superpowers (Wiki)

Types of Magic

Magic in Fiction - Wikipedia, discusses ways characters can use magic.

List of Magical Creatures

Creating Fantasy Religions

Science Fiction Resources

Types of Planets

Types of Spaceships

Star System Generator

Creating Believable Aliens

Designing a Hypothetical Alien World

List of Emerging Technologies - Wikipedia

Weapons of the Future

Applications for Artificial Intelligence

Misc.

Things to Remember When Writing Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

Types of Fictional Apocalypse

10 Universal Myths of the Ancient World

List of Mythologies

Future Timeline - Predictions technology, natural disasters, etc., for future; organized by year. An easy to use resource.

Building a magic system

A little guide to help you with your magic system.

1. Source

- External source: Energy from the outside that the mage can draw upon or convert into magic energy.

Earth

The atmosphere

Drawn from elements

From another dimensions or realms

Gods

Supernatural entities

Star or planet constellations

Weather phenomena

Magic as life energy

Magic as omnipresent energy that flows through everything

- Internal source: Magic coming from within the body of the mage, generated by him

Coming from the mind

Generated by the body

From the soul

2. Magic control through:

Incantations

Hand gestures

Written symbols

Focus/concentration/will of the mage

By connection to the source (object, supernatural creature, another realms etc)

Rituals

Blood

Sacriface

Emotions

3. Magic limits - what can’t be done by magic

Range of effect

Lenght of effect

Limited by the mage’s focus

Limited by the mage’s stamina

4. Magic costs

Exhaustion of stamina

Pain

Gradual loss of senses

Burning off the mage’s soul

Buring off the mage’s life span

5. People who can use magic:

Born with it

Trained

Bestowed upon them

Awakening magic in some way

Ritual

Deal with a supernatural entity

Consumption of blood of a supernatural creature

Acquiring it from a near-death experience

6. Mages regarded by the society:

Hidden from it

Led by it

Feared

Expelled/hated

Legit’s Historical Fashion Masterpost

All right guys, I’ve decided to put together another masterpost for you - this time on historical fashion. This could get lengthy so… bear with me. (Forgive me also if some of the dates are a touch inaccurate - I’m not a historian and I’m going with what Google gives me.)

Prehistory -

Neolithic Clothing - The beginnings of textiles, some woven materials, leather, etc. Circa 102000 BCE - 2000 BCE

Bronze Age Britain - The development of more sophisticated textiles, including wool and some ornamentation, including brooches. Circa 3200 BCE - 600 BCE

Iron Age Clothing (Europe) - Even more sophisticated, ornamented clothing, textiles, hairstyles. Dyed clothing arises. Circa 1200 BCE - 1 BCE (in Europe)

Fashion of the Ancient World

Clothing of Mesopotamia - i.e, Babylon. Also Mesopotamian jewelry. Circa 3000 BCE - 300 BCE

Clothing of Ancient Egypt - All eras.

Clothing of Ancient India - An overview.

Ancient Greek Clothing + Wikipedia for Definitions

Ancient Roman Clothing + More Rome

Ancient Celtic Clothing

Vikings!

Biblical Clothing - i.e., Primarily Ancient Hebrew

Byzantine Clothing

*Note: I’m not including many cultures here (such as Asian/South American) simply because of my own lack of expertise + time and space limitations in this masterpost.

Medieval Clothing

Wikipedia Overview

Anglo-Saxon Clothing - (Pre-Norman Invasion)

England 1066-1087 - Ish

1100 - 1200 in European Fashion - Wikipedia

1200 - 1300 in European Fashion - Wikipedia

*A Note on Women’s Fashion - Tight lacing did NOT appear until about 1340, which means that shapely, comely bodices would not have appeared in fashion before this time.

14th Century Women’s Fashion - The stereotypical “medieval” look with wimple, long sleeves, etc.

Sexy Sexy Knights

Suits of Armor & Their Component Parts

Suit of Armor - Labeled Photo for Reference

15th Century Clothing

The Renaissance

History of the Corset - Italian in origin. Introduced to France in the 1500s.

15th Century Florence

*Note: For the Tudor and Elizabethan eras of fashion it’s important to note that there were laws in place which dictated what clothing you could wear due to your social class.

Tudor Era Clothing - King Henry VIII, et al

Tudor Dress & Its Component Parts

Elizabethan Clothing

Tudor/Elizabethan Corsets - Corsets during this time created a shape with a flat chest and narrow waist.

Jacobean Era Dress - 1603 - 1625

And Beyond

Baroque/Rococo Fashion - France 1650 - 1800

What to Wear in the English Civil War

The “Naughty” Side of 18th Century French Fashion - NSFW. Ooh la la.

Pilgrims in Murica

American Revolutionary War Costumes

Colonial Clothing - 18th Century Murica

Colonial Men - Colonial Women

Overview of Native American Clothing - *Note: Please use this as a starting point only and do your own research. Remember that different groups have fashions specific to their cultures. This is more to know what NOT to do than to know what TO do.

