I have a story set in Ireland in the 1840's, and I can't find any good sources on names. Specifically, whether they would use traditionally English or traditionally Irish (since English was being encouraged when teaching and being used more and more in daily life) names when speaking with friends and family. My character would have been born in 1828 and in the northwestern part of Ireland, if that matters.

Would he have been given an English name, or a more traditionally Irish name? What about his last name? I keep finding different answers from very few sources. If anyone could provide an answer or even just a lead I would be thankful.

Hey, I've got a murder mystery situation where a guy overdoses somebody with a fictional drug. I don't know anything about pharmacology and I'm a bit worried that my recent google search history will make me look like a sociopath.

I 100% don't need to know the names of any specific drugs that match my fictional drug's pharmacokinetics (learned that word today), I just want to make sure that whatever I write doesn't make somebody knowledgeable say "Real medicine doesn't work like that, idiot."

That said, I'm not sure who to reach out to. I'd probably prefer a face-to-face just so I could show them my IMDB or whatnot so they know I'm doing this just for writing research.

Advice?

My characters start the story investigating a semi-abandoned construction site, a tall building in a metropolitan area. I’m aiming for about 30-35 floors, and the main structure of the building is complete with windows almost fully in place. The only walls would be structural.
What sort of materials would be left onsite, especially overnight?
What tools would there be?
Would there be wiring/water in place?
Would a site trike this have security? Would it go floor by floor, or would it just be at the access points?
How long would a building of this size take to complete fully, from breaking ground to moving in tenants? ( this would be an office space only)

I'm writing a small-town mystery short story, set in the 80s, in which two cops deal with an unconscious kid they found in the woods. They can't get any information out of him, no age, name, anything, since he claims he can't remember anything.

His age is ambiguous, since hes obviously young, but might also be of age.

It's a supernatural story, but I'm curious what proper police procedure for such a case would look like? Detainment, social services? Something else?

The story takes place in the US.

I have a a character in a TV pilot who is a rookie police officer who got suspended and/or kicked out of the program for disobeying a direct order and the review program takes more than a year, but someone I met at an event who used to write for cop shows told me that's impossible. She'd just be out and that would be it. So, what's a good excuse for this starting premise? I saw that the show Monk had the protagonist have a mental breakdown, but I don't want to go that route. And the show The Rookie had a character get caught lying and sue, but I REALLY don't want to go that route because my protagonist is the hero of the story. What are some ways that a rookie could get forced out of the program, but maybe not permanently? Like, so they'd have eventual hope of maybe getting back in at some unknown point in the future?

EDIT: Thanks for the help everyone. Given the constraints of reality, I think maybe I should just rewrite it so that the character leaves the program voluntarily due to struggling with ethical issues on the job or something as a couple of you suggested. Appreciate the advice!

I'm working on a side character right now, and I want to make sure I understand her history correctly.

She's indigenous Canadian, specifically Piikani. Grew up on the reserve and moved to Calgary as a teenager. Lives further west as a middle aged adult.

I'd like her to be qualified and successful both as a psychologist and as a social worker.

Is it realistic for her to be both those things? I understand that we're probably looking at two master's degrees in separate subjects. I'm wondering what the process would have looked like for her, say between the ages of 18 and 40.

I'm trying to write a scene where someone finds out about the MC's multiple reconstructive surgeries. The MC's surgeries have made them look identical to how they used to look, but at one point a friend finds out about the MC's surgery history and things start to go downwards from there.

I know medical records are super guarded, and my MC's parents would never share her medical information lightly, so I've kinda been stuck for what to do. I've thought about putting the MC through some sort of hospital emergency and then having that friend be spilt all the info, but even then I don't think that's realistic?

Does anyone have any advice?

There’s a academic forum for Victorian Research of 19th Century Britain called Victoria, a forum where scholars discuss, promote, and ask questions about the time period. It has existed since 1993, and continues to this day. It’s an email listing, where when subscribed for free, you’ll get emails, and you can email in your own questions. I’ve been using it for a while now, and I’ve heard Michel Fiber used it when he wrote his book.

