tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-937390557356997344.post77425451357038889..comments2024-03-22T03:59:39.188-07:00Comments on Dive into Worldbuilding: PainJuliette Wadehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02879627074920760712noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-937390557356997344.post-54952152666713826262008-11-24T22:15:00.000-08:002008-11-24T22:15:00.000-08:00Hey, Paul, nice to see you drop by. Yeah, I'v...Hey, Paul, nice to see you drop by. Yeah, I've been working on my husband for some time, and in this case he was as proactive as I could have hoped.<br><br>With making descriptions of pain - I guess I try to use the standards when I don't want the description to stand out. If I do, then I do... I think making the description idiosyncratic to the individual experiencing the pain is also a useful way to differentiate without having the writing stick out like a sore thumb (pun intended!).Juliette Wadehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02879627074920760712noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-937390557356997344.post-22330815008879894532008-11-24T20:21:00.000-08:002008-11-24T20:21:00.000-08:00Glad he is okay!Usually with guys, they will attem...Glad he is okay!<br><br>Usually with guys, they will attempt to shrug it off. Bunch of chickens, really. It's a more brave thing to show up at the doctor's. <br><br>As for literary descriptions of pain, I guess the 'usual phrases' are well established by now. Authors will employ them without much thought. <br><br>So, how to introduce new ones, without calling attention to the writing (over the story itself)?PaulChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16208109136683000848noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-937390557356997344.post-2934424242220016392008-11-19T17:52:00.000-08:002008-11-19T17:52:00.000-08:00Glad hubby's going to be okay. How do you like...Glad hubby's going to be okay. How do you like this one? When I get one of "those" headaches, I describe it as someone is taking an icepick to the back of my eyeball. I don't know how else to describe. Of course, I've not ever <i>had</i> an ice pick in the eyeball...<br><br>What's really hard is doing a truly alien description of what an alien is experiencing -- without falling back on human references.Ann Wilkeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16829332828813130016noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-937390557356997344.post-24499202136024745932008-11-19T13:42:00.000-08:002008-11-19T13:42:00.000-08:00Good suggestions - helplessness is not a Heloise t...Good suggestions - helplessness is not a Heloise trait so it will be good to explore her helpless feelings explicitly. It will make her more human. She will use some of her brother's words about his pain.<br><br>It's one of those scenes that are hard to write because they are too close for comfort.Doug Sharphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00553640078466554739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-937390557356997344.post-90806148770651298592008-11-18T18:07:00.000-08:002008-11-18T18:07:00.000-08:00Wow, Doug. I didn't really have you in mind w...Wow, Doug. I didn't really have you in mind when I wrote the posting, but I can see how you'd be unfortunately overqualified to comment. My thought for Hel's Bet is that maybe you should try to think through how she feels as an <i>observer</i> of the pain, having her relay her brother's descriptions of his experience, but also tap into her own helplessness to capture what he's really experiencing. I think that would be something all readers could relate to.Juliette Wadehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02879627074920760712noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-937390557356997344.post-27083636877243393752008-11-18T15:20:00.000-08:002008-11-18T15:20:00.000-08:00Glad he's feeling better.Describing pain is un...Glad he's feeling better.<br><br>Describing pain is unfortunately a subject "dear to my heart". My pain condition is not particularly interesting but it occupies too much of my attention.<br><br>Describing all but the most commonly shared pains is an exercise in creating imprecise metaphors. It's hard to get lyrical about pain (although Dan Simmons managed to do it in Hyperion) so descriptors tend to be reused.<br><br>For a while I had a diagnosis of Central Pain Syndrome which is a hellish neurological pain caused by damage to the thalamus. A healthy thalamus sorts incoming pain signals from other nerve signals. In a CPS sufferer the thalamus can mistakenly route every incoming nerve impulse to the pain center of the brain. The pain is truly "all in your head" but the brain tries to make sense of the pain and so makes up phantom actions that might cause the pain if it were "real".<br><br>A CPS website - http://www.centralpain.org/ <br> - describes the pain:<br><br>"It can be a steady, sometimes deep burning, aching, cutting, tearing sensation. CPS may be mixed with sudden, excruciating shots of pain. It is often mixed with other distracting sensations like cold, tingling, a "pins and needles" effect, a ballooning sensation, throbbing, and the feeling of a dental probe on a raw nerve.<br><br>Intense skin reactions can accompany these symptoms, such as burning, stretching, tightness, itching, or a crawling feeling that can be irritated by any light touch, sometimes just the feel of cloth on skin, which can making dressing an ordeal.<br><br>...<br><br>Sometimes the hands and feet are affected with a numbness that is painful, and does not offer any relief, only adding to the pain. It is often aggravated by temperature changes, particularly cold."<br><br>Personal descriptions from another CPS website: <br>http://www.painonline.org/description.htm <br><br>One of my challenges in my rewrite of Hel's Bet is to make Heloise's description of her brother's pain more visceral and effective.Doug Sharphttp://dougsharp.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-937390557356997344.post-71216120345502465272008-11-18T12:42:00.000-08:002008-11-18T12:42:00.000-08:00Yeah, I'll say. It threw me for a loop but I ...Yeah, I'll say. It threw me for a loop but I figure if I can write about it then I'm getting some distance :-). Plus everything ironed out when we were actually able to identify the source of the injury, which was extreme muscle fatigue from the previous weekend, exacerbated by something as simple as doing the dishes.Juliette Wadehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02879627074920760712noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-937390557356997344.post-46789662272287823172008-11-18T12:14:00.000-08:002008-11-18T12:14:00.000-08:00Scary, but I'm glad to know he's okay.Scary, but I'm glad to know he's okay.Mary Robinette Kowalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11186499502632679751noreply@blogger.com