car accident description creative writing

How to Describe a Car Accident in Writing (21 Best Tips)

Writing about a car accident can be tricky, particularly if you want your description to be vivid, accurate, and engaging.

Here’s how to describe a car accident in writing:

Describe a car crash in writing by capturing sensory details, using precise language, leveraging emotions, and employing literary devices. Use a blend of imagery, metaphors, and similes to evoke feelings and make readers feel like they are in the scene.

In this article, we’re going to provide you with 21 top tips on how to nail car accident descriptions.

1. Setting the Scene

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Writing about a car accident doesn’t just mean describing the crash itself.

It’s important to first set the scene, painting a picture in your reader’s mind of where and when the accident takes place.

Consider the wider environment – was it a bustling city street or a quiet rural road? What was the weather like – was it a sunny, clear day or a foggy night with poor visibility?

All these details add depth to your description and give your readers a sense of place and time.

But remember to keep it simple – your aim is to paint a clear picture, not to overwhelm your reader with details.

Examples: “It was a foggy Tuesday evening on the quiet, unlit country road…” or “In the midst of the busy city traffic under the scorching summer sun…” .

2. The Sound of Impact

When writing about a car accident, it’s not just about what your characters see – it’s also about what they hear.

The sound of a car accident can be just as impactful as the visuals.

Is it a deafening crash, a crunch of metal, or the screech of tires?

Each sound can paint a different picture of the severity and nature of the accident. Incorporating these auditory details can help you create a more immersive and visceral experience for your readers.

Examples: “The eerie silence was shattered by the deafening crash of metal on metal…” or “The sudden screech of burning rubber echoed through the night…” .

3. The Power of Slow Motion

In high-stress situations like a car accident, people often report that time seems to slow down.

This can be a powerful tool in your writing.

By describing the events in slow motion, you can increase the tension and drama of the scene.

This approach allows you to break down the accident into its constituent parts, detailing every bit of the unfolding disaster.

You can delve into the minute details – the horrified expressions, the flying glass, the crunching of metal – making the description more dramatic and engaging.

Examples: “Time seemed to slow, each second stretching out as the two vehicles hurtled towards each other…” or “In the stretched-out seconds that followed, every detail was horrifyingly clear…” .

4. Invoking Emotions

Car accidents are emotionally charged events, and you should aim to convey these emotions in your writing.

Describe not only the physical actions but also how the characters involved are feeling.

Are they shocked, terrified, disoriented, or filled with adrenaline?

How do these emotions affect their actions and perceptions?

By incorporating the emotional side of the event, you can make your description more relatable and engaging, pulling your readers into the story.

Examples: “Shock rippled through her, icy and paralyzing, as she stared at the wreckage…” or “Fear gripped him, turning his stomach as he surveyed the scene…” .

5. Aftermath Description

The aftermath of a car accident is just as important to describe as the event itself.

The silence or chaos that follows, the reactions of bystanders, the arrival of emergency services – all these details can add to the overall impact of your description.

This is also a good time to delve deeper into the emotional and physical consequences of the accident for your characters.

Are they injured, distraught, relieved, or in shock? The aftermath allows you to explore these reactions in a more introspective way.

Examples: “In the deafening silence that followed, she was acutely aware of the ringing in her ears…” or “As the sirens wailed in the distance, he found himself shaking, the adrenaline slowly ebbing away…” .

6. Use of Metaphors and Similes

Using metaphors and similes can enhance your car accident description, making it more vivid and memorable.

These literary tools can help you convey the intensity, speed, and violence of a car accident in a more emotive and engaging way.

Just remember to keep your comparisons relevant and easy to understand.

Avoid overuse or mixing metaphors, as this can confuse your readers and detract from the power of your description.

Examples: “The cars collided like two heavyweight boxers in the ring…” or “The pickup spun like a top, thrown off balance by the impact…” .

7. The Role of the Unexpected

A key aspect of car accidents is their unexpected and sudden nature.

By emphasizing this surprise element in your writing, you can convey the shock and disorientation that often accompanies such incidents.

It’s crucial to avoid foreshadowing the accident too heavily, as it might diminish the element of surprise.

Instead, have the accident interrupt the normal flow of events, emphasizing the abrupt shift from ordinary to chaotic.

Examples: “She was singing along to the radio one moment; the next, her world was flipped upside down…” or “In the blink of an eye, the usual humdrum of his commute turned into a chaos of shattered glass and twisted metal…” .

8. Sense Beyond Sight

Remember that a car accident isn’t just a visual spectacle – it’s a sensory experience that engages all the senses.

Make sure to include descriptions of not just what your characters see, but also what they smell, taste, touch, and hear.

Perhaps there’s the acrid scent of burning rubber or the metallic taste of fear.

Maybe the airbag has a surprisingly soft texture, or the silence after the crash is deafening.

Including these sensory details can make your description more immersive and realistic.

Examples: “The sharp tang of gasoline filled the air…” or “Her hands trembled as they brushed against the smooth surface of the deployed airbag…” .

9. External Perspectives

Consider using the perspective of a third-party observer to provide a different viewpoint of the accident.

This could be a passerby, a fellow motorist, or even a character viewing the scene from a nearby building.

This perspective shift can allow you to describe the accident in a broader context and offer details that the involved parties may miss in the chaos.

It can also provide an emotional counterpoint to the intense emotions of those directly involved in the accident.

Examples: “From his vantage point on the sidewalk, he watched the vehicles collide with a sickening crunch…” or “She looked out of her office window just in time to see the pickup truck skid off the road…” .

10. The Chaos of Confusion

Car accidents can be disorienting and confusing, and you should aim to convey this in your writing.

Describe how characters struggle to understand what’s happening, their thought processes fractured and disjointed.

This approach can make your description more realistic and engaging, as it mirrors the confusion that often follows real-life accidents.

Be sure to balance this chaos with enough clarity to ensure your readers understand the sequence of events.

Examples: “His thoughts tumbled over each other in a frantic whirl as he tried to comprehend what just happened…” or “She blinked, once, twice, but the scene before her didn’t make sense…” .

11. An Array of Actions

In the aftermath of a car accident, the characters involved will likely take a variety of actions, ranging from checking themselves for injuries to calling for help.

By describing these actions in detail, you can show how your characters respond to the crisis and further develop their personalities.

Remember to keep these actions realistic and consistent with your characters’ personalities and abilities.

Avoid turning them into superheroes (unless, of course, they are) and instead focus on their human reactions.

Examples: “Shaking, he reached for his cell phone, his fingers fumbling over the keys as he dialed 911…” or “Ignoring the throbbing in her head, she crawled out of the car to check on the other driver…” .

12. Leverage the Fear Factor

A car accident can be a terrifying experience, and fear is a powerful emotion that you can leverage in your writing.

Describe how fear affects your characters’ thoughts, feelings, and actions to create a more intense and engaging description.

It’s essential to show, not tell, when describing fear.

Don’t just say your character is scared; show how their heart pounds, their breath quickens, or their hands tremble.

Examples: “Her heart pounded in her chest like a wild drum, each beat echoing her rising panic…” or “Cold fear wrapped around him, constricting his breath as he took in the scene…” .

13. The Power of Precise Language

When describing a car accident, it’s essential to use precise, concrete language.

This helps you paint a clearer picture of the scene and makes your description more vivid and engaging.

Avoid vague descriptions and opt for specific details.

Instead of saying a car is damaged, describe how its bumper is crumpled or its windshield is shattered.

These details make your description more engaging and realistic.

Examples: “The impact had crumpled the hood of his car like a piece of paper…” or “A spiderweb of cracks sprawled across her windshield, obscuring her view…” .

14. Introducing the Innocuous

Amidst the chaos and tension of a car accident, an effective technique can be to highlight some innocuous, mundane detail that stands out to the character.

This can serve to underscore the surreal nature of the accident and its abrupt departure from normality.

Whether it’s the song that was playing on the radio before the crash, a billboard they were looking at, or a cup of coffee that’s now spilled all over the car, these small details can be surprisingly powerful.

Examples: “The radio continued to play cheerfully, a stark contrast to the scene of destruction…” or “The spilled coffee, now seeping into the upholstery, seemed absurdly irrelevant…” .

15. Capturing the Calm Before

One of the most striking aspects of a car accident is the abrupt transition from calm to chaos.

By focusing on the calm before the accident, you can heighten the impact of the crash.

Maybe your character was enjoying a scenic drive, lost in thought, or laughing with a passenger.

By emphasizing this peaceful moment before the crash, you make the accident itself more shocking and dramatic.

Examples: “She was laughing at his joke when the world exploded into chaos…” or “One moment he was admiring the sunset, the next, he was plunged into a nightmare…” .

16. Dialing into Details

When describing a car accident, the devil is truly in the details.

Delving into the nitty-gritty can help readers visualize the scene more vividly and comprehend the severity of the situation.

From the shattered glass scattering like diamonds to the deployed airbags billowing like clouds, focusing on these minute aspects can provide a richer narrative experience.

Examples: “Pieces of shattered glass twinkled menacingly in the afternoon sun…” or “The airbag deployed with a whoosh, obscuring his vision with a billowy white cloud…” .

17. Focus on the Fragments

Accidents can be disorienting, and one way to convey this is to describe the event in fragments.

This disjointed narrative style mirrors the characters’ likely state of mind and can make the description more immersive.

Break the sequence into flashes of action and perception, leaping from one detail to another.

This can create a sense of chaos and confusion, which enhances the realism of the accident scene.

Examples: “Headlights. A horn blaring. The squeal of brakes. Then, darkness…” or “Her own scream. Glass flying. The world spinning. Pain…” .

18. Physical Sensations

Remember to include physical sensations in your description.

Car accidents are physically jarring events, and detailing these sensations can make your description more realistic and engaging.

This could be the jolt of the impact, the sting of airbag dust, or the heat from a starting fire.

By including these details, you engage your readers’ senses and pull them into the scene.

Examples: “A jolt of pain shot through her as the car spun out of control…” or “He tasted the bitter tang of airbag dust as he coughed and spluttered…” .

19. The Raw Reality

Don’t shy away from describing the harsh realities of a car accident.

While it’s important not to be gratuitously graphic, acknowledging the potential for serious injuries and damage can make your description more believable and impactful.

This includes:

• The possible injuries your characters may sustain
• The damage to the vehicles involved
• The emotional trauma that follows such an event

Examples: “Blood trickled down his forehead, warm and sticky…” or “She stared at the mangled wreck that had once been her car, a lump forming in her throat…” .

20. The Dance of Debris

The chaos of a car accident is often accompanied by a dance of debris.

Whether it’s shards of glass, pieces of metal, or personal items thrown from the car, describing this can make your scene more vivid.

Such details not only add visual richness but also emphasize the violence of the collision and its capacity to disrupt and displace.

Examples: “Shards of glass sparkled in the air, suspended for a moment before raining down…” or “Her purse flew through the air, scattering lipstick and keys across the asphalt…” .

21. Mirror the Mayhem

Reflect the chaos of the car accident in your sentence structure.

Short, choppy sentences can convey the suddenness and disorientation of the crash, while longer, more complex sentences can illustrate the slow-motion perception often reported by those involved in accidents.

Experiment with your sentence structure to enhance the mood and pace of your description.

This can make your writing more engaging and mirror the experience of the characters.

Examples: “Crash. Spin. Smoke. Silence…” or “Time seemed to stretch and warp, every second an eternity as the car rolled…” .

Words to Describe a Car Crash

• Catastrophic
• Devastating
• Heartrending
• Destructive

Phrases to Describe a Car Crash

• World shattered into chaos
• Collided with bone-jarring force
• Explosion of twisted metal
• Symphony of screeching tires
• Dance of debris
• Rain of shattered glass
• Terrifying ballet of destruction
• Scene of catastrophic devastation
• Whirlwind of chaos and confusion
• Blaze of twisted steel
• Shower of sparkling glass
• Terrifying melee of metal and glass
• Deafening crunch of collision
• Dizzying spin of disorientation
• Twisted wreckage of once-pristine vehicles
• Carnage of mangled steel
• Flash-flood of chaos
• Shockwave of destruction
• Eruption of violent chaos
• Volcano of vehicular violence
• Avalanche of disarray
• Cyclone of confusion
• Thunderclap of colliding metal
• Lightning strike of sudden impact
• Tidal wave of terror
• Monsoon of mayhem
• Quake of rattling destruction
• Tsunami of shock and fear
• Gale of shrieking brakes
• Whirlpool of disarray and dread

Metaphors to Describe a Car Crash

• A symphony of destruction
• A dance of death and devastation
• A cruel twist of fate’s knife
• The world’s most terrifying roller coaster
• A sudden plunge into a nightmare
• An unexpected descent into chaos
• A fierce storm of metal and glass
• A cruel game of chance and fate
• An orchestra of shrieking metal and screaming tires
• A deadly ballet of twisted steel
• A chaotic waltz of destruction
• A whirlwind tour through the heart of fear
• A chilling brush with death’s icy hand
• An express elevator drop into terror
• A horrifying journey into the belly of the beast
• An uninvited guest at death’s door
• A rollercoaster ride through Hell’s amusement park
• A baptism by fire and steel
• A stormy sea of spinning chaos
• A chilling ride on the ghost train of fate
• A sudden detour into the twilight zone
• A deadly lottery with fate’s grim reaper
• A spinning top in the hands of a cruel child
• A nightmarish descent down the rabbit hole
• A jarring journey into the unknown
• A chilling dance with death
• An unplanned trip down disaster’s highway
• A silent scream in the face of devastation
• A tumultuous tumble in the tumble-dryer of fate
• A crushing embrace with the jaws of destruction.

3 Examples of How To Describe a Car Accident in Writing

Here are three full examples of how to describe a car accident in writing (with author notes in parenthesis):

Thriller Example

Detective John Marlowe was used to danger. High-speed chases, stand-offs, even the occasional gunfight, but he’d never expected danger to strike during his morning coffee run.

The intersection of 5th and Elm was a picture of serenity bathed in the golden glow of dawn when his world shattered in a symphony of twisted metal and shattered glass. His seasoned reflexes were lost in the chaos of the unexpected, the normal humdrum of his commute turned into a terrifying whirlwind (Tip 7: The Role of the Unexpected ).

A cacophony of sound filled the inside of his car—horns blaring, tires squealing, his own breath caught in his throat.

The stench of burning rubber and gasoline stung his nostrils as hot shards of glass rained down on him.

His hands were trembling on the wheel, his heart pounding a panicked rhythm in his chest.

Then silence—a deafening, hollow silence that swallowed the chaos.

It was the calm after the storm, a calm that seemed ridiculously out of place in his world turned upside down (Tip 8: Sense Beyond Sight; Tip 12: Leverage the Fear Factor ).

Romance Example

In the passenger seat of Luke’s old Chevy, Megan was lost in a world of sweet nothings and stolen kisses.

Their fingers entwined on the gearshift, a familiar love song hummed softly through the speakers.

She was laughing at one of his jokes when a blinding light came from nowhere. One moment they were suspended in the soft, romantic glow of the setting sun, the next, they were plunged into a nightmare (Tip 15: Capturing the Calm Before).

The crash of metal on metal was shockingly loud, the airbag deploying with a force that took her breath away.

The world spun in a dizzying blur of motion and sound.

Pain radiated through her as the car spun out of control, the love song on the radio now a mocking reminder of the peaceful moments before.

The spilled coffee from their earlier cafe stop seemed absurdly irrelevant in the face of the destruction.

Her eyes met Luke’s, his face ashen and terrified, mirroring her own fear.

Then everything faded into a frightening blackness (Tip 14: Introducing the Innocuous; Tip 18: Physical Sensations ).

Fantasy Example

The enchanted carriage raced down the cobblestone streets of Eldoria, the mighty griffins pulling with all their might .

Inside, Princess Isolde clutched the amulet of Elara, her heart pounding with the fear of pursuit.

The streets were a labyrinth of shadows and flickering lamplights.

Suddenly, with a terrifying crash, another carriage appeared from a side alley, colliding with their own in a spectacular explosion of magic and splintered wood (Tip 13: The Power of Precise Languag e).

The griffins screeched in protest, the magical bonds tethering them to the carriage snapping with a deafening crack.

Shards of enchanted wood sparkled in the air, suspended for a moment before raining down onto the cobblestones.

A wave of dark magic erupted from the other carriage, shrouding the area in a pitch-black fog.

Isolde could taste the bitter tang of dark magic in the air, the amulet pulsating wildly in response (Tip 20: The Dance of Debris ).

She could see nothing through the magical fog, but she could hear the chaotic sounds of their pursuers closing in.

The world around her was a swirl of chaos and confusion, fear wrapping around her like a stifling cloak.

Yet, in the midst of the pandemonium, she held onto the amulet, the single beacon of hope in her fight against the dark forces (Tip 19: The Raw Reality ).

Before you go, here is a video about how to describe a car accident in writing:

Final Thoughts: How to Describe a Car Accident in Writing

When coming up your car crash description, figure out a way to do something creative that has never been done.

Make it story-specific, bigger, smaller, crazier.

Just make it sing.

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• How to Describe the Wind in Writing (100 Words + Examples)
• How To Describe a House in Writing (21 Tips for Beginners)

Capturing Chaos: Describing a Car Crash in Creative Writing

My name is Debbie, and I am passionate about developing a love for the written word and planting a seed that will grow into a powerful voice that can inspire many.

Introduction: Recreating the Chaos: How to Write a Car Crash Scene That Engages Your Readers

1. setting the stage: capturing the atmosphere and surroundings of the crash, 2. vivid imagery: making each detail count in describing the collision, 3. utilizing sensory descriptions: engaging your reader’s senses to evoke realism, 4. emotions in chaos: portraying the impact on characters and readers alike, 5. dynamic action: crafting an engaging and realistic sequence of events in the crash scene, 6. reflecting the aftermath: lane of dust and shattered glass, 7. impactful dialogue: portraying the reactions and communication amidst chaos, 8. writing with purpose: conveying the message and theme through the car crash scene, frequently asked questions, closing remarks.

Writing a car crash scene is no easy task. It requires careful thought and precision to recreate the chaos and evoke emotional engagement from your readers. In this post, we will explore some key techniques that can help you craft a powerful car crash scene that will leave your readers on the edge of their seats.

1. Set the stage: Before the crash occurs, it’s crucial to create a vivid picture of the scene. Describe the weather conditions, the time of day, and any other relevant details that set the tone for the impending chaos. This sets the stage for your readers and prepares them for the impact that is about to unfold.