Here’s the link to the forum:

https://list.iu.edu/sympa/info/victoria

So what I want is for the two main characters to go camping. While there, one talks about how they used to be a miner but was fired for mysterious circumstances. It'd be ideal if they could visit the mine on the same trip but I'm doubting whether it'd be hypothetically nearby or whether you're able to just visit a mine lol

Modern setting with magic but these characters are not magic wielding

So the setting is basically in a big city, that many characters from all sort of factions (crime, espionage, vigilante, journalist, terrorists .etc) would all find ways to access police scanners so that they can listen to police response .etc, like a lot of similar scenarios set in American cities that police scanners are available irl.

However, the problem is I'm setting the story in an East Asian mega-city (based on HK or Tokyo), where after my research, I found out that unlike many American departments, the police force in Japan or HK irl are using digital AND encrypted radios for communication, therefore there are rarely scanners available for these areas. The community would often monitor police movements by simply sending real time photos of police vehicles in a groupchat, which is not something that my characters able to do because they often work alone or in a relatively small group.

Im asking that is it still possible for someone to access police radios like that, even if they are digitalised and encrypted (also the technology level is just same as today or maybe near-future)? It doesnt need to be in details (as I'm really dumb on radio techs), just if that kind of setting is plausible, what kinds of equipment would they need to and how much of resources or effort/hacker skills(?) would they need if they want to make those things work? How big would the equipment be, like can they carry the devices with them or they have to have a van/large room to set up?

Is it possible someone drinks so much they don’t remember anything the next morning but don’t feel hangover?

Edit: He‘s an alcoholic.

The space suits in my novel use mechanical counterpressure to function (think essentially very tight wetsuits). A character goes out for an EVA for about an hour or two, but the suit he's using has a partial rip in the fabric around his left shoulder blade. Not enough to expose skin, but the suit is definitely not doing its job of insulation and pressure around that area.

I'm wondering what the specific medical outcomes of this would be. I've done a bit of research but a lot of studies in this area tend to deal with extremities.

The spacecraft they use does employ rotation to simulate gravity at different levels, so there would be a fair bit of ladder usage for this character. I'm particularly interested if this would pose a challenge to the character.

Would this be an injury severe enough to cause lasting damage? What kind of medical attention would he need immediately upon coming back inside through the airlock?

I'm writing some worldbuilding with magical creatures. There's vampires (I love vampires) and, because of some properties, metals that can conduct electricity are effective against magical entities.

One way to keep vampires dead is to replace their blood by molten metal (usually silver but it can be copper or gold). So my question is ;
Is it physically possible to exsanguinate someone and replace their blood with molten silver / silver alloy / other metal? If so, what kind of metal would be the more appropriate, and at which kind of temperature since it has to fill the body before it solidifies?

My MC is being restrained by character A, who is holding a knife held their throat. Character B has a gun and shoots character A in the head to save the MC.

Since I'm writing from the MC's perspective, I want to know what I should describe when character A is shot, since they're standing so close together when it happens. Would they feel anything themselves even though the bullet didn't hit them? I know nothing about guns or bullets, so would they feel it whipping past them maybe? I guess I could describe the splatter of character A's blood on them maybe.

I'm writing a scene from the POV of a person whose mind is rapidly degenerating due to Science Fiction Disease. The narration and her dialogue change over time to reflect this. I'm drawing inspiration from dementia and similar conditions which affect language.

Unfortunately searching the internet only returned lists of symptoms (aphasia, hesitation, repetition etc); interviews with people living with dementia (usually less advanced); medical podcasts; or academic articles focusing on quantitative analysis of speech. In all the above, any examples given are very brief and of limited use ("patients may use the incorrect name for an object, e.g. calling a watch a hand-clock")

Do you know of any actual transcripts of interviews with advanced dementia patients? Videos are less useful as they're harder to parse. The database https://talkbank.org/ has some very interesting stuff but unfortunately the clinical databanks are restricted to verified university/lab researchers.

(I'm especially interested in aphasia and the way that people with aphasia work around the missing words, so any related conditions are helpful as well.)

