A shooting in a Book

[Lydia777]

Hi. I'm writing a book set in Victorian London where a character gets shot in the city. I want him to be able to get from the place where he gets shot to another place a few minutes away with the help of his friend (without dying!) Any ideas whether this is feasible or just impossible? Maybe he could get shot in the arm? I'd appreciate any advice, thank you.

A shot in the arm shouldn't be fatal (initially - I guess whether the character survived would depend on blood loss and subsequent infection). I don't think it would be unfeasible for someone badly wounded to stagger on for a few minutes - plenty of people survived gunshot wounds in WW1 a few years post-Victorian era.

Why would it be different to now? Dependent on what damage they incurred when shot, how much bleeding, whether ambulation was impaired (shot in leg would make it harder to move themselves), whether they could staunch the bleeding and how far they needed to walk? As PP said, shot in the arm - feasible, shot in the thigh then more bleeding from the femoral artery and/or difficult walking if biones are broken. Shot in the head or heart then the issue might not be being able to walk for a few minutes, rather surviving at all.

Good luck.

Get the friend to tie a tourniquet to slow the bleeding from the arm. assuming character is young and healthy?

Lose a finger? You might have enough panicked adrenaline to move yourself sharpish away from the scene but it isn’t an immediate death/immobile/faint. Then you gain a character with a missing finger and a story about it for the sequel.

It’s possible. The shot could be in leg or arm. Or the bullet could have just grazed him even.

Thank you all so much-I really appreciate the time you have taken to reply. I'm not a bad writer but pretty stupid when it comes to medicine/science topics!:)

Huey P Long:
Pavy's son-in-law, Carl Weiss, approached Long, and, according to the generally accepted version of events, fired a single shot with a handgun from four feet (1.2 m) away, striking Long in the torso. Long was able to run down a flight of stairs and across the capitol grounds, hailing a car to take him to the Our Lady of the Lake Hospital.

I tend to google such things. I did google for one story about gunshot wounds, and ended up giving my character a graze across the arm. painful, but not debilitating, I think was roughly the conclusion.

In the same book I also googled weapons on the PM's car and laying a bomb across a gas main. I was surprised I didn't end up with a call from the anti-terrorism police.
I did end up putting a few searches between them that were clearly about writing in the hope that would give them an idea of what I was doing. Of course if that puts them off then terrorists could use that too!