Writing What You Don't Know: The Assistants

Ah. In that case, yeah, I'd expect that'd probably erase anything much in the way of DNA evidence. Mobsters would presumably know to wear gloves or wipe fingerprints, and "messy" implies it probably wasn't done with a gun with easy-to-track ballistics, so a fire would probably clean up anything else they'd be likely to have left in the house.

 

On a related note, I need a way for a small woman to quickly incapacitate a large man, when she is apparently unarmed. Small concealed weapons and stuff are fine. I was thinking a hypodermic, but it would be hard to conceal one without breaking it and I don't know how quickly knockout drugs actually work. He doesn't have to be unconscious, just incapable of stopping her from running.

 

If she's fairly quick and flexible, pressure on the carotid artery might do the job. It cuts off oxygen to the brain, so even if you don't hold long enough for unconsciousness (10-60 seconds depending on the grip applied) just a few seconds can produce weakness and dizziness.

Edit: here's an article on the physiology to one particular hold that compresses both carotid arteries. It links a couple of relevant articles, too.

 

If yelling isn't a problem, something like a stun gun or a small can of pepper spray could also be useful.

 

If she can reach it, a good hit in the temple should disorient him long enough for her to bail.

Source: Did that to someone.

 

I set up a separate thread for trying to work on the story I've had in my head for twelve years or so, so I can keep track and not clutter up this thread. Help there would be nice!

 

...I don't know if this is the right thread for this, but...does anyone have any advice on writing fiction from the POV of an observer non-protagonist character?

Or, to be more specific. I have this fanfic I've been wanting to try writing for a long time now, but my problem is that the cast of characters I'd be writing about comes from a video game series with no clear protagonist besides the stand-in player character - think like, if I wanted to write about the non-PC villager characters of Animal Crossing. I have a hard time deciding whose point of view to write from, in any case. Elevating any one particular character to the level of "POV character" feels...arbitrary and unjustifiable.

So far the only solution I've come up with is to write from the POV of the secretary character in this game series, who acts as a sort of "tutorial dispenser/general gameplay assistant" for the player; she doesn't have much characterization, but she has enough of it that I could probably write from her POV so long as I take care to keep the actual story focused on the characters surrounding her. So it'd be like, a "tales from the secretary's desk" collection-of-interconnected-short-stories kind of story format, with the secretary as the narrator, I guess? But the thing is that I haven't actually read any piece of fiction lately that's used that format, and I don't actually know how (or if) it works out. And I'm really bad at writing in unfamiliar styles without some sort of outside guidance. Like, I have no idea where to even start.

So, does anyone have any experience either writing or reading the kind of story structure I'm describing? (I'm sure that there's some specific term for it, and that I sound silly not using it, but I honestly have no idea what it is. I haven't taken a literature class since high school.) Like, any stories I could read that succeed in doing the same kind of thing, or any general meta discussion of how to make such a thing work?

 

Hrm, I might have some pointers --
a) She's gonna start comparing the people who come to her
b) She's gonna have stories. So many stories. The days when people come through absolutely drenched in glitter will count among the calmer ones.
c) This woman has probably seen everything
d) Troll the different /r/talesfrom subs for how people talk about their front desk, retail, etc experiences?
e) If there there's a certain contingent of people who don't make it far, she might take her time to assess the PC as an actual person, because at some point so many have not returned that it's not worth the bother
f) Or she makes a point out of remembering everyone?
g) How much control does she have over her workspace? Is it decorated?
h) She will have a routine, probably. What do deviations from said routine mean do her? Annoyances? Sources of worry? Things to cross of on a bingo?
i) Who are the people in her periphery? Security, janitors, IT personell... What is her relationship with them? Do they trade stories?

 

(The term you're potentially looking for is 'Watsonian' btw, after A.C. Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories, which are without a fault written from the perspective of John Watson, who is a little more involved than you are potentially going for but is still very muhc a first person diegetic non omniscient narrator who is not the main character)

 

This isn't a thing within a story I need help with, it's a story-craft thing. At what point does a thing become a "plot" as opposed to a "scenario"? Where is the point of enough stuff happening to be interesting enough to carry a book?

 

I don't think there's a firm point like that, except "is there a main conflict that takes a whole book to interestingly resolve?" And even that breaks down sometimes.

 

Tl;dr I'm writing something in which one of the protagonists is both a trans dude and a nurse, and he got his nursing license before his name change and legal gender change. In the US, does a nursing license have a gender marker? I know this probably varies by state like everything in the US, but I can't find information by googling so really any info would help. I'm assuming that one can get one's credentials changed by the same methods used for name change (which is, as far as I can tell, basically showing the licensing board your legal documentation of the change) if that's so, but google is unhelpful on that front.

 

I need tips on making sure I'm not queerbaiting. My origfic has an aro-ace character who wouldn't know those words for it, a gay couple one of whom is trans, and a boy who bullies another boy partly because he's a jerk, partly out of misplaced attempts to keep him safe, and partly out of a crush and internalised homophobia, all in a setting in which queerness wouldn't really be talked about (pseudo-Victorian). I don't want any of those things to be huge front-and-centre parts of the story because they have a mystery to solve and lives to save, which takes precedence, but I want to make it clear that I mean the characters to in fact be queer.