2. Use sensory details: Engage your readers’ senses by incorporating descriptive language . Go beyond visual cues and describe the screeching tires, the pungent smell of burning rubber, or the deafening sound of metal crunching against metal. By appealing to multiple senses, you can immerse your readers in the moment and make the scene feel more authentic.

When diving deep into the investigation of an aviation accident, one crucial aspect that demands attention is capturing the unique atmosphere and surroundings at the crash site. This allows investigators to gather valuable information about various factors that might have contributed to the incident. Here’s a closer look at how professionals go about setting the stage to capture the essence of the crash.

First and foremost, investigators meticulously document the wreckage’s immediate surroundings. Carefully examining the terrain, vegetation, and any barriers or obstacles present provides essential contextual information. This observation could uncover crucial clues about how the crash unfolded, such as whether the aircraft experienced any difficulties maneuvering due to environmental factors or external interference. Additionally, documenting the weather conditions at the time of the accident plays a significant role in understanding the crash dynamics. Elements like visibility, wind patterns, and precipitation can shed light on potential weather-related complications that may have impacted the flight.

• Photographs of the crash site from various angles help preserve the scene in its original state and provide an in-depth visual record.
• Drawing topographical sketches of the area assists in identifying factors that may have affected the aircraft’s trajectory.
• Collecting environmental samples, such as soil and vegetation, enables investigators to identify foreign substances that could be relevant to the incident.

By painstakingly capturing the atmosphere and surroundings of the crash, investigators can create a comprehensive picture of the circumstances leading up to the accident. These details help piece together the puzzle of what went wrong, ultimately paving the way for improved safety measures and preventing future incidents.

In order to effectively capture the essence of a collision, it is crucial to employ vivid imagery that transports the reader right into the heart of the action. By providing intricate details and utilizing sensory descriptors, you can paint a picture so vivid that your audience can almost feel the impact themselves. Here are some key strategies to make each detail count in describing a collision:

• Engage the senses: Evoke a sensory experience by describing not only what was seen, but also what was heard, smelled, and felt immediately before and after the collision. The jarring screech of tires, the acrid smell of burning rubber, and the bone-rattling impact will help immerse your readers in the moment.
• Focus on precise timing: Capture the exact sequence of events leading up to the collision. Describe the split-second decisions that were made, the frenetic movements, and the suspense that built up just before impact. This will create anticipation and intensify the experience for the reader.
• Highlight the aftermath: Paint a detailed picture of the aftermath in the aftermath of the collision. Illustrate the twisted metal, shattered glass, and the chaotic scene that ensues. Laying out the consequences of the collision will enhance the realism and impact of your description.

Mastering the art of vivid imagery will add depth and authenticity to your writing, allowing your readers to fully immerse themselves in the collision you are describing. By engaging their senses, focusing on precise timing, and highlighting the aftermath, you can create an evocative and memorable description that leaves a lasting impression.

When it comes to creating a realistic and engaging piece of writing, utilizing sensory descriptions is a powerful tool that should not be overlooked. By appealing to your reader’s senses, you can transport them directly into your world and make the experience come alive. So, how can you effectively engage your reader’s senses and evoke a sense of realism in your writing? Let’s take a closer look.

1. Visual Descriptions: Paint a vivid picture in your reader’s mind by describing the scene using rich visual imagery. Use colorful and descriptive language to help your reader visualize the setting, characters, and objects.

• For example, instead of simply saying, “The sun was shining,” you could say, “The golden rays of the sun beamed through the thick foliage, casting a warm glow on the lush green meadow.”
• Use similes and metaphors to create vivid visual imagery. For instance, “Her voice was as smooth as velvet” or “The tall buildings loomed over the city like giants.”

2. Auditory Descriptions: Engaging your reader’s sense of hearing can greatly enhance the realism of your writing. Describe the sounds in your scene to create an immersive experience for your reader.

• Instead of simply mentioning that a character was crying, you could describe the sound of their tears hitting the floor, the sniffles, and the muffled sobs.
• Include onomatopoeic words to reproduce sounds, such as “the crackling fire,” “the babbling brook,” or “the booming thunder.”

As readers, we immerse ourselves in stories to experience a range of emotions, and few things grip us more profoundly than chaos. When an author skillfully portrays the impact of chaos on characters, it resonates with readers on a visceral level, evoking empathy, fear, and anticipation. The interplay of emotions in chaotic situations brings a depth to characters that we can relate to, making their struggles and triumphs all the more meaningful.

In chaos, a character can experience an array of emotions, from despair and confusion to determination and resilience. By delving into this emotional rollercoaster, authors can create multi-dimensional characters that elicit emotional investment from the readers. The skill lies in crafting an authentic portrayal of emotions, allowing readers to understand the turmoil and psychological impact the characters endure.

• Empathy: Chaos in storytelling provides an opportunity for readers to empathize with characters who face unpredictable and adverse circumstances. Our own experiences of chaos and instability in life allow us to connect with the characters at a deeper level, magnifying our emotional investment.
• Anticipation: Chaos generates a sense of anticipation as readers are kept on the edge of their seats, eagerly wondering how characters will navigate the mayhem. This anticipation creates a heightened emotional state, making the story more engaging and unpredictable.
• Fear: Chaos often brings fear along with it. When characters face uncertain situations, formidable challenges, or daunting foes, readers can experience an adrenaline rush, their hearts racing in sync with the characters’ perilous journeys.

In order to create a captivating and realistic sequence of events in the crash scene, it is important to engage the audience and keep them invested in the story. Here are some dynamic actions you can take to achieve this:

1. Build tension: Start by setting the scene and creating a sense of anticipation. Use descriptive language to evoke emotions and draw the readers into the crash scene. Make them feel like they are right there, witnessing the chaos unfold.

2. Use sensory details: Paint a vivid picture by incorporating sensory details such as the screeching of tires, the smell of burning rubber, and the taste of adrenaline in the air. These details help to immerse the readers in the crash scene and make it more believable.

3. Introduce unexpected twists: Surprise your audience by introducing unexpected elements to the crash scene. Perhaps a bystander rushes to the aid of the injured, revealing a hidden hero, or a small explosion adds a new layer of danger and excitement. These twists add depth to the story and keep the readers on the edge of their seats.

4. Include diverse perspectives: To make the crash scene feel realistic, include perspectives from different characters involved. This allows the readers to see the event from multiple angles, adding complexity and authenticity to the sequence of events.

As the dust begins to settle and the chaos subsides, one cannot help but be awestruck by the sight before them. The aftermath of the recent catastrophic event paints a grim picture of destruction and despair. Rows and rows of shattered glass and debris line the once vibrant alley, creating an eerie scene that evokes a peculiar blend of melancholy and curiosity.

Walking through this desolate lane, it becomes apparent just how fragile our surroundings can be. The countless shards of broken glass, irrevocably transformed from their former form, reflect the harsh reality that life can change in an instant. Each fragmented piece holds a story of its own, a testimony to the sheer force that has taken its toll. Although a bleak sight, it also serves as a powerful reminder of our resilience and the strength to rebuild.

• Reflection: The shattered glass mirrors the fragility of life, reminding us to appreciate every moment.
• Glimpse into Chaos: The devastated alley provides a window into the chaos that unfolded during the event.
• Symbolic Breakdown: The shattered glass acts as a symbol of the destruction and transformation caused by the catastrophe.
• Resilience in Debris: Amidst the destruction, the debris reveals our determination to rebuild and move forward.

When it comes to writing impactful dialogue, the key lies in portraying genuine reactions and communication amidst chaos. Whether you are crafting a thrilling action scene or depicting intense emotional moments, creating dialogue that resonates with readers is crucial for an engaging story. Here are some tips to help you master the art of creating impactful dialogue:

• Show, don’t tell: Instead of explicitly stating characters’ emotions, let their dialogue and actions reveal their true feelings. This allows readers to experience the chaos firsthand, making the scene more immersive.
• Inject tension: Chaos often brings out the best and worst in people. Develop conflicts, disagreements, and clashes between characters to heighten the drama and create an intense atmosphere.
• Vary dialogue length and pace: In chaotic scenes, dialogue should mirror the frenetic energy. Mix short, snappy exchanges with longer, more contemplative responses to create a natural rhythm that keeps readers on their toes.

Furthermore, it is important to give each character a unique voice and stay consistent with their personalities in chaotic situations. This ensures that readers can easily distinguish between characters and understand how they react under pressure. Remember, impactful dialogue not only advances the plot but also adds depth to your characters and maintains the reader’s interest. By mastering the art of portraying reactions and communication amidst chaos, you’ll be able to captivate your audience and keep them eagerly turning the pages.

In order to effectively convey the message and theme through a car crash scene, it is essential to pay attention to the details and choose the right words and descriptions. Firstly, it is important to set the scene by vividly describing the wreckage, the twisted metal, shattered glass, and the chaos that ensues. By using sensory language and painting a clear picture, the reader can be immersed in the intensity of the moment.

Secondly, focus on the emotions and reactions of the characters involved. Highlight their fear, shock, and disbelief to evoke empathy and bring the scene to life. Utilize descriptive language to express their trembling hands, racing heartbeats, and the silence that follows the impact. This allows readers to connect with the characters on a deeper level and grasp the gravity of the situation.

Additionally, when writing with purpose, it is crucial to consider the broader message and theme the car crash scene is meant to convey. Is it a cautionary tale about the dangers of reckless driving? Is it a metaphor for the fragility of life and the unexpected turns it can take? By aligning the actions and consequences with the intended theme, the message will resonate more powerfully with the readers.

To enhance the impact of the scene even further, incorporate dialogue between the characters involved. Use italics to emphasize their thoughts and fragmented sentences to create tension. This will add a layer of authenticity to the scene and allow readers to experience the raw emotions firsthand.

In conclusion, crafting a car crash scene with purpose requires attention to detail, emotional depth, and alignment with the intended message and theme. By carefully choosing words, incorporating sensory description, and focusing on character reactions, the scene can be made compelling and memorable for readers.

Q: What is the purpose of “Capturing Chaos: Describing a Car Crash in Creative Writing”? A: The purpose of this article is to guide writers in effectively describing a car crash in a creative writing piece.

Q: Why is it important to accurately describe a car crash in creative writing? A: Accurate and vivid descriptions of car crashes can elevate the intensity and impact of a narrative, creating a more engaging experience for readers.

Q: How can descriptive language enhance the portrayal of a car crash? A: Descriptive language allows writers to vividly depict the chaos, emotions, and sensory details involved in a car crash, making the scene more memorable and compelling.

Q: What are some sensory details that can be utilized when describing a car crash? A: Sensory details such as screeching tires, the smell of burning rubber, shattered glass, sirens blaring, and the taste of fear can significantly enhance the description of a car crash.

Q: Are there any specific techniques writers can employ when describing a car crash? A: Yes, writers can use techniques such as metaphors, similes, onomatopoeia, and personification to create more impactful and dynamic descriptions of a car crash.

Q: Are there any guidelines to follow when writing about such a sensitive topic? A: Yes, it is important to approach the topic with sensitivity, avoiding insensitive language, gratuitous violence, or graphic content that may offend or upset readers.

Q: How can writers convey the emotional impact of a car crash? A: Writers can convey the emotional impact of a car crash by exploring the internal thoughts and feelings of characters involved, conveying their shock, fear, or grief through their actions or reactions.

Q: Can you provide an example of an effective car crash description? A: “The collision sent shards of glass dancing through the air, catching the glimmer of the streetlights like a macabre ballet. The screeching metal tore through the calm night, drowning out the desperate pleas of brakes. In an instant, chaos took hold, as the twisted mangle of steel and shattered glass whispered tales of lives forever altered.”

Q: What should writers aim to achieve when describing a car crash in their writing? A: Writers should strive to create a vivid and immersive experience for readers by painting a picture with their words, capturing the chaos, danger, and impact of a car crash through imaginative and evocative descriptions.

Q: Are there any additional resources that writers can refer to for further guidance? A: There are plenty of online resources and creative writing guides available that offer further insights and techniques to effectively describe car crashes in fiction.

In conclusion, capturing the chaos of a car crash in creative writing requires vivid description and attention to detail, allowing readers to experience the event through the author’s words.

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How to Describe a Car Accident in a Story

By Ali Dixon

Are you looking for advice on how to describe a car accident in a story? We’ve included 10 words and examples of they can be used to help you get started.

1. Frightening

Causing fear .

“He stumbled upon the frightening car accident almost by mistake, but he immediately went to try and help those involved.”

“The accident was a frightening scene, with police cars and ambulances everywhere and people crying as they received the help they needed.”

How it Adds Description

Getting into a car accident is scary for anyone. Describing it as frightening will help readers see how a character in your story is reacting emotionally to the accident. What happens after the accident can also be quite frightening as other people get involved and the scene of the accident becomes more chaotic.

2. Dangerous

Characterized by danger ; having the possibility of harm or loss; able or likely to inflict harm.

“He didn’t know that she had been in a dangerous car accident last week, and had spent the next few days in the hospital.”

“Although they were all rattled, the car accident could have been much more dangerous than it was, and they were all extremely grateful for that.”

Use the word dangerous to describe the accident in your story to show readers how close to serious harm characters may have come. This can help it feel like even more of a relief when your characters escape the accident.

Having a lot of noise or sound ; producing a loud sound.

“She didn’t see the car accident as it happened, but it was so loud that she heard it all the way down the road.”

“The car accident was so loud it was almost deafening.”

There are a lot of sounds that might occur during a car accident, like squealing tires or metal grinding together. Describing the noise and how loud it is can help readers feel like they are really there in the moment.

4. Gruesome

Causing feelings of repulsion or horror ; grisly.

“Standing at the scene of the gruesome car accident, the two police officers contemplated their next move.”

“The wreck was a gruesome sight, and it was one that she knew she would not be able to forget anytime soon.”

A car accident can be an extremely gory sight. The word gruesome can describe how the scene looks as well as emphasize how a character involved may be reacting to seeing something that has caused so much carnage.

5. Horrific

Having the ability to horrify or cause feelings of horror.

“As they turned down the narrow road, they came suddenly across the horrific car accident that had taken place a few minutes earlier.”

“Once the paramedic had extracted her from the mangled vehicle and brought her to the ambulance, she took a look back at the horrific site she had been rescued from.”

Want to make sure your readers understand how truly disturbing the car accident in your story is? Horrific is a much stronger word than something like scary and can evoke a bigger emotional reaction from readers.

Marked by a sense of tragedy ; extremely serious or unpleasant; lamentable.

“The tragic car accident that took place earlier that week killed three people.”

“Even months after the tragic car accident, it was difficult for her to recover from the fear and grief she felt.”

A car accident may be tragic because a character or multiple characters in your story died. It can also be tragic if a character experiences some other kind of loss. Perhaps an important item broke during the accident, or maybe their sense of fear growing is the tragedy.

7. Senseless

Lacking in sense ; deficient or contrary to sense so as to be foolish, stupid, or meaningless.

“The driver had been distracted while he was looking at his phone, causing a senseless accident.”

“The deaths caused by the senseless accident were something that the small community would have a difficult time recovering from.”

Tragedies caused by things like car accidents often feel unfair. In this case, you can use a word like senseless to describe the accident. You can also use this to set up an emotional arc for your character as they come to terms with the purposelessness of the accident.

8. Devastating

Causing a lot of damage or harm ; causing extreme emotional pain.

“The car accident was devastating as he not only suffered several broken bones but his vehicle was ruined.”

“The devastating aftermath of the car accident would stay with her for many years to come.”

The word devastating can show readers how much damage a car accident in your story caused. It can also show the emotional effect that the accident has had on the character who experienced it, as well as other characters around them.

9. Disastrous

Causing suffering or disaster ; horrendous; terrible.

“Although the car accident was certainly disastrous , it certainly could have been much worse. The people involved escaped mostly unscathed.”

“There was a disastrous pileup on the highway that morning, and they all waited around for news of what exactly had happened.”

How It Adds Description

Even a small car accident can feel like a disaster. There may have been a lot of damage or harm caused by the accident, or a character involved may have a difficult time dealing with it emotionally. Both of these things can feel disastrous.

Inferior in degree or size ; not serious or having no risk to one’s life.

“She was pretty shaken after the car accident, but luckily it was a minor one with a dent on the car’s hood being the only major damage.”

“He was relieved that the accident had been so minor since he had heard stories from friends who had been in much worse ones before.”

Some car accidents are pretty minor, but that doesn’t mean that there can’t be an emotional effect. You can describe the accident as minor while still having a character struggling to deal with the aftermath.

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Describing a Car Crash in Writing: Narrative, Dramatic, Metaphorical, Technical and Investigative Descriptions

By Happy Sharer

Introduction

Writing about a car crash can be both a challenging and rewarding experience. It presents an opportunity to evoke emotions and feelings through vivid descriptions. This article will explore how to effectively describe a car crash in writing using narrative, dramatic, metaphorical, technical and investigative descriptions.

When describing a car crash from a narrative perspective, the goal is to create an engaging story that readers can visualize. Here are some tips for constructing a vivid description of the scene:

• Include sensory details such as sight, sound and smell.
• Focus on the characters’ thoughts and emotions.
• Use figurative language to describe the crash.
• Create suspense by foreshadowing what will happen.

Here are some examples of effective narrative descriptions:

• The screech of brakes filled the air as the cars collided head-on. The sudden impact sent shockwaves through the drivers’ bodies and they were left trembling with fear.
• The driver closed their eyes as they slammed on the brakes. In an instant, the car was engulfed in a cloud of dust and smoke. As the air cleared, they opened their eyes to see the devastating aftermath of the crash.
• The driver was blinded by the headlights of the oncoming vehicle. Time seemed to slow down as the cars hurtled towards each other and the inevitable collision became impossible to avoid.

When describing a car crash from a dramatic perspective, the goal is to create a powerful story that will keep readers on the edge of their seats. Here are some tips for creating a dramatic story:

• Focus on the action and intensity of the crash.
• Describe the events leading up to the crash.
• Make use of powerful words and phrases to evoke emotion.
• Create tension by building up to the climax of the story.

Here are some examples of effective dramatic descriptions:

• The cars sped towards each other, the drivers’ hearts pounding in their chests. In one fateful moment, the front ends of the vehicles collided in a thunderous crash that shook the ground beneath them.
• The driver gripped the steering wheel tightly as the car flew towards its impending doom. They could feel the force of the impact reverberating through their body as the two cars collided in an explosion of glass and metal.
• Tension filled the air as the cars raced towards each other. At the last second, the driver tried to swerve away, but it was too late. The cars met with a deafening crash that sent shockwaves throughout the area.

