: Re: Characters feelings; Using them for pacing/tension I'm writing a novel and in the opening chapter, one of the main characters finds herself traveling by foot through a very severe sandstorm. I

@Berumen699

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While I've never been in a proper sandstorm, I have been on a beach during high winds produced by a nearby Hurricane (it had missed us and gone north, but the winds were still quite strong.). The wind was nothing that could be dangerous to large objects, but it did wip up the sand on the beach surface, which had a mild stinging feeling against exposed skin. In a sand storm where it's impossible to see, there is the risk of the sand causing skin damage (In extreme cases, sand storms can strip meat from bone, though I don't think this is common) and can cause respritory issues from inhailing dust, disease from inhailing virus spores that were on the ground, and in long term exposure, could result in sand getting in the lungs, which is incurable, and could cause cancer or even asphixiation. It can also cause eye damage and even blindness if not protected against.
But the stinging of sand particles moving at wind speeds can hurt even at low speeds and would definately at a level that one could not see due to lowered visibility (and goggles are restricting in periphial vision, which puts humans on edge (I did a lot of swimming and wore glasses so I purchased perscription goggles so I could see reliably and protect my eyes... They were cooler looking than glasses, but they were not comfortable and they didn't have a periphial view, even if my glasses periphials were lousy by comparison.
While you can breath in a sandstorm, it's much more difficult and while you won't suffocate, difficult breathing does cause a panic in humans and most other animals.

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