I've led a charmed life. Not a single broken bone. No injuries other than a tiny stress fracture from using a treadmill. So I can only imagine what a serious injury would feel like.
However, like most fiction authors, I have a vivid imagination and from the minor aches and pains I have been exposed to I can sense what these ordeals must feel like.
There is something unrealistic to me about characters--usually the hero--in a book who has broken ribs and heaven only knows what else and can spring from his bed the next day in full pursuit of the evildoer. I don't think it makes sense.
Ditto, the unreality of someone who unplugs all the machines in a hospital room or pulls out IVs and sneaks away against medical advice. How fast can the human body recover from a grave injury or function without lifesaving devices?
Another turnoff to me is car chases in movies when vehicles careen from street to street getting and receiving endless damage and still, by George, manage to run. Not my little Subaru. It's as temperamental as all get out. And wouldn't these collisions jar? Produce headaches, at least? Double vision?
For that matter, why pursue someone who is going to beat you up? If you are hoping this person fleeing is going to lead you someone in danger that's one thing. High speed chases with no plausible outcome just for the thrill of the chase is another.
It's possible to set this up, but using a man with broken ribs who needs crutches and a blood transfusion doesn't cut it.
It would be interesting to hear about other situations that turn my fellow Type M'ers off. And I would love to hear from readers also. We all know about the TSTL (Too Stupid To Live) scenario when the heroine bypasses all regulations and is devoid of any common sense and confronts a serial killer all by her courageous little self.
Are there others?
