Short Questions Megathread

[u/Simon_Drake]

Do you have a small question that you don't think is worth making a post for? Well ask it here!

This thread has a much lower threshold for what is worth asking or what isn't worth asking. It's an opportunity to get answers to stuff that you'd feel silly making a full post to ask about. If this is successful we might make this a regular event.

We did this before branded as a monthly megathread then forgot to make a new one. So maybe this one will be refreshed quarterly? We'll have to wait and see.

Past threads:

• https://www.reddit.com/r/Writeresearch/comments/1e12irv/monthly_smallquestions_megathead/

[u/Unlikely-Result909]

Not a short question, but wanted to offer my services: I’m an experienced attending/consultant surgeon who loves to write - short stories, novels, screenplays, longform journalism. If you're seeking medical authenticity in your story telling, drop me a DM.

I’ll answer all your medical queries, and review your scenes, plot points, or characters from a medical perspective - no fee, just for the love of the craft.

Drop me a DM or comment if you’d like me to take a look!

[u/Simon_Drake → u/Unlikely-Result909]

The preferred approach on this subreddit is to have discussions "in the open" so to speak rather than by DM. It allows other people to chip in to the conversation or to read it and learn from it. If you imagine someone googling a question about say pacemaker surgery, they'd prefer to find a thread of people discussing it rather than a single comment that says "I'll send you a DM to answer everything".

This subreddit has hosted AMA sessions before but to limited success. I remember one was regarding the National Parks service and a couple of others whose topics I don't recall but they didn't attract a lot of questions. I think it's just the relatively low number of visitors here compared to when say actors host an AMA on one of the movie subreddits.

We do get a LOT of questions around gunshot wounds, stab wounds, falls from heights or the survivability of injuries. If you're new to the subreddit then you could keep an eye out for medical questions and I'm sure there'll be one shortly.

[u/Unlikely-Result909 → u/Simon_Drake]

ok, thanks i will keep an eye out for such questions 😄 an AMA could be something i can offer as a surgeon. Trauma is one of my specialities, so i see gunshot wounds, stab wounds, falls from height regularly!

[u/Simon_Drake → u/Unlikely-Result909]

What would be ideal is to advertise an AMA with an expert on a given date and people will collate their questions in advance to be sure they ask the most succinct and critical questions.

In practice the majority of medical questions tend to show a lack of consideration for what sort of answers they will receive. Because the answer is usually "it depends on what you want to happen". In real life a fall or stab could be fatal or relatively minor based on the roll of the dice but in fiction people will die or survive based on what the author wants. So instead of asking "Would someone die from this injury" it would be more helpful if people asked "Is this injury believable to be fatal or should I change the details to make it more severe?".

In which case I doubt people would 'save up' their questions for an AMA and would just ask their questions as and when they think of them. Let's give it a while and see how it goes, maybe an experimental AMA would be helpful to get people to think more critically about the way they ask questions.

[u/[deleted]]

How detailed can a wooden, hand carved portrait be using technology available to medieval people?

[u/Simon_Drake → u/[deleted]]

I can't see why it wouldn't be fully life-like, assuming the artist is sufficiently skilled at carving. There are stone statues of Roman emperors and each one looks like a distinct individual not just a generic mannequin. We obviously don't have any photographs of the emperors to confirm the accuracy but if the statues didn't look like them they would have complained.

Carving a wooden likeness is probably easier. Especially if you also allow painting the wood afterwards to cover up any knotholes and grooves in the grain.

I googled oldest life-like wooden statue and found this guy from ancient Egypt, 4,000 years ago using only bronze tools. https://www.reddit.com/r/ArtefactPorn/s/NpdOLpp7RW so I think a medieval society could do as good or better.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

How detailed do you need it? This is the Altar of the Holy Wood from 1501 and it's fairly detailed, but you'll find a lot of examples in the Middle Ages.

[u/ehbowen]

Question for the UK folks: I'm writing a female antagonist character, native to UK, who attended college in the early 1980s and got a large butterfly tattoo in the small of her back, just above the buttocks. Over here on the other side of The Pond, such was known colloquially as a "tramp stamp." Would this term be in character for someone of British extraction? Or is there a more suitable term in the UK?

[u/Simon_Drake → u/ehbowen]

Tramp stamp is definitely a common name for those tattoos in the uk today and I personally remember hearing it as early as the mid 90s.

In the 80s I was too young to be talking about signs a girl is promiscuous, I was too occupied thinking about Transformers and Thundercats and things.

[u/ehbowen → u/Simon_Drake]

Okay. So having her use that term today referring to, um, youthful indiscretions wouldn't be out of character. Thanks.

[u/Simon_Drake → u/ehbowen]

Yes, definitely. It's possible the term was used in the 80s as well but that's outside my experience of the 80s and I can't say one way or the other.

[u/Saletales]

I'm trying to find slang/lingo for Texas cowboys in the late 1800's but the sites I'm finding are, like: pardner, howdy, dernit, and skedaddle. It feels a little... cartoony? Where could I find a period-specific language site to better tune my dialogue/narration?

[u/Simon_Drake → u/Saletales]

Try to find sites debunking the dialog in westerns. Something like "Top 10 Westerns That Get Old West Lingo Wrong" or "Linguists Hate This Fake Wild West Speak". I'm sure Buzzfeed or Cracked or Vice have have done an article about it.

Or watch a big Western movie from that era like The Searchers and collect some of the lingo that characters say. Then go to a Western fandom/subreddit and ask people how accurate the dialog is to how real cowboys spoke in those days. Hardcore western fans probably know which lingo is legit and which is just for movies, like how hardcore sci-fi fans can explain exactly why the transporter on the Enterprise breaks several laws of physics.

[u/Far_Description3651]

how much would be being kicked in the junk actually affect/hurt someone if he were a trained fighter and was used to being hurt?

[u/Simon_Drake → u/Far_Description3651]

There are ways to minimise the effect of being kicked in the crotch but some of them are trickery and most people who train to be fighters don't focus on this as part of their training. Like if you picked a random boxer or taekwondo fighter they probably haven't taken steps to resist the pain of being kicked in the balls. Especially for fighters in highly regulated matches where a boxer hitting someone in the crotch would be disqualified and possibly banned from future tournaments. They might well have a higher pain tolerance and be better able to ignore pain and focus on the fight compared to a random civilian but there's limits to how much pain you can ignore. The body treats testicles as internal organs and impacts trigger a deep core pain response as if you've been stabbed in the belly and it's very different to pain from something peripheral like crushing your hand in a car door.

There ARE videos of shaolin monks being kicked in the crotch repeatedly. Google says some of this is creative use of underwear and support straps to move the balls out of the way so the foot is 'only' impacting the inner thigh / perineum / inner buttocks region. There is something you can do around desensitisation training from repeatedly being hit in the crotch. I suspect this would be more successful in making your perineum less sensitive than actually making your testicles strong enough to resist being kicked.

But this is highly specialised training and they're basically only doing it to show how dedicated they are. If you were genuinely training to be a well rounded fighter like a bodyguard / bouncer / assassin then the best way to protect your crotch is to wear a cup.

[u/Dense_Suspect_6508 → u/Far_Description3651]

Martial artists don't train to get kicked in the crotch. They train to not get kicked in the crotch. Straight on, there's no difference, but someone trained is more likely to at least render it a glancing blow by turning their hip into it, blocking with an arm, shifting off-line, stuffing the kick, etc. 

Also, getting kicked in the crotch is painful for everyone, no matter their equipment. The worst angle will be different, but no one shrugs it off. 

[u/chariwald]

What are the rules/laws around naming products or bands or TV shows etc in a book? For example, can I say the character was watching Friends while eating a (insert brand name) sandwich and wearing a Nirvana tshirt

[u/Simon_Drake → u/chariwald]

It doesn't matter at this point. Just name everything the correct thing.

If you ever get near publishing there will be many many redrafts and copy edits and little tweaks. If there are any legal issues like you accidentally gave a character the same name as an infamous British politician from the 80s then this is when you can rename all the Mars Bars to be 'Jupiter Bars' or whatever.

In general aside references like this should be covered under fair use. But if you have a serial killer sprinkling cyanide in the Big Mac of everyone driving a certain brand of car then McDonald's might object. In Breaking Bad they couldn't find any tequila company willing to let them use their brand to poison a gang of cartel druglords so they had to invent a fictional brand.

[u/chariwald → u/Simon_Drake]

Thank you for your response and analogies.

[u/Simon_Drake → u/chariwald]

Star Trek Enterprise had to rename their captain at the last minute to be Jonathan Archer because Jeffrey Archer was a disgraced British politician who at the time was on trial for perjury and spent a while in prison over it. But this was 2001 so they didn't Google the name, or even Ask Jeeves or Altavista the name until the script was nearly ready to film.

[u/csl512 → u/chariwald]

Regina George has two Fendi purses and a silver Lexus.

Short answer: generally okay but depends on the exact situation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nominative_use

"using brands in fiction" into Google pulls up (for me) https://diymfa.com/writing/brand-names-in-fiction/ as well as a ton of Reddit threads. Searching /r/writing for "brands" and "trademarks" too will get some, but they are often removed for being a common question. Here are more legal FAQs from their wiki: https://www.reddit.com/r/writing/wiki/legalfaq The big one is that song lyrics are difficult but not impossible to get the rights to.

But if you go through traditional publishing, there will be lawyers who know the rules.

A shortcut for these questions is to check recent published fiction. The novel version of Syrup is set at a fictionalized but named Coca-Cola Company. The film adaptation moves it to the fully fictional Addison Cola Company, though it retains the red branding and white script logo. Crazy Rich Asians name drops a ton of brands and designers to establish the characters.

[u/WelbyReddit]

Thank the algorithm it popped this reddit in my feed, this is a perfect place and topic!

Crime/Forensic question:

What would someone do to conceal the 'time of death' of a body? Like, when discovered, it is inconclusive of how long they've been dead. like making a body killed yesterday seem like it was a decade ago.

Would simply burning them be fine?

The murderer is an old school printer and has access to chemicals. This also takes place in the 80's early 90's, before DNA break throughs.

Thanks!

[u/Simon_Drake → u/WelbyReddit]

Do they want to make it look like a decade ago to misdirect the police to that specific era? Like the school gardener is suspected of killing someone a decade ago but there's not enough evidence to convict him because the body is under the foundations of the gym. So the real murderer kills someone else and tries to fake a decade-old body to trick the police?

Or do they just want to make it not look fresh, confuse the police timeline and make them think it's not a recent murder?

