Some Of My Favorite Words And Phrases To Describe A Character In Pain

Some of my favorite words and phrases to describe a character in pain

coiling (up in a ball, in on themselves, against something, etc)

panting (there’s a slew of adjectives you can put after this, my favorites are shakily, weakly, etc)

keeling over (synonyms are words like collapsing, which is equally as good but overused in media)

trembling/shivering (additional adjectives could be violently, uncontrollably, etc)

sobbing (weeping is a synonym but i’ve never liked that word. also love using sob by itself, as a noun, like “he let out a quiet sob”)

whimpering (love hitting the wips with this word when a character is weak, especially when the pain is subsiding. also love using it for nightmares/attacks and things like that)

clinging (to someone or something, maybe even to themselves or their own clothes)

writhing/thrashing (maybe someone’s holding them down, or maybe they’re in bed alone)

crying (not actual tears. cry as in a shrill, sudden shout)

dazed (usually after the pain has subsided, or when adrenaline is still flowing)

wincing (probably overused but i love this word. synonym could be grimacing)

doubling-over (kinda close to keeling over but they don’t actually hit the ground, just kinda fold in on themselves)

heaving (i like to use it for describing the way someone’s breathing, ex. “heaving breaths” but can also be used for the nasty stuff like dry heaving or vomiting)

gasping/sucking/drawing in a breath (or any other words and phrases that mean a sharp intake of breath, that shite is gold)

murmuring/muttering/whispering (or other quiet forms of speaking after enduring intense pain)

hiccuping/spluttering/sniffling (words that generally imply crying without saying crying. the word crying is used so much it kinda loses its appeal, that’s why i like to mix other words like these in)

stuttering (or other general terms that show an impaired ability to speak — when someone’s in intense pain, it gets hard to talk)

staggering/stumbling (there is a difference between pain that makes you not want to stand, and pain that makes it impossible to stand. explore that!)

recoiling/shrinking away (from either the threat or someone trying to help)

pleading/begging (again, to the threat, someone trying to help, or just begging the pain to stop)

Feel free to add your favorites or most used in the comments/reblogs!

Snippet Saturday [2]

From: The Moon, Wolf, and Rabbit

It didn’t seem as if time was even moving inside of the Tsumi’s study, Cassie—after finding nothing of note in the room—asked him something.

“How long have we been in here?”

“Probably a few hours by now. I’m sure it’s nighttime.”

Cassie sighed. “Then I guess I need to head home. I don’t want my parents worrying something happened.” Cassie paused. “Speaking of that, what about you? Didn’t you have work today?”

“I did, but I actually quit.”

“What? Why?”

“Would you really want some deity checking out a book for you?”

“I would assume I wouldn’t know.”

Tsumi chuckled. “I’m kidding. I really quit because there’s no need for me to work a job anymore.”

“What about food or money? How are you gonna do anything anymore?”

He smiled. “I know you have to get home, but mind if I show you one last thing?”

She shrugged. “I guess, what is it?”

“The answer to your question.”

He took her hand and even though Cassie wasn’t sure why he kept doing that, she made no effort to tell him to stop. She was guided to the strange door she noticed when they arrived. Thinking it was decorative, she ignored it; but Tsumi brought her to the door and opened it.

If Cassie could explain what she expected to see, it wouldn’t have been anything like the sight before her. Not even in the shows she indulged herself in had a location quite like this one. It was an ambient room with soft lighting from a moon lamp hanging from the ceiling. The roof of the large room had other astrological figures; the one she recognized was the Libra symbol.

As they went further into the room, what appeared to be star dust filtered through the air. In the large room there was a couch with a big table right in front of it, along with a few items scattered on the table the room appeared immensely cozy. Above them was a short staircase that seemed to lead to a nook Cassie couldn’t see all the way inside.

Her amazement got the better of her and she once more took in the room, losing herself in its appearance. Tsumi watched her like he did before finding her interest entertaining to watch.

“This place is apparently where I lived at one point. I believe you and the mysterious boy we have yet to meet may also have something like this.”

Cassie scoffed. “Like a family home or something?” She mumbled to herself. “I can’t believe that. Why wouldn’t my family know about it?”

“Like I said, we’re not actually blood related to our past selves. As far as I found, my past self didn’t have children.”

“Then maybe someone in my past did. It just doesn’t make much sense that we’re related to our past selves, but we’re actually them. Almost like some kind of broken reincarnation.”

“Or a rewrite?”

She looked at Tsumi’s, taking in his point. “Yeah, that is the only way this would make sense.”

“If that is the case, then it makes sense why my past self felt I was different. That things would turn out differently.”

