Writing What You Don't Know: The Assistants

Here's some stuff:
http://www.bsis.ca.gov/forms_pubs/locksmith_fact.shtml
http://toool.us/laws.html

 

I used to work at an answering service that had a locksmith or two as clients, and this is what I remember:
- in the United States, many states require them to be licensed
- most states require a background check as part of the licensing
- education is at a trade school, like cosmetology
- they deal with literally anything with a key - cars, homes, watercraft, ATVs, sometimes antique furniture without a key, though I think this involves different tools than usual and I know some places specialize in it
- pay around here was roughly equivalent to another skilled tradesperson, like a plumber or electrician or HVAC repair person
- cost of the service depended on whether they had to come to you or not
- often they would have contracts with apartment complexes or roadside assistance companies for when people locked themselves out
- the shops tend to have nifty little key cutting machinery
- the tool kit where they come to you if you're locked out is essentially legal lockpicks, and looks very different for auto vs home

Edit: here is an article about a day in the life of a locksmith

 

sweet, thanks guys

 

Putting this back on the first page, just in case someone is stuck for help and forgot this was here :)

 

Hi. I'm this anon Seebs got a while ago about writing Cullen, of Dragon Age fame, as a sexual assault survivor. I'm still not sure if I should do it, but the two reblogs were encouraging, and I want to make sure that if i do write it i write it right. I don't know if people can give me advice on it, or links to fics they think did it right so i can study it - a bit of my characterization for him draws from my own issues with ocd and scrupulosity, but i'm not a sexual assault survivor beyond your typical AFAB experience so I really need help with doing this respectfully.

 

Hey there! Glad to see you dropped by to ask for advice. :)

I think you have some really good ideas re: Cullen and I think you should write them. I think it's a completely reasonable extrapolation of events to see his experiences with the demons as sexual assault, based on what we've seen them do to people in canon and how badly he was affected by the experience.

I'm honestly not sure why the fandom doesn't go there - I don't really involve myself with the wider fandom much, so I'm unfamiliar with whether or not this is a topic they avoid mostly with Cullen, or with most male characters. Culture at large has a pretty big blindspot with regards to men who have been sexually assaulted/abused, so that might be a factor. (I know they do go there with Fenris, but Fenris has a backstory that makes his abuse explicit, and he's also pretty and somewhat feminine in shape, whereas Cullen is straightforwardly masculine. But I'm just spitballing on this one.)

From what you wrote to Seebs it sounds to me like you have your head on straight about this. Do you have any specific questions?

 

@Mercury, thank you. I think part of why the fandom ignores this aspect of Cullen's experiences is that it is Schrodinger's abuse, and part what you said: Cullen is a Manly Man and as you know, Manly Man can't be victims of sexual assault, because they're Manly :rolleyes: I don't know about any other characters where sexual assault is possibly ignored or not except the odd 'young Dorian with a female prostitute/Dorian manipulated into straight sex' fic that used to pop up a while ago and that was another can of worms.

My biggest question at the moment is more about the process of reclaiming one's sexuality/libido after an assault, how he'd get to the point that he is comfortable with having a sexual relationship as seen in canon; I'm aware that his circumstances are special, and I do know that everyone has a different way to deal with it if they choose to, but like... how do you even go about separating your sexuality from the trauma? I headcanon Meredith would use what happened to him as a control tool, too, so it's not like he spent the years after it in a healthy abuse-free environment...

So, basically what could go on between the start of the healing process and the infamous desk scene, in trauma-processing terms. I have some ideas given his general characterization in Inquisition, but I don't know if they're not somehow terribly offensive.

 

I think i remember reading from a cannon source (world of thedas maybe?) that meredith used his experience at the tower to convince him to help run the circle at kirkwall the way she did. Basically, it was a mutually toxix, mutually reinforcing environment. I'm pretty sure the only reason cullen got better was the support of his troops - though that is a headcannon.