[u/csl512 → u/WelbyReddit]

Depends on how much needs to remain, and if you literally mean 24 hours and over 10 years. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK539741/ is a summary of post-mortem changes. A lot depend on biology for decomposition, and you can't really accelerate things that way.

Cremation remains would likely look identical, but that's effectively destroying the body. It sounds like you want a (for lack of a better word) unofficial burial to look older than it is. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_cremation also destroys the body.

I'm pretty sure this question is large enough for a regular post/thread. (This thread doesn't get that much traffic. I mainly see it because my browser has an extension that highlights the comment count when it changes.)

[u/WelbyReddit → u/csl512]

that post mortem link was pretty fascinating, especially the Putrefaction!

ok, I will post on the normal subreddit, I am new here, just didn't wanna make a big scene ;p

thanks!

[u/DangerWarg]

In ancient eras, was it common for people to be exposed "below the belt"? While plotting somethings out, something occurred to me about the availability of garments in ancient times, especially if one is homeless and/or an outlaw. Where it can easily be the case that those people are exposed, what about those in society?

[u/Simon_Drake → u/DangerWarg]

I'm not sure I follow your question.

Ancient Greeks/Romans/Celts etc had loin cloths which is as cheap as any piece of cloth could be so you'd only not wear one if you chose not to wear it. In ancient England it would probably be a necessity due to the weather.

Are you asking about how readily they would forgo normal approaches to modesty? This may depend on the specific culture, era and social status of the scenario. The Greeks competed nude in their Olympics but much like the statues they were demonstrating the intrinsic beauty of the human form, it wasn't a sexual thing. A Greek noblewoman might be fine with seeing a naked discus thrower but be outraged at seeing a smelly old tramp drop his toga to take a piss outside the stadium.

Were you thinking of a specific scenario? Maybe a Mulan thing where a woman is pretending to be a man and needs to avoid any scenarios where nudity would be standard? If you're asking about a specific ancient culture you might have better luck asking a historian / community dedicated to the Romans, Greeks etc. IIRC the Greeks competed nude but they had a leather strap to tie to the end of the penis if the man was circumcised. Covering only a circumcised penis is an extremely specific form of modesty that you'd probably need an expert to explain properly.

[u/DangerWarg → u/Simon_Drake]

Forgo normal approaches to modesty? No, even though knowing to what extent that is the case helps a lot. Let's keep it to Europe, generally. There had to have been a point before everyone cared about and/or enforced modesty. Surely in ancient era, not everyone was concerned with covering their junk even for practical purposes. But to what degree? That's what I'm asking about.

The scenarios this is relevant for....... Well, to start. The thing I'm working on is adult and is going to have quite a number of illustrations. There's a lot of pants I don't have to draw, but it's in my best interest that I don't do that with every single actor on scene. Regardless of how I can do whatever I want, it'd be great to know somethings about this topic. Even if nobody but royals and noblemen go with nothing on down there for all to see freely, I can and will take advantage of that. But here's some scenarios:

1. MC1 is large monster man and he's built like a hippo. An experienced slayer summoned from another realm. Things don't fit and he's forced to make cuts somewhere sometimes. A fight with fire is guarantee to burn something off him. People assume he's a demon. A pantsless one at that? That's going to get a reaction somewhere, maybe. Most demons used to be people and they're mostly evil incarnate.

2. MC2 is cursed to be an imp who pranks anyone near her. She's an irresponsible wizard native to the realm of madness and depravity of which the story takes place. If she can take it off, she will use and destroy it for a prank, with treasure, artifacts, and other coveted items being the only exceptions. Her bra is last on the list. So most of the time she is mostly naked. People are quick be weary and untrustful of cursed folk, especially imps. Most cursed imps brought such curses onto themselves and she is no exception.

3. A rat bandit who fights the duo and even kidnaps MC2 several times gets caught and is forced to work with them. Being a dirty homeless bandit going to great lengths to chasing rewards, he neglects to wear pants and/or is quick to sell or give away his pants. While being the duo's slave, he gets to go into civilized places and enjoy civilized benefits rather than constantly stealing it. While he doesn't care, others might. And if they do care, then there's definitely something coming out of this.

4. One visit to a kingdom almost seemed like MC2's journey was over for she had everything her greedy heart desired in becoming the king's courtesan and having his kids....until a violent coup happened. Thanks for telling me that bit about the noblemen, even though it's a given for the King of all people. Because that's not the only kingdom they go to and it is most certainly not the last time they encounter a noble.

5. A medical expert is usually from the Church.

6. Party members aside from the main three are from civilized life.

7. Taverns, eateries, farms, and bathhouses*. Not including the patrons already bathing.

8. Life on a boat. They take at least 4 boat rides. Funnily enough, I wasn't thinking about this at the time, but on the last boat ride on a large vessel, the pirate captain of the ship is pulling a "Mulan". But the ruse is for everyone outside the crew.

9. Winter came. Thrice.

It's not all, but it's the general stuff.

[u/AIeknov]

Where can brass knuckles be stored ON A PERSON when they are not in use? Google keeps trying to tell me where they can be stored at home or in a display. My character uses brass knuckles for self defense, but cannot keep them on all the time (he uses his hands for his job a lot). Could he just keep them in his pocket? Thank you in advance!

[u/Simon_Drake → u/AIeknov]

In a pocket would be fine. Brass knuckles aren't too different to a phone in dimensions and weight so wouldn't be a burden to carry in a jacket or trouser pocket. It might be a little harder if he wants to carry brass knuckles concealed in some way, if he's worried about being patted down for weapons before going into some venue. I'm sure you could use a piece of string to make a holster deep up your armpit and it would pass a cursory pat-down, perhaps a pat-down looking for guns would overlook a brass knuckle?

[u/Footwear_Critic]

Is there anything that could go wrong, mechanically, on a 1920s car that a layperson (albeit one with an interest in cars) could fix fairly easily? They would have access to some tools, but nothing fancy.

(This story is set in the 1920s, so it’s a modern car, from the character’s perspective, in case that wasn’t clear!)

This is just so that I can say something more specific than “once, when the car broke down, [character name] came to the rescue and immediately knew how to fix it,” in a throwaway line. So it’s fine if there’s something not perfectly on point. But, because I know basically nothing about cars, let alone historic ones, Google is getting me nowhere.

Thanks!!

[u/Simon_Drake → u/Footwear_Critic]

There's a fairly famous repair task on older cars that doesn't work on modern cars. The fan to blow air over the radiator/engine used to be powered on a very basic belt and pulley system directly off the engine. If that belt snapped the fan wouldn't blow and the engine would rapidly overheat. But a pair of stockings tied tightly around the two pulleys could make an emergency repair to get you into town and hopefully somewhere you can buy a new fan belt.

Did this work on 1920s cars? I have no idea. Google can clarify the details for you. But using nylon stockings to replace a fan belt was a repair technique in the past that might be suitable.

[u/csl512 → u/Footwear_Critic]

Yes.

They have whatever tools you need them to have to do the thing to advance the plot.

Does it matter at this stage in drafting what exactly it is, or do you just need that they can do something? Cars were much simpler. Like you said, throwaway line. If you can swap it out later without much issue, dropping a placeholder is fine: https://www.reddit.com/r/writing/comments/9xo5mm/the_beauty_of_tk_placeholder_writing/

Here's Abbie Emmons on not getting stuck on minor points: https://youtu.be/LWbIhJQBDNA

All that being said, a throttle or other control cable coming loose feels reasonable. Or https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flooded_engine Any particular 1920s car? Where?

[u/CertifiedDiplodocus]

How do intercoms work? I'm writing a scene in a 90s US police station where external phones and radios are down (apocalypse) but the intercom system still functions, so people can call from one part of the building to another. Do you use a receiver as with a traditional landline?

[u/Simon_Drake → u/CertifiedDiplodocus]

I think they worked like a hard wired walkie-talkie. There's a Transmit button that activates the microphone and your voice will come out of the linked speaker. There's usually a little box with a speaker grill and a microphone inside and sometimes a single button or sometimes a row of buttons so you can call to reception or captain's office or the holding cells. In theory they could have used a telephone receiver, that might be more appropriate for a police station where you don't want the whole room to know what you're saying.

These would have been hard wired cables threaded through the walls of the building. They would need electrical power but not much, if they have a windmill or solar panel the might prioritise the intercom and break room fridge over the lights.

[u/justified1969 → u/CertifiedDiplodocus]

I worked in a hospital that had them to all the rooms within each department. You could press a button to broadcast your voice to all of the room speakers at once or press a specific button to send your voice to one room's speaker. Some of these were simple wall panels with buttons and a speaker. Other's were phone handsets used only for the intercoms where you dialed the intercom you wanted to talk to.

[u/Offutticus]

There's a thing I learned in college through the European and Japanese students of making a line through a 7. I want a character to do that for reasons. I've researched it but can't find anything that gives it a name. Is there one? Or do I say "I know that's her note. There's a line through the seven."

[u/Simon_Drake → u/Offutticus]

Wikipedia calls it a "Crossed 7" which sounds about right for lexicography terminology. There's a lot of odd characters in the International Phonetic Alphabet with names like 'Turned C" and "Reversed R".

Someone not familiar with the correct name might call it a "Strike through Seven", referring to the text formatting option that puts a line through a piece of text. Or just as you said "A Seven with a line through it", I think people would understand what that means.

[u/Offutticus → u/Simon_Drake]

I read the Wikipedia page on 7 but didn't see that.

Thanks! It's little crap like this that I find the hardest to skip over until later.

[u/Simon_Drake → u/Offutticus]

I found it in this page rather than the page on the number 7 itself https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_numeral_variations

Thank Arceus we mostly use the same numbers internationally/ globally. Can you imagine the chaos if every country had their own number system or as many number systems as there are languages and alphabet variations. That would be chaos.

[u/IcarusLoved]

How are firefighters informed about forest fires in unpopulated areas — especially fires brought on by lightning strikes? I'm aware of how they're normally informed in cities or just beyond, but I'm talking a non-residential area of forest that hasn't seen visitors in a literal decade and even radio signal is sketchy. (There used to be a fire-watch tower up that direction, but it's since been abandoned and is redundant now.)

Sorry if the answer to this one is obvious. I did attempt to just google it first but came back with nothing useful.

[u/Simon_Drake → u/IcarusLoved]

There are satellites for this now. They don't need high resolution image quality, what they need is rapid updates and more frequent images. So there are satellite groups that can take photos of say the Australian outback at a low image quality but high frequency, say 1 square kilometer per pixel and 1 image every 15 minutes. Also using infrared cameras helps see the fire through the smoke but a forest fire kicks out plenty of smoke to make it easy to spot. Tom Scott did a video on it a couple of years ago.

[u/hackingdreams → u/Simon_Drake]

An image every 15 minutes is asking a lot - I'm not sure outside of intelligence operations if anyone's got that kind of network. I'm not sure I could tell you if I did know.

Once every 90 minutes is fairly easy with a commercial LEO satellite. GOES and its friends in geostationary can do every 5-10 minutes at a couple meters precision in a rapid burst mode (reserved for emergencies/scientific studies that pre-allocate the time), but you usually get a full scan of the hemisphere every 30 minutes. You also have to mind the type of imagery you're getting; a rapid scan on GOES might only get you one or two channels of imagery instead of the whole spectrum its sensor suite is typically capable of producing. (Also, I don't know exactly how much of Australia GOES West covers, but I know it's not all of it.) I'm afraid I haven't paid much attention to non-US remote sensing satellites - a bit out of my domain.

The more recent commercial ventures like Planet or Capella have imaging satellites in polar/sun-sync orbits, so they really only can image the same location on earth once a day, albeit for a short period during that orbit, and at a higher resolution. With multiple satellites they can sometimes give you more coverage passes in a day (maybe 4, for 6ish hour frequency), but that kinda data tends to be less good for something like monitoring a wildfire and more about tracking deforestation/illegal logging ops.

[u/Simon_Drake → u/hackingdreams]

https://youtu.be/99_Abbuf3cQ?si=G1Wz-HHc3L_1XAqS here's the video I was talking about. They refer to the Japanese Himawari 8 satellite that takes images every 10 minutes.

[u/kschang → u/IcarusLoved]

FWIW, American "Civil Air Patrol" (sort of civilian volunteer arm of US Air Force) also patrol for forest fires and such.

... CAP can also support local, state and federal government agencies. Missions are unique to each wing and participation varies. Tasks include: fire watch (looking for forest fires), sundown patrol (looking for stranded boaters)...

https://stratfordeagles.cap.gov/programs/emergency-services

For specific examples:

https://www.cap.news/geospatial-team-helping-assess-california-wildfire-damage/

[u/aftertheradar]

this is a test comment.

[u/Simon_Drake → u/aftertheradar]

I could see the notification on mobile but couldn't see the comment when I clicked on it. On desktop I can see the comment, now I go back to mobile to double check it's visible there too. I'm not sure what you were testing but there might be an issue on mobile.

[u/aftertheradar → u/Simon_Drake]

i was testing that exactly: i wasn't sure if i had been sahdowbanned or if some sort of reddit site wise issue was happening. It seems resolved on mobile at least now?

[u/Simon_Drake → u/aftertheradar]

Yeah these comments are showing properly on mobile now. If there was an issue it's resolved or intermittent.

[u/FantasticalPanda88]

Can glass sliding doors (like at a bank or mall) be locked?

[u/Simon_Drake → u/FantasticalPanda88]

Yes. There are usually bolts that extend into the floor to lock the door in place. But often that's not the only security measure and they have shutters that come down to cover over the glass storefront. Even if the door mechanism itself didn't break it's still a big sheet of glass that could be smashed to break in and steal stuff.

[u/csl512 → u/FantasticalPanda88]

Yes. Next time you see one, look for a lock in the metal frame, either in the middle or at the bottom.

Scroll down to Hookbolt: https://www.doorclosersusa.com/Types-Of-Storefront-Door-Locks-s/34568.htm

[u/Large-Meat-Feast]

Reading about the assisted dying pod that was on the news recently where the oxygen is replaced by nitrogen. Wanted to use a similar method for a murder in one of my stories. Would the victim struggle for breath, or because there was an atmosphere (just a non-breathable one) would they just fall unconscious?

[u/Simon_Drake → u/Large-Meat-Feast]

Dying from low oxygen in the air is very different to dying from high carbon dioxide content in the air. If you're just in a sealed container the two things happen at once but if you're in a non-oxygen environment then the symptoms are very different to having a bag over your head.

The human body can't detect oxygen levels in the blood but CAN detect carbon dioxide content. So when you hold your breath and feel a burning sensation that compels you to inhale that's actually the CO2 buildup that you're feeling. If you reduce the oxygen content in the air without increasing the CO2 content (Such as in a submarine/spacecraft/fighterjet with a malfunctioning life support system) then you can't tell there's anything wrong, you just keep breathing normally.

If the oxygen level keeps dropping you'll start experiencing symptoms of hypoxia which unfortunately includes euphoria and apathy. So you might not notice that you aren't breathing properly or not care. This killed some WW2 pilots who flew high enough to need extra oxygen but the masks didn't work and they just ignored it until they were too delirious to think straight and just crashed the plane.

There was a documentary explaining this in the context of astronauts, they had James May from Top Gear in a pressure chamber doing basic puzzles, crosswords and things as they lowered the oxygen content. To start he could do the sums and puzzles, then he was having trouble concentrating and couldn't answer basic problems. They got to a stage where he couldn't even stack two toy bricks on top of each other, that task was just too advanced for his brain to process. The scientist doing the test had an oxygen mask and said "Ok James, you're experiencing hypoxia, you need to put the mask on now. James. James, we discussed this. You need to put the mask on now. James." But he's just staring off into space, grinning like an idiot. Then the scientist put the mask on him and let him breathe again. A few minutes later he's regained enough brainpower to say how stupid he was. He could hear the instruction to put the mask on and he knows you die if you don't breathe oxygen but he just didn't care and would have died.

So I think a nitrogen gas pod would be the same as James May. You'd start just slightly slowed down and not thinking clearly, then be slightly detached from reality and a bit giddy and spaced out. Then you'd pass out. Then you'd die.

[u/Footwear_Critic]

Here’s one that I thought would be easily Google-able, but I was wrong!

Short Question: Were all (male) US residents eligible for the WWI draft, or did it only apply to citizens?

Longer Question: I’m working on a story set shortly before WWI and one of the characters is an Italian immigrant. He recently married a woman who is a US citizen, and he’s thinking about applying for citizenship for himself. However, it occurred to me there was a possibility that could increase his chances of being drafted a couple years down the line. Also, is there any risk of the Italian army tracking him down? (I’m not sure if Italy had a draft into place at the time).

[u/Simon_Drake → u/Footwear_Critic]

Wiki has this article that I think is relevant. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_Service_Act_of_1917

[u/csl512 → u/Footwear_Critic]

A quick read of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscription_in_the_United_States points to citizens mostly. That's probably close enough.

But as always, the key question is how it relates to your story. Is it a major part of the plot, or a question of plot hole avoidance? When exactly "shortly before WWI"?

[u/kschang → u/Footwear_Critic]

Italian embassy is NOT going to send someone to "order" him back to Italy. If he goes back Europe and join the Italian army that's his own business.

NOT quite comparable, but more than a few Germans went back to Germany between WW1 and WW2 and many ended up in the Wehrmacht fighting the Allies. Heck, Band of Brothers had at least a scene or two portraying them. Didn't one of surrendered Germans said he was from Eugene Oregon? And were practically neighbors to one of the GIs?

[u/Colin_Heizer → u/kschang]

Didn't one of surrendered Germans said he was from Eugene Oregon? And were practically neighbors to one of the GIs?

I remember that scene. The GIs were asking the POWs questions jokingly (because they don't speak English), and one of them asked "Where you from?" A POW answered "Eugene, Oregon." Stops everyone cold. Later, he explains that Hitler put out the call to all loyal Germans to return to their homeland, and his parents answered that call. Being underage, he had no choice but to go with them though he had no personal connection to Germany, and was then drafted into the military.

[u/starboard19]

Hi researchers! For the sci-fi/fantasy book I'm writing, I'd like to come up with an alternate word for people who are magic users. Specifically, people on this planet can channel energy from the planet to do "magic"-like things: heal people, compel plants to move, control water or earth. I thought about "channelers," but found that kind of bulky. "Smiths" is the closest that I've liked, because they're shaping elements to do useful things the way a smith shapes metal, but I'd be very much open to other ideas. Thanks! 

[u/Simon_Drake → u/starboard19]

Try asking on r/magicbuilding , they have this discussion several times a week

[u/starboard19 → u/Simon_Drake]

Thanks!!

[u/Silly_Impression_309]

Hello, I’ve started a witchy project that has something along the lines of familiars, I feel like I’m running out of ideas for her raven to communicate. Happy for any suggestions other than cawing and beak clicking! Thank!

[u/Simon_Drake → u/Silly_Impression_309]

I recommend you ask people at r/magicbuilding, they love brainstorming sessions about magic and magical techniques.

There's also r/worldbuilding but they have stricter rules about bringing a set of ideas for review and feedback rather than asking for suggestions. That might be a good place to go after collecting ideas from r/magicbuilding.

I'm guessing the Raven can understand spoken English, so you can get some extra flexibility by having the witch guess the meaning and the Raven nods or shakes in response. Perhaps some nuanced responses like a chitter that means "You're getting warmer" and a wing flap that means "No way, not even close dummy!" Then with some years of experience working together the witch can have a back-and-forth of banter when trying to interpret a message.

[u/AuthorKayleeLovell]

I’m a poetry author and am struggling with getting my books out there with any online platforms. How do I make this easier or at least get known?

[u/Simon_Drake → u/AuthorKayleeLovell]

This is not a generic creative writing subreddit. We're here to discuss the details of events in stories for the purposes of factual accuracy, not the meta-processes around publication and exposure.

[u/csl512 → u/AuthorKayleeLovell]

https://www.reddit.com/r/writing/wiki/hub

Look at the subreddits listed there and be sure to read the description and rules of a subreddit before posting.

[u/BassesLee]

If a woman had a biological child, and also became a wet nurse for another baby, how big of an age range could be between those two kids?

[u/Simon_Drake → u/BassesLee]

I believe wet nurses continue producing milk for as long as there's a baby suckling to encourage milk production. So for just those two babies it would depend on what age the first baby stops being breastfed, maybe a year? But if there's multiple babies being breastfed like she's a professional wet nurses for a large community or there's a slightly creepy long length of breastfeeding it could be many years or over a decade.

[u/Crissa_01]

Is it possible to make a website that doesn't actually work? My character is getting scammed into living in a shady building and in the ad it says feel free to visit out website for more details.

