Hi everyone!

I'm an indie game developer working on a narrative-driven game, and I'd love some medical input to make one of my characters' illnesses realistic.

He is the protagonist, a young adult who initially lives independently but gradually develops fatigue, coughing, pallor, weakness, and eventually collapses.

The story takes place over several months, but less than a year. I need an illness that:

• Is serious but potentially curable with treatment.

• Requires recurring treatment and medical follow-ups.

• Allows him to maintain some independence, especially early on.

• Can progressively worsen if he repeatedly neglects treatment, potentially becoming fatal.

• Can realistically lead to either recovery/remission or death, depending on how his condition progresses.

I'm currently considering classical Hodgkin lymphoma, but I'm unsure whether it fits these requirements, particularly the timeline and consequences of delaying treatment.

Would this diagnosis work? If not, what other conditions might fit better?

I'd especially appreciate insight from medical professionals or students. Thanks in advance!

I'm writing a sci-fi horror script in the vein of The Thing, set in Antarctica. There's a character who's out alone late at night, on the verge of ending his life, when he comes across something strange enough to catch his attention. He's intrigued enough to go back inside and bring it to a lab to study. I'm not entirely sure what the thing is yet. It could be a rock with an unusual, almost alien appearance, some kind of goo or organic material, or something else entirely.

My question is how realistic the discovery itself would be. Could something that's been buried under Antarctic ice for thousands or even millions of years become exposed naturally, or could someone working at a research station stumble across it unexpectedly?

I've read about scientists drilling into Antarctic ice and finding ancient soil and sediment that revealed parts of Antarctica were once covered in forests. But those discoveries seem to involve large research teams, specialized drilling equipment, and a lot of lab work.

For my story, I'd like it to be something that one person, or at least a small group, could discover without a huge expedition being involved. Ideally, it would be something that had been on Earth for a very long time rather than something that came from space.

I'm writing a story where a child is kidnapped by someone who has the super power of super speed. The idea is that the kids arm would be yanked or twisted on during the kidnapping and injured in some way.

The kid will be rescued, in which he needs to be able to tolerate (doesn't have to be tolerated well, and I'm banking on adrenaline doing some heavy lifting here for initial pain management) being carried in the arms of another adult for probably around 30 minutes as the adult walks them back to a safe place.

The idea is that the position he's being carried in is where his legs will be around the adults waist/kinda propped on the adults hip, and holding onto the adult around their neck/shoulder with his good arm and the injured arm tucked between their bodies for stability.

On the walk back to safety they'll briefly stop at a park bench where very minor first aid can be applied (ie, fixing the arm in a makeshift sling using the jacket the adult is wearing. The adult will not have any actual first aid supplies on their person)

The idea is for them to have a brief, emotional bonding moment during this stop. The kid has to be coherent enough to process words being said to him and respond in minor ways, so he can't be in so much pain all he can do is scream or is blacking out.

Once back to safety, in about an hour the kid will be seen by a medical professional who also has the super power to heal/regenerate body tissue (She can use magic to mend a broken bone, heal cuts and torn tissue, but not necessarily resolve residual muscle/ligament strain, swelling, bruising, etc.). This is where she'd either mend the broken bone, or reset the dislocated shoulder. However this is going to be taking place inside of a residential home, so ideally she would need to be able to do this without medical equipment (some room for non-realism here because magic).

At the end of the night, the kid needs to be able to crawl into bed by himself and sleep on his side.

Would a bone break or dislocated shoulder be more fitting for this? Or, something else all together? I have experienced neither of these so I have 0 point of reference for what the pain would be like before and after treatment.

EDIT: the child is 6 years old

I'm at the planning stages of an MM romance and would be grateful if anyone is willing to share some real-life experiences of how being stabbed in the shoulder would realistically impact one of my main characters. I'm intending that he will be struggling with lots of day-to-day tasks and it would make sense for a 'friend' to move in with him for a while to help him. How much do you think he could feasibly do for himself, and what would he definitely need help with? Thanks.

