I hope it'll be okay to ask for this here . . . I'm hoping to start writing a M*A*S*H fanfiction story where one of the characters gets hurt and is in a coma and the others don't know if he'll pull through. Anyway, my question is: What would be the best way to injure him? I was thinking more of a head injury than getting shot, but what do y'all say? . ..

Originally posted by Lucky_Ladybug66
I hope it'll be okay to ask for this here . . . I'm hoping to start writing a M*A*S*H fanfiction story where one of the characters gets hurt and is in a coma and the others don't know if he'll pull through. Anyway, my question is: What would be the best way to injure him? I was thinking more of a head injury than getting shot, but what do y'all say? . ..

I just finished writing a story which has to do with biological warfare in Korea (no, not a longshot, JAMA online discusses it in great detail) a subject the original MASH creators never dealt with.

Anyways, I think you should injure your character in a sniper attack. There were jeep, bus and ambulance accidents all the time in the series, and I think that a flesh wound or a concussion could result if the sniper was far enough away, the character was wearing his helmet, etc. You would need a hemotoma to cause a coma and an operation to relieve the pressure. You are going to have to bring in a neuro surgeon and use the old "He's too sensitive to move!" ploy to justify why they don't evac the character to Tokyo.

This also sounds like a sub-plot opportunity. You could have the sniper killed while trying to escape capture, and have one of the characters question their stance on death as a punishment ("I felt good when I heard the news and I now I feel terrible.") This all makes interesting MASH fodder.

I write my fiction as 24-28 page shooting scripts, so I have the constraint of writing it as episodes of the series. This also forces me to think about the way the characters spoke, the layout of the camp, etc.

Steve

I think the injured character should be Radar!