Is anyone else planning to write a mystery centering around medical knowledge? I know it's not a huge sub-genre, but I'm building my story completely around a rare disease and the problems it causes before it is discovered.
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"Foxhunt" 2006
"From the Waters' Edge" 2007
50,105 / 50,000
Sep 28, 2008 - 05 27
I was thinking of doing this, but then I figured that I'd spend half the time looking up words so I'd never get anything done (I have no medical knowledge except from a few medical mystery/murders I've read). It sounds like you're got a nice plot going, keep at it (that sounds so cliche...)
----------NaNoWriMo'07 - Another Chance (17K - Failed)
NaNoWriMo'08 - The Prophecy (50K - Won: Unfinished)
54,870 / 50,000
Sep 28, 2008 - 20 06
I'm in the middle of writing a series, and the best part about it is there are a million different ways you can add mystery and suspense into it. It follows the lives of 5 characters in a world very similar to our own. What doesn't get explained is the reason they all exist (except for some red herrings and alluding) until the 3rd part of the series. The medical aspect of it will actually follow in and out of the stories. It's more a General Fiction because of it's connection to so many different sub-genres.
----------To lose someone you love is to alter your life for ever. You don't get over it because 'it' is the person you loved. The pain stops, there are new people, but the gap never closes. How could it? The particularness of someone who mattered enough to grieve
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Oct 5, 2008 - 07 04
Mine, she suffers severe brain trauma, so I'm going to weave in the effects of that
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Oct 6, 2008 - 12 50
I've got some medical elements...DNA stuff. That's all I'm going to say :-)
55,675 / 50,000
Oct 11, 2008 - 09 56
Same here. I love cardiology, but I have no idea how to weave that into my plot. :(
----------Oh well - it wouldn't make much sense anyway.
I'm not as crazy as I seem. Really. lol. ♫
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Oct 12, 2008 - 09 11
Are you a fan of House MD, by any chance? :-)
----------"Imaginary numbers? Are they just imaginary friends for maths nerds?"
50,770 / 50,000
Oct 12, 2008 - 13 05
A little help from someone in the know.
What drugs would a crooked doctor prescribe in order to keep someone in a psychotic-catatonic-confused state? (Long term)
TIA
Dan
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Oct 12, 2008 - 13 36
I'd love to read or write a novel involving Fatal Familial Insomnia, tragic strange disease that it is.
----------Locket
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I draw and paint stuff. http://thornyart.etsy.com
50,243 / 50,000
Oct 13, 2008 - 12 25
It's not for NaNo, but I'm writing a fantasy-set medical mystery, not altogether unlike The Mistress of the Art of Death (though without the romance subplot).
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Stephanie Bryant
http://www.mortaine.com/blog
NaNo08: Getting Buried in Vegas.
"When all else fails, add zombies."
124,503 / 50,000
Oct 14, 2008 - 04 39
I'm doing exactly that! MC is a physician, which becomes really rather relevant during the course of the story. I'm quite lucky because I just graduated reading History, specialising in Medical History 1750-present day, so I've already spent a lot of my life on it. I'd certainly advise you to go back through time if you get bogged down, though; medical theory was much easier to cope with then.
I recently read some of a great series of books which look at medical characteristics of murder, which is the Howdunit Series, which you might find quite useful. I especially love their Book of Poisons ^_^
Good luck with it! If you ever think I can help, get in touch.
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Oct 16, 2008 - 11 46
doxunt-you've got a couple of problems with you rx situation. 1. if the person is psychotic/catatonic and or confused someone would have to administer their medications. 2. whoever is filling the prescription would know the effects of the drug.
Having said that any heavy dose of a narcotic could cause these effects in a person who is elderly or extremely frail and/or underweight. However, pharmacists keep a close eye on physicians who are suspected of overprescribing narcotics.
50,154 / 50,000
Oct 20, 2008 - 14 25
Yea... that's what I did last year and probably will do again.
Primarily because that's what I know so it's easiest for me to write something in that vein which sounds believable.
Hehe... vein.
50,154 / 50,000
Oct 20, 2008 - 14 29
>I'd love to read or write a novel involving Fatal Familial Insomnia, tragic strange disease that it is
Read "The Family That Couldn't Sleep". It's a non-fiction book that reads very easily and carefully explains the medical minutae in an easy to understand fashion.
50,770 / 50,000
Oct 21, 2008 - 21 17
Having said that any heavy dose of a narcotic could cause these effects in a person who is elderly or extremely frail and/or underweight. However, pharmacists keep a close eye on physicians who are suspected of overprescribing narcotics.
I have that covered in the plot. This "patient" is being kept quiet for the long term and needs to be "managed" but not in an institution. What sort of drugs would you use if you were managing a violent psychotic?
50,154 / 50,000
Oct 22, 2008 - 02 30
Haldol
50,770 / 50,000
Oct 22, 2008 - 12 47
Who needs believable?
Thanks. This is not really a medical mystery my MC will be chasing a girl as the focus of the plot that has been sedated since early adolescence.
10,250 / 50,000
Oct 23, 2008 - 18 18
I'm planning a medical based mystery - protagonist an ER physician who investigates suspected poisonings in a small town. