: How can I write a realistic motorcycle crash? What are some words that can help me vividly describe a motorcycle accident as if it was being seen by the reader? What are some words that can

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I agree with those who say the briefer you are the better. You want to make it realistic, you need to keep it short. A paragraph, maybe two (for me 1 is enough), imo. An accident is an action scene and action scenes are fast moving with short, choppy sentences. If it's a flashback, then it can be slightly longer. As one pointed out the senses of smells and sounds are important. Also, don't forget the feelings of the MC, his thoughts in that split second. The accident might be part of your story but it's not the real plot, it might just lead to the real plot.

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My approach to this, which I stole from other authors, is to not worry about time or space and describe the action of the accident in detail, use as much space as you want.

There is an actual real life phenomenon in which adrenalin floods the brain in an emergency and it seems to slow down time. I have felt this in a rollover (car) at 75 mph, and my best friend in a separate incident was in a car crash where a coked up driver of a stolen car broad-sided him, in an intersection, traveling at over 110 mph. This threw him him through the closed driver side window of his car, which shredded both his clothing and his body, causing dozens of cuts, and sending him flying through the air to land in the street in front of another car stopped for the light. He said it felt like it took sixty seconds to complete, but in that time he could barely move his arm up so his face hit his forearm instead of the pavement (which he doesn't remember happening, but his face did hit his forearm instead of the pavement).

Regardless, just describe the scene, moment by moment, cut out what is not necessary (like any other scene). Keep track in your head that you are taking many seconds to describe something that may happen in literally less than one second, so while your narrator can take the time, don't let your fictional characters move or think at super speed.

Think of it as if you saw, in a movie, a super slow motion video of a motorcycle crash. Pick around three key points in that slow motion video to describe. How much of the broken bones, flesh left on the pavement, dismemberments or impalements or spurting ripped open arteries you want to describe is between you and your audience and what you think they can handle or expect from you, from PG to porno-horror film explicit.

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As one who has experienced three (fairly mild) motorcycle crashes (two front-wheel lockups, and one caused by changing lanes over a lane divider curb), one with mild injury, I can tell you one fairly realistic way would be to jump-cut from the instant before the crash (after it's inevitable, but before anything hits the ground or the rider), to after everything stops sliding.

I recall all three of my own crashes in great detail, but that would likely be best handled in flashback, since the actual event took less than five seconds from "Oh, crap" to picking myself up. If you try to describe the events as they pass, you'll spend four or five pages covering as many seconds. That can be done, but many readers won't want to read in that level of detail for that long. If you write memory snippets later, a paragraph or two interspersed with other story material, you'll be less likely to cause readers to "work too hard."

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