 

Spoiler: Tw to be safe

My process involved porn, some drinking, and getting mad and deciding to throw myself at the problem because I wouldn't let this be taken from me, damn it - obviously it wasn't the healthiest way I could have dealt, and I still have bad moments despite being in a relationship for going on did years, but overall for me it worked better than anything else would have, therapy not being an option at the time. I'm not familiar with Dragon Age but part of what's helped my recovery in general is being fairly open about what happened to me, so if you have any more questions, I'd be okay with that.

 

@hydromatic you're fine! I wouldn't have offered if I wasn't okay with it, and if a question is too much I'll say so.

Spoiler: Csa tw

I was drugged as a child, so I don't actually remember details of what happened, and for several years because of that denied it happened in the first place. When I was 17 I started having flashbacks, though, and had to begin to deal with it then. I was in a relationship at the time, and tbh, my breakdown with regards to sex at that time - I went through periods where I was sexually voracious and periods where I barely wanted to hold hands, with very little in between - contributed to the end of that relationship. I'd say from first acknowledging the possibility that I'd been assaulted to able to have a healthy relationship with sex again was something like a year. Everyone is on a different timeline and recovery isn't linear, but mine was from about October one year to September of the next.

The relationship I'm in now I wasn't actually intending to be a relationship - after the breakdown of my serious relationship and some not-smart sexual decisions I made in the past months before, I'd decided I didn't feel up to being in a relationship proper. I informed my partner that I wanted to just be friends with benefits and also that I was dealing with the aftermath of sexual trauma on the first date we had, and he was fine with that. After three or four months of that relationship, we'd felt ourselves getting closer and decided to date. I'd say I was way more skittish romantically than I was sexually for a while - I really didn't want to let anyone get close. That was the biggest hurdle to get over and I attribute that directly to my sexual trauma.

I still have flashbacks and nightmares sometimes, and afterwards, I don't even want someone to look at me sexually. Sometimes media with rape content gets to me, too. My partner helps me remember that not all touch is bad touch in those times, and lets me cry. He's also really great at breaking me out of self-loathing spirals with sweetness and humor.

 

Sorry to necro, but would it be expected for patients to disclose any specific brainweird, or would circumstances alone usually work? (I do feel like Peridot's will come up--she's autistic and has severe social anxiety, and her challenges are p different from those of her groupmates, so it might be mentioned--and Amethyst's BPD might be brought up in passing at some point, but I wanna know if it's standard to share diagnoses from the get-go.)

Also, I might ask if you'd be willing to look over the next chapter if that's okay? The therapy stuff starts there and I REALLY wanna get it right.

 

People don't have to share diagnoses. Some people do; others just say things like "I'm here to learn to communicate better/trust people/feel more comfortable about myself/etc.", and just say what they want to work on. It's fine to share them if you want or if you think it's useful to, and it's fine if you never do or only feel comfortable bringing it up when you're more familiar with the people there.

I'd be happy to look it over if you'd like!

 

Okay, cool! That works perfectly for me, honestly.

And thanks so much!

 

So my Oceanography Professor gave us the option to write an essay to replace one of our test grades, right? And he said it could be about literally ANYTHING, in pretty much ANY style...

Listen, I'm writing about seadwellers, because of course I am.
There's a bit of a catch, though—I decided to try and set this up as an "official report" given by a group of seadwellers about a patch of abyssal clay that might or might not be prime for mining.

Basically, I was wondering, does anyone have advice on writing official scientific reports? And/or information about abyssal clay? I've been having some slight trouble finding references, and I need at least five @_@

 

Just in case writers forgotted about this thread, I'm poking it back to the front page.
Got a problem in your story in an area you aren't familiar with? Ask! We gots peoples of many different persuasions and expertices who can give you really bad answers! Um ... good answers.

 

Poking again :)

 

I've been avoiding working on one of my stories for a while now because I decided that the main characters would have decent-if-a-little-out-of-their-depth parents, and i have. no idea whatsoever how to go about writing that. does anyone have any advice?

 

Writing the parents, or writing the kids?

 

the parents