Metaphorical

When describing a car crash from a metaphorical perspective, the goal is to create vivid images and comparisons that will help readers to visualize the event. Here are some tips for using metaphors and similes to describe the crash:

• Compare the crash to a natural disaster.
• Describe the crash as if it were a battle between two forces.
• Compare the impact of the crash to something else, such as an earthquake or tsunami.
• Evoke strong emotions by comparing the crash to something shocking or violent.

Here are some examples of effective metaphorical descriptions:

• The cars collided with the force of a hurricane, sending debris flying in all directions.
• The impact of the crash was like a bomb going off, leaving behind only destruction and chaos.
• The cars crashed into each other like two rival armies clashing in a final battle.
• The cars collided with the force of a thunderbolt, sending sparks flying in all directions.

When describing a car crash from a technical perspective, the goal is to explain the physical forces at play during the crash. Here are some tips for explaining the physics of a car crash:

• Explain the momentum of the cars before and after the crash.
• Describe the kinetic energy released during the collision.
• Explain the effects of friction on the cars.
• Discuss the role of inertia in the crash.

Here are some examples of effective technical descriptions:

• The cars collided with a combined momentum of 2,000 kg/m/s, releasing a large amount of kinetic energy on impact.
• The friction between the tires and the road caused the cars to skid and spin out of control before the crash.
• The inertia of the cars kept them moving forward even after the initial impact, resulting in a more serious crash.
• The momentum of the cars increased exponentially as they approached each other, resulting in a devastating collision.

Investigative

When describing a car crash from an investigative perspective, the goal is to uncover the cause of the crash. Here are some tips for investigating the cause of the crash:

• Look for evidence of negligence or recklessness.
• Investigate any mechanical issues that may have caused the crash.
• Explore any environmental factors that may have contributed to the crash.
• Analyze the behavior of the drivers involved in the crash.

Here are some examples of effective investigative descriptions:

• The driver of the first car was found to be speeding, which contributed to the severity of the crash.
• A mechanical fault in the second car caused it to veer into the path of the first car, resulting in the crash.
• Heavy rain had made the road slippery, causing the driver of the first car to lose control and collide with the second car.
• The driver of the second car failed to check their blind spot before changing lanes, resulting in the collision with the first car.

Writing about a car crash can be a great way to engage readers and evoke emotion. This article has provided tips and examples of how to effectively describe a car crash in writing using narrative, dramatic, metaphorical, technical and investigative descriptions. We encourage readers to experiment with their own descriptions and find the style that works best for them.

(Note: Is this article not meeting your expectations? Do you have knowledge or insights to share? Unlock new opportunities and expand your reach by joining our authors team. Click Registration to join us and share your expertise with our readers.)

Hi, I'm Happy Sharer and I love sharing interesting and useful knowledge with others. I have a passion for learning and enjoy explaining complex concepts in a simple way.

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How to Write a Car Crash

• Are you writing in first person or third person?

» A. It depends on what sort of emotional response you want to gain from the audience. Do you want us to be sad? Do you want us to be angry?

  I.    You can describe the scene through the eyes of someone who is surprised, confused, etc. and doesn’t know what is going on. That could be achieved in first-person or third-person narrative. You could also describe the scene through the eyes of a bystander. Example 1:   Rachel didn’t know that day it would cost her license, and potentially her life. She was on her way to her boyfriend’s house. She was unaware he planned on proposing to her. Clearly, plans have changed. Now, he is driving to the scene of her car crash.  

» B. You’ll most likely want readers to focus on the immediacy of the scene, to feel the crash as the character is feeling it.

  I.         If in first person, describe the suddenness of it. The first person narrative is mainly for the dramatic physical effect. This viewpoint would focus more on the experience of getting knocked around inside a piece of twisted metal.   II.       However, third person isn’t as dramatic. You could be technical, going through and listing what smashed into what, who was at fault, how everyone reacted and reports the injuries. You could write about what each one is thinking right as the cars collide. Example 2:    As Scott makes his way to his girlfriend Rachel, I might as well tell you what happened. You know, to get you up to date. Well, today is Friday and many people are out and about. Rachel hadn’t seen her boyfriend in a while and was putting on makeup, when she ran a red light. That’s when a huge Toyota truck rammed into her passenger’s side. Her little car rolled over several times, breaking glasses and inflating the safety bag. Her head made contact with the cement ground not a moment later. Currently, blood is pouring out of her noggin. Poor thing. I was watching the entire accident. I even recorded it if you want to take a peek.

» C. Further information about the different viewpoints.

  II.        Take advantage of third person by having the state police interview witnesses to the accident . You could give one – three varying accounts to add suspense to why or how the accident happened depending on the rest of your plot.   III.        First person is tricky. Don’t have the character notice useless details that one would most certainly not pay attention to in the middle of a car wreck, such as “the van that hit us was bright red”. At the spike of adrenaline, the mind just doesn’t have room for those trivial things. Make sure to describe the feelings of being jostled about, preferably without actually saying “jostled about”. Example 3:   

“Actually, ma’am,” the policeman said to me, “We can use your recording in court.”

“Oh no, is Rachel going to go to jail.”

“It seems to be that way from your eye witness. She caused a terrible scene.” The police patted me on the back and walked away after thanking me for the help.

• Talk about how the character’s senses are compromised. Once the accident occurs, what can he/she see, hear or smell. Write it as expressively as possible.

» A. Make it gruesome if you really want to impact the reader. This is a very significant event in your novel. It might even be the climax of the story. 

  I.         People in such a situation see things occurring in slow motion probably due to extreme heightened awareness.   II.       Car accidents smell. For instance, the engine might smell of coolant if the radiator has cracked. And the air-bag propellant will be a burnt-chemical smell. There can also be a smell of fire and gasoline.   III.        After the crash there is a moment of silence, extreme silence like a piercing sound in your ear silence. The crash itself is very disorienting. It’s loud. Everything becomes still and quiet right after the impact.   IV.        After the noise is where the hectic chaos begins . Questions might run through the character’s head. Like, who’s alive, who’s been thrown? Is someone missing? I can’t feel my leg or my arm. The man who hit you is still alive and wants revenge? Why does it seem so dark? Example 4:    It was obvious she had a hard time with facing reality. The moment Rachel got out of the car, she nearly fell over, dizzy. Her head looked like it hurt; good thing there was people around to help her. I, on the other hand, wanted to keep my distance. The smell of fuel leaking from her car didn’t help the situation much. I had to cover my nose in order to breathe properly. That’s when I saw it. Her arms were bent in a weird position. I was confused by how it got that way, but it didn’t look pretty. Though, she was yelling alright. The pain must have been too much for her to bear.

• Talk about the injuries they get.

» A. There is a sense of tranquility and pain only kicks in after the event.

  I.      A character will be in shock for quite a while. Even when the paramedics are trying to them. They can’t even feel your injuries at first because of the shock. But they will try to get it together for the police who need information to fill out the accident report.   II.        Think about it. Car accidents happen fast. One moment you are cruising along, and the next second a driver in a jaguar jumps the lane and hits you head on. If the airbags deploy, smoke rises from the dashboard so it seems like the car might be on fire.  Thus, shock will inevitably happen.   III.        Being in a bad car wreck is like waking up in a strange place. Everything stops and nothing makes sense. The character will see blood but can’t even tell where it’s coming from. It can take hours for that shock to fade. It isn’t until the next day before you realize how lucky you are . This is when you can start to tell what the injuries are. Example 6:    Before she could even take a step in the ambulance, Rachel fell to ground and had a seizure. Hmmm, serves her right, too, for stealing my man. Scott Maky was always my lover and I warned her she will get what she deserves. I was the one that distracted her and caused her to run the red light. You see, Rachel is stupid, but not that stupid to be putting on makeup while driving. Because of this, I manipulated the situation to my benefit. Now, Scott is all mine and no on else’s…. Oh, don’t worry, I’ll take good care of him. HAhahahahaha! ** !You might have to scroll down the textbox with your mouse!

  Rachel didn’t know that day it would cost her license, and potentially her life. She was on her way to her boyfriend’s house, unaware he planned on proposing to her. Clearly, plans have changed. Now, he is driving to the scene of her car crash. 

    As Scott makes his way to his girlfriend Rachel, I might as well tell you what happened. You know, to get you up to date. Well, today is Friday and many people are out and about. Rachel hadn’t seen her boyfriend in a while and was putting on makeup, when she ran a red light. That’s when a huge Toyota truck rammed into her passenger’s side. Her little car rolled over several times, breaking glasses and inflating the safety bag. Her head made contact with the cement ground not a moment later. Currently, blood is pouring out of her noggin. Poor thing. I was watching the entire accident. I even recorded it if you want to take a peek. “Actually, ma’am,” the policeman said to me, “We can use your recording in court.”

      It was obvious she had a hard time with facing reality. The moment Rachel got out of the car, she nearly fell over, dizzy. Her head looked like it hurt; good thing there was people around to help her. I, on the other hand, wanted to keep my distance. The smell of fuel leaking from her car didn’t help the situation much. I had to cover my nose in order to breath properly. 

      That’s when I saw it.  Her arms were bent in a weird position. I was confused by how it got that way, but it didn’t look pretty. Though, she was yelling alright. The pain must have been too much for her to bear.

      Just then, Scott arrived to the scene, running out of his car and over to his beloved. He made it seconds before the paramedics loaded her into the ambulance. Good thing, too, because I don’t think she’ll make it to the hospital. The wound on her head kept her in shock. The way I see it, she only had ten minutes to live.   Before she could even take a step in the ambulance, Rachel fell to ground and had a seizure. Hmmm, serves her right, too, for stealing my man. Scott Maky was always my lover and I warned her she will get what she deserves. I was the one that distracted her and caused her to run the red light. You see, Rachel is stupid, but not that stupid to be putting on makeup while driving. Because of this, I manipulated the situation to my benefit. Now, Scott is all mine and no on else’s…. Oh, don’t worry, I’ll take good care of him. HAhahahahaha!

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• Tips For Writers

May 27, 2014

Writing about: a car accident.

TIP #1: Mention the bruises your character gets from the seat belt and steering wheel. And don't forget the burns from the airbags. I can verify that exposed skin will feel like it has a slight burn.  (Thank you, Cherie, for reminding me!)

TIP: #2: Everyone reacts differently in traumatic events, so you can let one of your characters go into hysterics and another be calm. (Thanks, Slamdunk!)   

TIP #3: Shock (acute stress reaction) occurs after witnessing or being in a traumatic event. Common reactions are numbness and detachment. You can have your character go into a state of shock after their accident, which typical wears off in 24-48 hours. When it does pain becomes present and emotions run high. (Thanks, Stephanie!)  

73 comments:

Thankfully I have never been in one, came very very close once as some nut flew by me like an inch away from the front of my car, but other than that nope. Can set quite the scene indeed

I've only had a side mirror ripped off by some moron who tried to pass me too close. So I've been lucky, too. Yes, car accidents can make exciting and frightening scenes in books.

I was in a car accident recently at the end of July. The other driver admitted she had a red light. The crash sound is scary, metal bending, windsheild cracking or breaking. I had 2 sets of airbag deploy, 1 in front of me and a side airbag on my left. bruising along the left side of my torso, my left ear/side of face was very red, ear felt like it may have been burned a little from airbag. small burn on right hand, abrasion/burn on my left inner forearm.

Wow. That is scary. I'm glad you were okay (aside from the injuries you got) and hope you've been healing physically and mentally from this.

Other than a slight bump from the rear, I've never been in one. But I have seen them happen and there's nothing more awful than the sound of metal crumpling.

And the sound of metal crumpling is definitely something every writer should try to describe.

Luckily, I haven't been in one, but I have written about them. Great tips.

Nor have I, and it is one of my fears, so I'm glad about that! I've written about three so far and each is different. Some go into more detail than others, which is important as not all car accidents are the same and should be treated differently for each story. :)

I've been in several. Thankfully, most were not serious. The one that was serious was less an accident than an attack--you recently read about it on my blog. It's incredibly scary to lose control of your vehicle or have another car slam into you. I live in a city that's renowned for having the world's worst drivers, so car accidents are a fact of life here. That may be why I use public transit instead of owning a car. :)

I don't own a car neither! It's actually a fear of driving and being in an accident that pushes me to use public transportation. So here's another thing we have in common. ;)

I have a tear of driving too! It's nice not to be alone.

Great tips, Chrys. In fact, in my novel that I'm supposed to be working on but haven't been (ahem), the main character gets into an accident by hitting a deer. She ends up in a coma. She time travels while in the coma and the story takes two directions; the devastation and journey of her loved ones and her experience in her time travel. Sigh...I love the plot but I'm stuck on getting her back in her body. It sounds crazy... So, your tips are helpful and I'll go back and reread the car accident scene.

That story sounds awesome!!! I really hope you can figure out way to to get her back into the body so that you can write it.

maybe the girl that had the accident has locked in syndrome (a medical condition, usually resulting from a stroke that damages part of the brainstem, in which the body and most of the facial muscles are paralysed but consciousness remains and the ability to perform certain eye movements is preserved.) and her family members may not realsie that she is there and aware but she is and shes saying things in her head and responding to them but obviously they cant hear...? hope i helped :

That's a great suggestion! :)

I've been in a couple of car accidents, but none of them were major. Only one had the airbag to deploy, and airbags are not fun. I had burns on my chin and neck from the airbag, and the seatbelt bruise wasn't fun either. Great tips for car accidents in stories!

I'm glad the accidents weren't serious! The airbags and seat belt bruises, as well as bruising from the steering wheel is something that writers should remember to add, to make the accident even more authentic. Thank you for mentioning it, Cherie!

Such a great post, Chrys. The beginning of my novel is actually centered around a car accident which foreshadows much of the events to follow. I love the "Prose" part of your tips. They definitely make me want to take a look at my manuscript again to make sure I am fulfilling the reader's needs=) I was in several car accidents. The one thing that sticks out in my mind with all of them is how sudden they are. Especially the one when I was driving with my one-year old niece in the car seat in the back. These asshole degenerate kids were throwing bricks over the bridge and onto the highway. One of the bricks hit and completely shattered my entire front windshield. With only a quick intuition and reaction, I swerved before almost getting side swiped with other cars in the lane over. I don't remember how I made it to the side of the highway because everything was so clouded. In all honesty, I believe my Daddy C was watching over us that night and he somehow protected us from getting crumbled by the ongoing traffic on the highway. A true angel, he is.

I find prose a must when I'm writing a scene like this. And I strive to make my writing vivid to my readers. Yes, you told me about that accident because of those punk kids. I can't believe how foolish and dumb they were! And I'm glad you and your niece were okay!

Luckily I've only been in a minor fender bender, but I don't even know if you can call it that since no fenders actually got bent. But even a minor bump up was scary, so I can't imagine how terrifying a major on is.

Yes, minor bumps are scary. I've had those!

Great itemizing to make it real for the reader. Even if the driver is unaware of most of it, like you said, the reader needs the details.

Exactly! Thanks for stopping by, River! :)

I like your advice in focusing on the what that happens. What was the impact like? What agencies responded? etc. Having been involved in collisions as a driver and then working them for years as the police, I think it is good to remember that each individual is different the way that the incident affects them. Some are obviously shaken and scared, while others will find humor or be detached and all business. Certainly there is room for an author to be creative.

That is very true, Slamdunk! Everyone reacts differently and that should be utilized in a story. Thank you for your comment!

holy Toledo! that was a great idea for writing! i have only been in 2 crashes, but now that you have me focusing on details, they are coming out clearly in my head.

That's awesome! :D

Great tips!!! I have been in a few car accidents in my time (mostly minor) and I can say, time seems to slow down. I'm sure that's what happens in any crisis-type event, like someone being held at gunpoint. It can be only seconds, but you seem to experience every millisecond of it, with all of your senses heightened. And you are SO sore the next day or two! I took a hard fall a couple of years ago and I walked all the way up the hill to the building where my meeting was before it all hit me. When I finally sat down in the clinic (there was a health clinic in the building--what luck is that!), I felt really nauseous and had to lay down. The nurse said shock got me up the hill but once the shock wears off, you feel everything.

The great thing about writing a car accident scene is that it does seem to slow down because of all the vivid details. :) Shock is definitely something that can be used. Thanks for your comment, Stephanie!

Thankfully, I have never been in a car accident - but I've seen a few and they are awful to witness.

I wrote a car accident into one of my stories. It was awesome. I was like, "No, more detail. Slow it down MORE." You really have to stretch those intense moments, eh?

You sure do! ;)

I'm writing a medical story which has a car accident...so this post was really helpful. Thanks Chrys! Nas

That's great! :D

I haven't written a car accident, but now I want to!

I love that! :D

Great tips! I don't have car accidents in any of my WIPs but I'll keep these points in mind if I ever do!

Thanks, Erin! :)

These are great points. I wrote a car accident scene in one of my drawer manuscripts, but I don't think it was that great. I will probably write another one and use this advice.

I hope these tips help if you do write another one. :)

Fantastic post! If and when I write a car accident I'll know where to look for great advice. :)

Thank you, S.K.! :D

Great post! I agree with all of it. I have a car accident in my novel, but it happened in the past. The main character survived. His parents didn't.

There's a car accident in my novella (soon to be released) that happened in the past too, so I didn't really use as vivid of details as I did with other stories.

Hello, I was involved in a crazy car accident that permanently injured me last summer. I would love to write about my personal experience.

I have been in a car crash before. A van slammed into the left side of our car, as it did not see us when they were making a left-hand turn. We later learned that there was a crying baby in the backseat. No one was hurt, but my book might've gone flying and hit my brother.

That sounds scary!

Good tips, especially the one that it has to be relevant to the plot. You can't just stick a crash in for the sake of it! Popping by on the A to Z Road Trip Debbie www.myrandommusings.blogspot.com

Thanks for stopping by, Debbie! :)

Many thanks for your essay I really appreciate the informations with in, it helped me a lot.

You're welcome!

This is a very good read, I'm thinking about writing a book and I'm wanting to put an accident in it, thank you for writing this. As far as being in an accident myself, I was in one when I was 9. My Dad and I were in a 1 ton truck on our way home. We had stopped at a red light before we were to get onto the freeway when we got near the on ramp my Dad puts his foot on the gas petal as hard as he could, but w/the truck being so heavy it took it a while to go faster (like a semi does). I looked out my Dad's window and saw this huge truck flying through the air, stuff flying off of it, because it had hit the center divider in the street. The next thing I remember there were flames everywhere on my Dad's side of the truck. The truck that hit us apparently had hit the center divider and flipped over on top of the driver side of our truck, trapping my Dad inside. He was able to push me out of the passenger side window. I had turned around to try and open the door to save him (which I later received a metal of bravery for) and I remember screaming at him that he had blood running down his face. Then I was taken away from the accident by paramedics (they had seen the whole thing). 3 of the 4 people involved in the accident lived. The passenger of the other truck was severally burned, my Dad had some burns and trouble w/his hip and foot because his foot was trapped under the brake pedal and I suffered 1st and 2nd degree burns on both my hands. To this day I'm still scared of driving next to big trucks (I'm 35 now). Sorry for the long story.

Wow. That is scary! I'm glad that you and your dad survived that. And I'm sorry for the one person involved who lost his/her life. I don't like driving period, and I've never even been in an accident. Good luck with your story!

That is scary! I am just beginning to drive and my only fear is driving next to trucks. overtime we are near one even if we are just driving slow and on a straight road I come close to anxiety attacks. I just have a fear they are going to fall onto me. even tough I have never been in an accident personally.

Driving next to big trucks is always scary for first time drivers. It'll take a while to get used to them.

thanks for the tips. I am writing a short story on a car crash, the girl who has it worst is also a nurse, so they need her most. I have never been in a car accident, and knock on wood hope I never will be. I just never know in what perspective to write them, and when I do my brain forgets so half way through my stories it goes from I to she . lol but thanks it helped a lot

You're welcome, Maya! I also hope you never experience a car accident in real life. As for changing from I to she, at least there's editing that comes after so you can fix that. :)

Again, late, LATE to the party but number four is spot-on. There is also tremendous drama that can carry over though the remainder of the book. The Mrs. and witnessed (first car on the scene) a double-fatality wreck that turned out to be a suicide. My Mrs. was an ER nurse. I've seen my share of /stuff/ but this wreck hung with us for WEEKS.

I actually rewrote this article for a book (that I hope to publish) and included more suggestions, such as writing about what the people on the scene do, the first responders, etc.

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A lot to think about. You could easily make a crash a huge deal in a book or something minimal that merely changes the direction the characters are going. This was a great post on broaching the topic. I have not yet had a reason to write about a car crash, but if I ever do, I will definitely refer to this post.

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You can still get a concussion even if you don’t hit your head on anything because your brain your skull. That happened to me when I was in my car accident. My mom drove me to urgent care and they asked me if the air bag deployed or if I hit my head on the steering wheel. I said no to both of those things. They did an X-ray and confirmed I had a mild concussion. The doctor then explained how it happened .

Thanks for the tip!

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Car Description Creative Writing Tips, Prompts, & Ideas

What makes product description writing difficult? You have to give life to the inanimate. You have to describe something that people see multiple times on a daily basis, and do so in a way that makes them look at that thing differently in their head when they read your copy.

Still difficult, but at least there is a lot to get excited about.

Tell a Story; Add Some Context

The easiest way to take the ordinary to extraordinary is to transport that thing to another place and time.

You tell me, what’s better—describing the simple car sitting in your all-pavement parking lot, or the one speeding down the interstate? Or perhaps the one slow creeping down a crowded downtown street on a Friday night, heads turning and eyes glued?

I’m not saying you have to craft a piece of award-winning fiction, nor do you need to gather facts from the car’s past to create non-fiction. But you can have fun with forming a hypothetical.

Think of it as simply painting a picture; placing the vehicle within the context of the potential buyer’s life. It’s all about concrete details and examples .

If you have trouble with this step, think about car commercials. Winding roads, hair in the wind, one lane roads lined by redwoods. The environment and car’s surroundings make for the most compelling of descriptions.

Make an Emotional Connection

What do prospective buyers of the car you’re describing care most about at the end of the day? It could be their kids, or their jobs. It could be the approval of neighbors or friends. It could also be appearing wealthy or attractive, or something else entirely. Match the car to the person who typically buys the car and appeal to their emotions.

Explain Every Visual Detail

It goes back to the above. You’re aiming to build an emotional connection with the reader. You want them to feel something when reading your description other than boredom.

When you’re describing the car, look at a picture and write down every feature you see (door, spoiler, rims etc.). After that, write down every non-feature you see, glare of the sun, reflection in the window, shine of the tire, etc. Take all of this info and start crafting, using everything from the tips above and below.

Appeal to All Senses

Take the visuals from the previous step and use them to appeal to the senses other than sight.

As you can see, not everything you describe needs to be a key selling feature of the vehicle. The blinker? It’s one of the nicest sounds a car can make. Many people find it soothing, and just mentioning it can bring readers out from in front of their computer, and into the vehicle you’re describing.

Pretend Like You’re Giving a Verbal Presentation

So, as you go and when you’re done, read what you’ve written aloud. This goes for any type of copywriting , and most people do this, but it’s always a good reminder.

Don’t be Afraid of Proper Formatting

How would you feel if you were reading a cereal box you were thinking of buying and it looked like this:

If you follow all of the tips presented above, you can’t help but use normal sentence structure to encourage reading. Then, if you still need to fit in all of your SEO keywords, create another section to do so.

To end, getting creative with your car description writing isn’t easy! But, there are some fairly low hanging fruits that will help you step your game up.

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• How to Write a Car Accident Description: the Scene, Vehicle Damage & Injuries

Posted on: November 10, 2021

When giving a statement, you will have to provide a car accident description to your insurance provider or the other party’s insurer. The Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles states that your description should include:

• License number.
• The time and date of the crash.
• Other parties involved.
• The location of the crash.

You can also:

• Include a chronological account of what happened from your point of view.
• Keep several things in mind when writing your description.
• Refrain from speculating about who bears the fault for the accident.
• Refrain from making statements about your injuries.

Stick to the Facts so the Insurer Can’t Argue That You Admitted Fault

When writing a description of the car accident scene, always be honest and stick to the facts. You may want to write down what you experienced before speaking to an insurer. This will help you remember details and avoid saying anything that could compromise your claim.

Tell your experience from your point of view in chronological order, starting a few minutes before the accident. You may begin by noting which road you were driving on and which direction you were traveling.

You may also note any details about your surroundings, such as other vehicles on the road or landmarks. When you describe the accident, make sure to report what you felt, saw, and heard. You may not have seen certain aspects of the crash, so describing what you felt and heard can compensate for this.

Avoid Discussing Fault, as You Might Not Know How the Other Driver Was Negligent

An insurer may try to ask you questions about who bears the fault for the accident. Do not answer them. You are only required to describe the facts from your point of view. Avoid making assumptions about what caused the crash or whether you contributed to it at all.

Even if you believe you share the fault for the crash, do not say anything that the insurer could take out of context. For example, avoid using “because” or “since,” as they imply cause and effect. Simply detail what you saw, heard, and felt minute by minute.

Additionally, refrain from detailing any conversations you had with the other parties involved after the crash. You may have asked them if they were alright and exchanged insurance information. It’s okay to mention this, but do not include anything else that was said when giving your description.

Insurers May Try to Use Your Statement Against You

By sticking to the facts, you may prevent an insurer from taking your statement out of context and assigning you the fault for the accident. They may try to use anything you say to undervalue or deny your claim.

Avoid Discussing Your Injuries so the Insurer Cannot Undervalue Your Losses

It takes time to assess car accident injuries, especially if they do not manifest symptoms immediately. For example, Mayo Clinic notes that it can take weeks to feel the effects of whiplash.

Avoid making any statements about how you felt after the accident, such as “once I realized I was okay,” or “I only felt a little pain.” Insurers can draw conclusions about your losses from commonplace statements. They may try to downplay the severity of your injuries to avoid compensating you fairly.

If they ask about how you feel, you can say you do not wish to discuss that. Instead, you can assert that you are seeing a doctor.

Car Accident Description Examples to Guide You in Writing Your Description

To get a better idea of how to write a car accident description, take a look at the example below:

“Around noon on December 7, I was driving eastbound on Westpark Drive when I arrived at the traffic light of the Westbranch Drive intersection. I did not have any passengers in my car. I came to a complete stop, and I was behind a white Explorer SUV. I was wearing my seatbelt.

About a minute later, I felt and heard another vehicle rear-end me. My head and chest lunged forward upon impact, and I felt, heard, and saw my car move forward into the Explorer immediately after. My airbags were deployed during the impact. After checking for oncoming traffic, I got out of the car and called the police. The car behind me was a black Honda Civic.”

How a Lawyer From Our Firm Can Help You Pursue Car Accident Damages

If you choose to hire a Manassas car accident lawyer from our firm, they could review your statement before submitting to the insurance company. They can:

• Offer guidance on how to write a car accident description
• Prevent you from saying anything that would compromise your claim
• Step in and handle all communications with insurers after you provide the initial accident damage description

Work with the Parrish Law Firm, PLLC After a Car Accident That Results in Losses

You do not have to take on an insurance claim or personal injury lawsuit alone. You have a right to legal representation, and the Parrish Law Firm, PLLC can help. Our lawyers can guide you through a car accident description and protect you from unfair practices when dealing with insurers.

For a free consultation, call us at (571) 229-1800 .

Call or Text 571-229-1800 or Complete a Free Case Evaluation form

Lovingston, VA – May 4 – A woman was killed Friday afternoon after being struck by a tractor-trailer on Route 29. Constance Bradshaw, 69, was heading to a local supermarket around 1:20 p.m.

Unfortunately, many people participating in the same survey also reported driving aggressively themselves! Almost 50% reported exceeding the speed limit by 15 mph on major highways in the past

It’s easy to forget about the past generations of family members who have worked hard and sacrificed so that we can have the type of lives that they could not. We want to take some time and say

Dinwiddie, V.A. – Apr. 18 – Two individuals were critically injured, one severely, in a tractor trailer accident on I-85 early Wednesday morning after the vehicle struck the Sycamore Street bridge

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As attorneys, we understand insurance companies' tactics to avoid paying claims. We encourage you not to let them confuse or deceive you. Our services are here to help you navigate the complicated insurance process and fight for your rights. Don't let the insurance companies give you the runaround – contact us today to get the legal support you need.

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Not Quite Dead: A Writer’s Guide to Serious Injuries and Calamities

Sometimes I want to make it seem like a character might die — but hey, guess what! She makes it! A lot of fiction writers, especially those who write fantasy, science fiction, thrillers, and Westerns, like to write about surviving almost fatal injuries.

Pin or bookmark this post for future reference if you like this kind of plot point! I will probably add to it as I get more ideas. This post is not for the squeamish, though, so please don’t read through it if you think it might upset you. I’m just trying to save you some Googling time so you have more writing time.

I’ve included links to what seem to be credible sources. In a few cases, I haven’t linked to the source because it’s so upsetting or it contains disturbing images, which you won’t find here.

Please note that this post is for WRITING PURPOSES ONLY and is NOT MEDICAL ADVICE, which I am COMPLETELY UNQUALIFIED TO GIVE. I am just a lady who looks things up on the Internet.

With all of these, I am assuming that the injury is happening to a relatively healthy, non-elderly person. If you have suggestions or additions, please let me know. If you are a medical professional and believe something needs to be changed, let me know that, too!

Blood loss (for any reason.)

After your character loses about 2 pints of blood, he is likely to go into shock . If he’s not losing blood at too fast of a rate, he will likely not go into the kind of severe shock that would kill him. He can believably survive a loss of up to 3 pints without a transfusion. It’s very likely he’ll pass out, be cold to the touch, and have a weak pulse, so your other characters might have a scary moment or two of thinking he is dead before they realize that he’s still breathing.

Bear in mind that if your character is cut in the jugular vein, the brachial artery in the armpit, the femoral artery in the thigh, or one of the aorta, he is likely to bleed out too fast to be saved.

Head and face wounds bleed like crazy, because there are are a lot of blood vessels close to the skin , which can make minor head and face injuries seem worse than they really are.

Cauterizing a wound might help him from bleeding out, but he also might get an infection that kills him . Until he can get stitched up, pressure and bandages are usually a better idea.

Gunshot wounds.

Your character can survive a shot in the arm or the leg unless she gets hit in a major artery. Chances are great that she will survive a gunshot wound in the torso with prompt medical attention unless she was shot through in the heart (cue Bon Jovi) or, again, in a major artery that makes her bleed out quickly.

Only 5% of people survive a gunshot wound to the head, but with time, some survivors make surprisingly good recoverie s. Here’s a good overview of the recovery of Gabby Giffords , a United States Congressperson, from this injury.

Sometimes people even survive multiple gunshot wounds .

Starvation.

Let’s look at some real-life examples. Gandhi was pretty skinny, and he survived a hunger strike of 21 days. It’s possible that he sustained internal damage that I don’t know about. David Blaine starved himself for 44 days (he did have water), and I have not been able to find any mention of permanent damage. (He did damage his liver trying to break the record of holding your breath underwater.)

So your guy can probably go 3 weeks without food and be all right eventually, assuming he has some water. But you can’t have him sit down to a steak dinner afterward! His system won’t be able to take it. Here’s a report about feeding David Blaine after his long fast.

Food poisoning (E. coli infection.)

Your character is not at all likely to die, unless he is quite old, but he may have an awful week.

About 70% of fire-related deaths are caused by smoke inhalation rather than burns. Smoke and heat both rise, so your character has a better chance of surviving if she stays low. She can cover her nose and mouth with a hand, her shirt, or a wet rag if possible, and she can hold her breath for short amounts of time.

Here’s a comprehensive article from the New England Journal of Medicine on probability of death from burn injuries. Britannica.com says: “Most people can survive a second-degree burn affecting 70 percent of their body area, but few can survive a third-degree burn affecting 50 percent. If the area is down to 20 percent, most people can be saved.”

Here’s an account of someone who survived the tragic Station Nightclub Fire of 2003 that killed 100 people and injured over 200 more.

Electric shock.

An electric shock can cause both internal and external burns . It might make your character confused or knock her unconscious. A strong shock, such as from a high voltage power line, can cause ventricular fibrillation or cardiac arrest, but if your character is immediately treated with a defibrillator, she can probably survive.

About 90% of people survive being struck by lightning, but they may sustain nerve damage, ruptured eardrums, muscle twitches , memory loss, and personality changes . The late neurologist Oliver Sacks wrote about the fascinating story of a man who was struck by lightning, had a near-death experience, and afterward developed a deep love for music and music composition.

Plane crashes.

Your character’s odds of being killed in a plane crash are incredibly low : 1 in 29.4 million. Airplane crashes are exceptionally rare, and when they do crash, most people survive it .

If you want your character to survive an unusually terrible plane crash, here are two stories that might inspire you: a French teenager who was the lone survivor of an airplane crash in the ocean (heartbreakingly, her mother was on the plane), and the sole survivor of a tragic Russian plane crash that killed a hockey team.

Explosions.

There are all kinds of bombs and explosions. Here are three survival stories: a bakery owner whose oven exploded, causing significant property damage ; a survivor of Daesh’s horrific attack on a metro station in Brussels , and the survivor of the explosion of the commercial spaceship Virgin Galactic.

Here’s an article on two simple rules to survive a bomb blast in a building.

According to the Center for Disease Control, “The human body can survive relatively high blast overpressure without experiencing barotrauma,” but your character’s ears will probably be ringing, and she will probably have injuries from glass and debris .

Venomous snake and spider bites.

A black widow spider bite will almost certainly not kill your character, but it will cause excruciating muscle cramps. Here’s a firsthand account of a teen bitten by one (related content may contain upsetting images.) Without antivenin, symptoms may last for several days.

Most people survive bites from pit vipers in North America — rattlesnakes, copperheads, and water moccasins. Here’s some information about first aid and treatment , and here’a a good firsthand account about a bad rattlesnake bite and its treatment . Some snake bites are worse than others, depending on how much they latch on and how much venom they get into a person.

Suffocation.

Suffocating a person with a pillow is frequently depicted in TV and movies as a quick process, but it really would take 3 to 5 minutes. Your character would likely still be alert after one minute (assuming he doesn’t have a heart attack in response to being smothered.) He could fake being unconscious, wait for his attacker to let up, and then spring on him.

Strangulation.

Your character only has a short window of time for survival here. Compressing the two carotid arteries on either side of the windpipe can make her black out in 20 to 40 seconds, and can kill her in 2 to 4 minutes. That’s because those arteries carry most of the blood to the brain.

Near hanging.

Hanging is a form of strangulation, unless the sudden pressure on the neck causes cardiac arrest , or unless the neck gets broken (decapitation is also a possibility.) If your character is being hanged, he may lose consciousness at around 10 to 13 seconds and go into convulsions at about 15 seconds. If his friends are rescuing him, they have a very short window to cut him down.

Almost drowning.

Your character can probably hold her breath from 30 to 90 seconds (assuming she hasn’t trained to hold her breath for longer periods), and she can probably stay conscious underwater from 90 seconds to 2 minutes. Even after your character is unconscious, she will probably be all right if someone drags her out and performs CPR on her within four minutes. After four or five minutes, she begins to run the risk of brain damage.

Here’s something pretty cool, though — if the water’s really cold, she may be under longer and still suffer no brain damage. She should be treated for hypothermia , though.

Note that usually, drowning doesn’t look like drowning — people do not and cannot wave their arms and yell for help. EDIT: People who have almost drowned should be taken to a hospital. You can read about dry drowning here .

Hypothermia and frostbite.

Here are tables from the National Weather Service that show how much time it takes to get frostbite in cold temperatures and hypothermia in cold water. Weirdly enough, according the linked article, “hypothermia can occur at any temperature lower than normal body temperature. Factors like body fat, age, alcohol consumption, and especially wetness can affect how long hypothermia takes to strike.” Depending on what you’re writing this article on preventing cold stress while working outdoors might also be useful.

Now, let’s talk about…

A Few Ways Your Character Might Seem to Be Dead.

Deep hypothermia can sometimes make a person seem dead .

People who have ingested tetrodotoxin , the poison in pufferfish, have sometimes seemed dead and then made a complete recovery. (A variation of it is used as a way to fake a death in the movie Captain America: Winter Soldier .)

There are some other rare cases in which people come back to life after seeming quite dead. Here’s the Wikipedia article on Lazarus syndrome.

I hope this list helps you when you want your character to cheat death. If you don’t want to miss future reference posts for writers, follow my blog — you can subscribe below. Thanks for stopping by, and happy writing!