Cassie crossed her arms. “I still can’t get over this. It’ll never make much sense that any of this is real.” Cassie looked around. “But I guess it is.”

Tsumi chuckled at her and stepped closer to her. “You know how I like to view it? I like to say this was inevitable, but we were blissfully unaware of it. However, the world knew we had something to do with one another and stuck us together somehow.”

“Sounds like some kind of video game.”

“I know. Hard to believe that stuff could be based in some kind of reality.” Tsumi promptly moved on. “But, I’ll take you home now.”

“Oh, if you quit your job, did you move out of your place?”

“Yes, I did. Again, I had no need for it. Especially when I have this place.”

Cassie looked off. “Then how are we supposed to meet?”

He looked at her and grew a look of fondness. “Don’t worry about that. I can find you anywhere you are in the world and if you ever want to find me, it’s as simple as just calling me.”

They stared at each other, and Cassie still couldn’t adjust to the way Tsumi was now. His behavior was something vastly off from his normal and while she wouldn’t say she hated it; she didn’t really know how to respond to this version of himself. She wanted to say something, but she kept it to herself—like always—and instead just nodded to him.

“Alright, that’s simple enough.”

“Right, then let’s get you home.”

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While apart of me wishes there was more time in the day to write more, I also know all that would do is make me work on everything all at once.

I kind of punish myself when I don't work on things I've planned but it's hard for me to focua on one thing when I get another idea. So, I'm going to just let things be and make up for it later.

So, a while ago I figured out that video games can kind of answer what kind of struggles you face in your actual life.

When I realized this, I was playing Hatsune Miku and noticed I'm decent at most the hard and extreme songs, but I refuse to play them unless I can get a perfect chain on them. It's so bad, that even Cantarella's extreme and extra-extreme is unplayed despite me being able to play both of them. Like, I can learn pretty much all the songs, but if there's even one part I can't play, I won't play it at all.

That told me, just like in real life, I'm scared of failure even if I'll do 99% well on it. If it's not 100% (perfect) then I will just leave it until I rot and die.

I really hate that I'm like this.

But, on a less painful note, I also noticed that in games like The Legend of Zelda, I'm cheap as hell and will wait until the very last second before spending my rupees. Aka, in the older games, I would wait until my counter was max before buying potions or upgrades of items.

In the later games, I would avoid spending at all until I got the wallet upgrades and even then scarcely would I spend my money.

I think what that is relates more to me being perpetually broke irl. I'm scarce with my money because I know I should keep as much as I can for... whatever I may need.

Also, a not so good bonus is that I will play through most the Zelda games without potions or other healing items (like I usually play hero mode first if I can). Even in games where I have a potion in my inventory, I just won't use it when Link's health is low rip me in A Link To The Past. I think that means even irl I will destroy myself before even thinking about asking for help, which is obviously a terrible way to live :)

Many of my stories are just this...

Ghosts?

“It happened again…” The figment said as he watched the girl lie on her bed repeating the same words over and over to herself, she was holding herself while rocking and spoke:

"I know… I know… I know it’ll be alright… it’ll go back to normal.” She nearly chanted that as she held back tears, her voice was shaking and he knew she’d soon fall asleep. Her problems wouldn’t be fixed however, he knew they wouldn’t after the years and years of the same thing happening. The girl then took a deep breath and sat up locking eyes with the figment. It was time to go. He would leave her for now, but would come back when this happened again.

His ghostly figure left the house and flew to the abandoned apartment where all ghosts in this area remained. Getting inside, there was a man.

“You’re back.” He simply said.

“Yeah, I figured I wasn’t going to be long.”

“So were you right?” Reluctantly, he nodded. “Lucas, perhaps we should consider taking her life now.”

“I told you I didn’t want to do that.”

“But you’re not supposed to be dead, and it seems as if she either will be or should be.”

“You don’t know half of the situation with her…” Lucas paused, “She’s always trying to stay strong, even now she was telling herself things would go back to normal. That’s how hard she’s fighting.” The man stared at him, “So if invalidate her hard work then we should stay dead.”

“It seems you’re growing attached to her, Lucas.”

“You know, Spencer, maybe I am. I don’t have an issue with staying dead if it means I get to remain with her.”

“But even if you say she should be dead.” “I know what I said before, but… I don’t want to see it all end like this. She deserves to be happy and it’s not my place to just sit here and take that from her.” Lucas then left the lobby and went to his apartment room. Going through the door and getting to the bed, he went to the window staring in the direction of her home. He hoped she’d be alright until the morning. Things like this never got easier, neither for him nor the person handling it.