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The killing field on GOT is so vast...There are only about 20 characters left in the story that are morally good. (and one of them is the 'High Sparrow' who is willling to do evil deeds in the name of his gods) That makes any good guy a victim for the tornado running through the bloodlines of the nobility. They are uniting now. Jon Snow is with Sansa. Tyrion is with the 'dragon woman'. Great storyline, but he's killed off nearly everyone interesting.

I agree that K's murder spree isn't my style. Basing a plot based on how many people can have a name that starts with K... Definitely not me. However, it isn't realistic to assume that I can't kill off anyone. I'm struggling to write Petra's goodbye. But that shouldn't be my focus. It should be to wrap up the story.

So I'm taking a break and hanging out on Facebook. I submitted my first chapter of Dictates for a paid critique by PS Literary. There was a lecture on how to write a good first chapter. Definitely worth my time. It gave me a good idea on how to strengthen the beginning of Mandates. A couple ideas on how to strengthen Elishiva's first chapter as well.

Definitely worth my time.

A

OK, after much difficulty and angst about making the magic right, the next chapter of Dictates is officially posted in the TNBW folder. Not easy. I'm making myself do this as I've discovered my deep-seated reluctance to finish and wrap-up a storyline. I had the same issue with Mandates (still haven't finished that one). I made myself tie up Acts with a cliffhanger, and now I need an ending…any ending…for Dictates.

I've decided that it has to involve successfully destroying the Horror. When I read through this entire story thus far, that seems to be where this book is going. I know this sounds like a stupid question, but do you all agree? (remember that I'm keeping track of the big picture. The goal is to get the band back together so that they can kick Faulter's collective ass. Little things like the ending of this book are something that can change and adapt.)

Help?

Oh, I read the 'problem with elves' post. Interesting. I'd have to make Kha completely human in order to make elves more mysterious and fey. But it could be done. It changes my timeline a bit, but it is still doable. Not convinced since I'm following the D&D and Tolkein concept.  But still interesting.

They connect to them both, actually. However, from the back, these two structures are mostly protected by the spine since they are in the midline. A medieval sword isn't razor sharp. It would be deflected by the bone and go into the soft tissue. I've never seen a stab wound to the back that went through the spine. A bullet is another story.

a wide blade could catch both the femoral artery and vein. Makes it even quicker since these are such big vessels and veins don't have valves to force one-way flow. Therefore, the femoral vein would catch backflow from anything tied to the iliacs or the nearby kidneys.

Kidney lacerations bleed a lot, but they wouldn't kill in one to two minutes unless you bagged the renal artery/ vein. Most of the time they puncture the renal collecting system and there is a lot of urine mixed with the blood. If you are going for a quick scene, have them stabbed in the back and drop a  lung. It's more efficient. Or you could just make it a scalp wound. People can bleed to death from those (more like 10-20 minutes depending on whether or not an artery got cut)

I've been listening to Carlin's channel on satellite radio. Holy Moley. He uses F**k like a comma.

OK I'm thinking.

Single stab wound depends on where it lands FYI, the abdomen is divided into four quadrants. Right Upper, Left upper, Right lower, and Left lower (Abbreviation is RUQ - with Q being 'quadrant'. 

The Japanese suicide by samurai would cut from low to up and then go across so that all four quadrants were taken out.

Death within 1 minute, you have to damage a big artery. Central going from top to bottom is the aorta. Another item to a life is the inferior vena cava(the big vein going back to the heart).  Another one is the splenic artery in between the left upper and lower quadrants.

If you bag the big vein going back to the liver, you go through the diaphragm and drop a lung. With the inability to breath and the blood loss, I'd guess a minute or two. And the person wouldn't be able to speak well.

Moving away from a single stab wound and traveling upward...hmmm.  Swords tend to get hung up on bones unless they are tempered or folded and have a wicked-sharp edge. That is why Samurai could slice themselves from stem to stern. English long words would probably not have the edge required to go through bone and meat.

I'd go with a thrust, impale the person, have the tip buried in their abdomen. Then have the (hopefully good guy) rock the sword out of their body or lever the slice upward as they pull the sword out. Releasing the weapon means that the blood starts to flow because the hole has been opened.

Realize that all these arteries are buried toward the back for protection. Therefore, you will perforate colon and small bowel at the same time. The only clean (blood only) death involves the spleen or liver. Note that if you carve open their abdominal wall, there is likely a spillage of guts out of the abdominal compartment.

Four to five minutes? Stab the liver or spleen. (RUQ and LUQ). 

Lingering death with peritonitis because of a perforated colon or small bowel? One to three days. Rotten way to die.

I work in trauma. Swearing is like breathing.

This summer is guaranteed to be limited in my ability to travel. I'm going to pay the mouse tax in Florida at the beginning of June. And I'm going to War for a week or so in August. Other than that, I think I'm working most if not all the days in between. Such are the trials of being shorthanded at work.

Poor me. 

OK, pity party is over. I'm going to a rummage sale and I'm going to drown my son's preschool teachers with craft materials. I might buy a picture for one of my coworkers because she doesn't know how to cover her walls with art. I helped the rummage people sort and size yesterday, so I cheated and pre-shopped. My boys are going to have more clothes and jeans.

I might buy a dollhouse. It is too small, but will have to do. My goal is to have Wayne Mansion. Someday (when I'm rich and can afford a bigger home...note that I bought a house that was too small so my mother couldn't move in with us), I'll have a room so I can put the mansion in so I can walk around it from all sides. Then, I'm going to change out the furniture and have a Christmas house, change it to a Halloween house with drapes over the furniture, and then have a Batcave under the house with platforms that rise and put the different vehicles into place. (when there aren't any holidays to decorate)

Someday...

Until then...let the shopping begin!

Meh. It's just another telepathy rule that you are going to forget about and change because the sky is blue…the weather nice…and the day happens to end with a Y. No wonder you need all those spreadsheets.

Revs the tank. Brummmmmm. I don't rewrite anything. Someone between J and L (the artist formerly known as KSkip) merely makes the rules, refuses to change when inconsistencies are noted, and then changes his mind/forgets three books later. I think he hopes that no one will notice.

Ergo, I don't make the holes in that plot. I just drive through the tissue paper while he orders me to, "Stahp."

Brmmmmmmmm. This steering bar makes my tank go forward. Or it is the trigger to shoot. Not sure. I must experiment...

Somebody stahp me.