Blood - Facts in Fiction

Injured knight on battlefield (artranked)

Going through my writing research, I came across notes I’d made about blood mainly in relation to fight scenes.

The few fight scenes I’ve included in the stories I’ve written aren’t soaked in blood, but I think it’s helpful to have some knowledge of biology even if descriptions of injuries are basic and kept to a minimum. If nothing else, no matter how fantastical the story, it will ground it in a reality that will, hopefully, not jar the reader out of the story.

Just so you’re aware, I didn’t study biology at school, nor am I a medical practitioner. My knowledge comes purely from reading and research. I apologise in advance for any mistakes I may inadvertently make; if I have, please do point them out.

I’ve read many times, and been guilty of writing it myself, things like, ‘The ground was red with blood.’

While not actually wrong, it is misleading.

When blood is first spilled, it is red, very red. That’s because it’s full of oxygen.

Once the blood has left the body, it begins to decay as it’s no longer being fed oxygen. That lack of oxygen makes the colour of ‘old’ blood more of a dark brown.

Another mistaken thing I’ve written is, ‘she slipped on the bloody ground.’ That’s only realistic if it happens at the beginning of a fight or battle when blood has been freshly spilled.

‘They Scrambled Up The Parapet and Went Over The Top (The Battle of Yorktown)’ ~ Howard Pyle

Any longer and it’s more likely the ground is covered in a wet, sticky substance.

What the characters are most likely slipping on are the internal organs.

Like intestines, which are delicate and fragile.

Small intestines are, on average, about 22-23 feet long. If they’ve been ripped out, there is no way they can be put back in.

If impaled, especially in the abdomen, the last thing the victim or any of the characters should do is pull the offending item out. The very thing impaling the victim is the only thing holding the intestines in and stopping them falling out.

Moving on to bruises.

A common mistake is assuming that if a person hits a hard object, that area of the body will immediately bruise.

‘She swung her fist at him. He sidestepped; she hit the wall instead. Clutching her hand against her body, she grimaced at the sight her bruised knuckles.’

While it is possible for bruises to appear within minutes, they never form instantly as it usually takes hours.

The injured flesh reddens and then swells, but the swelling isn’t huge.

In the example above, instead of bruised knuckles, she’d see reddened knuckles, maybe even some swelling. It’s only after an hour or so that she’ll see bruises.

Areas of the body that are blood-rich and unprotected by bone or hard muscle, like the head, can bruise quickly; that still means minutes, not seconds.

To begin with, a bruise will be reddish in colour, reflecting the colour of the blood.

After a couple of days, it will appear purplish black.

About a week later, the colour will be greener before gradually turning brownish-yellow as it heals.

Bruises over skin where the veins are close to the surface may appear blue-green reflecting the unoxygenated blood just under the skin.

The reason the blood in that area is lacking oxygen is because the trauma has either torn a blood vessel and there is minor bleeding just under the skin, or the vessel walls have been weakened.

These kinds of bruises will appear more quickly than other types, tend to swell more and are especially tender to the touch.

I don’t feature modern weapons in my stories (yet…) but found these points about bullet wounds interesting.

Violet (anime: ‘Violet Evergarden’) firing her rifle

Bullets cause bruising and these can appear anywhere between minutes to hours.

Unless they’ve pierced a vital organ or blood supply, bullet wounds don’t always bleed immediately.

The reason for this is because bullets are hot coming out of the barrel and, at close range, can cauterise the flesh when they enter the body.

The further the bullet travels, the cooler and slower it becomes. Because of this, the bullet is more likely to become lodged in the body when fired from a distance. Depending on where it becomes lodged in the body, it might block the blood supply and slow bleeding time.

I find interesting facts like these tempting enough to want to write a story that features modern weapons.

Heart graphic - image by GDJ on Pixabay

Here are a few more facts I find fascinating.

Laid end to end, all the body’s blood vessels would measure about 60,000 miles.

Depending on what you’re doing, the heart pumps between 1-7 gallons of blood a minute and will pump as much as 2,000 gallons a day. In a lifetime, the heart will pump one million barrels of blood.

The heart starts beating 4 weeks after conception and does not stop until death.

It beats 100,000 times a day, almost one million times a week. To get an idea of how hard our hearts work, try squeezing a tennis ball (similar to the force of a beating heart) 100,000 times a day.

Although the heart can weaken for other reasons, it never tires out.

Your heart is about the same size as your fist.

The hearts of men and women look the same but are not the same weight. A man’s heart, on average, weighs 10oz while a woman’s weighs 8oz.

Due to the smaller size, a woman’s heart beats slightly faster at an average rate of 78 beats/minute; a man’s average heart rate is 70 beats/minute.

Contrary to popular belief, the heart isn’t on the left side of the chest; it sits in the centre of the chest between the lungs, just under the breastbone. But as it’s tilted slightly to the left, it is here that it’s most easily felt and heard, which is why people think the heart is on the left.

The heart will continue to beat even if it has been removed from the body. This is because the heart has its own electrical system which causes it to beat, and it will remain beating so long as it continues to receive oxygen.

It is possible to suffer from a broken heart.

This sudden temporary weakening of the heart, known as ‘Takotsubo’s cardiomyopathy’ or ‘broken heart syndrome’, is caused by emotional stress.

Triggers can be the death of a loved one, things like the fear of performing in public, even ‘fun’ events like a surprise party.

It primarily affects post-menopausal women but is temporary. Once supportive measures are put in place, the heart will, once again, function normally.

I hope you find some of this useful as I did and still do; I can never remember the changing colours of bruises.