90 thoughts on “ Not Quite Dead: A Writer’s Guide to Serious Injuries and Calamities ”

Thanks Bryn! This is some useful information- I’ll definitely be coming back to check this list again I’m sure ?

Thanks, Zara — thanks so much for reading!

My heroine just survived a near-strangulation, and what I learned is that after the event is over, it is possible for the throat to swell closed in response to the trauma. Sadly, if a person does not receive medical treatment within an hour after the event (because she thinks she’s fine now) she has a significant chance of dying later.

Sophie — ah, that is good to know, the forensics site didn’t mention that! I will find a source and update soon. Thank you so much! (Thanks for the kind words, too!)

Here are some of my sources (and I realize that I was mistaken – death can actually occur up to days afterwards!) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4413082/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19999960 https://www.evawintl.org/Library/DocumentLibraryHandler.ashx?id=540 see “Clinical Presentation” section http://missoulian.com/lifestyles/health-med-fit/nurse-s-notes-strangulation-conversation-continued/article_8fff526e-06be-11e4-bc06-001a4bcf887a.html

Ahh thank you! (PS I hope you know I believed you! I like to share sources if I can… though a couple of the sites were just too gory to link to, haha.)

I drive my family nuts – if you can’t show me your source, don’t bother trying to convince me of something 😉

(super late comment here lol) But I work with female clients involved in the criminal justice system and I have a client whom survived a horrifically bad abusive situation where the father of her youngest son had very nearly killed her by strangling her. She now has permanently damaged vocal cords, so her voice is always raspy and quiet (literally sounds like she has laryngitis, but permanent). That could be another thing to potentially add to this kind of situation for more depth.

And thank you for this information! (Forgot my manners ?)

Thank you for this awesome post. It’s already come in handy. \o/

I’m a new follower of yours, and I have to say I’m loving your blog. <3

Hi Karen! Aw thank you so much, I’m so glad you like it. Thanks for following!

Great information, Bryn. Thank you so much for this.

Thank you for reading, Artemis! Always nice to see you 🙂

Incredible list – as usual! You are my go to resource.

Aw Lexi, that’s so nice! Thank so much.

Great post! I love researching this stuff. As a clinical dietitian, I have to say people can suffer permanent damage to the heart, kidneys, and bones. Unfortunately, I have seen the death of an otherwise healthy young woman due to the effects of self-induced starvation – anorexia. Here is a resource describing the effects of starvation (self-induced) on the body: http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/eating-disorders/anorexia-nervosa/features/anorexia-body-neglected https://www.mccallumplace.com/health-risks-of-anorexia.html

Michelle, thank you! I’ve had a hard time guesstimating about how long before internal damage occurs… probably because it varies so much from person to person! This is really helpful information. Anorexia is so heartbreaking… thank you for doing the work that you do.

Thanks for the list! I’ll come back to it if I ever need o put my characters through something nasty. But since you’re (also) making this list for the more speculative genres like fantasy and sci-fi it might be useful to add something about magic and futuristic technology on it. For example: two of my characters only survive a terrible injury (a spear to the stomach and a magic wound respectively) because they could be magicay healed. And some kind of magic or a special futuristic machine can be used to make someone seem dead, think of voodoo, for example.

Yeah, that’s a good point, Kiete.. with scifi and fantasy you can survive things that ordinarily no person would survive!

Thanks Bryn! This is a wonderful resource! I’ll certainly be referring back to this.

Thanks for reading, Yvonne! 🙂

From what I read about drownings is that most drownings are ‘dry’ drownings, i.e. no water actually ends up in the lungs: the airway simply gets blocked or goes into spasm. Your character can probably survive that quite well.

A ‘wet’ near-drowning, however, where water enters the lungs, is likely to be fatal without treatment after rescue. In the case of salt water, osmosis makes the lungs flood with fluid, and in the case of fresh water micro-organisms from the water starts growing in the lung, again upsetting the fluid balance and causing the lung to fill with fluid.

And I agree on the cold-water drowning: Trauma medicine say nobody is dead until they’re warm and dead.

Fascinating list! Thanks

Niel, always so good to see you!

From what I’ve read, “secondary drowning” is possible but rare . You bring up a great point: in a story with a contemporary setting, the almost-drowning victim should get checked out by a doctor if possible. (That is actually true of pretty much everything on this list!)

Thanks for the kind words!

Finding this was pretty timely! I just shot a minor character in the shoulder last night, and I wanted to make sure he’ll go into shock, but live to fight another day. Your advice on blood loss will be very helpful.

Thanks for the tips and links! I’ve shared this article with my writing association; I think a lot of us will keep coming back to this.

Be very careful with shoulder wounds (torso). Also please be careful with what you mean about shock. Medical shock is a very dangerous thing, and if caused by a bullet in the shoulder, quite likely fatal. Shock is caused by low blood pressure, and if that’s caused by a bullet in a shoulder, that means it’s hit the brachial artery or worse, the subclavian artery or vein. In any of those cases, unconsciousness is almost immediate and death certain without immediate massive medical intervention. Even if those major arteries and veins are missed, the shoulder is full of the nerves for the arms and upper torso. Most (the vast majority) of people would collapse, screaming with pain from any deep-penetrating shoulder wound, or from anything that breaks the collar-bone.

Excellent list and my research has found the same. I hasten to emphasize something you said: prompt medical treatment is usually the key. However, any near death wounds will often leave permanent effects such as brain damage, disabilities, crushed larynx (inability to speak),… The results aren’t binary: alive and fine vs. dead. As for types of death (this is getting long): the details of how it happens is crucial. Burns: the secondary effects, especially infection, are often the cause of death, even from otherwise quite surivable burns. Plane crashes: breakup or loss of control at altitude: very few, if any, survive. Crash on landing or takoff, you are quite right – most survive. Concussion: death can occur hours later even after the character says “I’m fine.” Hanging: without a drop, as you say, 8-13 seconds of hideous pain. (Or a little longer if a sheet or large diameter rope is used, and that’s how most suicides occur.) The “classical” execution style drop is supposed to break the neck. The window of opportunity for rescuing the character ends when the lever is pulled. Even a short-drop will so damage the neck that even if the victim is rescued within the 15 seconds before brain damage starts, he/she will need immediate medical aid in order to survive. Bullets: the weight and speed of that bullet is important: a .22 pistol sub-sonic shot is very survivable (assuming, as you said, no vitals are hit). However, a depleted uranium supersonic hit (even in the arm) will almost certainly kill and very quickly too. Swords, axes and spears: you might want to check out the Battle of Visby: a large fraction of the deaths were from penetrating shoulder wounds – those wounds that TV and movie heroes routinely shrug-off.

I love all this information! Very good to know 🙂 I was wondering if you or anyone else might know about how far someone can fall and still survive? I know there are various factors such as: debris, injuries sustained etc. but one of my characters is going to have a severe fall. I need to know if she can fall from a pretty good height and not die on contact. Thanks for all the other info too!

I’m no expert but I know some numbers. Firstly, training (and/or luck) is crucial within the 10 to 20 feet range. WWII army parachutists hit the ground as if they had free-falled 11 feet (3.3 m). At that drop, landing on open flat fields, they (extremely fit young men) would break an ankle or leg if they landed badly. Training meant that they didn’t land badly, but many enough did break limbs in training. At 15 feet drop, most people, even those with training, will usually injure themselves, and some will die. At 20 feet, surviving is problematic. Landing on a loose un-compacted surface (but NOT a manure pile or mud-swamp) is the best, especially if it allows you to slow down over many feet distance. Water helps too but how you land is crucial: a 20 foot (or less) belly-flop can kill but a 90 foot controlled dive by an experienced expert won’t even injure. And no, landing up to your waist in manure or snow only helps some. It’s much better than landing on concrete, but after watching Frozen, I calculated Anna’s deceleration into the snow. That should have been a very messy instant trip to the morgue. And BTW, it’s not the “hit” that usually does the damage although lacerations fom pointed/sharp ground can and will injure or kill (see below). More importantly (usually) the distortions from the decelerations break bones, rip flesh and scramble the brain,… (so “hitting” a flight spell would be bad: ie the movie version of Hermione’s spell). However, remember that fluke chance can help (some) or hurt (a lot). I remember about a decade ago hearing about a primary-school girl somewhere in the USA. She almost died from tripping over her own feet. She landed on a pencil (or pen) that pierced her heart. She only survived because the teacher knew to NOT remove the pencil, and the ambulance responce was good.

Thanks Chris! I really love your examples (Note to Self: Watch Frozen). I want my character’s fall to be in a warehouse of some sort, probably on concrete, My story is supernatural so she will end up alive supernaturally but once she hits the concrete, she has to be able to survive for at least a few minutes. Thanks for all the info!

Great post! As a fellow writer, I frequently have need of this information (though not human, my characters do have similar dispositions towards injury) and I LOVE the diversity of death/near-deaths you’ve listed. I have bookmarked it 🙂 Thanks!

Very good post. We’ve used electric shock to treat snake bites in our cattle and the neighbor’s dogs. (We do it with jumper cables, but I’d have to get more information from my dad since I’ve never witnessed it.) In all but one case with a dog, the animals had a complete recovery, even though some had been on death’s door before the shock treatment. We’ve had enough luck with this sort of treatment, that, if one of us got bit by a rattlesnake, we’d certainly try shocking it before going to the hospital. (We’re in a very rural area.) I found this website that has some info on it. http://venomshock.wikidot.com

Thought you would find this interesting. Did you know that you should not ice bites? I forget if this is just for snake bites, but with certain types of venoms, cold makes the poison travel quicker. This could make things more dramatic for your characters.

I did not know that, and that is really good to know. Thanks, Madelyn!

I promise to be short this time. One of the things impressed on us during first aid training was the smell. More than one instructor for recerts has said that what hit them on their first “real-life” accident scene was that smell: vomit, blood, sweat, urine, feces. So to make those scenes come alive in your writing, don’t forget those smells, if applicable. However, be reasonable: you don’t want to “gross out” your readers too much.

Excellent post!

Oh thank you so much J. Kathleen. Thanks for reading!

Greetings! I’ve been following your site for a long time now and finally got the courage to go ahead and give you a shout out from Porter Tx!

Just wanted to say keep up the excellent work!

Hi Jane! Oh my gosh, thanks so much for following. And for the kind words! It’s great to hear from you! 🙂

Hello, Miss Donovan! I’m a big fan of your posts, but would it be alright if you could add something to your ‘drowning’ section? If your character passes out underwater and nearly drowns to the point people need to use CPR, they should probably go to be checked out by a doctor. After someone is nearly drowned, there is the possibility they will experience what’s called ‘dry drowning.’ Basically, water builds up in the lungs after they’re out of the water. It’s difficult to spot and usually happens several hours or so after the incident. Anyway, thank you so much for the list! I have a feeling it will be extremely helpful.

Hi Amanda — thank you so much for the reminder. I meant to do this after another comment and it just slipped my mind! I will get to it 🙂 Thanks for the kind words, and thanks for reading!

Just happened to read this via Pintrest. I am not a writer but love reading mystery and suspense novels. One thing I have been taught by people in the first aid business…not teachers but those who use it on a regular basis is that more then likely when CPR is administered rib bones will be broken.

Hi Naomi — welcome to the blog! It’s so funny you should mention that… I just got certified for CPR this month! Our instructor told us that a broken rib was a definite possibility, though it didn’t usually happen… I think the bottom line is, most people would rather be alive with a broken rib than, you know, not alive. 🙂

I agree! I got this info from two people who work in the Canadian military and use first aid and interventions higher than that but are NOT doctors. So just thought I’d pass it on. Not doing anything will leave an already dead person…dead. So ya you can’t really do much wrong if they are dead in the first place.

What about arrow wounds? Are they similar to shots?

Great website! I suggest this website on bow and arrow injuries, https://allthingsliberty.com/2013/05/battle-wounds-never-pull-an-arrow-out-of-a-body/

Thank you. Some of that information about arrow wounds will be very useful in one of my stories.

Thank you so much for sharing the link!

Found this post on Pinterest, of all places, Bryn. Good, helpful, interesting stuff. Thanks!

Thanks for this post. Seems like there is always a great deal of research required if we want to be believable, and TV/movies certainly are not a valid resource (Frozen, as noted, and I have to think that the dwarves in The Hobbit wouldn’t all just walk away after that tremendous fall in the Goblin cave – yet none were even scratched!).

Right now I’m working on trying to believably kill someone instantly (must be by knife or breaking their neck). It’s amazing how much conflicting information is on the Net, so finding something that seems truly authoritative is a challenge.

– Deandra

Oh you’re welcome, Deandra! And yeah, I am always noticing in TV and movies when there’s no way a character could’ve walked away from the ordeal they just went through.

There certainly is a lot of conflicting information out there. Also, there is one thing that rarely gets mentioned, probably because few people want to think about it: the fact that many deaths aren’t immediate. A friend of mine, his office mate broke his own neck playing sports – and survived. He was lucky that none of the nerves were severed. Many suicide jumpers survive for a while – they aren’t lucky. Very few poisons act quickly. A knife in the heart amounts to a massive heart attack. The most merciful I’ve been able to find are those that unconsciousness almost immediately and therefore don’t cause prolonged pain, like beheading, drop-hanging, anything that causes blood prssure in the head to go to zero, like cutting the carotid, or failing that, a massive heart attack or severing any major artery like a spear/sword/bullet in the chest or shoulder (brachial artery) or even the femoral artery in the leg. Death can still take a while, but at least the victim is already out cold. Wounds in the abdomen are chancy. They can kill quickly, or they can take hours, just depending on what exactly was damaged and how badly. From what I understand, death from low atmospheric pressure (plane depressuraization at altitude) is fairly merciful, not because it’s quick, but because there is little pain.

Yes a lot of TV shows, movies and books get it wrong, I guess that is because they go with the old adage, “don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story.” I have done a lot of research on injuries, such and spinal cord injury and cortical blindness, because I required there to be damage to my poor sods who survived, and scars, don’t forget them … unless you not to worried about the truth getting in the way. 😉

I have a hundred and twenty-eight year old question. I am writing of an accident that happened to my great grandfather in 1891. He was alone, returning home on horseback. He was bringing home two wild mules he had purchased from a ranch about 15 miles away.The newspaper account written, was by his own mother, after his death. She said he lived for (two months) after he was “dragged, causing severe injuries internally – chest and kidneys most acute. He has spit blood, and at times has vomited the same, ever since.” He was in a great amount of pain, and also given a “strong mixture of coffeeberry and whiskey for medicinal purposes”. His mother goes on in the article to say that all the family knew during this time that he was declining. He was 31 years old. My grandpa was only a year old when this happened to his father. He also told me his that his father’s dead horse layed on him all night until his family found him the next day. I am writing about this accident, but I’m courious, how could he live two months? With your knowledge of accidents and injuries, do you have a guess as to what might have been going on?

Your great grandfather evidently died of internal injuries.

The spleen is not an essential organ, so if it gets ruptured by itself it does not cause death. But an interruption of blood supply to the spleen might lead to necrosis, which could cause a general decline in wellbeing before death.

Or it might just be a infection.

“Mixture of coffeeberry and whiskey” sounds like a terrible medicine to give to a mortally ill man: today we would call it “Red Bull and Vodka”. But then it was probably all they had.

Niel! Hey there 🙂 Thanks for jumping in there! I tend to agree with what you’ve said.

The frustrating thing for me about researching injuries in general is that there is so much variability. You see people take a long time to die from injuries that seem like they would be quickly fatal, and sometimes even in centuries past, people would survive terrible things. Niel brings up a great point in particular about infection. It can still be an issue with surgeries and professionally treated wounds today, but it was much more of a problem in the past.

That you mention infection is important. Some studies of historical warfare have suggested that until recently, disease, starvation, and infected wounds generally killed more soldiers than while actually on the battlefield fighting the enemy. So whether the hero(ine) gets infected is a crucial point. If you didn’t take care to keep it clean, or if it didn’t fit you well enough, your own armour could kill you.

Hi Chris! Wow, I never thought of the irony of being killed by your own armor!

Hi, I’m am still in middle school, and I am working on a novel that I hope to publish. Your blog has helped me so much, thank you! I will definitely come back to your blog in the future

Hi Hannah! That’s awesome that you’re working on a novel, and I wish you the best of luck with publication. So glad you like the blog. Thanks for the kind words!

That’s awesome! I’m working on a novel as well, and I’m in high-school- maybe someday I can read yours! Good luck!

Interesting post. I have a character in my upcoming novel who got shot in the abdomen with an arrow (its 1872 and the majority of my characters are Native American). I had learned somewhere else he had a small chance of surviving this, and I think I may have to have him going to shock on the lengthy trip to the doctor after reading your information.

That sounds great, Ellen! Having your character go into shock is going to add even more realism, I bet.

This is such a brilliant and helpful post, thank you! But I notice you didn’t include stab wounds – what are the ins and outs of those? Thanks!

Many (most) stab wounds kill from blood loss. As Bryn says, if it hits an artery or the heart, death can be quick. In fact it can be so quick that the person is dead (or at least unconscious) before “they hit the ground”. Or it can take hours (see Bryn’s section on blood loss and shock. Most people badly underestimate the consequences of shock.) Deep stabs to the torso (including the famous TV trope – “only a shoulder wound”) are almost always fatal unless medical aid is available. If you know what you are doing (medical knowledge needed – or sheer stupid luck) there are small spots that are less dangerous, but infection is still a problem. Hit the lung or even open the chest wall (so most stabs above the diaphram that manage to get through the rib cage – which is harder to do than most people think) will collapse a lung quickly or slowly. Below the diaphram, there are the liver, stomach, kidneys, spleen, intestines, and while you can function with damage to those for a while (possibly many hours), medical aid will become essential eventually. So again, an abdomen stab really depends on whether it hits a major blood vessel.

One thing to remember, any stab (or other wound) that severs a muscle or tendon will incapacitate the limb. Doesn’t matter how heroic, how motivated the character is, that limb just won’t function. Sever a major nerve bundle, and the same thing, and the pain will be excruciating. Again, it doesn’t matter how heroic the character is – his/her body just won’t function, and it would be heroic indeed just to stay conscious given that amount of pain.

Chris, thank you! This is awesome. I really appreciate it!

This is one of the most helpful posts I’ve read. I have a question relating to the last post. Is it realistic, given the lack of medical knowledge during most of the medieval period, to consider that a knife wound that severs a muscle or tendon or a nerve bundle might, over time, heal? Or will the character have lost the use of that limb forever? What about a punctured lung? Thanks.

