Dwimordene
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27310
18 Jun 04 5:44 PM
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27309
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[Edited: Appreciating that real world examples, which happen to be very easily accessible right now for lamentable reasons, may be far too close for anyone's comfort, I'm deleting that part of the posting. However, I still do recommend talking with Ainae, as I know she has had to do research on the topic of torture for a story she wrote.) There is, apparently, a writer's guide to injuries, "Body Trauma", out there, which does have a section on the things you can do to torture a character. Otherwise, fanfic med (yahoo group) can probably give you the basics of what the human body can endure and still survive. You'll want to think of the end of torture--is it to get information, sheer sadism as punishment, or a dominance "game"? Depending on which it is, that may determine the severity of what the torturer is willing to inflict.
Think of simple things: extreme heat, cold, being forced to kneel on something hard or sharp (or both) for a long period of time, sleep deprivation, tearing out teeth, nails, hair (on various parts of the body), castration, blunt instrument trauma, simulating drowning by holding the head in a basin of water, starvation, dehydration (within limits), forcing a person into a very small, sealed space for a period of time--all such nastiness is relatively simple if you can control your prisoner's movements sufficiently. Then there's the ever popular psychological torture option.
P.S. It's not in the Hutch... but you can signal your willingness by posting here. So that's one person who is willing to write for this prompt? Do we have others?