A suggestion for a novel I've written

[Bastian]

I'm a professional writer (I've also been journalist, now I'm a writer of scenarios for a comics series...) and I just ended a novel that now is under the supervision of my editor. But there's a problem.

In short words, one of the protagonist is a deranged man who begins his criminal activities with offenses and heavy pranks since he's a teenager in late Sixties/early Seventies. In the summer of 1970, when he's 17, he has the idea for his own amusement to kidnap a boy, a 12 years old little brother of a friend of him, chloroforming the kid grabbing him from behind (so the boy could not see his face), hogtying and gagging him in the cellar of an abandoned farm, filming (from a hidden place) his first struggling when he awakes with a Super 8 camera and abandoning him. After many hours a rescue team (in which there's the deranged teenager) frees the kid.

Now, I knew that hogtying is dangerous for overweight persons, people under the influence of drugs or alcool, people with heart problems etc. I thought that a young boy who plays sports and lives in the country around a small rural center, implying that he's in perfect physical condition (in 1970 overweight children were rare also in the Western world) shouldn't have had any problem to stay hogtied for a long period of time.

After I gave my manuscript to my editor to revise it, reading some bondage related stuff, I found out that hogtying a person for a long time could be dangerous in every condition (possibility of positional asphyxia). In the novel the boy is kidnapped around 3 PM, is bound and gagged less than a half hour later, abandoned around 4 PM. So he stays in the cellar all the rest of the day, then all the night, then the early hours of light the day after, when he's rescued. A span of time too long.

Yes, the only time I tried hogtie, when I was 23, I stayed in that position for about a hour. I was slim and still very flexible and I was able to change by myself the position from the belly to my side so I had any problem. It was a great experience. But the boy in the novel is hogtied for about 18 hours!

So, I ask for a suggestion. There's anything very similar to hogtie but safer? I had an idea (tying a long lenght of rope tied up to the boys' ankles to a hook in the wall), but I don't like it.

[TomYi]

What is your concern about this unrealistic scenario? Are you worried that your audience will see that and mistakenly think that it's possible, thus leading to someone getting hurt? Are you concerned that people familiar with the subject will see that and lose their suspension of disbelief?

Honestly, this sounds to me like one of those things that will fly over most people's heads. If the audience is invested in the story, they're apt to let an inaccuracy like that slide.

[sami200456boyfriend]

Being hogtied that long could make people think he’s in pain, maybe just a regular chair tie would work

[Bastian]

What is your concern about this unrealistic scenario? Are you worried that your audience will see that and mistakenly think that it's possible, thus leading to someone getting hurt? Are you concerned that people familiar with the subject will see that and lose their suspension of disbelief?

Honestly, this sounds to me like one of those things that will fly over most people's heads. If the audience is invested in the story, they're apt to let an inaccuracy like that slide.

Yes, it's probable. Most of the my potential readers will not notice this inaccuracy. But still this thing bothers me. If the boy had been hogtied only for three o four hours, considering that while he's struggling he changes his position (it's written in the novel), it should have been believable. But 18 hours... uhm.

Being hogtied that long could make people think he’s in pain, maybe just a regular chair tie would work

I'd have to rewrite a lot of pages with this solution, while I'm trying to modify only few phrases of the chapter.

[Aphrodite]

Maybe just having the hogtie being loose would work as then the boy's weight would be spread over a larger area (his thighs and torso). But I'd probably say people aren't generally as knowledgeable about the dangers of specific ties as you so they'd likely let it slide or not realize the inacuracy.

Also having the boy be found on his side may also reduce the likely hood, of course this isn't something I'd teat on someone

[Beaumains]

Keeping someone gagged for such a long period of time after he is chloroformed would maybe even more dangerous than a proper hogtie. If he would throw up, he would be dead. Bondage is never completely safe.

Bodies naturally need movement, and 18 hours without a muscle to move is a lot. For example, most people move in their sleep and bed sores is a common problem in hospitals.

I would say that the safest methods would be either to completely mummify him in a sleeping bag, have him in a (loose) spread-eagle (with possibly his legs together, or a cage. If you choose to have very tight bondage to make it escape-proof, you could use chains instead as they allow more movement to the victim while being inescapable. Another option would be to tape his hands into balls (or boxing gloves, oven mitts...) and make it impossible to pick on the the knots.

[Bastian]

Thanks for the suggestions!

Keeping someone gagged for such a long period of time after he is chloroformed would maybe even more dangerous than a proper hogtie. If he would throw up, he would be dead. Bondage is never completely safe.

No, the kidnapper gags the boy only in the moment he realizes that his victim is going to wake up.

Another option would be to tape his hands into balls (or boxing gloves, oven mitts...) and make it impossible to pick on the the knots.

Uhm, good idea.

[Bastian]

I talked with my editor to say him about some major change in the plot of the whole novel, included the kidnapping of the boy. I'm going to modify some thing (the hogtie is enough loose to let him breath with few problems and the way he's gagged is different and safer).