: Re: How to write disorientation with sensory overload? My character has super-senses, so anything that we feel, see, hear, etc. are heightened for him. So much so that when a flash bomb is set

@LarsenBagley300

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I highly recommend that you read some exerts from the Animorphs series as it deals with all sorts of sensory issues in the fundamental premise. The heroes all have the ability to change into different animals and will often describe in detail the sensory overload of heightened or diminished senses, and what is dulled vs. what is heightend. The process has a story mechanic that basically results sensory overload induced overwelming instincts of the animal upon morphing into that animal for the first time and it happens often in the book.

This also leads to descriptions of pain and response in fight sequences that are rather well and the author does not hold back... in at least one book, one of the heroes is tortured and the description of it is rather graphic.

While never having been near a flash-bang, I'm familiar with an audio sensory overload and generaly blacking out. Basically the ringing is a singular tone... It sounds like the high pitched version of a telephone's dial tone. As the hearing returns, voices sound muffled, like you're listening to them speak underwater. You'll also feel a general confusion about what just happened.... to the point you honestly do not know where you are. If there is a momentary blackout, there might be some kind of dream that is just as chaotic and will be subject to the real environment a bit more than ordinary dreams... especially if your physical body is moved almost always translating into motion in the dream. The result is that when you come too, it's like sudden transitions in dreams where you don't realize your environment changes until it's too late... only this time you're in the real world and trying to process what happened.

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