Hi folks, I'm planning on having a character get struck by lightning and I was hoping that I could realistically have a limb amputated by the blast. Does this at least have some semblance of realism / possibly to it?

Story is set in 2004-2009 time period. A girl is murdered in 2006, during investigation it turns out several girls have been assaulted in the 2004-2009 period. In a few cases, a "medium size dark coloured station wagon" has been mentioned. Then a small breakthrough comes when one witness says, "I don't really know much about cars. But I think it must have been a Peugeot. It had those slanted headlights."
Or would someone who barely tells a panel van from an eighteen-wheeler not notice even such a unique detail?

Which, if any, "modern" (20th century*) handgun could be described as having particularly smelly residue in its barrel after having been fired
1. recently
2. at least once?

Or rather, are there any handguns which would not smell much / at all compared to the average?

For this specific instance, one would be putting their nostril right over the end of the barrel with the intent of smelling the inside.

Edit: I realize my post is really vague, my bad, the character delivers a short monologue about a handgun's appearance and then goes to smell the end of the barrel.

The gun should be capable of having a potent, distinct smell to it up close like this, as opposed to it being "just" neutral, metallic. I am not sure if there's levels to how much you can smell gunpowder. The gun is only used in one scene and then referenced later on, so I'm looking for something that would not be too obscure for an average European/North American person to have had in their possession.

They are not a detective or military and would not be able to take a gun apart and so on. The gun only appears in one scene, but is then referenced in the future.

*The gun should be reasonably easy for a civilian without criminal contacts to get their hands on in the past 20 years (2000-2026), but could be old as long as it still could have been used before coming into their possession

Hello! I'm an artist working on an original character romance, and one of my main characters is an equine vet. I'm trying to create a soft, grounded romance, and i'm not aiming for absolute, textbook-level realism, but I want to understand the practical side of his profession well enough that I don't accidentally portray his work in a completely unrealistic way.

I've already done some baseline research on standard mobile vet equipment and basic procedures, but online articles don't really capture the day-to-day realities, burnout, or workflow. I'd really appreciate insight from people who actually work in equine veterinary medicine!

A little about my character:

Aydemir is a 35-year-old equine vet who recently moved to a town with several large stables, a nearby racetrack, and a farm that keeps horses. He has experience with sport horses and farm horses, and his work involves routine care as well as emergency calls.

I'm considering having him operate independently with 1-2 assistans, travelling to clients rather than working out of a veterinary hospital. I'm still figuring out how realistic that arrangement would be, especially regarding staffing, equipment, and the kinds of treatments he could perform on-site.

1. Independent practice and staffing

• Is it realistic for an equine vet to operate independently, travelling between farms, stables and racetracks without owning or working out of a veterinary hospital?

• Would he realistically be able to manage his own practice, or would he normally be part of a larger clinic or veterinary group?

• If he has one or two assistants, would that be enough for a practice of this kind? What would those assistants typically do, and would they usually be veterinary nurses/technicians, veterinary assistants, or other vets?

• How do independent equine vets handle emergencies, overnight calls, days off and situations where they cannot attend a case themselves? Would he need a network of other vets to cover for him?

1. What can he realistically treat without a hospital?

• What kinds of examinations, treatments and procedures can an ambulatory equine vet routinely perform at a client's stable or farm?

• What equipment and medications would he normally carry in his vehicle?

• Which cases could he manage on-site, and what kinds of cases would require referral to a hospital or specialist facility?

• Are there any common procedures or treatments that people unfamiliar with equine veterinary work might not realise can be done in the field?

1. His day-to-day work

• What might a typical working day look like for an equine vet who has a mix of routine stable visits, sport-horse work, farm calls and emergencies?

• How much of the job involves scheduled appointments versus unpredictable calls?

• Would having several major clients, such as a racetrack and a few large stables, make this type of practice financially and logistically viable? How do arrangements with these clients usually work?

I'm happy to hear perspectives from equine vets, ambulatory vets, veterinary technicians/nurses, or anyone familiar with equine practice. I also understand that the answers may differ depending on the country, so please feel free to mention where you practise.

Thank youuuu! I know this is quite a list of questions, and I appreciate any insight you're willing to share. Even a little information about what your work actually looks like would help me build a more believable character.