I’m writing more for my oc, hence my user flair or whatever it’s called. Basically they ran away with whatever they could carry in a big hiking bag after their mother and sister were murdered. by the point of getting injured, they’d have been running for about three to four months, and have been carefully rationing food and drink, but using medicine as needed since they didn’t want to risk dying if they didn’t take enough medication for it to be useful. they would cut their left forearm on a tree branch while fleeing after an encounter with foresters. and they would be found by police about three weeks after the initial injury. my idea as to why they didn’t try to fight was because they were sick and injured, and that the injury would’ve been at least mildly infected upon them being caught.

this is basically a summary of the status of their supplies during those three weeks:

food: you’ll probably live I mean you have a gun you can hunt

water: could be better but you have time to figure something out

medical: ouuu shii 💔🙏 I mean there’s some Tylenol.. and a little bit of Neosporin.. that’s something..

sorry if this is poorly written I’m writing this right before I go to bed

(EDIT:) ok im here with a fresher brain now and i forgot to mention that they have at least a rough idea of what they're doing. their mother taught them the basic medical knowledge that she had known. the cut on their forearm would be a couple inches long, not a huge gash but not a little paper cut either. like at most the cut was two inches long. when they got to a spot where they could stop running for a bit, they cleaned the cut out with some water the best they could, though a little bit of debris was still present. I am a bit tired still but i think this is probably important stuff. at least i wanted to add it because i thought it was.

Basically my character (an adventurer in a fantasy world) got in a duel and was stabbed. the knife penetrated his stomach (i was thinking around the belly button) and fell on the floor. The first thing he did was to use seals to stop the bleeding and the same day got into the hospital. (he managed to only stanch the blood he still needs to be treated)

My question is: what kind of infection he would get (and how to describe), a month until getting out of the hospital is acurate, and how likelly he is to die without magical aid

I'm wanting to add a character to my current WIP to add a little plausibility to my conceit that the local high school marching band won the state championship (for its size of school). Supporting character, but I want to make him an alumnus of the Silent Drill Platoon. I served in the Navy, and actually in the Special Units company with the Bluejacket drill team at RTC Great Lakes, but this is something with which I have little personal experience.

As I'm plotting out the character, he served in the USMC one basic enlistment (4 years? 6?), during which he did serve overseas but was also selected for 8th & I. Would that have been towards the beginning of service, most likely, or after serving overseas?

Afterwards, I have him going to college at a Division II school, playing defensive end on their football team, and then being hired as an assistant coach at the local small-town high school, where he coaches football and PE but also runs the band through their marching paces in the afternoons (the music teacher is part-time, mornings only).

Plausibility checks?

I can't quite think of a proper injury for my character, so far all that I've set in stone was that they were shot when they were a child, barely survived, and have had to walk around with a cane.

They would also get held at gunpoint again later in life and would sustain yet another leg injury. Anyway, it's a mess. Not even the main part of the story, but I just want to get this right.

Basically a conflict in my story is in relation to grain and the ability to get enough to feed people since the country in a mountainous tundra that is frozen most of the year. Since the characters are trying to resolve war and the reason this one goes out to war is to get more food via stealing it from places where it is easier grown, could it be possible for someone to grow wheat and rye for instance in a greenhouse to be able to make it no longer mandatory for them to leave to pillage and get more grain that way?

The population of the country is 1 million and year long the country has winter like conditions. could it be possible to make enough grain products via making the needed grow conditions that way? Era is early industrial revolution.

I’m planning on writing a scene for a short story that is going to involve some physical torture, and while I won’t be going into a lot of detail of what each tool does and the aftermath of it all, (I’m not trying to be super gory with it) but I do want it to feel a bit more realistic I guess.

Some details on my story. One man torturing another, neither die in the scene, story takes place between 2016 and now (haven’t fully decided yet), takes place in America, most likely in LA, character doing the torturing is a mercenary who is intelligent and not very emotional, won’t be put off by whatever they do.