Fashion Under the French Revolution

Regency Fashion - 1800-1845 England

Regency Corsets/Underthings

History of Victorian Fashion

Victorian Men’s Clothing

History of the Victorian Corset

Victorian Women’s Clothing By Layer - All 5 yo.

American Fashion - 1830s

Women’s Fashion During the Civil War

Twentieth Century

La Belle Époque 1895-1914

Edwardian Fashion - 1900-1919

Men’s Edwardian Fashion

Flapper Fashion

More 1920s - 1920s Hairstyles - 1920s Makeup

1930s Fashion - 1930s Hats and Hair - 1930s Makeup

1940s Fashion - 1940s Hairstyles - 1940s Makeup

1950s Fashion - 1950s Hairstyles - 1950s Makeup

Early 1960s - Mid/Late 1960s - 1960s Makeup History

1970s in General - 1970s Makeup - 1970s Hair

Punk Fashion

And I’m stopping here. You should have it after this point, kiddos.

You better appreciate this.

Biology

Biology

Creating a Race (2)

Creating Animals (2)

Disease (2)

Ecosystems (2)

Evolution (and Space)

Flora and Fauna

Genetics

Inventing Species

List of Legendary Creatures

Night Vision/Color Vision

People

Constructed Language (Conlang)

Basics/Phonology (2) (3)

Conlang

Conlang Guide

Conlang vs. English

Creating a Language (Revised)

Culture + Language

Curse Words

How to Create Your Own Language

How to Create a Language

IPA Pronunciation

Making Up Words

Culture Guides

7 Deadly Sins

Alien Cultures (2)

Alternative Medieval

Avoiding Cultural Appropriation

Avoiding Medieval Fantasy (2)

Avoiding One-Note Worlds

Avoiding Utopia

Change (2)

Class/Caste System (2)

Culture

Designing Intellectual Movements

Everything (2) (3)

Fantasy

Gender-Equal Societies

Historical Background for Ideas (2)

History

Matriarchy (2)

Nationalism

Nations

Slavery

Static World

Structure

Wandering Peoples

Economy

Basic Economics

Capitalism

Currency (2) (3)

Current Global Economies

Economic Systems

Economics (1500-1800 AD)

Economics and Government

Economics for Dummies

Economy

Inflation

International Trade (2)

Marxist Communism

Medieval Economics

Schools of Economic Thought

Socialism (2)

Types of Economic Systems

World Economy (2)

Everyday Life

Art

Ceremonies

Clothing

Clothing Terminology (2) (3) (4)

Clothing Reference

Demographics

Disease

Drugs

Education (2)

Fame and Infamy

Family

Food (2)

Food Timeline

Immigration/Emigration

Literature

Marriage

Months

Music

Sex

Slang

Stories

Travel

Government

Collective/Traditionalist Societies

Creating a Government

Diplomacy

Empire (2)

Fancy Latin Names for Government

History and Politics

International Relations (2)

Justice System

Lawlessness

Non-monarchical (2) (3)

Oppressive Government

Political Ideologies

Propaganda

Republic

Rise and Fall of Civilizations

Secret Societies

Shapeshifter Society

Totalitarianism, Atmosphere Necessary For

Tribal Society

Types of Government

Utopia

Writing Politics

Read More

Resources For Writing Dystopian/Apocalypse Stories

Ko-Fi || Masterlist || Work In Progress || Request

Dystopian Resources

Characteristics Of A Dystopia

7 Tips To Writing Dystopian Fiction

380 Best Dystopian Novels Of All Time

How To Build A Dystopian World

Dystopian Cliches To Avoid

Ultimate Guide To Writing Dystopian Literature

Realistic Political Strife

Political Corruption

Dystopian or Not Dystopian? 

The 10 Most Important Dystopian Books and Films of All Time

How To Create A Dystopia

The future of energy

Waste management in SF

Enclosed ecosystems and life support

Near-future scenarios for us & our planet

Dystopian Prompt Generator

Totalitarianism

Propaganda

Apocalypse Resources

Writing Apocalyptic Stories

A Study In Physical Injuries

GunHoo

Snipercountry.com

Tips for writing blood loss

The Writer’s Forensics Blog

Poisonous Herbs and Plants

Apocalypse World

Cliches To Avoid

Mass Depopulation Conspiracy Theory

How Long Would Infrastructure Last?

What Does Nuclear Radiation Do To Human Bodies?

How Does Nuclear Radiation Do Its Damage?

What Would Happen If Humans Just Disappeared?

Preindustrial Society

Nuclear radiation for writers

Climate change and cli-fi

Mutation myths in fiction

Plagues in science fiction and fantasy

Rogue viruses in science fiction

Apocalypse Generator

World Building

A Politics Of Worldbuilding

Government Worldbuilding

The Five foundations of Worldbuilding

Dystopian World Building Worksheet

Apocalypse Hypotheticals

Climatology

Planetary Geography

Water Geography

Rational Wiki

BioMedNet

Phys

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