I would like to know that too, and would like to hear from anyone with medical knowledge. Medieval medicine being so bad (although it was better than many give it credit for), it almost boils down to whether those things will recover on their own. In every subject it seems to depend on how bad the injury is and also on the character doing the right things – to whit, not making the injury worse.

Severing the achilles tendon was from ancient times a known nasty way to cripple someone for life, and the same seems to apply to any fully severed tendon. Partially severed tendons can heal, so long as the character doesn’t stress the injury. Damaged nerves can regrow, but if the sheath is severed (which from a stab wound is almost a given) then by all reports, full recovery is highly unlikely and even partial recovery is chancy. And I know from personal experience that the recovering person -must- exercise their muscles and flexibility in the regions “downstream” of the injury, otherwise even once the nerves do heal, some mobility will have been lost. However, perhaps other nerve pathways might be able to take over in some cases? In both cases (nerves and tendons), the recovery time is months at best.

As for muscles, I had no idea, but a quick internet search found the following:

“Muscle is actually an incredibly regenerative tissue…[details on how deleted]… Obviously, there are limitations to muscular regeneration. The muscle tissue seems to require signals from our nervous system, and injuries that are too large fail to heal correctly. Often, in cases like this, a fatty tissue forms in place of healthy striated muscle.”

A medical researcher whose research was on that subject said: yes – very true. So without surgery, I doubt a fully severed major muscle could completely recover.

Punctured lungs, again that depends on how bad it is. A small puncture can heal – so long as the person rests. If the lung collapses, the character will probably die. However again, it isn’t an all or nothing proposition. If they do beat the odds and survive without medical aid to remove the trapped air, there will be permanent lung capacity problems. I knew a woman who lost a significant fraction of one lung but, with 20th C medical help, survived. Any strenuous activity – at all – caused her to gasp for air almost immediately.

Thanks, Chris! That does seem to answer my questions.

This was sooooo helpful!!! I’m working with a lot of injuries as a fiction writer, so it’s always great to be able to have reliable sources I can turn to. Thanks!

This list! What can I say? As a newbie writer, it was vital that I ran across this. Thank you for sharing it. I even used it as a reference for my own blog. In fact, I can think of two other articles you’ve written that have saved me. Ever grateful, Deja.

Deja, aw thank you! I’m so glad it was helpful!!

Thank you!! I am a bit of a wuss at times, and my next novel has my heroine interacting with a highly sadistic serial killer. I do not look forward to all the research I’ll need to do concerning the myriad ways a person can get hurt. Here’s hoping that with this list and the wonderful comments, I can lower my risk of the inevitable Internet gross-outs.

I know this thread is a few months old now, but I just finished the first draft of a project that made me think of this discussion. The protgonist’s team wins in the end, but not without losses. During the climax, I wanted the antagonist to attack two of protagonist’s close friends with a rapier and poinyard, leaving one as a parapalegic and the other to die after a few days. I figured that after disarming them, he’d stab them in the back – severing the spine. So I checked with a friend who is a neurosurgeon and has spent time in emergency wards. Not on, she said. The spinal cord is too well protected and if you did somehow manage to break the spine with a blade, death would be fairly quick. However, she did point out that a deep abdomen stab would do for the slow death. Without antibiotics it would be nasty and inevitable. Having the antagonist throw the friend out a second story window and have them land on a garden wall or the like (I went with a sturdy chair the end) would do for the broken back. And yes, prompt medical help is necessary for the parapalegic to survive – she almost dies from shock.

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Awesome site! Thank you! I bookmarked it for future reference. Any chance you have anything on head injuries? I have asked some of my nursing friends so I think I’m good but wouldn’t hurt to compare notes with another author. 🙂

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My character has been gang raped. I know, dreadful both physically and emotionally. Have you done any research on this topic with respect to the extent and kind of injuries that could be expected from such trauma, and the amount of time it takes before all evidence degrades too badly to be viable in terms of providing DNA evidence, etc? Some of this information might seem rather evident but I suspect some is not. Anything you can share?

Any information about radiation burns?

I recently discovered your blog and I just want to say a very big THANK YOU! It has been a godsend! I sincerely appreciate all the work you do here; it’s so thorough and helpful, it almost makes writing a novel seem less daunting…almost! But get a load of this crazy lady over here who’s challenged herself to write two – at the same time! (Completely different genres, as if that makes it seem simpler! *facepalm*) I may soon find this to be a fool’s errand, but the Pisces in me is intrigued by the ‘What if…’ and I think it would make for a cool backstory if I actually pulled it off.

Thanks again and hope you’re doing well! x

Hello Bryn, I fond your blog, because I receive some mails with people asking about my old posts. One I wrote was: “Why we must to kill some characters”. Many asked me, how??? So, I answered them based on my own experience. But I try to read, time to time, another people ideas, and this is a good reference. In my case, I have a “almost” drowning in one of my chapters. The event happened in a river. You must to remember, not how they could die, but think if they are available to get some help, or medical atention later. In my story the guy was alone, and was in 1576… I made my work and I searched information based on that kind of deaths in middle times, (or near). I fond a tesis which was wroten by a doctor, how wants to knows what happened on “drowning”. His methods, was drowning cats and dogs on real!!! He made several experiments with those animals, keep them under water X time (then he kill them to made autopsy to check what happend time to time on their bodies), so he kill more than 40 animals. But, not happy with that, he try to drown himself (of course just for seconds). The conclusión (based on that time) was: The person which suffer a drowning, got several collapses, and even inconscience time to time, to wake up and try to breath “again”, but that elipse was really painful, the person suffer inmobility on arms and legs, when his lungs “cant breath anymore”. Water can go to lungs, and he can try to trow up, but under water he can´t. At end, he just faint and then… he breaths and get the “golden” to dies. All process can be really quickly, the full death can be between 4-6 minutes. (the first 1-2 they can try to go out the water), but if you sink, dead can be easily 2-4 minutes suffering with all those things I wrote here. Sadly I dont keep the link, or even the name of the doctor, but read about that was one of the most painful things I did, because sadly a cousin dies by drowning in a pool when he has just six years old. Just knows, so puntual, how much a person suffer with that… was devastated to me. Luckly for my “character”, he saves him self miraculosly (is part of the story), but he suffer all the post sympthoms of that. Pain on chest, head, eyes. Hard to breath, backpain, irritability, lost of memory/time, hypothermia, muscular cramps, etc. My advise is, you must to understand how works medical services on the time of the event, if the character can get access on time or not. If the story is not on “modern time”, the succesful to recover are less. In past, people dies for influenza, flu, births and even for a poisoned open wound (with oxidated iron for example), remember the posibilities when “antibiotics” doesnt exist. So, simple things can kill someone. I made an apologize if I was a bit confuse, english is not my native lenguage.

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Your post is very good. Starvation as fasting (religious sense) 40 days is not uncommon,and can be endured if the person is of normal weight. If the person is overweight maybe a week or two longer. Much beyond this will result in organ damage. During long fasts the person will grow weaker have less energy and may require more sleep. A careful diet is required when breaking a long fast.Too much food too quickly will cause great harm also note many of the prisoners released from Nazi concentration camps died because American GIs shared their food with them, so the careful diet not kept can kill.

Thank for sharing, Bryn. Take care. 🙂

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I’m writing a character who falls from a cliff, and nearly dies. What I want is for him to not like be permanently paralyzed, but like near that and take probably years to recover completely, HOWEVER I haven’t been able to find any references to refer to for this particular incident. Is there any way you can help me with this? What would it be like to fall from a cliff and survive?

This is SO HELPFUL!!!! I’m so thrilled I found this!!!! Thank you!!

Some of my thoughts on death dying and surviving. first as an EMT in my younger days, there are only five signs that a victim is truly dead and no first aid is necessary. gross decomposition, decapitation, Lividity, rigor mortis, burned beyond recognition. There is a condition called Internal Decapitation in which a few people survive reasonably well. The spine is severed but the spinal cord is not permanently injured. The spine can be repaired. As a side note, there is a legend that Antoine Lavoisier, who discovered and named Oxygen, was guillotined on May 8, 1794, as a final experiment, promised to blink his eyes as long as possible, it was about 16 sec.

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Having a really hard time writing a good car crash scene.

I'm writing a pivotal scene in which a truck spins out of control on Black ice and totals a mother driving an old station wagon, but i'm finding it really difficult to write a convincing scene. Miraculously I've never been in a car crash myself and I'm not great at writing action to begin with. Any tips or examples of great car crash scenes in literature?

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sinnernear New Member

Car accident.

Discussion in ' Research ' started by sinnernear , May 29, 2014 .

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_766d6321757b0af806e15ca2f895cd3d'); }); I want to write about a person who is hit by a car, but I'm having trouble finding out what injuries they would suffer (based on their height, weight, speed of the driver that hit them, etc.) I tried using search engines for more information, but the only seem to want to give me information about injury lawsuits. XD Any help here?  

A.M.P. People Buy My Books for the Bio Photo Contributor

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_766d6321757b0af806e15ca2f895cd3d'); }); A car crash is a car crash. There can be little damage to a heavy person but lots of damage to a skinny guy or vice-versa. Yes, physics takes into account all these things but either way every sort of injury is possible to having none at all no matter what your body type. There's never been an ad stating "Be fit, it''ll reduce the injuries in a car crash." or "Your Honour, the victim refused to gain weight to cushion the blows of car crashes." The injuries can also be psychological such as negative trauma that causes them to fear driving or positive that increases their joie-de-vivre. Either way, any injury that furthers the plot/point/story/character progression is valid so long as a five hundred pound man doesn't fly twenty feet out his front window.  

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_766d6321757b0af806e15ca2f895cd3d'); }); A.M.P. said: ↑ A car crash is a car crash. There can be little damage to a heavy person but lots of damage to a skinny guy or vice-versa. Yes, physics takes into account all these things but either way every sort of injury is possible to having none at all no matter what your body type. There's never been an ad stating "Be fit, it''ll reduce the injuries in a car crash." or "Your Honour, the victim refused to gain weight to cushion the blows of car crashes." The injuries can also be psychological such as negative trauma that causes them to fear driving or positive that increases their joie-de-vivre. Either way, any injury that furthers the plot/point/story/character progression is valid so long as a five hundred pound man doesn't fly twenty feet out his front window. Click to expand...

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_766d6321757b0af806e15ca2f895cd3d'); }); I've seen videos of people getting hit by cars going 60 and flip over the car. They got up, brushed emselves off, and continued on their day. Others died or got injured. A small person is more likely to be thrown forward if the bumper is low enough or if it's high enough smash into their heads and simply knock them flat to the ground. Derpending on the speed, a direct hit to the head would probably kill them but if your guy is tall enough toonly have his side hit, then he'd probably flip atop the car and slide off. As I said, whatever injury you impose is believable if it doesn't stretch the imagination too much. Broken legs, ribs, concussions, hemerging, all possible. And as i said, itthe best suited injury is the one that pushes the story forward best.  

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_766d6321757b0af806e15ca2f895cd3d'); }); A.M.P. said: ↑ I've seen videos of people getting hit by cars going 60 and flip over the car. They got up, brushed emselves off, and continued on their day. Others died or got injured. A small person is more likely to be thrown forward if the bumper is low enough or if it's high enough smash into their heads and simply knock them flat to the ground. Derpending on the speed, a direct hit to the head would probably kill them but if your guy is tall enough toonly have his side hit, then he'd probably flip atop the car and slide off. As I said, whatever injury you impose is believable if it doesn't stretch the imagination too much. Broken legs, ribs, concussions, hemerging, all possible. And as i said, itthe best suited injury is the one that pushes the story forward best. Click to expand...

cutecat22 The Strange One Contributor

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_766d6321757b0af806e15ca2f895cd3d'); }); Look up Crash Test Dummies on youtube - after you've scrolled through the entries for the band, you will come across CTD's used in simulated car accidents. You might find something useful there. For what you describe, I would think the victim would have more damage to knees/hips/pelvis from the initial impact. Possible skull/head injuries depending if their head his the car bonnet (hood) or the road surface. Associated cuts and bruises and possibly damage to elbows/wrists especially if they fell to the ground rather than on the bonnet of the car. He may be unconscious or slightly dazed. That could depend on whether or not he actually saw the vehicle coming his way and tried to move out the way. There may be more damage if he did see it coming as he may have frozen in fright. If the body tenses before being hit by anything, it tends to hurt more.  

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_766d6321757b0af806e15ca2f895cd3d'); }); cutecat22 said: ↑ Look up Crash Test Dummies on youtube - after you've scrolled through the entries for the band, you will come across CTD's used in simulated car accidents. You might find something useful there. For what you describe, I would think the victim would have more damage to knees/hips/pelvis from the initial impact. Possible skull/head injuries depending if their head his the car bonnet (hood) or the road surface. Associated cuts and bruises and possibly damage to elbows/wrists especially if they fell to the ground rather than on the bonnet of the car. He may be unconscious or slightly dazed. That could depend on whether or not he actually saw the vehicle coming his way and tried to move out the way. There may be more damage if he did see it coming as he may have frozen in fright. If the body tenses before being hit by anything, it tends to hurt more. Click to expand...

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_766d6321757b0af806e15ca2f895cd3d'); }); Can't get the link to paste, but go onto youtube and search "Pedestrian Crash Test Dummy"  

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_766d6321757b0af806e15ca2f895cd3d'); }); sinnernear said: ↑ I really want to write this in a way where he ends up in the hospital and has to take some time to recover, but ultimately goes back to living a (physically) normal life. Those lower body injuries you describe seem like they'd be pretty hellish to recover from. :x Sounds like some permanent damage could result from those.... Click to expand...

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_766d6321757b0af806e15ca2f895cd3d'); }); cutecat22 said: ↑ A friend of mine was knocked down when we were at school. She was in traction for weeks (this was in the late 80's) and for quite a while afterwards she walked a little oddly. She's in her 40's now, married, family, in fact you wouldn't know anything had ever happened to her. On the psychological side, I don't know how it affected her. Click to expand...

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_766d6321757b0af806e15ca2f895cd3d'); }); sinnernear said: ↑ And by traction you mean she had to wear some sort of brace (I've never seen someone in traction, I apologize) and was in the hospital the whole time she had this procedure? Also, by 'walking oddly' do you mean sort of like waddling? Click to expand...

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_766d6321757b0af806e15ca2f895cd3d'); }); Do a google search on skeletal traction but be warned, some of the images look quite barbaric! If you search something enough, and use all the phrases you can think of (the more in depth the better) then you will eventually find what you are looking for. The funny walk, it was not a bad walk, but almost as if she couldn't quite bend one knee as much as the other when she walked. Not quite a waddle but ... Try walking with one foot normal but the other foot on tippytoes. Something like that!  

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_766d6321757b0af806e15ca2f895cd3d'); }); cutecat22 said: ↑ Do a google search on skeletal traction but be warned, some of the images look quite barbaric! If you search something enough, and use all the phrases you can think of (the more in depth the better) then you will eventually find what you are looking for. The funny walk, it was not a bad walk, but almost as if she couldn't quite bend one knee as much as the other when she walked. Not quite a waddle but ... Try walking with one foot normal but the other foot on tippytoes. Something like that! Click to expand...

jazzabel Agent Provocateur Contributor

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_766d6321757b0af806e15ca2f895cd3d'); }); The main issues with car or pedestrian trauma are blood loss and organ damage. For example, pelvic fractures are pretty bad, they bleed a lot, hurt a lot but also can rupture all kinds of organs like a bladder, ureter, muscles, ovaries and uterus in a woman, and also, can cause fat emboli due to large amount of exposed bone marrow. Also, it can rupture veins and arteries in the groin or hip, leg, abdomen, some of which can cause you to bleed out quickly. Major bone fracture, like femur or humerus, clavicle, can all cause bleeding. With broken ribs, you are worrying about a pneumothorax (collapsed lung) and tension pneumothorax. Broken sternum, you'll be making sure the heart or the pericardium, or any of the mediastinal vessels, are intact. Haemothorax is when the lungs fill up with blood, also needs urgent treatment. In the abdomen, apart from the aorta and various large organ vessels, you are worrying about damaging the spleen (which can be safely removed and a person can live without it) but also liver and kidneys, which you don't want to have to lose. And then you have spinal cord and spinal vertebral injuries, that can cause anything from simple breaks, some cord damage, paralysis or even death, depending on the level where the spine was damaged and whether the transsection was complete or not. Higher up, you are looking at facial bones fractures, skull fractures, concussions, and various bleeds in the brain (subdural, extradural, subarachnoid, intracranial haemorrhage). If you google these terms, you should be able to find a lot more info on this.  

ddavidv Senior Member

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_766d6321757b0af806e15ca2f895cd3d'); }); You're assuming there is only one way for someone to be hit by a car, and that's with the front. I deal with crashed cars every day, and there are other alternatives for your character to get injured. Aside from the common frontal impact, they could get clipped by the mirror (that nearly happened to me once), backed into, the car could be sliding out of control and impact them with it's side or at an angle...think outside the box. I've inspected cars that have hit pedestrians and the damage is sometimes nil, to minor dents, to full fledged heavy damage. Ditto with cars hitting deer or other animals. Damage levels vary greatly, and it could be assumed the same would be the effect on the person being struck.  

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_766d6321757b0af806e15ca2f895cd3d'); }); sinnernear said: ↑ Wow that is a much more odd visual than I expected. For some reason I pictured the "did you just get off a horse" type of walk. Skeletal traction.....? Woweee that's WAY beyond my writing capabilities. I would be guessing at a lot of it and I don't think I could make it very believable *big sigh*. I might have to go back to the drawing board and see what other unfortunate circumstance(s) I can come up with. This car accident business makes me feel like I would have to pull a way too many things out of thin air just to finish the story. I would like to say, though, that looking up videos on this subject was much more helpful than the information I'd come up with before. It was a very good suggestion, thanks to both you who recommended that. Click to expand...

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_766d6321757b0af806e15ca2f895cd3d'); }); And don't be afraid to ask people in the know. The worst they could say is "No, I'm not prepared to answer your question" in which case you move on to someone else or the next book in the library. Actually, kids reference book are fabulous for research! True story here, about four months ago I was struggling with how one of my characters (who is a nurse) would deal with losing a patient in her emergency room, especially as it had happened before and not affected her in any way. A couple of days later, I got an appointment for the dreaded smear test which I had put off for a year (I know, tell me off now). So off I go, ready for the inevitable (I hate any kind of physical exam, hate with a passion!) and I'm laid out half naked on the table, blood pressure through the roof when I asked the nurse "can I ask you a question about working in the accident and emergency department at the hospital?" A while later, I asked if she was done yet, she replied, laughing "I finished the exam ten minutes ago." Two birds, one stone - I got the exam out of the way, talking about my book relaxed me enough for the exam not to leave me in pain through being tense and I got my research questions answered!  

