I'm writing a book

[Shadowknight]

Awhile back, I talked to my mom, and she suggested I try writing a book. She based this on thinking my writing in general is very good, albeit it was related to writing papers in school (High-School, College, Grad School).

You know what, I think I'll do it.

If you look at my website, my... style is less than good, but it's not really intended to be, it's just taking the piss really and it's, believe it or not, deliberate. I've found myself getting a better idea of the ins and outs of the use of the english language, which is a little different in describing an action scene involving characters, vs.just writing about the RIAA, the use of certain sections of the Tax Code in particular situations, and so on.

What I need from you (yes, YOU! Support the war against Hitler!) is recommendations on certain topics:
-The effects of decay on the human body, long term and short term, plus some general information on behavior on personality after brain damage from a degenerative disease or trauma (head injuries)
-Related to above, an explaination on rigor mortis and if the body truly becomes completely incapable of movement, even by third parties trying to put clothes on the corpse (like for a funeral)
-Effects of starvation, physiologically and psychologically.
-If there are any viruses that live in blood that have a short life when exposed to air (as opposed to AID, which dies immediately? I have to check on that)
-Anthropology resources, maybe just a couple of books, on the behavior of tribes in the pre-historic era and maybe an African or Native American setting. Actually, I'm not picky, I just need *a* resource on *a* tribal society.
-A psychological/political book(s) on McCarthy-ism type behavior centered around the effects of long-term stress and paranoia (and the political aspect by those involved in orchestrating the witch-hunts)
-Anything on the AIDS scare that was somewhat prevalent in the 1980's, preferably alse some first-person interviews (or books) about someone who's infected by AIDS
-Related to above, anything on leprosy
-A couple of post-apocalyptic books
-A short and simple resource on the difficulty of running a gas-powered electrical system for multiple houses and buildings (or some information I can use to extrapolate a rough idea)
-General information on a water-dam to produce electricity, and something that shows some pictures/diagrams of a real-life dam
-The effects on memory impairment, and any first-person accounts or stories/accounts of Alzheimers from mild to severe.
-A rough idea on how long it would take for clothing to rot away.
-The effects of nuclear winter on the environment, as well as the effects on the eco system being able to "bounce back" after being covered in a large amount of ash for long periods of time.
-Resources on Chernobyl (not the "Girl on a Motorcyle" website, which has been proven to be run by a fraud.)
-General information on the controversy of Euthenasis
-The concept of living in a decaying urban environment with or without running electricity and water.
-Problems of treating an environment of 400 or so people with few medical supplies and ittermintet power to run machinery.
-If there's a difficulty of detecting a different strain of the same disease, or at least if any disease will show up under a microscope (or whatever the apparatus is, make sure to ask), and if it may require a completely different medical treatment to cure.
-Effects of radiation on physiology (all terminal? Cancer? Actually mutation? What?) Over a short period (one person) and long-term (i.e. Through an entire society over a 50 year period. Grow an extra arm? Twisted arms and legs? Brain damage through all of descendents? Organ damage?)
-Growing crops in nuclear winter environment
-The bubonic plage,physiological effects and social/mental effects.
-Eastern European legends on vampires and other undead.
-And, of course, a book or two on creative writing

And while I've been kicking the idea around for a couple of months, most of the stuff above suddenly just popped in my head last night while I was trying to sleep... and I still have only a loose (very loose) idea on the actual plot. And I STILL may need some more resources to pound it out the general "world" I'm still developing.

Obviously, it's ultimately going to be up to me to do the research, and once I get some more of the medical aspect kicked out, I might see if I can talk to a police officer in the forensics/homicide department, as well as some doctors at a local hospital, but that's ultimately going to be up to them, provided whether or not someone's willing to give me some interview time.

So... if anyone to recommended a couple of things to make my life easier, I'd appreciate it.

 

[Wapp]

Cliffs?

 

[Shadowknight]

Those ARE the cliffs.

 

[DivideBYZero]

"n explaination on rigor mortis and if the body truly becomes completely incapable of movement,"

AFAIK rigor is only a short term thing. After a time the body becomes relaxed again. AFAIK, YMMV, FWIW, LMAO, ROFL.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Why don't you write about what you think you know about and then find out how little you actually knew after doing some really intensive research? Ah, so you're aiming at fiction then?

