Thanks to Dr. Lydia Kang for featuring my question in her weekly post "Medical Mondays." I have a secondary character with a history of drug abuse and had wondered how that might continue to effect his health and mental state after four years of being clean.
You can read all about the long-term effects of prior heroin addiction in Lydia's post, "Heroin today, problems tomorrow." Pretty interesting stuff--good fodder for potential plot complications in my current manuscript.
Have you dealt with medical questions in researching your manuscript? Where did you seek advice?
Monday, May 9
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It was an interesting question. Lydia's a bit of a blogging treasure.
ReplyDeleteregards
mood
That's great that you found a resource like that. For medical research I always go to my mom, who is a nurse...in fact, I'm lucky to have extended family in all sorts of varied fields, so I often don't have far to go to find a source of info. But when I'm really stuck in my historical fiction research, I email the Library of Congress. They have been amazingly helpful!
ReplyDeleteLydia rocks. She answered one for me, too, on chemical poisoning. I'm awed by her generosity and knowledge.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm blushing.
ReplyDelete:)
I get so much from the writing/blogging community, it's the least I can do to give back.
Great question! Was interested in why you asked too! Veeeeery interesting...;) Neat to know why!
ReplyDeleteooo ooo ooo! Must go read that now--and I DO love Lydia's Med Mondays. She's awesome~ :o) <3
ReplyDeleteMedical? Yes. I usually look it up in one of my mom's books, who was in the med industry for years, or ask somebody in the know.
ReplyDeleteMood: Thanks for stopping by! It's the first I made use of Lydia's expertise. Most of my medical friends do things like pediatrics or cardiology--drug abuse problems wasn't really their thing.
ReplyDeleteFaith: I've heard the LoC has great research resources. Here in Philly I've used to Library Company to look at vintage periodicals for a grad school class. It was so cool to read actual newspapers from 1844. I hope to get back someday to research a novel from the same period when anti-Irish riots were big.
Tricia: Ooh, interesting! I have a toxicologist in my crit group I'd ask for that kind of question. I was really pleased with how thorough Lydia was.
ReplyDeleteLydia: You're the best, Lydia! Thanks again!
Colene: My fiction is what I call "edgy inspirational"--where life and faith collide.
ReplyDeleteLeigh: I wondered how many eyebrows I raised when people think of me as that church girl who writes for teens. :-)
Jill: Medical books tend to be my jumping off point. I usually like to fact check with an expert in the field to see just how real the "textbook case" actually is.