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_766d6321757b0af806e15ca2f895cd3d'); }); @cutecat22 : That's totally rad! I love it!  

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_766d6321757b0af806e15ca2f895cd3d'); }); jazzabel said: ↑ @cutecat22 : That's totally rad! I love it! Click to expand...

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_766d6321757b0af806e15ca2f895cd3d'); }); I hoard research, I have a separate file where all that goes, under topics. I hardly ever look at it, but if I need something I know where to find it I agree about asking people. I think it's important to combine it with online research as well, because I know I have million questions about something I want to understand but don't know much about, and people generally respond better to fewer, more specific questions then 'teach me something that took you ten years to learn and master' kind of thing.  

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_766d6321757b0af806e15ca2f895cd3d'); }); jazzabel said: ↑ I hoard research, I have a separate file where all that goes, under topics. I hardly ever look at it, but if I need something I know where to find it I agree about asking people. I think it's important to combine it with online research as well, because I know I have million questions about something I want to understand but don't know much about, and people generally respond better to fewer, more specific questions then 'teach me something that took you ten years to learn and master' kind of thing. Click to expand...

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_766d6321757b0af806e15ca2f895cd3d'); }); Pencil is a smart choice because you can change it easily. I do it all on my computer, partly for that reason. I copy-paste bits around all the time, I change every chapter so many times before I'm happy with it, I have a feeling doing all that on paper would be a nightmare. I use photoshop anyway for my photography, so I tend to draw timelines and the rest digitally. I also have files of images in my 'Resources' folder, anything from People, Places, Objects and everything in-between, for visual reference. But sometimes I feel like I could do with something I can move around in real space, like cards or post-its, just to feel paper under my fingertips is a good, creativity-inducing feeling. But I also hate mess, and I have so much paperwork for various other jobs I do, the tidiness of the computer appeals to me. Actually, I haven't written anything in hand for so long, if I try now, my hand starts to hurt  

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_766d6321757b0af806e15ca2f895cd3d'); }); jazzabel said: ↑ Pencil is a smart choice because you can change it easily. I do it all on my computer, partly for that reason. I copy-paste bits around all the time, I change every chapter so many times before I'm happy with it, I have a feeling doing all that on paper would be a nightmare. I use photoshop anyway for my photography, so I tend to draw timelines and the rest digitally. I also have files of images in my 'Resources' folder, anything from People, Places, Objects and everything in-between, for visual reference. But sometimes I feel like I could do with something I can move around in real space, like cards or post-its, just to feel paper under my fingertips is a good, creativity-inducing feeling. But I also hate mess, and I have so much paperwork for various other jobs I do, the tidiness of the computer appeals to me. Actually, I haven't written anything in hand for so long, if I try now, my hand starts to hurt Click to expand...

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_766d6321757b0af806e15ca2f895cd3d'); }); @cutecat22 Printing the calendars! Thanks for the tip  

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_766d6321757b0af806e15ca2f895cd3d'); }); ddavidv said: ↑ You're assuming there is only one way for someone to be hit by a car, and that's with the front. I deal with crashed cars every day, and there are other alternatives for your character to get injured. Aside from the common frontal impact, they could get clipped by the mirror (that nearly happened to me once), backed into, the car could be sliding out of control and impact them with it's side or at an angle...think outside the box. I've inspected cars that have hit pedestrians and the damage is sometimes nil, to minor dents, to full fledged heavy damage. Ditto with cars hitting deer or other animals. Damage levels vary greatly, and it could be assumed the same would be the effect on the person being struck. Click to expand...

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How to Write a Motor Vehicle Accident Report

Last Updated: December 12, 2023 Approved

Gathering Information

Describing the incident, diagramming the scene, sample accident report, expert q&a.

This article was co-authored by Lahaina Araneta, JD and by wikiHow staff writer, Jennifer Mueller, JD . Lahaina Araneta, Esq. is an Immigration Attorney for Orange County, California with over 6 years of experience. She received her JD from Loyola Law School in 2012. In law school, she participated in the immigrant justice practicum and served as a volunteer with several nonprofit agencies. There are 7 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. In this case, several readers have written to tell us that this article was helpful to them, earning it our reader-approved status. This article has been viewed 508,999 times.

Typically when you're in an accident on the road, the police will complete a police report describing the accident. However, in some cases you may need to submit your own report, either to your insurance company or your state's DMV. If you need to write a motor vehicle report, take time to gather accurate information so you can describe the incident with as much detail as possible. [1] X Research source

Things You Should Know

• Copy down the driver's license, vehicle, and insurance information from the other driver. Get contact information for any witnesses, as well.
• Explain what happened and who was involved, including the location and nature of the accident as well as any injuries or property damage.
• Take photos and/or create a diagram of the scene that shows what happened.

• Check to make sure that there are no injuries. If someone is hurt, call for help first before trying to get their information.
• Get the other driver's license. Write down their name, home address, birth date, and gender. You'll also want the name of the state that issued their license, their license number, and the date it expires. Give them this information for yourself as well.
• If the other driver does not have insurance or identification, call the police. Tell the police that you cannot get the required legal documents of the other driver. They will come out and handle the situation.

• Write down specifics about where there is damage. For example, you might say "Sedan has broken bumper and dent in the rear quarter panel."
• Take down the license tag number for all the vehicles, along with the name of the state. You also might want to make note of the vehicle's VINs (vehicle identification numbers) for insurance purposes.

• If you get their phone number, make a note of when is the best time to reach them at that number.

• Take your photos as soon as possible after the accident occurs, so the light and weather conditions are similar. Photograph the scene from multiple angles if it is possible for you to do this safely.
• You also might want to take pictures of all the people involved in the accident. These can be helpful later if someone claims an injury later when they seemed fine at the scene.
• If you were injured, take pictures of your injuries as soon as possible – ideally, before they are treated by a medical professional.

• It's best to get a statement from a witness at the scene, and then get their phone number in case you need to follow up with them later. Many witnesses won't come forward after the accident. If possible, take a video or audio recording on your phone of their statement.
• Write down exactly where they were when the accident occurred. If possible, take pictures of the scene from where they were standing, so you have an image of their vantage point. If there are any signs, posts, trees, or other objects obscuring their line of sight, make a note of those as well.

• You'll also need the same information for any other drivers who were involved in the accident. If there were passengers or pedestrians also involved in the accident, provide their names, ages, and genders.
• Get numbers of first-responder vehicles and the names and badge numbers of first responders, if possible.

• Your city or state may have a specific form for you to fill out that includes spaces for specific details, such as the weather, light, and road conditions.
• If you don't remember the conditions and weren't able to take any photos, leave these details blank – don't just guess or look up an old weather report. You need to be able to vouch for every detail included in your report.
• Provide any photos or videos you have showing the conditions at the time of the accident to support your case.

• For example, if the accident occurred on the interstate, you would need to note the name and direction of the interstate as well as the mile markers or any exits before and after the accident. Include the estimated distance from the nearest marker.
• On city streets, you also might want to include any landmarks. Describe the street, including whether there is a sidewalk or bike lane.
• If any other property was involved, describe it as well as where it is relative to the street.

• For example, suppose the other driver rolled through an intersection and hit the side of your car while you had the right of way. You can say that you had the right of way – that's a fact. However, a statement such as "the other driver wasn't paying attention" would be an opinion.
• If there are gaps in your memory or specific details you don't remember, state in your report that you don't remember. That way you can fill in the detail later if your memory returns.
• If there were pedestrians involved, describe what they were doing. For example, the pedestrian may have been crossing the street in the sidewalk, or may have run out in traffic to retrieve something.

• You also might want to describe where they were located relative to the scene of the accident and what they saw. For example, the person may have been standing on the corner waiting to cross the street when the accident happened, or they may have come over afterward.
• If you managed to get a video or recording of the witness, include it in your report. If the witness doesn't come forward, this recording can act as evidence instead.

• If you or anyone else called 911, give an approximate time that call took place and describe who showed up at the scene.
• If paramedics arrived, discuss whether anyone was treated at the scene or transported to a hospital for further treatment.

• Provide a rough estimate of property damage or damage to vehicles involved in the crash. You should state specifically if you believe a vehicle to be totaled.
• If there were any fatalities as a result of the accident, list them separately. Include the name, age, and gender of anyone injured, and classify the severity of their injuries as best you can. Describe where on the body the injury was located and the person's role in the accident. If they were immediately transported to a hospital, provide the name of the hospital where they were taken.

• Just stick to the specific road or other area where the accident took place. There's no need to include adjoining blocks or side streets if they weren't directly involved in the accident.
• Make sure you have the correct number of lanes and that any traffic lights or signs are marked correctly.

• For example, suppose the accident occurred at an intersection. You were heading north, while the other car was headed west. Draw an arrow for the cars to indicate the direction in which they're traveling, and write out each of the directions along the four sides of your drawing.

• If there were other cars nearby that weren't involved in the accident, you can still draw boxes for them if you want, but don't worry about getting too detailed. Other cars are only really important to the extent that they affected the ability of you or the other driver to avoid the accident.

• If the speed the cars were traveling is in dispute, make a note of this on your report, but keep your reported facts objective. If you thought the driver of the other car was going faster than they claimed they were going, simply say it appeared they were going one speed, but they claim they were going another speed.

• If they were in another vehicle but were not involved in the accident, draw a box to represent their vehicle and put their "X" inside. Note if they were a passenger or driver of the vehicle, and where they were seated.
• If a witness's view was partially obstructed, include whatever obstructed their view in your diagram.

• After you sign and date your accident report, make a copy of it for your records before you submit it to the relevant authorities.
• Generally you want to submit your accident report as soon as possible after the accident occurred. Check with the company or department where you need to send your report and find out if there's a deadline you must meet.

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://www.dmv.org/insurance/when-to-report-an-auto-accident-to-the-dmv.php
• ↑ https://www.dmv.ca.gov/web/eng_pdf/sr1.pdf
• ↑ https://www.findlaw.com/injury/car-accidents/after-a-car-accident-first-steps.html
• ↑ https://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/Forms/DMV/32fill.pdf
• ↑ https://dmv.ny.gov/forms/mv104.pdf
• ↑ https://thelawdictionary.org/article/how-to-write-an-accident-report/
• ↑ https://dmv.ny.gov/forms/mv104.pdf/

About This Article

To write a motor vehicle accident report, start by getting the other driver’s name and insurance information. You should also write down information about their vehicle, including the year, make, model, color, and license plate number, as well as a description of the damage. For example, you might say "Sedan has broken bumper and dent in the rear quarter panel." If you have a camera or smart phone, take pictures of the vehicle damage, the surrounding area, and any injuries so you can describe the incident in your report in as much detail as possible. For more tips from our legal co-author, like how to make a diagram of the accident, keep reading! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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56 Car Accident Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best car accident topic ideas & essay examples, 🎓 most car accident topics to write about, 📌 interesting topics to write about car accident.