You're never going to get a book written with topics that broad. Its easy to come up with enough material to write a pretty sizeable book that focuses on even a single one of those topics, let alone try to cram that much into any sort of a narrative. It would be kinda stupid to try to force so many things in just for the sake of them being there. Ah, looks like you sorta realize that already, but seriously, narrow it down.

If you want to write a fiction book that is enjoyable start with the characters. Without any characters to care about or relate to your story will fall flat.

 

[Shadowknight]

I don't intend to go into detail about all of the above... but I need some of the above to help with the "feel" of the world. The dam aspect and lack of power for a small town-ish environment actually does tie into the plot, as well as the anthropoloical aspects. Critical, you might say.

 

[Flyback]

Are you writing the book using a new medium (aka ATOT forums) ?

 

[pontifex]

The Everything Creative Writing Book: All You Need to Know to Write a Novel, Play, Short Story, Screenplay, Poem, or Article

Writing Magic: Creating Stories That Fly

I have both those books. Haven't finished the first one yet. The second one is more geared to kids but has some really good advice in it. Its rather short also.

 

[Shadowknight]

Originally posted by: Flyback
Are you writing the book using a new medium (aka ATOT forums) ?

Er, what?

 

[ubercaffeinated]

Originally posted by: DivideBYZero
"n explaination on rigor mortis and if the body truly becomes completely incapable of movement,"

AFAIK rigor is only a short term thing. After a time the body becomes relaxed again. AFAIK, YMMV, FWIW, LMAO, ROFL.

when you die, the body ceases metabolizing, and ATP is no longer made. the muscles of the body need ATP to relax (unhook their sarcomere heads from actin - this is done in a cyclical manner during life). no atp = muscle in contracted state = no muscle relaxing = rigor mortis. rigor mortis ceases when the body starts to decompose (can be as short as 12-24 hours) and the muscle fibers start to atrophy. sarcomeres denature and no longer bind to actin which also denature - the muscles "relax".

 

[George P Burdell]

Originally posted by: Shadowknight
Those ARE the cliffs.

NO effing way.

 

[Rapidskies]

28 years later the book.

 

[Shadowknight]

Originally posted by: makoto00

Originally posted by: DivideBYZero
"n explaination on rigor mortis and if the body truly becomes completely incapable of movement,"

AFAIK rigor is only a short term thing. After a time the body becomes relaxed again. AFAIK, YMMV, FWIW, LMAO, ROFL.

when you die, the body ceases metabolizing, and ATP is no longer made. the muscles of the body need ATP to relax (unhook their sarcomere heads from actin - this is done in a cyclical manner during life). no atp = muscle in contracted state = no muscle relaxing = rigor mortis. rigor mortis ceases when the body starts to decompose (can be as short as 12-24 hours) and the muscle fibers start to atrophy. sarcomeres denature and no longer bind to actin which also denature - the muscles "relax".

Here's another, related question... about how long does it take to set in, and say someone was trying to counteract the effects of rigor mortis during the rigor mortis period, could they do it? Use a chemical to relax the (dead) muscles, or loosen them up in another way, such as a hammer? With rigor mortis in effect, are the muscles COMPLETELY unable to be bent, or could someone (Such as a caretaker) do it with some effort?

 

[jiggahertz]

Originally posted by: Shadowknight

Originally posted by: makoto00

Originally posted by: DivideBYZero
"n explaination on rigor mortis and if the body truly becomes completely incapable of movement,"

AFAIK rigor is only a short term thing. After a time the body becomes relaxed again. AFAIK, YMMV, FWIW, LMAO, ROFL.

when you die, the body ceases metabolizing, and ATP is no longer made. the muscles of the body need ATP to relax (unhook their sarcomere heads from actin - this is done in a cyclical manner during life). no atp = muscle in contracted state = no muscle relaxing = rigor mortis. rigor mortis ceases when the body starts to decompose (can be as short as 12-24 hours) and the muscle fibers start to atrophy. sarcomeres denature and no longer bind to actin which also denature - the muscles "relax".

Here's another, related question... about how long does it take to set in, and say someone was trying to counteract the effects of rigor mortis during the rigor mortis period, could they do it? Use a chemical to relax the (dead) muscles, or loosen them up in another way, such as a hammer? With rigor mortis in effect, are the muscles COMPLETELY unable to be bent, or could someone (Such as a caretaker) do it with some effort?

And somehow you believe your qualified to write a book on this? Do you know how hard it is to get a book published for experts in their fields?

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: jiggahertz

Originally posted by: Shadowknight

Originally posted by: makoto00

Originally posted by: DivideBYZero
"n explaination on rigor mortis and if the body truly becomes completely incapable of movement,"

AFAIK rigor is only a short term thing. After a time the body becomes relaxed again. AFAIK, YMMV, FWIW, LMAO, ROFL.

when you die, the body ceases metabolizing, and ATP is no longer made. the muscles of the body need ATP to relax (unhook their sarcomere heads from actin - this is done in a cyclical manner during life). no atp = muscle in contracted state = no muscle relaxing = rigor mortis. rigor mortis ceases when the body starts to decompose (can be as short as 12-24 hours) and the muscle fibers start to atrophy. sarcomeres denature and no longer bind to actin which also denature - the muscles "relax".

Here's another, related question... about how long does it take to set in, and say someone was trying to counteract the effects of rigor mortis during the rigor mortis period, could they do it? Use a chemical to relax the (dead) muscles, or loosen them up in another way, such as a hammer? With rigor mortis in effect, are the muscles COMPLETELY unable to be bent, or could someone (Such as a caretaker) do it with some effort?

And somehow you believe your qualified to write a book on this? Do you know how hard it is to get a book published for experts in their fields?

it sounds like he's writing a fiction book and needs research on how to make his book more realistic.

 

[Shadowknight]

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: jiggahertz
And somehow you believe your qualified to write a book on this? Do you know how hard it is to get a book published for experts in their fields?

it sounds like he's writing a fiction book and needs research on how to make his book more realistic.

Exactly. I'm not going to go super-realistic, like the guy who wrote World War Z, I just want to throw in a few details here and there, even if subtle and not having any of the characters actually say it. I just don't want to come off as so clue-less that the reader thinks it's a piece of trash.

Also, jigga: Uh, I'm not writing a medical book. I'm doing something called "research." "Research" involves finding out things I don't know so I DO know. Hence asking for basic information, and, in my original post, BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS that involve basic science info or recommended reading on a post apoctalyptic fiction.

 

[Superrock]

Here's my perspective on some of the things you're looking for. I have a BS in MCDB, used to have an EMT license, and am currently pursuing a doctorate in pharmacy this fall so I have some scientific knowledge but I'm not an expert by any means. I would strongly suggest using wikipedia for most of your general questions since it's probably the easiest way to get decent information fast.

I loved Jericho(CBS TV Show) which is about a post-nuclear US and may have some ideas that you may want to consider.

Phineas P. Gage is the most famous example of a personality change occuring from a tamping iron passing through his head and changing his personality.

Rigor Mortis is basically all your muscles contracting because of the lack of ATP as someone posted above. I've never had any personal experience with a dead person but I doubt that the stiffness is THAT hard to overcome because all muscles have antagonistic muscles as well. You might want to look into personal anecdotes for more information.

I would think that almost all viruses that reside only in the blood die when exposed to air because the transmission for such viruses is usually blood to blood and viruses aren't as hardy as bacteria because they're much less smaller and less protected.

Leprosy or Hansen's disease is much more psychologically damaging than the actual disease. It's not highly contagious and is easily treatable nowadays.

Radiation will kill you because mutations are always bad. Short term you die. Long term no mutations like extra legs/arms would ever occur. Sterility or premature abortions is much more likely than that.

Vampires were born from the sufferers of M. Tuberculosis which caused people to cough blood and make them pale and weak.

Euthenasis is in direct conflict with the Hippocratic oath that doctors "do no harm." Also, the concept of the afterlife is always in question as well as Catholics being adamantly against suicide.

For disease strain detection I would suggest looking into how they determine the different strains of rhinoviruses(cold viruses) each year. Basically there is no cold vaccine because there are thousands of different strains and we can't make the antibodies for every one possible. The easiest way of determining different strains is probably looking at it's DNA/RNA with restriction enzymes and electrophoresis. The cold viruses is different than most viruses because of it's viral coat that can change the viral spikes around it. On the other hand, some viruses enough homology(similar structures) like cow pox and small pox that being resistant to one allows someone to be resistant to the other. Basically you can do what you want with resistance and homolgy and can't really be wrong scientifically.

Again, most of this stuff is easily researchable from the google and wikipedia.

 

[Shadowknight]

Appreciate the help.

 

[illusion88]

I'll comment on some of those when I get back, for now I have to run.

 

[Winchester]

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