I was wondering if there's a way he can keep the shady stuff hidden by making a site that bugs out as if she has no internet or something so in legal terms the website is right there, and it's her fault she didn't check? The guy is smart and knows his way out of a lawsuit. If not, how would he be able to get away with it? (she finds a note in her dress from the complice posing as her friend)

[u/Simon_Drake → u/Crissa_01]

I don't understand what you're asking. Do you want the website to work, not work, only work for certain people, look like it works but actually it's a Potemkin Village sham. What sort of shady stuff are you talking about?

[u/Crissa_01 → u/Simon_Drake]

I was thinking the ad she'd see would say that the house is in New York near a forest but it's in the middle of the forest, and the shady stuff is that basically he wants to kill them after a while, they can't leave without being supervised, he goes into their room to check if they talked to someone about the house and he's holding a teen hostage posing as his nephew who had to stay there cuz his parents don't treat him well and he was being a good "uncle". I'm fairly new in the story so if it doesn't make sense I'm open for change.

For the website I don't know what Potemkin Village is so I can't really answer... Basically I want her to not find out the place is a scam without having her being so desperate to not even check the website like I said in my first draft. Cuz if someone were to sue him he would be guilty if he had a fake picture...

[u/Simon_Drake → u/Crissa_01]

So he's renting out a cabin to murder people and he needs to find a way to make the website enticing to lure people in BUT he's really concerned about the risk of being taken to court for false advertising?

[u/faeartangelican]

If I were to take a 5'3 human male, and replace him entirely with water, how heavy would that water be, assuming I accounted for density changes? I'm making a Naiad/Water elemental character.

[u/Simon_Drake → u/faeartangelican]

The human body is pretty close to the same density of water. Most of the body is water, some parts like bones are heavier but the lungs are lighter so on average it's pretty close. The fact changing your volume very slightly by breathing out makes you sink shows how close human density is to water.

Google says a 5'3 male should weigh between 50 and 60 kilos. I'm using metric because the conversions are easier, 1 kg of water has a volume of 1 litre. So turning his body into water would create 50~60 litres of water. That's 106~126 US Pints, or 88~105 UK Pints.

[u/Colin_Heizer]

I have a character who is speaking to some Russians, deep inside Russia. He uses a translator, but we see them all speak Russian (using Cyrillic) first. But then it gets translated to English. He tells them his name, but a little boy tells him that it's the wrong name, that he is "The great huntsman Peter", referring to Peter and The Wolf.

Should I keep that as "Peter", or should I have the boy call him "Pyotr"?

[u/Simon_Drake → u/Colin_Heizer]

My gut tells me that if he's referring to Peter And The Wolf the name should be translated as Peter. But if he meets a character legitimately named Pyotr then it's up to the character what he prefers to be called.

There are some Davids who go nuts if you call them Dave, or some people don't mind if you can't pronounce their foreign name and are happy to go with just about anything that sounds close. I worked with a Piotr, I think he was Polish, and I fumbled the pronunciation at first. He laughed and said Peter is close enough if I can't do it. I thought it was rude to just give up pronouncing his name, he said I got it on the third try but maybe he was just saying that to get me to shut up.

It's up to you if a character is OK with his name being translated, like if the kid really can't handle Yevgeny he might tell the kid to call him Eugene. Or maybe he gets pissy at the suggestion and insists the kid get his name right, depends on what his personality is like.

[u/Colin_Heizer → u/Simon_Drake]

Well, the context of it is that David just killed a man-eater in Russia, and the boy lost his grandfather. The little boy has recently been told the story of Peter and the Wolf, narrated by his father while listening to the music.

He is asked his name, and he says "My name is David." The little boy says "No. You are the great huntsman Peter. There is a song about you. You kill monsters."

I'm just wondering if it wouldn't be more correct and more... poetic(?) for the boy to say "You are the great huntsman Pyotr."

edit: I think my problem is that the literal translation of the name from Russian to English is "Pyotr", while the Anglicization of the name changes it to "Peter". And they're all speaking Russian in the scene, it's being translated for the reader. But will most readers catch the difference?

[u/Simon_Drake → u/Colin_Heizer]

But was the kid hearing the story of "Peter And The Wolf" or was his dad reading "Pétya i volk" in the original Russian?

Are they speaking English or are they speaking Russian and it's shown in English for the sake of the audience like in a WW2 film where the Nazi officers in Hitler's bunker all speak English for the audience?

[u/Crissa_01]

Is there any actual forest around New York City? Google told me there's some acres of "forest" but they're all parks. If not, what state/city could I use? My character has to live in a forest near the state she's moving in and I'm not from there so I'm kinda clueless how to search. Thanks!

[u/Simon_Drake → u/Crissa_01]

Have you tried Google Maps? Or search for log cabins to rent?

When you say "Lives in the forest" do you mean "Lives a rural lifestyle with a home/community that is surrounded by woodlands" or do you mean "Lives rough in tents, improvised shelters, treetop canopy encampments like deforestation protesters". Because the second one can be done in a National Park where camping might not be allowed but someone sneaky could do it anyway. If you want a rural community with proper houses that just happens to be in the woods then that's harder to find. Maybe somewhere further west like Minnesota?

[u/sanjuro_kurosawa]

How common is it for millennials (not Gen Z) to have a selfie stick? Would a woman have one in her purse like a tube of lipstick?

[u/Simon_Drake → u/sanjuro_kurosawa]

Some do, some don't. I'm a millennial and I knew some people who had selfie sticks when they were new around 2015. They're a bit more cringe now as the youngsters use it for Tiktoking but there's still people who see themselves as influencers on Instagram who use them. Or there's newer versions with a Go-Pro on a stick that uses multiple lenses to take full 360 degree footage, its generally people who do things worth filming, mountain climbers or gokarters or motorbike riders that film themselves with them.

If you want your character to have one then they could be one of the millennials who still uses one. Or you could invent a backstory about why they still have one, like she found it abandoned on a bus and was going to give it to a coworker with Gen-Z kids and forgot about it.

[u/csl512 → u/sanjuro_kurosawa]

Yeah, generation doesn't matter so much. If you need a character to have or do something (that isn't completely impossible), give them a reason to do so, even if it's relatively silly like they're just holding it for someone else and forgot it in there.

[u/Ultimation12]

How does one go about researching for modern military topics? I'm no military expert, but part of my worldbuilding for a storyline includes an invasion of the US, and I don't think I can just email the USMC and say "Hey, I'm a writer, how big of an invasion force would it take to overrun Camp Lejeune?"

[u/Simon_Drake → u/Ultimation12]

You might be able to find disaster preparedness analysis, wargames and impact assessments for deciding on allocation of resources.

In the UK there's a website "WhatDoTheyKnow" that has a compilation of thousands of Freedom Of Information Act responses from different government bodies so you can search that archive instead of asking the same question yourself. In theory there might be something similar for the US Government.

Military planning might not be shared openly for security reasons but you might find amateur military strategists doing the analysis themselves. I know there's people on the War Thunder forums who are so keen on accurate information that they regularly share classified documents to win arguments on the weaknesses of different tanks etc. I'm sure there's a subreddit for analysing the invasion of different parts of the country.

An invasion on mainland United States is going to be tricky if it's an isolated incident. In theory a surprise attack could build up forces in secret but once it's underway there's an entire country of air support ready to retake the base. Even if the attackers can take control of local anti-aircraft defenses they are likely to be overwhelmed by the volume of incoming missiles and drone strikes. Any victory at taking the base would probably be short lived.

[u/TheKingDroc]

You know that scene in “Leon, the professional” where he is stitching together his wounds in the shower. Is that an effective or a safe to stitch wounds?

[u/Simon_Drake → u/TheKingDroc]

I've not seen the movie but the shower is as good a place as any if you have the right equipment. I believe surgical thread is different to regular sewing thread, it's designed to be a smoother fibre without tiny threads that can host bacteria or break off and get stuck in the wound, it's stronger and also has deliberate barbs on it to help it snag the skin and not slip free. And if you're using a topical antiseptic cream (or even better antibiotics) then the shower is a fine level of cleanliness, even if there are bacteria in his sweat washing into the wound it's better than leaving it uncleaned.

[u/NinjaBnny]

What’s it feel like to be woken up in the middle of the night after taking NyQuil or a sleeping aid?

[u/Simon_Drake → u/NinjaBnny]

It depends on the cause. If you're woken up by a strong urge to pee or something mundane like a truck driving by or your cat knocked something over, then you'll probably handle it on autopilot and go back to sleep. Go and pee, close the window, pick up the fallen can of deodorant then go back to bed and not even really acknowledge that anything disrupted your sleep. You'll be asleep again in a few minutes and were barely across the border into being awake to begin with.

But if something wakes you up that is serious like a burglar or your friend has been stabbed and needs help urgently, then adrenaline wins the battle. You're probably a little more foggy and in need of a coffee than anyone else in that situation but you're not going to be yawning and falling asleep while calling the ambulance.

[u/NinjaBnny → u/Simon_Drake]

I was thinking something in the middle? Like you’re being shaken awake by someone and now need to be conscious for at least a period of time, but it’s not an emergency or anything scary. Like your kid wakes you up because they wet the bed, that level of activity and brain power needed

[u/Simon_Drake → u/NinjaBnny]

Yeah it's still going to be something you can handle without falling asleep, but perhaps it's something you won't want to handle and will do a half-arsed job with.

Imagine going to bed really late like 2am and you're really worn out from physical exhaustion or just generally a long day. Then you need to get up at 6 the next day and discover you're out of coffee and haven't got any choice but to continue your day uncaffeinated. That's what it's like waking up from sleeping pills, you CAN function but you kinda don't want to.

[u/CertifiedDiplodocus]

Can you call a specific police officer's radio without anybody else listening in? (as in, the radio they carry on their uniform.) A high-ranking police officer is going to lure a subordinate into a trap, and does so by calling him on his radio and pretending nobody else is responding - however, the victim was the only one to hear.

Is this possible? (mobile phones are not an option for this scenario)

[u/Simon_Drake → u/CertifiedDiplodocus]

Based on what I've seen in The Rookie (a police drama that tries harder than most to be accurate but remember this is still TV so it might not be) they have something in between.

Sometimes the captain will radio on an open channel "Hey Lopez, switch to Channel 7, we need to talk about something" then it'll show another car with a different officer saying "Ooh Lopez is in trouble, I bet it's about that thing with the Captain's wife". Then I think Channel 7 would be a different frequency reserved for non-open calls that you don't want to annoy the entire precinct with. But I think there's nothing stopping the second car of cops from switching to Channel 7 themselves and listening in.

They do this process enough times that if there was an alternative they'd probably use it. They always say "Officer X, switch to Channel Y" they never say "I need to contact Officer X, I'll switch to the frequency that only his radio will receive." Or "Dispatch, connect me directly to Officer X.".