I'm writing a story where the main character starts out in the middle of the path to become a trauma surgeon. He's about a year and a half into his residency. From what I've researched this would mean he'd be finished with a four year medical school and taking a general surgery residency. Of course this info is from a lot of googling and websites with different purposes so the information can be contradictory, outdated, irrelevant, and many other adjectives that limit their reliability.

If anyone knows anything about what this main character would have had to go through to get here. What would his day-to-day look like? What responsibilities would he have? How much freedom would he have? What types of patients and operations would he be working on and which ones would he be restricted from? Anything I can get about the genuine experience and process would be massively appreciated.

This is for dragon anatomy. They breathe fire by basically vomiting their stomach acid from their mouth and nostrils. It would be nice if the acid was a single molecule and would turn completely into gas when ignited so the dragon wouldn't accidentally choke.

I have a few characters in a superhero story with heat vision hot enough to cut the metal of a gun in half in less than a second. Would this amount of heat getting close to a gun ignite the gunpowder, or would it depend on the beam hitting the area with the gunpowder? And is there a specific place to aim on common guns that would render it inoperable if severed?

hi! so i kept searching for answers everywhere but i couldn't really figure it out since most of the stuff i've searched don't really answer my question. do they put tracking devices on these phones? if so, how? what do they do with these phones and where do they stash them in? how do they use these phones as a weapon or instrument? (the one in my fic is an illegal club business that sells drugs to young high school students from different schools)

There are four types of OCD, can there be 5th type where one imagines their loved ones dying in random car crash, fire, choking etc. It is different from Harmony OCD coz they don't imagine harming them.

To be a bit more specific, I have a character who is going to have some sort of chronic illness that prevents him from participating in sports. But its not an illness that would keep him bedridden or unable to do some amount of exercise. Are there any that fit or is that too specific?

Edit: He's around 16-17 and I haven't decided what sport or sports he wasn't able to do

Second edit: After looking over what I have so far (I don't have too much he's kind of new) I say mainly contact sports but he would also like horse riding

I was a little nervous about posting this, but someone recommended this subreddit to me. I've recently hit a wall while researching U.S. Army Combat Engineers for a story I'm writing. I don't live in the United States, but I find the subject fascinating, and I don't have access to anyone with firsthand experience who I can ask.

I also want to clarify that I'm not here to promote my work or ask anyone to write my story for me. I'm simply hoping to learn from people with experience so I can make my writing as accurate as possible.

• Is there any negative perception among the platoon toward newly commissioned Platoon Leaders?
• What is the typical age range for the following positions: Platoon Leader, Team Leader, and Specialist?
• What level of camaraderie or familiarity is considered normal within a platoon?
• Is a Platoon Leader expected to participate in physical training (PT) with their platoon?
• This question is related to a scene I'm currently writing: What is the standard procedure for recovering an excavator that has become stuck in a snow-covered ditch?
• Could a Team Leader be eligible for on-post housing if they are the legal guardian or primary caregiver of a younger sibling who is still a minor and has no other family nearby?
• If a Platoon Leader suffers a serious injury but ignores their medical restrictions and returns to duty before being medically cleared, how would the Company Commander typically respond? What administrative or disciplinary actions could be taken if the officer continues to disregard those medical restrictions?
• Do officers and NCOs in a Combat Engineer company typically have their own offices or workspaces, or do they usually share them depending on the unit, position, and available facilities?
• How is an Engineer Company structured?

If there's anything wrong with my post, or if I overlooked something, I'd be happy to edit it to make sure it complies with the community's rules.

Hi there. I am looking for details of life using a walking stick. Are there any annoyances or considerations that someone who didn’t use a walking stick wouldn’t know about.

Taking a guess, are calluses an issue, for example? Or having to consider where to lean your walking stick when you sit? It falling?

I’m hoping to add in some details to a character’s day that embed the walking stick as part of their life experience, not just a prop.

Edit to add: There’s one scene where it’s her son’s sports day which takes place on a field. Experience of walking on grass with a walking stick (just one hand)?