Right after I posted the frostbite article, https://novelmalpractice.com/novel-malpractice-writing-about-frostbite/ another writer on Facebook asked how chilblains was related. Talk about right on the money! Dickens wrote about chilblains, as did another favorite author, Charlotte Bronte, in Jane Eyre. The POV character Jane writes about getting chilblains in the charity school for orphans, Lowood, during winter. (Is “Low wood” a pun …
RETROGRADE AMNESIAS Recently, I got the privilege to assist Denise Hunter with her latest book “Before We Were Us” (just released in September, it’s great – go read it!) where the heroine suffers a severe head injury and gets amnesia. Denise needed to use temporally-graded retrograde amnesia for this story. The heroine forgets her current boyfriend (the hero had the …
Wow, has this summer ever been hot, hot, hot! I hope you’re staying cool. The opposite of hypothermia, if you’re writing about heatstroke, excessive heat can cause your characters a variety of problems. Our bodies release heat mainly by sweating (perspiring for the romance writers). When sweat can’t evaporate to cool your character’s skin, core body temperature will rise fast. …
As a physician for four decades, I’ve worn many hats. From a busy Family Practice office, to an occupational medicine clinic (workers’ comp) to onsite health centers in local industries. Then a medical school mentor called and asked, did I know how to use a computer? That call launched my thirty-year career as a medical director starting at Anthem. The …