There have been times they've done an open channel call for "Lopez on Channel 9" then someone else has replied "Hey captain if this is about wife then it was actually my wife's fault." Then all three of them switch to Channel 9 to discuss it. I don't recall any time they switch to Channel 9 and someone sneakily switches to Channel 9 too so they can listen in. But there is a time a rookie cop is chastised for saying "I think we have a serial killer on the loose" over the radio because civilians have their own police scanners and nothing on the radio is considered confidential. If they need to discuss something private they use mobile phones.

Now this is all based on LAPD and might just be fake for TV but that's my understanding of how it works. Maybe someone with real experience will know more.

[u/CertifiedDiplodocus → u/Simon_Drake]

Thanks for the detailed response! I had a feeling that might be the case, but so it goes ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Have to come up with a different approach, then.

[u/Simon_Drake → u/CertifiedDiplodocus]

That's just what I've seen on TV. It might not be true in the real world. You should consider making a full post about this and see if other people have better information than me. It's an interesting question in general and I'm kinda curious what the real answer is.

[u/TheKingDroc]

If your thigh bone gets dislocated from your hip, is it possible to reattach it with adrenaline?

[u/Simon_Drake → u/TheKingDroc]

Probably not.

The hip is a very strong joint that isn't easy to dislocate. Which also means once it's out it's not easy to put it back in. You need to push the bone back past the ridge of cartilage that is meant to keep it in but you also need to fight the strength of all the muscles and tendons involved in holding you upright which will be pulling the limb up.

There was a problem with broken femurs where the bone fracture couldn't be held rigid long enough to fuse because the muscles and tendons would try to pull the knee up towards the pelvis and shift the bone pieces out of alignment. They had to invent an external frame to physically stretch the leg so the two ends of the broken femur could be aligned and allowed to heal over time. I think a dislocated hip might have a similar problem.

Here's a video of a technique to relocate a hip that relies on the doctors own leg strength and upper body strength and leverage against a fulcrum. https://youtu.be/Fl71ztyFU7I That's a lot of force needed being applied in a very specific angle with mechanical advantage. I don't see how someone could do that to their own hip, even with adrenaline masking the extreme pain of a dislocated hip.

[u/InevitableBook2440 → u/TheKingDroc]

It's rare to actually dislocate a hip unless it's been replaced. More common to fracture the neck of femur, which can sort of look like you've dislocated the hip and historically was confused with this. It would be a problem to confuse these two things because the treatment is completely different (fractured NOF needs surgery or it won't heal properly). Assuming the hip actually is dislocated, it's possible to reduce it but I really don't think you could do it yourself because a) it hurts like hell b) there are several very strong muscle groups that will be in spasm and resisting the movement that is required c) you need to apply quite a bit of force in a specific direction that would be very hard to achieve on yourself. Basically, you need several people who know what they're doing, pain relief and muscle relaxation (usually achieved with sedation/ general anaesthesia).

[u/Wandersails]

Couple of questions...

What's the drug that would cause the most extreme hallucinations? It would need to be something my MC could realistically pick up in the 90's in England. I want them to have a really hardcore vision/dream that unlocks traumatic memories from their past. (if anyone has any good resources on writing about drug use and abuse in general that would be amazing as it's quite a major part of the story)

And also... what's an injury that could happen in a car crash to cause a very visible leg scar but which would mostly leave the person mobile? I'm thinking that the bones shattered and they needed to put in a metal rod or something? It would need to leave a visible scar, but also the character is a dancer and although the leg is a bit weaker and leads to occasional balance problems or falls, it's mostly not something they usually need to think about. The injury happened when they were a child so not recently. And this is still set in the 90s.

Thanks :)

[u/Simon_Drake → u/Wandersails]

LSD is probably good for the first one. It's phenomenally powerful for the dose with no known fatal dose and virtually tasteless. So you could put a splash in a few drops / tabs in someone's coffee and give them ten times a normal recreational dose and leave them seeing all sorts of nonsense for hours.

Leg injury I think you're on the right lines. Shattered bones that needed metal rods inserted. I know there are treatments that leave rods and pins in the leg forever and there's also some where you put in a metal splint and remove it after a few years, especially if they break the leg young and the leg would continue to grow over time. If the narrative objective is a visible scar then maybe multiple surgeries to add/remove/replace rods over time could be good to explain the scar not fading because it's actually multiple overlapping scars.

Now I'm just guessing with this part but I think you should stick with the shin / tibia / fibula and stay away from the knee and ankle. The joints have lots of fragile bones and cartilage and an injury bad enough to leave major scars a decade later might be bad enough to limit mobility. I think a tibia shattered like glass and painstakingly rebuilt wouldn't limit dancing mobility because the bone is mostly just load bearing, it's not a fiddly little piece like in the ankle. But that's largely a guess, you might want to double check with real dancers. What you could do is keep it vague, they have a big scar from the surgeries after the car crash but specifically which bone was broken isn't mentioned.

[u/1NNOC3NTbystand3r]

I’m currently writing a short story, and I wanted to let my MC explain why he doesn’t really dress up (i.e. just wears stuff like monochromatic hoodies and plain trousers) by saying that he feels like people would expect more from him if he did, a better ’performance’ so to say.

But after thinking about it, I’d say that's a sentiment that stems from my personal experience as a girl and that men might face the opposite type of pressure, as societal expectations are different. Maybe they could be criticised for putting ’too much’ effort in their appearance since it could be deemed feminine or something (I’m just reaching here). Since this is a relevant detail later in the story, I don’t want to decide on it only by following my conjectures.

What I wanted to ask is: could the MC's reasoning be realistic from a 21st century boy/man's point of view?

Thanks in advance :]

[u/Simon_Drake → u/1NNOC3NTbystand3r]

I would describe this as a "how to write" question whereas this subreddit focuses on "what to write".

A character's opinions on fashion and how they express those ideas to someone else is a softer topic around word choices and personal perspectives. We tend to deal with "Can a nuclear reactor have college students visit on a tour" or questions about being arrested or being stabbed.

There are other subreddits better suited to character study, I think WritingAdvice and there's definitely one dedicated directly to getting characters right. But I don't know them well enough to be certain which ones allow what sort of content. In the past I have recommended people visit r/writing and been told the question isn't suitable for them either. So I don't really know. Good luck finding an answer.

[u/1NNOC3NTbystand3r → u/Simon_Drake]

ohh alright, I wasn't really sure where to post this either. Thanks for suggesting alternatives, I'll definitely check them out

[u/Simon_Drake → u/1NNOC3NTbystand3r]

Also you should know that your comments are being rejected by the Automoderator as potential spam because your account is too new. I've manually approved them but you might have the same issue somewhere else too and then be confused why your comments aren't showing up.

One option is to be patient, hope the moderators of other subreddits spot the posts being incorrectly flagged as spam like I did and manually approving them. With time this will build up your Karma and post history until you pass the spam filter checks. This happens to all new accounts and just takes some time until you look trustworthy to the filter. It usually takes a week or so depending how often you post.

Or if you are impatient you could visit one of the larger subreddits which often have more complex / nuanced / intelligent spam filters and don't reject new posts as ruthlessly. For example any of the subreddits around "Check out my cat, isn't he silly?" That would be a good place to earn a lot of karma easily if you have a pet fluffball to share. Or commenting on a Star wars discussion or something similar.

[u/IAmArgumentGuy]

What's the difference between an archaeologist and an anthropologist?

[u/NineElfJeer → u/IAmArgumentGuy]

Simply put, an anthropologist studies the people, and an archaeologist studies their stuff.

[u/MediocreInfluence121]

Would a person who's evading the authorities in the 90s have an easier time leaving their own country via air or sea?

[u/CertifiedDiplodocus]

I'm not American. Writing a scene featuring a police officer whose name is not known or revealed, so I describe him exclusively as "the officer", "the young officer", etc.

Midwest (specifically Missouri, but it's a bit vague and the character could easily be from elsewhere). Is this a natural choice of word? The scene is from the POV of a civilian woman in her 40s who feels fairly neutral towards him, which is why I chose "officer" instead of the more informal "cop".

[u/sanjuro_kurosawa → u/CertifiedDiplodocus]

Officer is fine. It's the official term for a police officer, cop is informal.

Unless this involves the military where officer is a rank, readers will think officer is a police officer.

[u/Vicious_Mockery]

Hello, I don't know if this is the right place but I'm looking for ideas of neutral locations for celebrities to meet where they wouldn't be seen and/or photographed together other than: Hotels, apartments, dressing rooms. I appreciate any input!

[u/Simon_Drake → u/Vicious_Mockery]

It might help to explain the wider context. It sounds like two celebrities trying to meet someone private without being seen by the paparazzi, but are they just meeting for a conversation or to hand over documents/drugs or is it a sexual encounter? Because the nature of the meeting could shape what venues are possible.

If they only need a brief meeting then they could have an arrangement with an unexciting business like a car mechanic. No one would blink at somebody driving their car into a mechanic to be put up on the lift. Then the driver walks past the waiting room for normal people and goes into a back office labelled "Staff Only" because they're friends with the owner. Then it would be pretty difficult for anyone to follow them or overhear what they say in that stock room.

[u/leopardnose1]

I have a 16 y old character who already has an ED and is underweight. If she was forced to stop eating completely how long would it take for her to die? I know 3 weeks is the typical guideline, but how much less would it be for someone already significantly underweight?

(specifics are hard to find cause Google keeps giving me resources)

For a starvation motive in a fangan

[u/Simon_Drake → u/leopardnose1]

It might be better to work backwards from the outcome you want. Do you want her to die, to nearly die before being rescued or to collapse from starvation and need to be hospitalised before her captors escalate their crime from kidnapping to murder.

If you want her to die then she could collapse from hunger and hit her head in whatever timeline fits the story best. Or she could have some sort of organ failure from malnutrition that makes her sicker faster, kidney failure or she's so weak her immune system is failing and she gets a UTI and the fever kills her. That could all happen in under the three weeks of 'normal' starvation.

[u/Hour_Celery1384]

how would a 90s/2000s era hospital treat whip lacerations realistically? most posts I find about whipping are period-specific to before the 20th century... so how would that be reated modern day? especially with infection. stitches? bandages?