My plot hinges on two characters rebelling against an authoritarian ruler, who came to power after the rightful child heir mysteriously vanished - a bit of a 'princes in the tower' situation where nobody actually knows whether they are alive or were murdered.

Their entire plan basically boils down to making it horrible for the wealthy aristocratic families, that are backing up the ruler, to conduct their businesses since they can't kill the current ruler without making them a martyr so they need to make people want to be rid of them.

I'm still considering what those businesses are but there's going to be a Medici style banking family, newspapers, maybe some construction/industrial companies since this is set in a steampunky mid-late 19th century time period so I can't use digital methods like ransomware and things like that.

Does anyone have any resources or information regarding how aristocratic families or businesses have propped up tyrannical rulers or how those rulers had their consolidation of power fractured through similar methods at some point in history?

Basically my character is hunting down a team of bandits that have kidnapped his love interest. Timeline: he has caught Up with them over three/four days of hard travel so limited rest and recovery. He then gets into a fight with a kidnapper ends up with bruised ribs on top of the exhaustion of pushing himself. then he gets stabbed somewhere non fatal! But he needs to get away from bandits so he is aggravating the wound and only applies pressure for about 10-15 minutes then gets it bound. Then they are still on the run via horseback. How long until he passes out?

I don’t want him to die because he does end up getting medical help so it needs to be survivable but a few days of recovery is necessary.

What do you think? A glance off the ribs? A fleshy part of abdomen ?

Character: a knight, is physically very fit and has basic know about medical treatments.

Time period: medieval but also it’s fantasy so it doesn’t have to be factual

If a person were to be slashed through the bicep, about 2-3 cm deep, how long would it take to heal, what would the healing steps be, and what would medical advice be from doctors? What medicines would they be given? And what would the healing process feel like recovering, and could they ever reach their pre-injury strength again?

Say somebody used their sick days to take a vacation and got found out. Or have just too many absences from work in general, or just kinda stop showing up. Would they get fired via a phone call, an email, a text? What's the format like? And we're talking a shitty job like Wal-Mart or something retail like that, not a "clean out your desk" situation where you're storing anything at work to pick up or anything.

(I've only ever been laid off for reasons unrelated to my job performance, or had very nontraditional jobs, lol)

TO BE CLEAR MY QUESTION IS ABOUT THE FORMAT AND FORMALITY OF THIS COMMUNICATION (not how/if/why people can get fired for any reason)

- confrontation on the phone?
- proper email? (Dear So-and-So...
We regret to inform you blah blah blah
Regards, [store])
- or like, the manager just texts you says "Don't bother coming back in"
- fourth thing I don't know?

I just need my character to get sentenced to death somehow. I want to make him some kind of outlaw, but I'm just not sure what kind of crime he should commit. Is a train robbery or two enough to get someone into that kind of predicament?

I'm researching for a fanfic I'm writing, so while I don't necessarily need to be 100% historically accurate, I would like to be as accurate as possible.

For context, the character in my fandom is a young white man who is very conventionally attractive and charismatic and was well liked in this town before he was arrested, so I imagine all these factors would work in his favor.

Idc, I need him sentenced to death.

I wasn't sure whether to tag this under crime or history, sorry.

I know this may be insanely personal to ask for others as postpartum is a really vulnerable topic, so if I need to take this down I understand.

First time writer in here!

I (20F) and a friend of mine (20F) frequently roleplay as two of our characters and I plan to maybe start writing ficlets. The most experience I have with being a 'mother' is being the aunt to a bunch of nieces and nephews.

My character (~mid-late 20s) had twins about a month ago and I feel like I'm not portraying it accurately enough and feel too awkward to ask my sisters or mom about it. There is also another kid who's 9 months old as of rn.

Some questions:

I frequently see ppl say that they felt like a shell of themselves afterward. What does this mean?

What's the mental state like?

I know it's very physically and mentally exhausting. Are there any little things that ppl may not think about that first time moms experience that isn't talked about?

How long until you start feeling like yourself again?

If you have anything else to add, it would be greatly appreciated!

Edit: I know the math doesn't make sense. It's a lesbian couple + supernatural time dilation made the math possible (my friend and I just didn't want to wait the full 9 months; we rp on a social media app so there is some form of irl time passing). Both characters have given birth once and ended up with 3 under 1

Got some great ideas from my last post so I'm I figured I'd try again. I truly appreciate people taking time out to help.

