Need someone shot. Can anyone help?

[HareBrain]

I have a complex situation in my book I'm trying to work through. If possible, I want a character to get hit by a bullet in such a way that her life is in danger, and her ability to "hang on" is determined by her will to live. (In films you often see characters telling dying characters, "stay with me", but what does that actually mean in reality?) She doesn't have to move or do anything but talk a bit.

The other factor to bear in mind is that I need this person to stabilise enough so she can survive for over a day with just the kind of first aid that would be available to a small military unit in about 1900. After that, she could go to hospital.

Is there a kind of wound that would allow this? If it's completely untenable, I'll have to bring magic into it, which would be messier.

 

[Hex]

You need @alchemist or @Abernovo for this (not that I've seen Aber for months). They were very helpful on this thread on stomach wounds.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

I'm no medical expert and most readers are not. Surely you are over thinking it? Just don't be specific as to exact wound?
If the injured person, the person giving first aid believes life in danger and narrative says so, what reader will disbelieve it.
People seem to die or not die of a wound with severity only clear later. People have survived a bullet in the brain and and conversely died of a more minor wound, perhaps a mix of shock and blood loss.

Certainly keeping someone calm and warm and limiting blood loss by pressure on wound can help. Alternately sometimes a person being unconscious and extremely chilled might help someone to survive trauma.

So simply don't give details. Only a doctor and/or a x-ray or noting blood flow might indicate if a wound is trivial or near fatal. A bullet at near the same location might "miss" everything vital, or not. A shot varies hugely in damage according to type of bullet, angle of hit, distance and cartridge/shell type.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Surely you are over thinking it? Just don't be specific as to exact wound?
If the injured person, the person giving first aid believes life in danger and narrative says so, what reader will disbelieve it.
People seem to die or not die of a wound with severity only clear later.

This is actually a very good point. If your setting doesn't allow for an exact diagnosis, then fear and danger will be more engaging than an abstract of exactly what kind of wound it is.

Hollywood films would make us believe that it's easy to shrug off non-fatal gunshot wounds. However, even a minor injury to the finger can put a bull of a man into shock.

 

[HareBrain]

You might be right, Ray. Probably I'll just have to write it and see if it convinces people.

I wanted it to be convincing that it matters that she fights to live, though I guess it only really matters that the people around her believe that (because it determines another character's actions).

 

[Hex]

In general, what people believe is pretty important to health outcomes (as they say). Actually, my sister's doing a PhD on this.

 

[mosaix]

From the title of the thread I thought Harebrain was looking for a contract killer.

 

[HareBrain]

I thought it might attract respondents with relevant experience.

 

[mosaix]

I've taken a few contracts in my time and there's a few people I'd love to have terminated but, fortunately, I never got round to combining the two.

I think Ray is right on this. As with a lot of fiction you can leave much to the reader's imagination - each reader will imagine more or less according to their own experience.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

attract respondents with relevant experience.

Contract killers don't usually hang around to examine the subject.
They repeat again later if the action was unsuccessful.

 

[Ursa major]

This is one of the beauties of first person and close third person narratives: the PoV character (in their role as almost-narrator) can be as ignorant as the author (or far more so) and, out of concern and seeing the desperate state of the victim, believe that the victim's life is in (perhaps immediate) danger, whether they are or not, and act accordingly. And as a non-expert, the PoV character can believe that their help and the victim's strength of character can together be staving off what looks to be an otherwise hopeless position, whatever the actual injury and likely outcome.

 

[Susan Boulton]

I have a complex situation in my book I'm trying to work through. If possible, I want a character to get hit by a bullet in such a way that her life is in danger, and her ability to "hang on" is determined by her will to live. (In films you often see characters telling dying characters, "stay with me", but what does that actually mean in reality?) She doesn't have to move or do anything but talk a bit.
.

I know from experience that when you are with a person that is dying they are not aware, or seem not to be, of the people with them. It's as if their mind and body is focused on trying to stay alive and nothing else. Maybe that's why script writers use those words to try and reconnect the dying person with the world around them.

Also a friend who fought in the Falklands told me that people who are shot just drop like they have lost their footing. No flying back or twisting round aka in films. He wondered if the, sudden, total shock to the body swamped everything.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

No flying back or twisting round aka in films

Impossible from a shot fired from hand held weapon anyway, unless built in propulsion (bazooka etc.) Ditto crossbow bolt or arrow.
Action has equal and opposite reaction.
Purely there is loss of control, if there is shock or it's fatal.

 

[mosaix]

Although not as serious as being shot, I remember quite vividly being hit in the eye from close range with a squash ball. As Ray says, it's shock. There was no question of remaining standing, everything just stopped, gravity took over and I slumped to the floor. I was aware of what had happened but I had no control over my body.

 

[Cat's Cradle]

One thing to consider, HB, is the makeup of the group of people who will be looking after the victim immediately after they are struck by the bullet. You mentioned that the victim is with a small military unit; would this unit have a trained medic with them? If not, it's unlikely that you would need to name a specific bullet-related, life-threatening injury, as no one in this group of people would likely be able to diagnose specifically what the injury is (unless there's a sucking wound, say, in the chest). You could mention simply that when the victim tries to sit up, or when they are moved, they have extreme pain, or go unconscious. Pack the wound, make the person comfortable, talk to him/her to keep the person engaged in the effort of keeping alive (does that work? It's shown constantly in film and television.) and wait things out. CC

ps--of course if there is an experienced medic with the group that's a whole other ballgame.

 

[HareBrain]

Thanks for the responses so far. I've been doing a bit of googling, too, and I think I have enough info to make an attempt at it.

 

[Venusian Broon]

From a brief perusal of articles and things...

I think the reason doctors and nurses made the patient 'stay with them' (or be observed awake all the time with friends) is not for the patient to battle death by themselves, which seems a bit unfair - I mean they've just been wounded they are in no fit state to tackle death!...but for the medical team/others to observe if there are any other wounds, that perhaps are currently hidden but could spring on them.

So for example in the event of concussion caused by a violent bang to the head - if you don't have a CT scanner handy to spot internal bleeding in the brain - then the next best thing is to have the patient awake all the time so that you can observe if something goes for the worst or the patient themselves will tell them that something bad is happening.

I also would agree that it might be helpful to calm the person who will be in a very stressful state to keep by them awake and talk to them...but this is not a question I've ever asked a medical health expert, so don't know if that's something that would be suggested.

 

[J Riff]

A flesh wound is enough. Any kind of a direct hit is enough to put someone down and out for a long time, even if it's in the leg or arm. Not quite like the movies where they yak and crawl about for hours.

 

[mosaix]

From my own experience the best way to calm a person who is stressed is physical contact - the laying on of hands. I used to be very stressed going to the dentist. When I moved jobs I went to see a new dentist. He could see I was stressed and said 'Let me introduce you to my assistant - Samantha (can't remember her real name) - with your permission she's going to help calm you down a bit.' She laid one hand on my chest and the effect was instant.

I've heard the same about road accident victims - someone touching them or holding their hands has an immediate affect. I think it's the feeling of having someone care for you.

I used it to good effect when I had to take my son to hospital to have an embedded fragment of plastic removed from his eye. His agitation almost disappeared completely.

 

[HareBrain]

Thanks again, all. I've decided on a bad leg wound, since the long-term damage from that would be particularly aggravating for this character (evil laugh). And the stuff about stress and shock has been useful. I think I'm pretty much there.