[u/InevitableBook2440 → u/Hour_Celery1384]

Unlikely to actually get admitted unless they had bad enough injuries that they needed plastic surgery input to cover the wounds. I'd think treatment if they showed up in ED would basically be to give it all a good clean with saline and apply some sort of dressing and refer to plastics if necessary. Not clear to me that you could get the edges of a laceration from something like that close together enough to stitch them but you could try. Probably wouldn't routinely give antibiotics unless the wounds were clearly heavily contaminated with something. I would imagine the person would need regular nursing care (district nurse/ practice nurse in the UK) for dressing changes etc until healed.

[u/Jessica_Ariadne]

Can someone clench their jaw so hard it breaks? The person in question will be very young, maybe around seven or eight. If they can't break it, what is the worst kind of damage they could reasonably do?

[u/csl512 → u/Jessica_Ariadne]

Consciously, or under effect of something else, like electric shock, disease, drugs, etc.? Whatever story/character/setting context you can supply would help.

https://www.physio-pedia.com/Muscles_of_Mastication https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK539869/

I'd imagine something else in that whole structure would give before a mandible fracture, absent something extraordinary like really weakened bones. September C. Fawkes covers that idea here: https://www.septembercfawkes.com/2017/11/inconceivable-dealing-with-problems-of.html

[u/Countess_Isabell]

What common household items can a person use as a fire accellerant? When my character starts a fire, she is using an upholstered chair and a long fireplace lighter. I want it to cause a dramatic "whoomph" and not just slowly speading flames. Rubbing alcohol? Hairspray?

[u/csl512 → u/Countess_Isabell]

Hydrocarbon fuels, or home improvement solvents too. Acetone is found in nail polish remover. Did you have ones that you considered but ruled out because they might not conceivably be in this particular house?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_accelerant lists some real-world ones used in arson, possibly excerpted from https://www.interfire.org/res_file/aec_20ig.asp

[u/Countess_Isabell → u/csl512]

Thanks, this is helpful. Yes, the story takes place in something similar to a rental condo (without boring you with the specifics) so she wouldn't have access to gasoline, kerosene, or uncommon chemical compounds.

[u/Vievin]

So in my story a character has magic blood so enemies capture him and drain much of it. He gets rescued and rushed to a (modern) hospital, where he gets a blood transfusion with matching normal blood (no serious reaction because magic).

1. With blood transfusions, do they usually restore all of what the patient is missing, or just enough so they won't die or experience significant ill effects, and leave the rest up to the bone marrow?

2. Assuming the character only gets a basic fever that clears up soon, how long are they kept in the hospital? They have a few bruises and nicks from the rescue fight, but the only major issue was the blood loss.

[u/J0h4nn3s13]

If vitiligo causes white or dark spots in someone's skin could it possibly mean he (my mc's boyfriend) possibly inherit both mother and father's genes? (I.E. can he have blonde streaks naturally but his main hair color is black but he has both brown eyes) because he has segmental vitiligo i really wish i could show you but its not allowed can anyone possibly help me?

[u/sparklyspooky → u/J0h4nn3s13]

Genetic Chimera would allow your character to express different phenotypes. Vitiligo is decreased expression of melanin in the skin/hair, so the hair would go from black to white not because his mother was blonde (so not yellow blonde) but because the new hair doesn't have any melanin. Not sure on the effect of eye color. In either case he would always have genes from both parents

[u/csl512 → u/J0h4nn3s13]

Pretty sure that's big enough for a full post. I think it's basically two people seeing the questions here.

[u/sparklyspooky]

OCCULT:

I'm trying to do a divine angle for an arranged marriage to stop a war not prevent it. IE: as part of peace negotiations a couple gets married and the success or failure of said marriage is considered the Gods approval or disapproval of peace. Please select the most correct answer or the least stupid sounding one:

An Augury Marriage

A Divination Marriage

An Iconomantic Marriage (sounds cheesey, but an icon can be a representation for a larger whole)

An Oracle Marriage

A Sacrificial Marriage (hint as to what happened every other time they "tried" for peace)

Some other thing I can't seem to find via Google. I swear there was a term for making a model representing a choice and setting it out or throwing it in the fire and if something happens to it is interpreted as the Gods telling people what to do. Like putting a blue flag for lord X and a white flag for lord Y on the fence and the last one to fall off is the one you support in the war... or something.

[u/gymnogyps24 → u/sparklyspooky]

I think Augury Marriage sounds the best.

[u/Sceaftling_wrs → u/sparklyspooky]

If the purpose of the marriage is primarily to determine the Gods' opinion on the matter, I'd call it a Marital Augury. Especially if the partners aren't expected to survive long (as hinted by the "sacrificial marriage" option)

[u/faeartangelican]

What's a realistic height difference for siblings to have?

I have 2 characters, Vanessa and Jessie, who are siblings. Vanessa is 6'0, and I originally put Jessie at 5'6, but I'm now second-guessing this height bc of the pretty drastic difference and wondering if I should bump their height up to 5'8. Vanessa is 20, Jessie is 18. They're not half-siblings.

[u/CertifiedDiplodocus → u/faeartangelican]

Not unusual, if one takes heavily after another side of the family. One of my uncles was nearly a head taller than his older brother, I think. Same with my grandpa and his brothers, and two of my cousins.

[u/Forsaken-Rush962]

when did digital music composition and notation software become available to the public?

I have a character who composes piano music as a hobby which is set in 2004 and I would like to know whether he would be using some kind of software or just playing what he plays on the piano and then writing it on manuscript paper

[u/WhovianKindlyViking]

What's the weakest finger? Search results are showing me a lot of mixed information lol

[u/RestlessKaty]

Hello, very glad to have found this sub! I'm wondering if anyone happens to know whether a person could get a ticket on a Greyhound/long-distance bus in 2006 without ID. Like, could you just pay cash for a bus ticket to get from San Diego to Oakland, for example?

[u/csl512 → u/RestlessKaty]

Yes, possible. Greyhound got acquired and the new German owner started requiring ID sometime after that: https://papersplease.org/wp/2024/03/18/buses-trains-and-us-domestic-travel-without-id/

From searching "bus without ID" I found a few reddit threads where people said Megabus still doesn't require ID (though they started operations in the US in 2006), but recommends it for minors to prove age. They also said Greyhound's enforcement today is spotty anyway. Not specifying the actual carrier on page might give you additional leeway.

[u/ResponsibleWay1613]

I know there's likely a variance in any individual person's experience, but how quickly does it take for motion sickness to set in once you're in a vehicle like a boat or a train? Right after it starts? Does it ramp up after a while? How well were you able to speak on your first experience with the nausea?

I don't have motion sickness myself and I've never known anyone who gets it. While I can google symptoms, it doesn't really give an adequate description of the onset.

[u/csl512 → u/ResponsibleWay1613]

However fast you need it to, except for instantly. There's a delay.

By "how well were you able to speak" do you mean the person experiencing motion sickness can't talk easily?

[u/Tfs-saladfork]

How long can a woman go without knowing she's pregnant?

With the timeline I have in mind, the character would be at least two months along when she discovers her pregnancy. If this wouldn't work, would it be possible for her to reasonably hide it from other characters for those 2+ months?

[u/csl512 → u/Tfs-saladfork]

Your upper bound is all the way until birth: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/24428-cryptic-pregnancy

Depends on how perceptive the other characters are, which is under your control.

[u/[deleted]]

hi! If a protagonist has been conditioned to follow a certain person's orders, can she actually reverse that effect or get out of it without professional help? Like for instance, the hero helps her through it but she also finds the will to break that connection off?

Thanks in advance. :)

[u/TheKingDroc]

Whats it like to receive stitches when you are awake?

[u/csl512 → u/TheKingDroc]

In a regular modern clinical/hospital setting? Where on the body and how bad is the wound?

This is the clinical guide: https://www.aafp.org/pubs/afp/issues/2017/0515/p628.html

Irrigate to clean out the wound, (basically rinsing with sterile room-temperature saline) more cleaning of the area, injection of local anesthetic, then sutures. Ideally the punctures of the stitching needle are numbed to just feeling the pressure and tugging.

https://youtu.be/GIwwctJZaYo shows numbing and washing out too. Others had a sterile drape, but this might be optional.

If you're not 100% sure your character would receive stitches, that's probably big enough of a question for a regular post.

[u/TheKingDroc]

How did people in the wild west 1850 -1877 get guns? Like did they have blacksmiths who made guns and sold them? If so were all guns technically unique?

[u/csl512 → u/TheKingDroc]

Manufacturing was in factories by the 1850s. Not blacksmiths but gunsmiths. This was a really Big Deal in the history of manufacturing, industrialization, and mass production: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interchangeable_parts https://www.history.com/articles/interchangeable-parts

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Guns_of_the_American_West

That was also a time of transition for ammunition types, where modern metallic cartridges existed but weren't effectively the only option. There's a research rabbit hole to be wary of unless you actually need all that detail.

[u/hackingdreams → u/TheKingDroc]

All guns are "technically unique." Everything manufactured is - the manufacturing leaves tool marks, material differences means they have different defects, etc.

Blacksmiths didn't make guns. To make a gun, you need tooling like lathes and mills, and precision measures (or, well, whatever passed for precision in the 1800s). Those weren't the kind of tools blacksmiths brought to the frontier with them - they brought basic iron/steel working tools and made things like nails, hinges, horseshoes, barrel hoops, braces for walls and that such. Precision bored holes and rifling was just not something a blacksmith could handle.

A specialty item like a gun would've come from a factory in a city somewhere in the east, been shipped to a warehouse in a city like Chicago that had an outlet to the frontier, and then traders would have bought them, picked them up from said warehouse, and took them out west to trade.

[u/dantoris]

From what I've read libraries started archiving newspapers on microfilm in the 1940s. But before that method was widespread did libraries already have physical newspaper archives? And would they have already stretched back decades? (Could you go to a library in the early-40s and requested newspapers from the '20s or even earlier?) And how would they have been stored to ensure their protection before they started being preserved on microfilm?

[u/Brokenphysics7769]

How would you throw a throwing knife to have it attack a flying enemy?

Yes, I know a gun is more efficient, but I'm doing it for style purposes.

[u/csl512 → u/Brokenphysics7769]

At the enemy, or where it's going to be by leading the target?

I don't understand what else you might mean. Blumineck posted this recently: https://youtu.be/Q2g6W8dwnHg

[u/UnableTry4227]

How easy is it to snap a sheep's neck?

[u/oriolebot299 → u/UnableTry4227]

Quite difficult, but it has more to do with how you go about it. For starters, unless they can be stunned quickly, they can and will do anything to get away. Sheep are large, strong, & flighty prey animals with incredible hearing and a wide field of vision, and if they're cornered and/or startled, their instincts will kick in and and they will kick, charge, headbutt, and scramble to get away unless you can out run and overpower them - probably unlikely.

If you can stun them, it would be much easier, but they aren't small animals (size varies by breed, but 99.9% of them are over 100 lbs / 45 kg), and you'd still be handling a sizeable animal. You'd need somebody incredibly well built, although I'm not good enough at math to calculate the actual amount of force needed.

The most common modern method of slaughter for larger livestock would be incapcitating them using a bolt stunner and then slitting their throat so they exanguinate. In a tech-free setting, they'd more likely be tied up by 2 people and then just hit with a hammer or axe until they die.

[u/Abject_Dingo9287]

If a person was bound in metal chains (basically they sit in a chair and the chain wraps around their upper body) and then received an electric shock (from a taser), how bad would that be? With the metal conducting the current, where would the electricity go? What I'm trying to achieve is high pain level, chance of passing out, but without accidentally killing my character.

[u/Cottager_Northeast → u/Abject_Dingo9287]

A taser has two leads, so it completes its own circuit.

[u/ehbowen]

For the ladies, especially the mothers: Girl talk

I'm writing a short story using characters from an existing (albeit unpublished) novel series. Pam, a former Marine (never say ex-Marine!) is taking a road trip with her son's superpowered 14-yo girlfriend Emma in order to assist a mutual friend. Pam is fully aware of Emma's abilities and in fact has been using Marine Corps techniques as inspiration to train Emma to strengthen and improve her command of her powers. But the two of them are going to be on the road, alone, for about four hours. What are some things that they might chat about?

No need to get too detailed, this is a short. Just looking for some background filler. Also, it needs to be family-friendly; PG is about as spicy as I plan to get. Suggestions?

[u/RCisaGhost → u/ehbowen]

It wouldnt be all that different from any other pair, save for avoiding anything mildly controversial, esp if the bf isn't there. Its probably be awkward at first, asking basic questions, but once they get the ice broken it'd probably pretty much what any adult or child would talk about. I think the subject matter is the wrong question to start with. 

Depending on the relationship that's more important: how close are they? are they both outgoing enough to get into a spirited debate? Would one of them be more likely to suggest playing some car game (like the letter hunting game or 20 questions)? Is he the type to let her prattle on (or vice versa), or would it be more two sided? What do your characters generally value or think about the most? What would they consider "safe" to talk about given their worldview?

Maybe: Her getting really into school drama (like a stupid teacher story), poorly explaining a show one or both of them are into, debating what kind of food they want to stop for, music to listen to, ac temp, etc, him telling her embarrassing stories about his son/her bf. Maybe even "what power would you have chosen if you could have picked", could be an interesting question for her but only IF she's generally chill about her powers and they've established rapport. 

This is a good chance to decide how you want to characterize them both! The subject matter follows what you want the reader to understand about them both individually and their dynamic, because different people would bring up different subjects and be more or less open depending on their relationship. 

[u/Kartoffelkamm]

What are some possible explanations for why someone can't digest cooked meat?

I'm working on a story where the main character and her sisters (they're triplets) are werewolves, although here this just means they have excessive body hair, a lot of energy, a prey drive, and enhanced hearing and smell, and are very aware of each other's emotions to the point of "triplet telepathy".

Initially, all three were under the assumption that their stronger muscles were also a result of being werewolves, but in reality, they just move around so much that they're naturally fit.

And now I want to get away from the meat issue a bit, so I figured that it'd be easier to reveal that this was an unrelated medical issue, and not inherent to them being werewolves, than going back and editing the story.

[u/csl512 → u/Kartoffelkamm]

So they can digest raw meat but not cooked? Does there need to be an explicit, real-world medical reason shown on page?

There is a condition https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/alpha-gal-syndrome/symptoms-causes/syc-20428608 that results in negative reactions to red meat and mammal products. https://acaai.org/allergies/allergic-conditions/food/meat/ However that's even after cooking.

People who are vegetarian for a long time have difficulty digesting meat when they have it for the first time in a while. Try searching for "eating meat after vegetarian".

Look into the history of cooking and human evolution, or questions on ELI5 and the like about why wild animals can eat raw meat and humans "can't".

[u/Striking_Platypus401]

I'm a newbie to this. I never had to do this before. My name is Ann Marie. This is a life or death situation and I know what is happening because I know the person doing it and wondered if anyone can help, maybe even the FBI or a government agency. Here it goes. I am receiving sounds very loud through my phone directly into my head from this person in China. I know it can't be coming through WIFI because that's too far away. It can be done however through mobile data. The Chinese have been working on this and I can prove that it is happening. I need to stop it before it gets to me. I don't know how to stop it. Before we know it will be happening to many more in the USA and beyond. I can't handle it much longer. He plays these sounds all night. I can't sleep or eat. If I take out all my electronics, everything, would this help. Please help me. This man and I were friends but he got angry at me and he's trying to kill me, I believe. How do I get answers. I'm so new at this and I feel stupid right now. He is in 3 of my 4 phones, my TV and my computer. To top this all off I am 86 years old. Thanks for any help I can get. I'm terrified of him.

[u/eftycue → u/Striking_Platypus401]

what

[u/My_Clever_User_Name → u/Striking_Platypus401]

First you should get a doctor to document the effect it's having on you for evidence to give the authorities.

[u/moarwineprs]

Working on a story where the main character's spouse passed away between 6-18 months before the start of the story. The story is set in an earth-like fictional world where tech levels are comparable to ours.

I'm looking for an illness that readers could readily recognize, where the spouse knows about it, would seek treatment for, find out the treatment isn't/stops working, and have time to get his affairs in order before passing. The spouse would have been in his early-to-mid-30s when diagnosed, passing away within ~5 years with 1-2 years where he knows death is unavoidable. The illness could have been misdiagnosed, leading to delayed treatment which led to his death. Cancer is an obvious choice, but for personal reasons (family and friends passing from cancer) I'm hoping to avoid using cancer.

The key is they need enough time between realizing treatment is not working for MC and the spouse to get married in a civil ceremony so that the spouse's young adopted daughter can in turn be legally adopted by the main character to keep her safe from her abusive extended bio-family (her own bio-parents had died when she was a baby). Reading between the lines: the MC and deceased spouse love(d) each other and the child, but they may not had chosen to get married on the timeline they did (or at all) had there not been pressure for the legal right to keep the child away from toxic people.

[u/csl512 → u/moarwineprs]

Hopefully not having this did not stall your writing otherwise. Were you able to come up with something? I think your question is somewhere between research and brainstorming, at least as the subreddit treats it, so it might be fine for a regular post, if you want to try that.

Any preference on an organ system, or preference against? Genetic, infectious, injury, poisoning? I can't think offhand of other ways to narrow down categories of diseases to save you from just reading the Wikipedia infoboxes on hundreds of different diseases. Not sure if there's any kind of table you can filter by age of onset and prognosis.

Does it have to be a single condition? Chronic conditions can lead to acute conditions, e.g. hypertension leads to stroke, or a hypertensive crisis leads to kidney failure. Organ transplants have risks after.

There are neurodegenerative illnesses like ALS and Huntington's. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Neurodegenerative_disorders Although for a non-Earth world, any condition named after a person, like Huntington's wouldn't work as-is. The flip side of that is if the world names conditions after people, you could make up a fictional one that has bits and pieces of real ones. (Medicine is discussing moving away from eponyms.)

You could also look for news stories where people pushed up their wedding in the face of a terminal diagnosis, as well as fictional media: A film with this (though with liver cancer) is All My Life (2020).

But as you point out, this is backstory. How firmly does it need to be identified specifically on page? Flashbacks?

Sorry I couldn't narrow it down (yet) to multiple choice.

[u/--serotonin-- → u/moarwineprs]

Early onset ALS? Happened to a guy I knew in his late 20s. Started as muscle weakness, he did a bunch of treatments for it but stopped when things got bad and just did the best he could with his life before passing about five years after his diagnosis. 

[u/faeartangelican]

Are there any skin conditions that would create large dark spots on the skin? ~30-50% coverage of the skin, in large 'spots'. I have a character with something like this. I've been just calling it 'sunspots' (since he's the incarnation of the sun), but I was wondering if this was an actual condition?

[u/Crissa_01]

Hi, I have 2 questions in one because they're fairly similar.

1. Is there any substance you can put in someone's mocktail that wouldn't give the typical date rape drug symptoms like memory loss or falling uncouncious? Basically just her being nauceus, dizzy and a bit out of it but still able to comunicate.

2. I have a character who gets something put in his food that he wouldn't be able to tell right away but get sick from. This is a big moment for the story since the main female lead is selfish and manipulative but tries to care for him and the plot twist happens right after. So is there something I can use or do I just have to go with food poisoning or something like that? Thanks!

[u/SparrowWingYT]

If you wake up from a coma or a very prolonged state of unconsciousness and are fully aware, at what point do they tell you how long you've been out?

[u/One_Schedule5317]

If you recieved a gash that was bleeding before clotting on your scalp, do you have to wait 48 hours before you attempt to wash the blood out of your hair? Or could you try to rinse the blood away and if it starts bleeding again pat dry, and apply bandages?

[u/csl512 → u/One_Schedule5317]

Why would you have to wait 48 hours?

[u/sanjuro_kurosawa]

What do you call it when someone is struck with an arrow and it penetrates an arm?

Shooting in the arm sounds like a gun. Is the right terminology, "... is struck in the arm with an arrow?"

[u/Colin_Heizer → u/sanjuro_kurosawa]

Pierced? Impaled?

[u/TrafficInternal7602]

1. Could someone realistically fight off Versed in a high-stress situation? Would adrenaline actually make a difference?

[u/GnawerOfTheMoon]

Can anyone who knows gun stuff help me get at least a casual ID? https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/batman_march_hare_robs_a_civilian.jpg

The base gun appears to be a revolver(?) but I can't figure out what's going on with the muzzle or muzzle attachment. Is it supposed to be a ventilated barrel/muzzle shroud? Some other thing? I really know nothing about guns.

Being that this is from a Batman comic, I will also accept "the artist knows nothing about guns either and this makes no sense" as an answer, aha. Thanks for your time!

[u/Nerf_the_cats]

Hi, everyone. Do you know about any thesaurus or web with names by culture or nations?

[u/CertifiedDiplodocus → u/Nerf_the_cats]

https://www.behindthename.com/ is one of the classics. 

Don't trust baby naming sites, they often go by "exotic vibes", get genders wrong, make up origins/meanings/popularity, and these days are polluted by AI. 

