Character and Plot Realism

Following is a list of posts that require answers. This list is updated a couple of times a day.

In order to create this list, I sort by number of replies and then start with posts that are at least four days old. Anything else results in a horribly long list that you can find yourself by clicking on the "Replies" header on the first page of the forum.

The posts are linked directly from the list, so if you find a post that you might be able to help with, you just have to click on the title to get to it.

IF YOU BUMP YOUR UNANSWERED QUESTION (reply so it moves up to the top of the forum), THE POST WILL BE REMOVED FROM THIS LIST.

November 15

1943 UK Convalescent Hospitals for Brain Injuries

Girl Guides @ Ely Cathedral UK 1937 (& WW2 details)

Ancient/Modern Greek titles (such as Mr., Mrs., etc.)

Posted November 13

Questions regarding 1926 and 1927 Ford Model T

Posted November 12

Brisbane, Australia, circa 1976 - landmarks and hangouts?

Posted November 11

Missing Person protocol - Ireland

Posted November 10

Help From International Pilots?

Polish High Schools [classes and social events]

Posted November 6

English Literature at Cambridge

Posted November 2

Has anyone spent time in south-western Iran?

Welcome to Character & Plot Realism Q&A!

My name is karalianne, and I'm your moderator. I've been moderating this forum since 2006, so I'm pretty well-versed in how the forum works. The other moderators are Dragonchilde, who is in charge of all of the forums, and Limmenel, my co-moderator this year. Limmenel and I do our best to make Dragonchilde's job easier. See below for what Limmenel and I will be doing for you. :)

I am keeping things as simple as possible this year, so we haven't got very many rules. However, if you break them I will know you didn't read this post, and I will be very sad and disappointed. Please don't make me sad! I like to be proud of everyone who does NaNo!

RULE #1

Your fellow Wrimos are some of the most helpful on the planet and are eager to help you with your research for your script.

Here are a few tips to make the most of this forum:

Use a good subject line - give your readers some clue about what your question is so that when they scan the hundreds of posts, if they can help in that subject they'll see your topic and click on it. This will also help those who are researching the same subject join in your conversations.

Post only once per question - if you don't get any replies or need more information on that subject, just reply to your own post (called bumping). This will boost it back to the top of the forum and help those who are searching later find your post. Do not bump until it's fallen off the first page or two.

Browse or Search first - check to see if someone has already asked about the same subject. In the past there have been vigorous and open discussions about weapons, pregnancy, political models, ancient technology, medical practices and legal procedures - there's no need to start your own topic, just jump into an existing one. That way everyone can share their knowledge and everyone can learn. Don't be offended if someone refers you to an existing post on the same subject - consolidation is a good thing.

If you're trying to find your post, we feel you. There's a few things at work that can be affecting your missing post.

1) There is a 15 minute site cache. If you start a new topic, you'll notice it says at the top:

This means that the topic list won't update for that time, minimum, sometimes a little more.

2) Your post got buried. This is the busiest forum on the site, so you may want to page page several pages and make sure it didn't fall off.

3) Your post got moved. This forum is for asking those nitty-gritty how-to questions that add a little realism to your plot and characters. It's not for asking plot help or character help questions. If we find a post that's out of place, we'll move it to a more appropriate forum. To find such posts, you can use google (add site: nanowrimo to the search terms), or subscribe to your post and look at your notifications list in your "My NaNoWriMo" tab.

Before posting, always think and make sure it wouldn't fit better somewhere else. For example, questions about dragons and mermaids might be better suited for the Fantasy forum.

Why can't my FMC just jump out of the taxis as it drives off in the wrong direction? It's a small place, with traffic usually going between 35 and 45 mph everywhere, lots of stop lights, and a long way of populated streets before any open, isolated places?

If it's because she trusts the driver, he's told her some excuse, for not going the direct route--
What excuse can the taxi driver give her to convince her that everything is okay (even though she knows 4 women have been murdered)?

I have a scene where one of my characters get into a fist fight. I've never written a fight scene of any kind before, I have no idea how to do it. Could someone help me out? Here's the last few paragraphs. They setting is a local school's locker bay.

My questions:

1. How would you choreograph a fight scene, and express it in words?
2. What kind of... sound effects do you use? Like if you get punched in the stomach do you wheeze? Gasp? I really don't know.

The scene probably ends with someone bailing them out, or the two of them run off or something, but not before Jordan takes a few bruises to his face.

Where would you like to travel to in Australia?
Why there?

My MC needs some cool places to go to while in Australia

Just two very simple, easy questions...

1) Do barristers in Ireland add the title "esq." to their names? Such as "Daniel J. Maguire, Esq."? Or no?
2) If someone has "esq." at the end of their names, do they keep other things such as "Sr." or "Jr." at the end or do they do move them/get rid of them? Such as "Daniel J. Maguire Sr., Esq."?

Thanks everyone!

I am a student myself, and I live in a student house... but we all have our own rooms (which is pretty much the case for the entire campus as well). So I was wondering... what is it like to have a roommate... as in, actually sharing a room? I can imagine you're quite likely to bond, or are there also cases where roommates don't get along at all? Is there anything you can do about that if it happens?

My characters are female, and both not yet in a relationship... but they are looking at eight years of living together, and boyfriends are going to be an issue. How do you deal with that? And then I especially mean when you want to have sex. Is it forbidden? If so, does it happen anyway? Also, how would they deal with wanting to masturbate?

My MC has decided he wants to encite a racial genocide. He isn't going to do it, but he has to have a plan. He needs to devise a somewhat realistic approach to wiping out the entire black race in the year 1953. He's a teenager, so a Holocaust level war on blacks just won't do. But he's a smart teenager, so I need him to figure out SOMETHING that would at least work in theory. Pipe dreams are totally ok.
Are there any non-violent ways to wipe out a specific group of people? I thought maybe he could think of poisoning some sort of product that only blacks use, but I really don't think there is ANYTHING that is used exclusively by every black American ever. And just try googling 'how to commit genocide'. Yeah, not a topic many people are brave enough to publish. But he has to think of something. It doesn't have to be anything he could easily carry out, but he's a big dreamer and I just need something that makes some kind of sense. Any ideas at all?