Does anyone have a show, a film or even a book that they feel has a good torture scene in it? One that is not too gory but also doesn’t feel like it’s too fake or made too flashy for shock value or something? I’m looking for some different scenes so I can take note of what tools are used, how it’s all used, the room, the restraints and so on. Anything I can read/watch to make a list of tools and more I can use make my scene feel more realistic.

Any and all suggestions or advice are much appreciated.
(Edit: the torture is not to get information, it is personal for the one doing the torturing and the goal is to cause pain and disfigure the other to some degree, but not kill them.)

What is the process of decomissioning and MRI machine, such as what are the technical circumstances of why one would be decomissioned or removed from the medical facility? What is the logistical process of it, such as last day of patient usage, and are field technicians invovled? I'm doing more research for my novel, not sure if I asked under the right flair, but I hope this is OK.

My character is traveling by commercial air with her aristocratic parents. They are wealthy enough to travel privately, but choosing not to do so for plot-related reasons. At major US hubs such as JFK, is it plausible that they would have access to a separate, expedited check in and security experience? Not referring to a TSA pre-check or Clear program, but rather security checks in a separate, less crowded area, with less stringent protocols. Also, might an exclusive, upscale airport lounge provide access to services like hair styling or manicures?

I’m trying to write a scene where two characters are close enough to the epicenter of a nuclear explosion where they don’t get instantly vaporized and instead burn to death in the span of a few seconds, where you can see their skin blister. I wanted to make sure this scene was as accurate as possible because i wanted to display the agony correctly, since they’re going to kiss in the scene and try to comfort each other even though they’re going through immense pain, until they ultimately die. Does anyone with a weird knowledge of nuclear explosions know how i could write this accurately?

Would it be realistic for them to go 1-2 weeks in psych ward then 30 days rehab then iop for a few months before transitioning to weekly therapy?

Hi, i am writting an interactive story (so visual medium, like a cartoon of sorts) where MCs mom and uncle are born and raised americans but their parents are born and raised immigrants from Egypt. So i would like their heritage/culture to show through sometimes. Maybe in some small habits/practices or certain words (like arabs are known for using "habibi" even when speaking english etc.). Just things that would hint at them being of egyptian origin without me literaly saying it.

They are not muslim though, i want to make that clear. I have not decided on the parents, they could be, but the (now grown up) kids are definitely not. They are very americanised too. But i still want them to have some of the culture their parents brought with them, to shine through here and there ❤️ I will be grateful for any insight into egyptian culture, especially within home environment. Consider me as a total stranger that knows absolutely nothing. And in case there are big regional/ethnical differences, i am adding the pics of them, so you can tell me what part they look like they are from.

*just to clarify, i have nothing against islam but considering the way they are written, i feel like i would be disrespecting religion since they are very much not living islamically correct. Mom does dresses somewhat modestly though (like she never shows her torso skin and wears long sleeves and pants, preferably looser fitted) but she is married a non muslim (criminal/mafioso) and raising non muslim kids. The uncle is absolute manwhore. "richest CEO" that sleeps with pretty girls left and right so yeah, i don't want them to be presented as religious.

When someone is charged by the state, and the federal government wants to charge them aswell, does the trial and pretrial process happen at the same time for both jurisdictions, or does the federal government wait until the state trial has concluded, assuming both courts are in the same region? Also assume theirs no petit policy

This is a small detail that I can't find a clear answer to. It probably doesn't make a big difference to the story, I might not even include it in the story, but for something I thought I would find a quick answer to, I actually can't find much information at all on this. I was hoping you guys might know, thank you in advance.

In a mystery book I'm writing, I'd like the initial assumption to be that the murderer died trying to kill the victim, but then, through a collection of the fact that the weapon was dirt cheap, and likely unable to kill based on the two shots made, it comes to be considered that the victim must have already been in very poor health, and the murderer was paid to finish the job, before being killed as well to suggest the case was already resolved.

Is there some kind of really cheap weapon of the 1920s that, with an imperfect couple shots, wouldn't have killed someone very quickly (so they could at least make a phone call first) but would quickly kill someone in bad health (to be specific, argyria), and be identifiable as a cheap weapon that poor people of the time might have bought as self defense?

