MHUAHAHAHAHA! TORTURE TIPS!

Ahem. Not for little brothers, for your characters. Right, Catherine Morland?

#1. Make it realistic. If you want your character to survive the torture, then don't make it too drastic. If you want them to die, then don't make it just a level above harmless.

#2. Show that your character is in pain. Put a little in of their reaction, or make note of what they look like (i.e., beads of sweat on their forehead, ragged gasps for breath, speaking through clenched teeth).

#3. Physical torture is not your only option. I love Regina Doman's torture scene in Shadow of the Bear. (SPOILER) She not only has Fish suffer physically, but mentally as well when he is forced to watch Rose getting tortured. (END OF SPOILER) This technique is one of my favorites, although caution must be advised as sometimes this can get a little sappy if you're not careful. Also, it can also be cliche, such as when the character's true love is getting tortured before their eyes. However, add plenty of action and the reader won't notice. Lol.

#4. Consider your audience. Is the rest of your book written for eight year olds? Then you probably don't want to get too gruesome.

#5. Try 'invisible torture'. I love this one. I actually used it in my NaNoWriMo novel. These scenes are usually written from the perspective of one character. Usually, they only hear the screams and see the aftermath of the torture scene. Like, two characters are both sitting in a prison cell. #1 is suddenly dragged off by the jailer. #2 sits and listens, then screams break the silence. The thoughts and worries of #2 are shown. A half-dead #1 is dragged back. That is just a rough example. This is also really good for someone who isn't experienced at torture scenes.

#6. Make it good. Self-explanatory.

#7. If your too attached to your characters, then what? Well, get over it...? jk, lol. So anyway, if you can't bring yourself to torture your poor character, then make it up to yourself. Say, if you torture them, you'll make something really awesome happen to them that wasn't afore-planned.

If you have any more tips to add, then feel free to comment!

Izori

P.S. Happy *ahem* 25th Birthday to my wonderful mom!

I am feeling rather burnt. And we can't forget torture. And any other random thing.

Sigh. I burnt my pinkie on the tea-kettle on Friday (the lid fell off as I was pouring my tea and landed on my little finger) and now I have a sun-burn from watching Mom's marathon.

My skin is actually kind of dark-ish for a girl of mostly Caucasian descent. But it still burns rather easily, which isn't fair. If I got the easy-burning skin, why couldn't I have got the red hair that usually goes with it?! But no.

So, I will stop feeling sorry for myself.

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Oh, here's a quote from my main baddie.

"Of course I admit it! Without treachery, life would have no flavor! Now go back to your cell, boy, and stop questioning me."--Baashil, from Sarea

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Also, as you can see from my title, this post has the subject of torture in it.

How many of you like torture scenes in books?

I do...sort of. In movies, I don't. In 'The Princess Bride' that torture scene really was a little...painful?

Except I can't write good torture scenes in my books :(. They are often un-realistic, as in not painful enough. But I can't help it!!! I'm great friends with my characters, so why should I torture them?

Because it's good for the plot.

So?

So...it's exciting. It gets the readers on the edge of their seats.

Not to mention my poor character!

Ah...yeah. I talk to myself. Ahem.

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... ...

I have it! I will flip open the dictionary, and will write about whatever word I see first!

Ginglymoid--Pertaining to or resembling a ginglymus [American Dictionary of the English Language, by Noah Webster, 1828]

Okay...what's a ginglymus?

Ginglymus--In anatomy, a species of articulation resembling a hinge. THat species of articulation in which each bone partly receives and is partly received by the other, so as the admit only of flexion and extension, is called angular ginglymus. [ADotEL, by Noah Webster, 1828].

Wow. Whoever thought up that word must have been very, very...interesting.

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Ever wanted to make up a language? I sure do, but I really don't want to spend my days looking at every single word in the dictionary, thinking up new words for every one of them, and then commiting them to memory.

But then I discovered that you can just change grammer, verb endings, and spelling and come up with a complicated-sounding-and-yet-really-easy dialect!

I really like languages, and try to put as much Elvish, Centuarian, Dwarvic (all of these made up my yours truly, naturally) in my books. And it's SO FUN!!!

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With NaNoWriMo just around the corner (yipee!!!), I have a feeling that my poor blog will be rather neglected in November. So I'm going to try and schedule some posts, and I'll make time for Weekly Debates and Writer's Daybook. Also look forward to possible book reviews, excerpts of Sarea, and...

A CAPTION CONTEST!!

Yep, I'm planning on starting one soon. Maybe once we're in November.