Maim Your Characters (Author's Copies): How Injuries Work in Fiction by Samantha Keel

Author:Samantha Keel [Keel, Samantha]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781974665013
Google: 8T6YswEACAAJ
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Published: 2017-08-06T23:00:00+00:00

Sunday's Injury Arc

Inciting Injury: A pulmonary embolism due to too much diving.

Immediate Treatment: Not shown.

Definitive Treatment: Nothing to be done but allow for a Tincture of Time.

Rocks on the Rocky Road: Sunday reacts badly to his inability to dive, becoming agitated and attacking staff.

The Big Test: None.

New Normal: Sunday is forced into a teaching position rather than working as a diver. He becomes bitter and an alcoholic, ultimately entering rehab.

Later, Brashear gets his chance to have his own injury arc.

He’s working as a Diver — on the same ship where the movie began, no less! — when he spots a line that’s about to snap. Two sailors are working right over it, and if it hits them, they’re in trouble.

Brashear shoves them out of the way just as the line gives out — but a giant hunk of metal gets yanked off the deck, snapping his left leg about six inches above the ankle. We see it lying in a bloody pool, angled away from his body.

This is Brashear’s Inciting Injury.

His Immediate Treatment isn’t much to talk about: men gather over him, but no one is able to care for him. Like Sunday’s arc, we see him wake up in a hospital bed, with his leg suspended, during his Definitive Treatment.

He’s going to have a very Rocky Road to Recovery: his wife tells him that he’ll eventually be able to walk with a cane, but he’ll never dive again. She begs him to come home, raise their son together.

In fact, the only way out for him is through.

Brashear makes a desperate plea: cut off my leg. He wants to be a diver again, and the only way he can find to do it is to have his damaged leg amputated. His doctor-wife doesn’t agree, but Brashear pushes forward.

In the end it’s Carl’s career over his marriage — the rockiest bump of all. But he’s so dedicated to being a Diver (and earning the rank of Master Diver) that he’s willing to sacrifice his marriage and his leg to get it back.

His wife walks out, and Brashear goes ahead with the amputation. We see him shivering and sweating in pain immediately afterwards.

But he’s not done! We see him learning to walk again, starting to work out again, now on a prosthetic. We see the agony of him trying to jump rope to get back in shape.

After all, there’s a Ticking Clock: Brashear has given himself just 12 weeks for his recovery before he must face a medical review board! And here’s the rub: the chairman has already decided that Brashear can’t be a diver anymore. They’re going to retire him.

It’s Sunday who’s going to get him there — who gives him the knowledge to get around the pencil-pushing captain who’s standing in the way.

Meanwhile, Brashear is working hard: push-ups, running. A classic training montage. It clearly hurts, and Brashear clearly doesn’t care. He’s got a fire in his belly.

In the climactic Big Event, Brashear must prove his readiness to be a US Navy Diver.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.