• Causes and Solutions of Car Accidents There are several factors that cause road accidents which comprise the following: majority of the accidents occur due the rise in the number of road users who do not obey traffic rules, drivers who drive […]
• Car Accidents Prevention The annual costs of car accidents to the economy are estimated to be billions of USD and it is more in countries that import medicines and vehicles.
• Car Accidents in Kuwait Foreigners are in a hurry because they have a lot of things to do and fail to meet the deadline. Thus, it cannot be denied that the improvement of traffic safety and driving behavior is […]
• Car Accidents Causes and Measures Poor roadway design makes it difficult to drive The roads may have some obstacles that block the visibility of pedestrians especially when the road has many corners The presence of many speed bumps can limit […]
• Men are Responsible for More Car Accidents Compared to Women The role of men in car accidents supersedes that of women. The way to safer roads, it seems, is to reduce the number of men in our roads.
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• Things That Will Cause a Car Accident
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• Types of Distracted Driving That Cause Car Accidents
• Car Accident: The Most Disastrous Day Ever
• Teenagers Cause Higher Number of Car Accidents
• Intelligent Information’Systems for Cars and Highways: Car Accident
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• Car Accidents: How to Prevent Drunk Driving?
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• The Death of a Car Accident
• Car Accident: How to Save Yourself?
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• Rules and Regulations for Drivers During a Car Accident
• Risky Driving Contributed to an Increase in Car Accident
• Car Color and Car Accident: The Relationship of Concepts
• Teen Drivers and Passengers: Car Accident
• Car Accident: Costs and Statistics
• What to Expect Physically After a Car Accident?
• How Physics Relates to Car Accident and Car Safety in Germany?
• Types of Spatial Econometric Models of Car Accidents in America
• Car Accident: Crashes at Intersections
• Medical Conditions and the Car Accident: A Path of Interrelation
• Car Accident: Claims and Settlements
• Car Accident: Interactions Between the Built and Socio-Economic Environment and Driver Demographics
• How to Cope with Trauma After a Car Accident?
• Why Do Insurance Companies Prefer Car Accidents vs. Car Crashes?
• Claiming for a Car Accident Abroad
• Car Accident and Safety In Tanzania
• How Is Fault Determined in a Multi-Vehicle Car Accident?
• Common Fatal Injuries After a Car Accident
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• How to Draw Up a Car Accident Report?
• NYC Car Accident Guide: What to Do After a Car Accident?
• Car Accident: Causes of Car Accidents and How to Avoid Them?
• How Is a Car Accident Defined?
• Car Accident: The Main Source of Death for Young People
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» » Work  »   »   » Work   24 January 2005 978 A quick short story about the luck of David Rice. at 14:21 on 24 January 2005 Nelly Nice story for the drivers amongst us! Couple of typos. ...rear side... Did you mean ...near side...? ...to where he landed sharply on his shoulder and lay still, twisted and broke... Should that be ...broken...? (Do DB4's have air bags?) And I wonder if you should cut one of the direct references to God in the final paragraphs. Just a thought, I like the description of the way in which David's apparent survival turns into panic as the fire takes hold. And the Dr Who ring-tone. Nice touch. Hope this helps jumbo at 15:45 on 24 January 2005 Nelly, something very strange happened whilst reading this story - when reading the second paragraph that details the damage to the car, it reminded me of that Michael Burke TV show, 999 where people have incredible escapes from such tragedies. All of a sudden, I was reading it in his style. I guess that means you've made it sound convincing, and indeed with impact. All the best, Ben at 16:31 on 24 January 2005 Nelly A great description of a car crash. After the first four para�s I thought that the storyline might be from a man looking down on what had just happened as he made his way to the next life. However, you kept the suspense going very well indeed. I felt that you used David a lot which I found distracting, e.g. three consecutive paragraphs begin with his name and I think that the word be is missing from para four� �lucky to BE alive.� I liked the nonchalant ending. Regards Jim at 18:28 on 24 January 2005 Good stuff Nelly. An entertaining read. Best, Nik at 19:08 on 24 January 2005 Hi Neil, Glad you didn't let him die, that would've been cruel. It's a great ad for mobile phones, I'd say. Does the story belong to a longer piece, or as part of a set of stories about David Rice's luck? At the very end, in his condition, would he really talk to his mum like that? Wouldn't his first words be 'get someone?' Becca. at 22:08 on 24 January 2005 Hi everyone, Cheers for the great responses you have all given. I will take it all under review and see what I can manage. DB4's dont have airbags, so it was a little artistic license to put one in and the same for the explosion but if it's good enough for the movies then it's good enough for me. Cheers again Neil. at 08:27 on 28 January 2005 Neil, An Aston Martin DB4 only has two doors so I think simply �passenger door� would be better. Adjective overload! Rocky is hard is unforgiving� and you�ve already told us the car fell onto rocks. They don�t have a back, do they? And I�ve seen your comment about the airbag. I�m wondering why you specify a DB4. They�re not a car you see every day, so I�m wondering why? What�s the significance? If I owned a DB4 I�d be distraught at wrecking it � no matter how injured I was! IMO, if you use something like an Aston Martin, you need to include it in the story more, in the sense that it means more to its owner than your average motor. If you don�t want to do that then I�d recommend you change it to an ordinary car so that it doesn�t detract from the main theme of the story, which is your MC surviving the crash. Hope this helps. Was going to add more but I�m late for work!!! Dee at 11:29 on 28 January 2005 Hi Dee, Obviously I need to research my cars more before including them in short stories. Before writing the piece I ran a quick Google check for old cars and came up with the DB4. I thought it looked the type and so put it in. The car I imagine though throughout, has to have four doors and so it would seem the DB4 is the wrong one for the job. I'll run another check on the super highway of information and see what I can come up with. I also agree with that sentence and I'll have a bit of a shifty to see what I can do. Cheers Neil. at 15:51 on 28 January 2005 Neil Real cliff hanger, excuse the pun. Should driving wheel be steering wheel? Two foot of steel back into the car? Couldn't quite follow which bits of metal. Parts of the engine? The continuous round of things stopping him getting out and then the explosion damaging even more was great, if pain and anguish can be great. I thought the final straw was going to be the tide coming in and almost drowning him, fortunatley you spared him that! Pacey story, Indiana Jones flavour. Enjoyed it. Andrew at 18:49 on 28 January 2005 Neil, sorry if my comments this morning seemed a bit negative. I was going to add more but realised I had three minutes to get out of the house � and I was still in bed! James Bond had a DB5 in the films, although it was a DB3 in the books. Aston Martins are such special cars that, if you use one in a story, someone is bound to know whether you�ve got your facts right. I would sell my soul for an Aston Martin. In the next novel I�m planning, the MC drives a DB7 although, by the time the manuscript is finished, it might have to become a DB9! Good luck with this. Dee at 12:06 on 29 January 2005 Hi Zigeroon, I'll change the wheel line around and with by two foot of metal I mean the whole thing becoming a compacted lump. I had thought about the tide getting him as well but opted for the "mum" ending as I only intended this to about the 1000 word mark. I can just imagine Harrison Ford doing that type of thing, maybe I should add a hat and whip? Neil at 14:27 on 29 January 2005 Hi Neil, a great read. Don't panic, I know nothing of the Volvo S80 nor the peculiarities of its safety systems. Lots of great drama and detail. A simple story, well. I liked the understatement at the end. Great stuff. Bill at 12:01 on 05 February 2005 Hi Nelly, My heart sank a bit when I started reading this because I thought it was an exercise in description, but by the time I was halfway through I was gripped. A lot of what you are describing is fairly standard in the sense that there is a finite number of options once a car's rolled over, but you have made the action your own and that's really good. I think you should clip some of the sentences to give it more of a sense of immediacy, for example: The metal of the car groaned, a wounded beast's final cry, before shuddering and falling slowly onto its side. The ending was terrific: it was unexpected and I liked his laconic delivery in the wake of so much drama:-) Shyama at 17:52 on 06 February 2005 Cheers for taking the time to review I'm glad you liked it. I'll have another look and see if I can reflect your comments into the piece. I'll never look at an Aston Martin in the same way again. at 08:55 on 28 March 2005 Late to comment, I think this work does well for the short sentences you use in places and the snappy paragraphs. I would still encourage you to do a more rigorous check on each adjective and every adverb. For my taste, there are still excessive qualifiers which don't serve the text optimally. I imagine this would be publishable if you could be truly ruthless on that point. Good luck. Do a rewrite and then send it out. Liesl at 21:44 on 09 May 2005 An equally late response to your late response, Thanks for reading it, I haven�t considered sending it out as such, but I'll take another look and see what I can manage. Cheers Neil To post comments you need to . If you are already a member, please .   American Atheist 28 American Atheist: 27 American Atheist: 26 American Atheist: 25 American Atheist: 24 Stack Exchange Network Stack Exchange network consists of 183 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow , the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers. Q&A for work Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. How can I write a realistic motorcycle crash? What are some words that can help me vividly describe a motorcycle accident as if it was being seen by the reader? What are some words that can describe that crash, with such detail that the reader can listen to the noises, smell the air, and really visualize what happened...? creative-writing The smells and sounds (rubber burning on the pavement, screaming of metal, etc) are your friends more than the images. For the actual images, I'd suggest using metaphors/similes. Motorcycle accidents are horrific because of the near certainty of being maimed/killed. Oftentimes family members are terrified when the person gets the motorcycle, that there will be some horrific accident (unlike if the person was driving) and so there can be more survivor guilt too. –  SFWriter Commented Nov 8, 2017 at 14:50 1 As opposed to death-like motorcycle crash? –  erikric Commented Nov 8, 2017 at 15:12 1 a whole bunch of youtube videos will show crashes that can help you get a visual on this. Take in the scene from what you see and translate that into words. –  ggiaquin16 Commented Nov 8, 2017 at 15:35 My character will have a crash and be in a coma after, what I'm currently stuck in is in how I can describe the sound of the accident, the glass breaking, the wheels etc... i don't want to just use words like "boom" or "honk", "plop" etc –  Acatalepsy Commented Nov 8, 2017 at 19:05 I really like metaphors, so I'm saying it again. "The motorcycle hit the highway barrier, sounding for all the world like the grim reaper of death bringing his sickle down. But Michael would have none of it, and fought back, refusing to die." "The wheels screamed, like all of his forebearers chastising him for the purchase, saying "I told you so...." –  SFWriter Commented Nov 8, 2017 at 22:27 4 Answers 4 As one who has experienced three (fairly mild) motorcycle crashes (two front-wheel lockups, and one caused by changing lanes over a lane divider curb), one with mild injury, I can tell you one fairly realistic way would be to jump-cut from the instant before the crash (after it's inevitable, but before anything hits the ground or the rider), to after everything stops sliding. I recall all three of my own crashes in great detail, but that would likely be best handled in flashback, since the actual event took less than five seconds from "Oh, crap" to picking myself up. If you try to describe the events as they pass, you'll spend four or five pages covering as many seconds. That can be done, but many readers won't want to read in that level of detail for that long. If you write memory snippets later, a paragraph or two interspersed with other story material, you'll be less likely to cause readers to "work too hard." :) I am glad you weren't maimed or killed. –  SFWriter Commented Nov 8, 2017 at 15:04 @DPT Me, too, no question. –  Zeiss Ikon Commented Nov 8, 2017 at 17:05 @ Zeiss I'm glad you're okay! and yes I know everything happens so fast, things can happen in a few seconds but I want to freeze that moment and describe it. –  Acatalepsy Commented Nov 8, 2017 at 19:09 1 There's always the "oh, shit" moment when crashing a bike, isn't there? –  user18397 Commented Nov 8, 2017 at 21:22 1 @Acatalepsy - from experience, yes, in a bad crash time does seem to slow, but honestly, the first thought is "F@#k", followed by several iterations of "Oh S@#t this is going to be bad". No time for internal monologues or flashbacks/montages –  user18397 Commented Nov 8, 2017 at 23:13 The human perceptual system runs on anticipation. We understand things that play out in predictable and foreseen ways. We are disoriented by things that happen suddenly, violently, and out of the blue. We come away from those incidents with a jumble of poorly integrated memories of light and noise but no clear recollection of the specifics of the event because it was entirely outside our system of anticipation and therefore hard to interpret and remember in real time. In a movie, you can create this kind of experience for the audience. You can strap a hero cam to the handlebars of a motorcycle and run it into the side of a wall and you will create a cinematic experience quite similar to the disorientation that we feel when we are involved in or witness a crash ourselves. But it is very difficult, perhaps impossible, to create this same effect in prose. There are two main reasons for this. First, while a movie is recieved directly, by the same sense that receive input in a real event, prose has to be interpreted. Some writers try to create the impression of confusing events with confusing words, but the problem with this is that the confusing words interfere with the interpretation of the text, so that rather than receiving an impression of confusing events, the reader receives an impression of confusing words, which is in no way a recreation of the impressions of the event. Secondly, while film is a synchronous media, in which multiple sounds and images can be presented in real time, prose is an asynchronous media. You can only read one word at a time and therefore things that happen simultaneously in life happen sequentially in prose. By spreading out the events into a sequence, you inherently make them less abrupt and confusing, thus lessening the impact. Because of this, while movie are a medium of direct experience, prose is much more a medium of recollection. Stories are told after the fact (and using present tense does nothing to change this). They are recollections of events. This does not in any way prevent them from being vivid. Our recollections can be very vivid. But our recollections are also reconstructions of events that impose and order, significance, and importance to events and sensations that was not present in the raw data of experience. This is well borne out by studies of memory and the unreliability of eyewitness testimony. It is also why the novel is a fundamentally more powerful medium than the movie. But what this means is that the recollection of a traumatic event, such as a motorcycle crash is far more orderly than the sense impressions that occurred at the time it was happening. Whether we acknowledge it or not, our memories of such an event are really reconstructions which draw heavily on evidence gathered after the event. So you are not going to be able to create the immediate vivid experience of a motorcycle crash in prose the way you could in a movie. That is just not what the medium is good at. Rather, if you want to portray it vividly, you must work with the recollection of the event rather than its immediate sensations. And remember that prose depends heavily on memory in all cases. It paints no pictures and makes no sounds. Rather, it drags the memory of pictures and sounds and other sensations out of the reader's memory by a kind of leading process, which walks the reader up to the precipice of a traumatic event and then lets the reader fill in the sensations of the event from recall of events in their own lives. Most of the strong sensations produced by literature, therefore, are not produced by the prose of the moment, but by the way the writers has build anticipation in the reader. Anticipation is the source and heart of all drama. Build the anticipation to a fever pitch and you can trigger the emotions in a few words. (" Reader, I married him. ") As a writer of prose, therefore, your tools are anticipation and recollection. Don't try treat subjects the way a movie would treat them. You don't have the tools for that in prose. But you have fundamentally more powerful tools. They simply must be used in a different way. (+1) For (again) an amazing answer. While I agree with it I should argue that although the visual aspects are difficult to re-create, an emotional response from the reader might be more approachable (and consequential). For this case in particular I can imagine that, for example, making the character raise its head after the fall, and discovering its arm is missing might effectively stagger the reader, especially if it breaks with the previous tone of the story. The consequence would last throughout the novel but we can truly shock/scare/sadden/etc. if we raise the stakes. –  armatita Commented Nov 8, 2017 at 16:46 1 @armatita Absolutely. In prose we can use anticipation and recollection to manipulate the reader's emotions in more powerful and subtle ways than movies can achieve. –  user16226 Commented Nov 8, 2017 at 17:14 My approach to this, which I stole from other authors, is to not worry about time or space and describe the action of the accident in detail, use as much space as you want. There is an actual real life phenomenon in which adrenalin floods the brain in an emergency and it seems to slow down time. I have felt this in a rollover (car) at 75 mph, and my best friend in a separate incident was in a car crash where a coked up driver of a stolen car broad-sided him, in an intersection, traveling at over 110 mph. This threw him him through the closed driver side window of his car, which shredded both his clothing and his body, causing dozens of cuts, and sending him flying through the air to land in the street in front of another car stopped for the light. He said it felt like it took sixty seconds to complete, but in that time he could barely move his arm up so his face hit his forearm instead of the pavement (which he doesn't remember happening, but his face did hit his forearm instead of the pavement). Regardless, just describe the scene, moment by moment, cut out what is not necessary (like any other scene). Keep track in your head that you are taking many seconds to describe something that may happen in literally less than one second, so while your narrator can take the time, don't let your fictional characters move or think at super speed. Think of it as if you saw, in a movie, a super slow motion video of a motorcycle crash. Pick around three key points in that slow motion video to describe. How much of the broken bones, flesh left on the pavement, dismemberments or impalements or spurting ripped open arteries you want to describe is between you and your audience and what you think they can handle or expect from you, from PG to porno-horror film explicit. Yes!! I absolutely agree, that's what I'm trying to do; describe the scene as if it was a slow motion video of a motorcycle crash. –  Acatalepsy Commented Nov 8, 2017 at 19:20 1 @Acatalepsy the only thing you want to be careful of if this is what you are trying to do and be realistic is, a lot of tv shows and movies have the character see stuff like a woman standing on the side of the street they find pretty or go into these side thoughts that simply don't happen during an accident. As Zeiss stated, you could easily turn a 2 second crash into a 5 page description, but honestly most people will skip over it if it get's too deep into purple prose. I am not saying to cut out the actual action like zeiss is, but you also should be aware that over describing something –  ggiaquin16 Commented Nov 8, 2017 at 20:44 1 @Acatalepsy can be detrimental to the story too. People will end up spending so much time trying to focus and picture your description that it ends up being disctracting and takes them out of the story to focus on the words they are reading. Most people know what an accident looks/feels/smells like. Everyone gets into at least 1 in their life. So you don't need to describe the accident as if you are talking to an alien. Just give enough detail that allows the person to wander to the scene you want to paint. –  ggiaquin16 Commented Nov 8, 2017 at 20:46 1 And don't forget to leave a shoe lying on the pavement. There is always a shoe that comes off –  user18397 Commented Nov 8, 2017 at 23:15 @Thomo haha! I promise to not forget the shoe... Thank you, I will try to give detail but not too much that it will make me fall out of the subject. –  Acatalepsy Commented Nov 9, 2017 at 4:17 I agree with those who say the briefer you are the better. You want to make it realistic, you need to keep it short. A paragraph, maybe two (for me 1 is enough), imo. An accident is an action scene and action scenes are fast moving with short, choppy sentences. If it's a flashback, then it can be slightly longer. As one pointed out the senses of smells and sounds are important. Also, don't forget the feelings of the MC, his thoughts in that split second. The accident might be part of your story but it's not the real plot, it might just lead to the real plot. I agree! I now see that i have too keep it short to make the accident more realistic, thankyou!! –  Acatalepsy Commented Nov 9, 2017 at 12:56 Your Answer Reminder: Answers generated by artificial intelligence tools are not allowed on Writing Stack Exchange. 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Flats on gravel with GP5000 - what am I doing wrong? 70s-90s Anime Mecha Movie/Series 156 IMAGES How to Describe a Car Accident in Writing (21 Best Tips) Car Crash Description Creative Writing Essay on A Road Accident in English || Paragraph on A Road Accident in English || #extension.com Write a Report on Road Accident [4 Examples] 2023 Updated The Accident Report (Brush Up On Your Writing Skills): Creative Writing Write an essay an accident I saw || Essay writing on an accident I saw short paragraph in english VIDEO Examples of car accidents involving objects Car Crash Interrupts Sewing Tutorial Essay on a Road accident in English || paragraph on A Road Accident || short essay on Road Accident Report writing in english |road accident report writing in english Essay A Road Accident In English || Essay On Road Accident || A Road Accident || In their own words: Close friends of students killed in car crash describe amazing friends COMMENTS How to Describe a Car Accident in Writing (21 Best Tips) 3. The Power of Slow Motion. In high-stress situations like a car accident, people often report that time seems to slow down. This can be a powerful tool in your writing. By describing the events in slow motion, you can increase the tension and drama of the scene. Capturing Chaos: Describing a Car Crash in Creative Writing 1. Set the stage: Before the crash occurs, it's crucial to create a vivid picture of the scene. Describe the weather conditions, the time of day, and any other relevant details that set the tone for the impending chaos. This sets the stage for your readers and prepares them for the impact that is about to unfold. 2. How to Describe a Car Accident in a Story "The tragic car accident that took place earlier that week killed three people." "Even months after the tragic car accident, it was difficult for her to recover from the fear and grief she felt." How it Adds Description. A car accident may be tragic because a character or multiple characters in your story died. Describing a Car Crash in Writing: Narrative, Dramatic, Metaphorical Writing about a car crash can be both a challenging and rewarding experience. It presents an opportunity to evoke emotions and feelings through vivid descriptions. This article will explore how to effectively describe a car crash in writing using narrative, dramatic, metaphorical, technical and investigative descriptions. Narrative car crash car crash. - quotes and descriptions to inspire creative writing. One moment the road is there, wide open and safe, the next there are loud noises, acrid smells and pain that you may or may not recover from. A car crash comes as a shock and that's an aspect he movies and novels aren't good at showing. It is the equivalent of looking without ... How to Write a Car Crash Talk about how the character's senses are compromised. Once the accident occurs, what can he/she see, hear or smell. Write it as expressively as possible. » A. Make it gruesome if you really want to impact the reader. This is a very significant event in your novel. It might even be the climax of the story. Writing About: A Car Accident TIP #3: Shock (acute stress reaction) occurs after witnessing or being in a traumatic event. Common reactions are numbness and detachment. You can have your character go into a state of shock after their accident, which typical wears off in 24-48 hours. When it does pain becomes present and emotions run high. Car Description Creative Writing Tips, Prompts, & Ideas When you're describing the car, look at a picture and write down every feature you see (door, spoiler, rims etc.). After that, write down every non-feature you see, glare of the sun, reflection in the window, shine of the tire, etc. Take all of this info and start crafting, using everything from the tips above and below. How to Write a Car Accident Description (Examples ... How to Write a Car Accident Description (Examples)? Not Quite Dead: A Writer's Guide to Serious Injuries and Calamities Crash on landing or takoff, you are quite right - most survive. Concussion: death can occur hours later even after the character says "I'm fine.". Hanging: without a drop, as you say, 8-13 seconds of hideous pain. (Or a little longer if a sheet or large diameter rope is used, and that's how most suicides occur.) Having a really hard time writing a good car crash scene Suggestions: Make a draft where it's one character's perspective through the whole event. Then do this for ALL the character in the event/scene. Write in the first person for each character. Last step - write the scene as the narrator/godmode. this one will be difficult, but since you have three or four different perspectives already ... Car accident? 1,374. Location: A Place with no History. A car crash is a car crash. There can be little damage to a heavy person but lots of damage to a skinny guy or vice-versa. Yes, physics takes into account all these things but either way every sort of injury is possible to having none at all no matter what your body type. accident accident. - quotes and descriptions to inspire creative writing. One moment there was ground under my the wheels of my bicycle, dark ground yet to feel the kiss of the light of dawn, then there was water. Then, in a moment that felt so stretched... I sank beneath the cold surface, arms dragging along the bottom of the canal. How to Write a Motor Vehicle Accident Report (with Pictures) How to Write a Motor Vehicle Accident Report (with Pictures) PDF Styles of English Describing a Car Accident in 15+ Different For example, a description written in the style of an 18th century novel uses more formal language, longer sentences, and more descriptive language compared to the response written in the style of a child writing a letter, which uses simpler vocabulary and sentence structures. A description in the style of a politician making a speech uses more car car. - quotes and descriptions to inspire creative writing. The car has a personality of its own with those raised and rounded headlamps. By Angela Abraham, @daisydescriptionari, December 30, 2020. The car sits as if it were formed from flowing metal, aquatic, yet feminine with its curves. 56 Car Accident Essay Topic Ideas & Examples Car Accidents Causes and Effects. The reasons for them are different, and the consequences of accidents also differ; therefore, it is possible to describe the most common causes of crashes on the roads and the effects that they have. We will write a custom essay specifically for you by our professional experts. 185 writers online. Car Crash Creative Writing Car Crash Creative Writing. Ignoring the fact that I wasn't in my proper bed was getting old. I was inhaling a musty smell of old carpet and I was mildly cold as I sat on a ruff wood surface that will probably give me splinters if I move. As I opened my eyes I was somewhat intrigued to find that I couldn't see anymore than I could when my eyes ... The car crash. by Nelly The car crash. Summary: A quick short story about the luck of David Rice. The Car Crash. The Volvo S80 ploughed through the guard-rail and fell fifty feet onto the rocks below. Its front end crumpled with the force of impact thrusting two-foot of metal back into the car. The windshield imploded, showering the insides with deadly slivers of glass. creative writing 11 3. The smells and sounds (rubber burning on the pavement, screaming of metal, etc) are your friends more than the images. For the actual images, I'd suggest using metaphors/similes. Motorcycle accidents are horrific because of the near certainty of being maimed/killed. Oftentimes family members are terrified when the person gets the ... Creative Writing Road Accident Creative Writing Road Accident. "I 'm going straight home," I said to my roommate, Alex. "I 'll see you there." I started the engine of my Toyota Camry. I put it in reverse and exited the parking lot. As hit the brake before getting on the main road, my car died. It had been doing that for a week now, I still hadn 't got it checked out. Car Crash Creative Writing Car Crash Creative Writing. My car had slowed lights flickering and the engine cutting out every so often. I pulled off to the side just as the sound of the car running cut out. I turned my keys over and over only resulting in the car spluttering and cutting off. I got out of my car the sound of the woods surrounding me being the only noise. essay homework paper phd project resume review study thesis