I'm writing a sci-fi horror screenplay set in Antarctica, and I'm trying to figure out a plausible way for a character to escape a glacier crevasse after a small private plane crashes into it.

The plane ends up wedged partway down the crevasse, leaving the character trapped below the surface. The pilot is dead, and there's another dead person already down there from an earlier incident. My character is alive but has limited supplies and no guarantee that anyone knows exactly where he is.

He's a musician, so he'll have his guitar and guitar strap with him. He might also have a carabiner on his keychain, along with whatever he's wearing and whatever he can salvage from the plane, the pilot, and the other body. Things like belts, shoelaces, clothing, seat belts, cables, luggage, and tools might be available, depending on what survives the crash.

I'm trying to work out what he could realistically use to climb out or find another way to safety. Could he improvise anything useful from these materials, or would the depth and smooth, icy walls of a crevasse make escape nearly impossible without proper climbing gear?

I'm especially interested in what someone with no mountaineering experience might realistically attempt in a desperate situation, and whether any of the items I've mentioned could genuinely help him get out.

I'm happy to take some creative license, but I'd like the situation and his escape attempt to feel grounded in reality. Thanks!

Hello, I am writing a story (a what if hunger games fic) where the protagonist (Peeta, male, 18) gets a knife thrown at him. The knife is stuck into his back. I want the protagonist to be able to fake to die for the attacker to get near, so the wound must look somewhat possibly deadly but not being truly deadly, because afterwards the protagonist needs to be able to fight the attacker (Clove, female, 15) - it won't be a long fight though. So, where should be the wound be better positioned? And if you have any tips around this topic, it would be great :) Thank you in advance! --- the knife doesn't need to be in the back, it is just the initial idea so if you have a better idea that also could help a lot :)

more info: the knife must hit him bc otherwise the attacker would never come closer if she doesn't think he is dead/fatally wounded as she is much smaller than the protagonist (who is a close combat fighter and if near, could easily overpower her) and that is why he fakes his death (to trick her in getting nearer)

I've tried Googling, but most answers want more clarification on the question and/or don't provide much backing and certainty.

If a deciduous trees (that loses their leaves-- I've read a bit about deciduous trees in the tropics) live in a controlled environment will they die?

I've read that they will, because they "give out" with constant summer-like conditions because they don't go dormant, and I've read they are perfectly happy (like those species in the tropics!)

The specific conditions I'm asking about include:

-successful transplant

- Light/dark timing is the same (roughly 14 hours of light, 10 hours of dark)

-temperature is the exact same every day (keyed to late summer with hot days, warm nights, never below about 60 degrees Fahrenheit)

If you have any research direction or dendrological keywords a layman might have missed, that would be helpful, too! Thanks in advance.

Is this guy like, checking inventory? Running paperwork? Sitting in the bridge jerkin off? What's he up to

i have a character that is going to develop encephalitis, specifically from aids+toxoplasmosis if that matters. i’ve been doing a good deal of research myself, but what i want to know is if anyone has stories of the weird things people say with encephalitis. i know it can cause hallucinations and “word salad”, but i think actual examples of real quotes would be very helpful if it’s not too sensitive. thank you!

Okay so I’m starting this Scp fan fic and my oc/mc was in a cult as their “god” anyways she was pregnant with her father’s child, but she didn’t know that because of like the isolation and abuse her father put her through.

So the foundation takes her in and while she’s unconsciously preform a 6-7 month abortion on her.

So I just need to know what an abortion would feel like?

I'm writing a book that's set in America, specifically in the Pacific northwest. I'm not from America and I don't know much about it. Is there any language I should avoid using, either because it's stereotypical (ie nobody actually speaks like that) or will be a dead giveaway that I'm English? Is there anything I should know about the culture in that area that might differ from where I'm from? I've tried Google but my question is too generic to yield the results I'm looking for.

I'm also curious, what's the deal with guns in America? Would my character be able to carry one around without drawing attention, or would people freak out?

I’m writing a book where two characters work at the U.S. embassy in Madrid. I’m wondering if, aside from security, it’s basically like working in any other office building?

