So, my character is on a ship, has been living a disciplined life out on the sea, and has gotten flogged less than a handful's time. it's just, i need help /describing/ how flogging is, the expeirence of the actual /pain/. my character is getting it with a whip, and by a newcomer, so he doesn't know how hard the whip is gonna hurt. i need some EMOTIONAL SUPPORT right here for my buddy, 'cause i want him to feel tensed and nervous, and i also dont want to rush the scene or make it seem boring. oh and someone gets flogged at least once a month on this ship, despite it being so well-run. the captain's rules say that you can be flogged as many times as he likes 'till he wants you off the ship.
So wait I'm kind of confused at what you want exactly. Do you want help with the description?
kind of yes, but i need help with writing the actual /scene/ too.
So this is what I first think of: I'd expect this guy to toughen up and try to make it seem like he can take it (at least on the outside), since he's disciplined and also wants to "seem like a man" (I'm assuming). No one on the ship would fight for him, either, since it's done once a month and everyone just has to go through it and respectfully watch since the person being flogged is being made an "example" for the rest of them and the captain wants to maintain order. Maybe the guy did something wrong, maybe he was falsely accused, but out at sea where order MUST be maintained to survive, he needs to just take it.
So maybe start with everyone being called to order, everyone watching as he makes his way to the whip. Describe how it's silent, maybe just the sound of the wind and the waves. If it's a cloudy day, comment on how the gloom in the sky matches the gloom in the crowd. If it's a sunny day, comment on how it's in the character's eyes and everyone's faces are blurred out of his vision, but he has an acute sense of all their eyes on him. He tells himself to stay calm, to take it and get it over with. Maybe make it seem like everything's alright, but when he takes his shirt off and reveals his back to the whip, his heartbeat starts to accelerate and he clenches his teeth. But say that he desperately wants to appear calm. Then with the first crack of the whip, maybe describe it as a thin strip of fire that claps his back but leaves only a slight burn. Have him feel like "oh, that wasn't so bad, I can take it." Maybe have people in the crowd start to murmur, because it was actually harder than usual. And then as he keeps getting more and more lashes, his will starts to break. The strip of fire becomes a block of fire, which becomes streaks all over his back, until it breaks skin. He gives a little cry for the fifth one. He squeezes his eyes shut and braces himself. Maybe there are so many lashes that he falls to his knees. But through the whole thing everyone stays silent and he tries to keep it in. Then it's over, he puts on his shirt, and everyone is told to head back to work, just like that.
Obviously, I don't know the details of how everything works on the ship, so if I said any details that don't work you don't have to use them. That's just the first thing that came to my mind. Hope it helps!
oh my god, thank you SO much! i really needed help with this scene in particular, and this helped a lot. YOU helped a lot. thanks!
No problem! I'm glad I could help :D