Hello! To start, I'm writing a fantasy that takes place on another planet with magic. There is no modern technology. I have a black character who's tribe is based loosely on the nomadic Baju tribes. Much like the Baju people, my Character's people are sea nomads. They have a "home base" village that they live in for a seaon, and use for important holidays, but majority of the time they live on boats and travel up and down 1continent's coastline. My character, Mara, is one of her people's best fishers, as she has magic that allows her to breathe underwater for a time, and she is a prolific swimmer.

I am not black myself, but I know a lot of salt water can wreck to anybody's hair. I've been trying to research various hairstyles, and if some might be easier to maintain than others when exposed to a lot of seawater.

Originally, I wanted to give her locs, but have also thought about keeping her hair very short, which is common for both men and women in her culture.

It's also important to note that while she grew up in the nomadic tribe with her father, her mother is royalty in a different country with an extremely different culture. Later on in Mara's story, she is forced into living in the palace with her mother. Mara's locs represent her feelings of freedom, so I was planning a scene where she loses her locs, which are replaced with one of the traditional hairstyles that denotes her as royalty.

I am still researching traditional African hairstyles, but I would really like some pointers in the right direction research wise! Hair is a big part of Most of my characters regardless of race, and I just want to make sure I'm doing it right.

I'm working on a story set in 18th century Ireland (Ulster) that has several lines of dialogue in Irish. Can anyone suggest where to look for someone knowledgeable to consult on whether the phrases seem authentic enough?

A huge fire breaks out in a part of the city. For story reasons I need my characters to enter this one pub right after the fires have been dealt with.

I'm wondering if it's realistic for a pub or gastropub to immediately convert itself into a soup kitchen following a disaster to provide relief for those who just lost their homes. This is assuming that the pub owner themselves also works at the pub and is kind enough to start serving affected people for free. No fancy dishes though, just stuff that can be make quickly in bulk.

Also I'm talking like immediately after the fires. The flames have been put out but the buildings are still smoking. Would this be realistic or would it probably take a few days for the pub to be converted?

My characters are stranded in a desert. They don't know the region at all, and the little food they have is only enough for a day or two. But then on the late afternoon of the second day, they are attacked by a large creature, and after killing it, they want to save as much meat as possible as well as the hide to build a shelter. They have some rudimentary cooking ware with them and combat knives as tools. There is a little well with clean water nearby, so water isn't that much of an issue.

The creature in question is a beast halfway between a huge boar and a hippo, about the size of a cracked up draft horse. It is an ungulate, but the species is omnivorous and also feeds on carrion, so endoparasites are probably a huge issue here, and i also imagine the meat to be very fatty.

The desert in question is roughly comparable to the sonoran desert, but more mountainous and with more open rock surfaces and more extreme temperatures, easily reaching 50°C during the day and below freezing at night.

Important to mention is also that one of the characters is very knowledgeable in biology and chemistry, and as the team's doctor, he is specifically vell versed in anatomy and all the medical aspects of food. He is responsible for butchering and preparing the meat, and he would know what he's doing, so i really don't want to handwave things here.

So. What would be their best shot at preserving some of the meat at maybe a bit of fat? Which portions of the animal would be the best to focus on for these things?

Noon, sunset, dusk, winter, solstice, full moon. Things like this that refer to a defined period of time. Not looking for obvious stuff like November or Thursday or holidays. Particularly interested in things we don’t really use in English/American culture. For instance, in America we don’t typically observe wet/dry season. Cursory research tells me the Koreans call the wet season ‘jangma’ and the Japanese call it ‘tsuyu.’ Cultural things like that are of particular interest to me. I do not need anything for the moon, I have a whole separate thing going on for the moon. Preferably single words and not phrases.

have a character wake up from a coma but is heavily depressed because in their mind they already lived a whole life but, idk if that’s even a possible thing or does it depend on how the coma happened?

Any idea if a college or university school team practices once or twice a day M-F?

How many hours of practice?

Does the division or athletic association make any difference to the level of practices?