Random Questions Thread

@ Daniel Bensen,

Thanks, that makes a lot of sense. China's nationalism, what I catch through the news and from the Chinese people living in Korea that I know, has always struck me as being based on insecurity. The idea that the country might be ready to tear itself apart, combined with the Confucian ways of dealing with dissent and the CCP's, well, CCP-ness, this makes a ton of sense.

Thanks.

edited 22nd Mar '13 11:48:43 PM by garridob

edited 22nd Mar '13 11:50:53 PM by garridob

Three interrelated questions.

• If someone passes out from donating blood, how long are they typically out for? (in cases where there's no preexisting conditions or other unhealthy things)

• How dangerous is it when a healthy young person has their carotid sinus reflex activated? What's the longest he/she would be out without it looking like brain damage.

• Is there a safe(ish) way a human could be passed out/unconscious for about 8 minutes?

Basic scenario is a vampire's human female friend shows up after he's been badly injured, offering him just enough blood so he won't keel over. However, his sire shows up right after and has a hair-trigger temper with humans. In my head, she passes out when the vamp drinks from her.

I've seen people pass out at donation centers but they're awake in a couple seconds. Is this the longest someone would be out? I thought he could pinch her neck when he feels her coming to, determining a headache better than her losing her tongue, but I know that can be dangerous and doesn't last for too long. He isn't entirely knowledgeable of human capacities so a bit of recklessness is ok, just nothing that spells brain damage. He doesn't have Tru Blood-esque glamour powers or anything. Thank you!

edited 23rd Mar '13 2:59:37 AM by Phoenixflame

I know — the rice is grown in the northern jungles and swamps, with the aforementioned corn being more popular in the savvanahs and plains of the south that eventually give way to desert. Which, when I consider, means the desert rations would have more corn than rice, if any of the latter at all...

Still, thanks. This and some research have given me an idea where to go.

edited 23rd Mar '13 5:22:04 AM by KillerClowns

How do you guys feel about changing POV in the middle of a chapter? A-ok, or do you think one ought to start a new one?

I've done this before, and my alpha readers have given variable feedback on it — as far as I can tell, it's unconventional but acceptable to switch POVs mid-chapter as long as it's clear.

edited 23rd Mar '13 9:16:37 AM by KillerClowns

What's the difference between a work's cited page and a bibliography?

What I mean is, if my research included things from specific sources but I didn't cite it directly in my paper, do I need to include it on a work's cited page? Or would that just be included in a bibliography?

I'm asking because I got a lot of my initial information from specific pages on here, but I haven't actually quoted them in my paper yet. I also got information from some documentaries but, again, haven't quoted them directly.

There are pages that answer this. If you haven't cited it, it would go in a bibliography but not works cited, yes.

Citations aren't restricted to just quotes, though. If a piece of information comes directly out of a source, regardless of how differently you worded it, that's still a direct reference.

That helps a lot!

How much permanent damage could a stiletto do if it was thrown into someone's back, around 3 inches to the right, midway up? Is there anything valuable there, would the person being hit risk permanent nerve damage? If not, what damage would it do?

Well, by way of nerves, there is the obvious spinal cord that runs down the person's midline; of which any of the various branches that come off it could potentially be hit. However, given how small they are, it would pretty difficult to intentionally hit it with a thrown weapon.

However, far likelier is that the knife would cause the right lung to collapse (pneumothorax/haemothorax). Another possibility is that it could hit one of the major blood vessels and cause a catastrophic bleed. However, this is far less likely as the knife would have to penetrate quite deeply from the back, there are lots of bones (the ribs!) that would get in the way, the size of the wound would be fairly small given the diameter of the blade, and the stiletto would likely get lodged in the wound (preventing a large bleed until the blade itself is removed from the wound).

As such, with respect to permanent damage, it depends. The only way for latter two injuries I described to cause permanent damage is if the person dies from said injuries.

edited 23rd Mar '13 7:20:22 PM by peasant

I change Po V in chapters, but not in the same section. I do

Section from his Po V, feeling etc

• * *

Section from her Po V/Memory

Where I screwed myself up is 90% of the way through I found I needed a scene ideally from neither Po V, but had written the whole thing unwittingly around the two leads-and felt the sudden use of one of the secondary characters would throw the tone.

My Daughter in Law who is reading/critiquing first full draft said that the switching is a good thing, and provides lots of mini cliffhangers to keep you interesyed

edited 24th Mar '13 1:58:01 PM by LastHussar

I switch POV within a chapter frequently, but I indicate that I'm doing so with a page break (Either * * * or -) and I try starting it with the person's name so it's obvious whose POV it is.

edited 24th Mar '13 1:58:32 PM by Hermiethefrog

Crossposting from the Military Thread:

What are some ways that a soldier/officer would go missing in action for nearly a decade?

POW?

Thanks, you guys!

I frequently switched POV mid-chapter in my fanfictions, marking them with a page-break, but since I'm gunning for the stars of commercial heaven this time around, I'm not sure. I've been reading mostly classics these past months and I just couldn't remember how often it's done this way in modern fiction.

So, thanks again, and...yeah.

@d Roy: probably POW if the opposition doesn't feel like it needs to reveal that it's captured him and that he's alive. North Vietnam was infamous for doing this to American fliers.

We're not that bad :(.

But yeah, POW.

Well, there's being made a POW, as others said. But another possibility is the soldier in question could have simply just deserted his/her post and gone into hiding. Especially if the military thinks s/he is dead.

Then there's post-traumatic amnesia, which isn't so common in real life but does make a good fictional plot-device.

So, POW and potential amnesia and desertion, thanks.

edited 25th Mar '13 11:20:57 AM by dRoy

There's those Japanese soldiers who refused to surrender/thought the news was an Allied trick, and stayed in the jungle for 20-30 years.

Idk. The whole desertion-due-to-amnesia plot has been used to death, if you ask me. PO Ws, too, but at least that's something that happens IRL. I'm not saying that AWOL by amnesia thing doesn't happen, either, but I find it hard to suspend my disbelief at how common an event it appears to be in fictional media.

edited 25th Mar '13 12:05:32 PM by montmorencey

I don't really know a whole lot about retrograde/selective amnesia so it's not likely that I will use that one.

edited 25th Mar '13 12:59:31 PM by dRoy

He could always have gone undercover because he is part/aware of a vast global conspiracy.