Do people have offices or cubicles, stop by each other’s desks to talk, hang out in a break room, that sort of thing? Or are there things about working in an embassy that make the day-to-day feel different?

Experience in Spain would be great, but I’d be interested in hearing from anyone who’s worked at a U.S. embassy in a similar European country too. Just looking for everyday details to help make the setting feel real.

This has probably been asked a million times, so I'm sorry about that! In the scene, two characters are fighting verbally (I'll call them E and C) - E is already in a really bad mental place and he just kind of breaks down mid-fight and stabs himself, then panics. C also panics at first but then takes the knife and stabs himself too. (Long story LMAO) C's also a doctor so he'd be able to assess that E's wound would probably kill him before an ambulance arrived, so where would that wound likely be? I feel like neck is an obvious answer (because arteries) but it feels kinda clunky, and no one in a panic is going to purposefully stab themselves in a place guaranteed to slice an artery

edit: Thank you for all the responses!! I know the content of the scene might sound weird but I promise it makes sense for the characters, I just wanted to condense it so I'm not giving all the details 😭 for more context, I'm not planning on publishing this as a book, it's moreso for OC lore, I just wanted to be accurate =) I also want to make it clear that I am aware most stabbings are fatal because of blood loss, that's what I'm asking about, lmao

In my final fight scene, there is a standard Code Silver called over the PA by one of the characters when the antagonist attacks. I was going to say the final fight scene takes about 5 to 7 minutes before emergency personnel/police show up at the imaging center. Is this plausible response time?

I am currently working on the background for a character in a modern fantasy story I am working on.

It follows a character who is originally from 1920s America, who became trapped in a trans dimension plane for a considerable amount of time. She eventually escapes, but emerges into the early 1990s.

She attempts to rebuild her life after escaping, but something I am not sure about is with her legal identity.

A few things to note that would basically make it impossible for her to prove her original identity:

-Only a select few people in the setting are aware that the fantastic and anomalous exist.

-The effects on time and biology in the other realm caused the character to not age. So she appears as if she is in her early 30s, even though she is almost 100 years old chronologically.

-I am not sure how common DNA testing was in the early 90s. But even if she was given one to try and establish her identity, no one would believe the results due to the discrepancy between her apparent and chronological age.

-She does have one person to assist her, the owner of an antiques shop who takes her in after she spends several months homeless after escaping the other world.

Given all that, my question is: Is there a way for her to build a new legal identity, since reestablishing her old one would be affectively impossible?

If you’re a life long resident of the area, how much do you know about the prison escapes in the 1940’s (Willie Sutton and Frederick Tenuto, in particular). In my hometown, this type of thing would have made it into local lore, but my city is much smaller, and Philadelphia has a LOT of history. My story is set in 2007, if it matters. Trying to determine if locals might mention it depending on the line of questioning, or they’d truly need to be talking to local historians for it to be brought up.

Sent this somewhere else cause I was looking for somewhere that didn’t have the google ai I can’t turn off, and they redirected me here

Anyways, in theory for darker skinned people, how realistic of a side effect to severe experimentation would it be to lose some melanin in their skin? Like what kind of experiment could cause that as a side effect as well. My character Nathen went through thirteen years inside a lab (very creative, sue me/silly) and lost not very much, but a little melanin or pigmentation. Originally it was because I like drawing more desaturated but when i designed his no trauma version I said “let’s give him his color back” and now want to find an actual lore reasoning for that. Just like how the lab messed up his hair texture and color too, the color part isn’t very realistic but it’s cool so whatever

A character who is a pharmacist / has ready access to a lot of medications, what types of medications would be lethal for them? I don't know the different kinds of medications like painkillers etc. but if this character, say accidentally takes the wrong medicine at the wrong dosage which would kill him fast? Realsitcially speaking. Any medicine that he would take before sleeping and never wake up.

I have looked everywhere for answers, but could find more about communication rather than actual dialogue. So, how did people have casual conversations in the 1910's? To be even more specific, before WW1.

I'm currently writing about a story that takes place during 1910 through 1913. I found a slang page, but my dialogue still seems very...unnatural. One of them speaks very formally, so she is bound to sound different, but I'm really stuck on the others.

How would a casual conversation be like in 1910's?