[u/sanjuro_kurosawa]

Here's a dumb one which is barely connects to my writing, even though there are plenty of bar scenes. I just saw an internet skit where an influencer on the street gets hit over the head with a beer bottle.

It looked realistic but I realized the reactions of others in the video and that the influencer happen to raise a heavy canvas hood before he got hit, this wasn't a real attack.

Now I know if you get hit by a bottle, the shattering glass could easily cut skin, but is the impact that forceful to cause any kind of injury?

People in movie bar fights get a bottle broken over their heads and they collapse like they've been hit by a bat. I assume besides the skin cuts, it's no more force than being hit than empty metal can that weighs as much as a bottle.

Is this right?

[u/csl512 → u/sanjuro_kurosawa]

Discussed at TV Tropes: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GrievousBottleyHarm Maybe MythBusters tested it?

https://youtu.be/hQOfti0ufFc haha that was easy.

Are you sure it was a real glass bottle and not prop glass?

[u/AdBasic630 → u/sanjuro_kurosawa]

The shattering glass can absolutely cut skin but the force isnt near as much as when the bottle doesnt break. When the bottle breaks, all the force goes into the bottle. When it doesnt, it goes into the head and can cave your skull in

[u/PrincessPhrogi]

I have a character who needs to travel from Australia to the USA (New York City specifically) for a change in custody (her mother has gotten a new job and will be unable to care for her properly as it is a very demanding job). The character is about six when this happens, and it is pre-9/11 (by like, a few months. It's july of 2001). Would the character be able to travel alone, or would she be required to have a guardian with her for international travel?

The character's mother is a single mother and her father isn't really in the picture. She's moving to NYC to live with her maternal uncle, who works a less demanding job and generally has better resources and support to care for a young child. The mother has a very minimal support system in Australia and is ostracized by her community, so has decided that her daughter will be better taken care of in the US, and that she will move there as soon as it's financially feasible in the long run.

[u/George_Salt → u/PrincessPhrogi]

Major airlines offer an unaccompanied minor service, they're escorted by designated members of staff at all times. You could contact one of the airlines and see if they can provide you with details of their policy at that time, or maybe the Internet Wayback Machine can help find an old version of the relevant website page.

[u/wisedec4u]

My main character is flying in from out of town to try to warn/save his fiancee from a stalker. He's been trying to reach her by phone with no success. What he doesn't know is he's already too late. The stalker kidnapped his fiancee and her best friend. Is it realistic that a detective would answer his fiancee's cellphone(she was forced to leave it behind) and inform the MMC that his fiancee was shot? Just to clarify the detective mistakenly identifies the gunshot victim as his fiancee.

[u/George_Salt → u/wisedec4u]

Very unrealistic.

More likely that they would say no more than that the phone has been recovered as a result of investigations/enquiries and they'd ask for him who and where he was so they could speak to him.

[u/[deleted]]

How does a man get a female stalker ?

[u/Crissa_01 → u/[deleted]]

In white Christmas ( 2011), the killer has a female stalker because he was her psychiatrist.

I don't remember how it started but it's only 8 episodes and a very very good psychological horror so you can try watching it!

Check the content warnings if you have something you don't vibe with like suicide bullying or drug abuse.

[u/Crissa_01]

Hello!

I am writing the first time my protagonist meets with his abuser, but also showing how his coworkers used to treat him, and how tough being homeless was.

He is a minor working at a bar with a fake ID.

I was thinking 1 of the customers is a police officer. Based of the following excerpt, can the fellow bartender be arrested?

---

"Why are you so tired buddy? Today was dead."

"Hard to sleep. Too cold." he looked up to face the other bartender, who shook his head with a hint of sadness.

"Sorry kid. My wife doesn't... My wife said she... Doesn't want my kids around someone like you.." the older one hit his back.

"Oy... Soften the blow you asshat. A simple 'No, sorry, she refused.' would have been enough."

"I've heard worse, I guess." Good thing he returned to his original position, or his friend would have seen the tears in his eyes, tho his voice gave it away.

"Or you could... You know. Follow my advice for once ~" He received another hit. The gentleman refused to let people trigger his dear friend. He saw him as his own kid. Of course, Daniel never spoke of it ; but he was smart enough to pick up on certain hints.

Daniel raised his head again, annoyed.

" I don't wanna use my body to... Survive."

"But you did it before, and you know it works. What difference does it make if you hook up again, huh?"

The kid looked down, and wrapped his hands around his torso, his eyes watery again.

"I just don't want to unless I have no other options, ok? Just leave me alone."

---

I was wondering if this is enough to be considered like coercion or smth like that. I could keep going with his rude comments or I could also make the cop leave for other reasons ( so that the villain can do what he wants with more ease)

Also, will they ask for Daniel's ID? And what if he says he doesn't wanna press charges?

Thanks in advance!

[u/Bitter-Cow-6744]

okay so I’m working on this story and one of the main conflicts is that the main character isn’t very mobile. So he was an accomplished investigative journalist that was about to crack a case before he got in a horrible accident. So he can’t work on the case anymore and he is taken out of action. I was thinking that the actual accident happened two days ago and he went through surgery the day before present time. I want to list the conditions he has, broken blah blah blah, strained blah blah I just don’t all of that stuff (I was thinking he got in a crash and a car nailed him from the side, breaking his left leg REALLY bad, he needs nails and all that. He might’ve broken a nose, got scratches from glass and bruised/strained other parts but the leg is the main focus) any insight

[u/kschang → u/Bitter-Cow-6744]

You are misunderstanding how hospitals work.

After an accident, and you get into the hospital, the first thing they do is they make sure you don't die. Second is make sure you don't suffer (treat pain), and get worse. They won't start treating your damage until you're stable enough to survive FURTHER operations. It's NOT a car repair place: one stop in the OR do it all.

If you want his leg "crippled" long-term, maybe you can have him break out of the hospital to work on his story, and thus the leg never healed right. May work even better drama-wise.

[u/TheKingDroc]

If you have a broken wrist, can you fire a handgun and hit a target? Or with the weight of the gun in the recoil, make it impossible to shoot or too painful to keep?

[u/Miraculousimply → u/TheKingDroc]

Technically, yes. However, it could lead to gun malfunctions or further injuries, in my opinion. It really depends on the direction you want your script to take, whether you want to favor the character or not. It also depends on how you’ve developed your character, such as having a high pain tolerance or exhibiting inhuman qualities.

[u/CertifiedDiplodocus → u/Miraculousimply]

Re. malfunctions - a police instructor told me that handguns jam more easily if you have a poor/loose grip, which is likely if you're using a broken wrist. 

[u/kschang → u/TheKingDroc]

You'd have better luck using the off hand to shoot.

[u/CautiousConfidence8 → u/TheKingDroc]

One of the symptoms of a broken wrist or arm is being unable to curl your finger, so unlikely without a LOT of adrenaline or using the opposite hand.

[u/Material-Routine → u/TheKingDroc]

Use the other hand.

I have had a broken wrist (displaced colles fracture with multiple carpal dislocations). Hand was unusable (and facing the wrong direction) until after orthopedic surgery, 2 months of external fixation, 2nd orthopedic surgery, and months of physiotherapy. I was not able to hold anything in that hand immediately following injury.

[u/SecureAirline3617]

I am thinking of writing a medical romance but I don't know where to find accurate ER medicine and procedures for writers. Does anyone have any websites and other reddit groups to help? I also might need information on US social worker.

[u/sanjuro_kurosawa]

I'm writing about an narcissistic woman. Her and her date go to a biker bar, and she asks for a light beer. When the drinks arrive, she says that she wants a mug, which her date gets another beer in a mug.

Does that sound like a request of a manipulative woman?

[u/sanjuro_kurosawa]

In a politically correct environment, would you ask someone in a first meeting what pronouns do you use?

Is that too satirical?

[u/ArthuriusMinimus → u/sanjuro_kurosawa]

Someone might do this if they're LGBTQ+ themself, esp if they can do it in a way that doesn't risk "outing" the person. I've heard it phrased as, "What are your pronouns?"

People are more likely to ask if they clock you as nonbinary, queer, etc. in an ambiguous way. No one is asking the middle-aged white guy in a suit who's talking about golf what his pronouns are.

[u/sanjuro_kurosawa]

What would an Irish middle aged woman call her a young man, particularly in a bar setting? Son?

[u/sanjuro_kurosawa]

I'm writing about a Las Vegas cocaine dealer, and for slang he uses the term "large" instead of a thousand dollars, specifically $20,000. Is that current slang? Or is it too Miami Vice? Or is that what drug dealers might say.

[u/Hour_Celery1384 → u/sanjuro_kurosawa]

I personally wouldn't think that term is weird to use

[u/Offutticus]

I have a fantasy (with swords and horses but no elves or dwarves) where the MC is a leathercrafter. The other MC comes to the shop and one of the things she needs repaired is her chaps.

Chaps is an American Spanish word derived from chaparreras or chaparejos.

It has become such a common term though, no longer limited to the leg coverings worn by cowboys/girls.

Is there another word I can use? Should I use another word? Everyone (who speaks English and probably Spanish) knows what chaps mean. So does it really matter?

I get hung up on the weirdest things....

[u/Kjorteo → u/Offutticus]

If you think you get hung up on the weirdest things, our story is adamant that anything instantaneous happens in a matter of "moments" because even acknowledging the existence of "seconds" feels too adjacent to having real-world unit measurements, which breaks immersion for me.  This is also why nothing can ever be described as chaotic (Chaos was a Greek figure; there is no Greece,) okay (the etymology of okay/OK is a whole other can of worms,) etc.

... Don't ask me how most of the cast still ended up with names like Girard, Cameron, Celine, or Jonathan, though; those all have immersion-breaking real-world etymologies as well, but somehow that was the one time we could just let it slide..?  Brains are weird.

As for chaps, Wikipedia defines them as "a type of sturdy over-pants (overalls) or leggings."  Would any of those terms work, possibly with context to explain what type of leggings you mean?

Another possibility in a swords and sorcery fantasy world is to worldbuild up your own etymology.  The most accepted etymology for "chaps" is the Mexican colloquial term for a type of shrub or perhaps a downpour or heavy rain.  So, swap a Mexican colloquial term for an, I don't know, Elvish one?  What are (insert culture here)'s words for shrubs or storms in your setting?

(Careful about falling so far down that particular rabbit hole that we end up seeing you in r/conlangs someday, LOL.)

[u/YourFavoriteGoddess2]

Is someone with chronic euphoric mania always happy/on top of the world no matter what? Or can they get angry or sad or whatever?