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Q&A What style should I write a torture scene in?

In 3rd person limited, which you are writing it, it is perfectly valid to describe what somebody is feeling, like panic, or horror, or anger, or whatever. That includes pain. It seems like you feel...

posted 5y ago by Amadeus‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-19T22:13:57Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/48834
License name: CC BY-SA 4.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T13:12:08Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/48834
License name: CC BY-SA 4.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T13:12:08Z (almost 5 years ago)
In 3rd person limited, which you are writing it, it is perfectly valid to describe what somebody is **_feeling_** , like panic, or horror, or anger, or whatever. That includes pain. It seems like you feel restricted to describing actual **thoughts** and what he knows; but being tortured is not an intellectual exercise, it is a visceral exercise of enduring searing pain, fear and panic _without a word being thought._

Imagine you slip on grease spilled on a kitchen floor, and in your instinctive attempt to catch yourself you slap your hand on the stove, and squarely on red hot burner. No words will go through your mind in that moment, nothing but pain and animal reaction will ensue, as you withdraw your hand, lose the balance you had, and fall to the floor. There are not words in your mind when you are screaming in pain.

Every reader knows this, has had some similar experience, and part of writing is to relate this pain to something they can sympathize with, times of pain or grief or terror without word or thought but aware of what is happening.

That is what is called for, here. Describe his feelings, without his thoughts.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2019-11-04T16:00:54Z (almost 5 years ago)
Original score: 3