 

Not having our words is an easy thing to get around - just refer to the meanings. Such as, if the topic of romance comes up, "I have no interest in such things."

As for not talking about queerness in the setting, maybe straight people aren't talking about it. A queer couple in a committed relationship would be, at least to each other.

 

Okay, so make sure there's a POV scene for the gay dudes then. The main character is the aro-ace one, and she doesn't know if she'll never have any interest because that's never been presented to her as an option, but I already had a bit where she's completely baffled by a friend with an illegitimate pregnancy because "just... don't?" seems perfectly reasonable to her. The closeted boy is giving me a little trouble.

 

Different topic, same story; my protag walked in on the gory murder scene of her best friend's sister, then had to flee for her life because the entire town thought she did it. It's pretty obvious she's gonna have some massive trauma from that, but how is it likely to manifest? I know more about dealing with long-term trauma than one big shock.

 

Seeing as i witnessed a gory death (of a stranger though), and have been in a few situations that has triggered the trauma response i can try to extrapolate from that... everyone is different though and I’m not sure how the added guilt would manifest

I’m gonna go through some general Shock, i find the acute response easier to explain than the long term effects, as there is a lot of experiences that makes the difference in psychological development later on idk take this as an anecdote not reflective of all, but some trauma response and i encourage others to weigh in too

Spoiler: The Acute response (first hour)

First of all, when you get the “news” or you realize what you are seeing, it can feel like getting punched, like thats the best description, imagine an invisible force pushing you real hard, the following two second you may feel your arms lose feeling and you become light headed, often you can get “fire ant head” where your neck and up become very hot and begin to hurt like you are getting bit by a dozen fire ants or pin by needles, you may even begin sweating or feel super cold instead. Or both.
you may start screaming or mumbling frantically or “grasping” in the air, maybe run around or go through motions like shaking people or frantically reaching for cope items like your phone (even if its not on you) Its like a very acute panic attack followed by massive dissasociation, some people throw up

There is also the response of laughter, you can feel unreal and begin laughing like its a sick joke, this is common in people who often dissasociate and who are prone to coping with stress using humor. Expect to feel confused and unreal and question your reality for a good ol time

Now that that is out of the way, you may have a period in the following half hour where it dawns on you. The last physical symtom to cease is often the pulse and the lack of feeling in legs, hands,(and the shaking, theres a lot of shaking) you may be mentally stabilized (the definition of stablilized you can have after acute shock) and you can be somewhat present and able to sit still while the last symptoms wear off, you will likely be dissasociating a whole lot though)

Spoiler: The rest of the day

for me i had a delayed response, i was like “holy fuck this is happening” and it took a bit of time to let it sink in. My case was different than “walking in” on a scene, as i was confined in the same closed off area as the man for the roughly 40 minutes it took for him to die, starting with a cough and ending under a white sheet. Alas i had time to adjust to the possibility he would die. I imagine that you’d skip right to the shock response without the weird waity boring dread stuff

How the rest of the day depends a lot, could she talk to someone?? That can alleviate a lot of symptoms, was there anyone present that she could share her trauma with? Did she have a close relationship to the sister? How long until the townsfolk took notice and ostracized her? I’m imagining a lot of dissasociation, disbelief and grief. Though the Deep Feelings likely would be repressed and she would just begin to reflect once she is safe. Then she’s gonna have an existential nightmare of survivor guilt and regret and contemt and whatnot. I would think

Spoiler: The rest of the days

now this looks like it would cause acute ptsd. I am honestly not that sure how id tackle this, as my ptsd from the event was repressed for years and had only began creeping the last few months, that i know off. It probably changed my relationship with death and surprises in the more subtle way as ive been a very startly, axious person
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If its delayed onset trauma, id suggest showing small personality changes (worrying more about family, unidentifiable shame and sense of filth, cognitive problems such as anger and lack of focus, loss of memory and dissasociation, until she either feels safe enough, or she is triggered by a similar event, in which case she may hyperfixate and see the video over and over, feel somatic pain and smells, etc. she may become obsessive about “solving the puzzle” (could this have been solved? What was my acute feelings? Did i do the right thing? Am I allowed to be traumatized?) and begin to contemplate her life a lot idk, also expect more neurotic behavior and aggravated feelings while opening up that festering scab over her wound, she may also have flashbacks without realizing, or flashbacks that feel like intrusive thoughts where she sees the body or get the feeling and sense of unsafety associated with the event. Like maybe she cant handle a soap cause she washed her hands in it afterwards? Often its innocent things like that that become triggers, but also stuff like the smell of iron from a decaying bloody corpse. Its varied)

Its a lot like CPTSD; with maybe less of the personality changes, and more hyperfixation and flashbacks

 

Holy shit, I'm sorry that happened to you! Should I put that post behind a cut?

 

Aha omg its all good, ive had time to get over it and i just wanted to provide Writing information

No cut needed!!

 

Okay, good.

If it helps for info, she didn't like the sister but definitely didn't want her to be axe-murdered, it happened late in the evening, everyone was running around panicking and her dad helped her go hide in her room, and the next morning she found she was locked in pending trial.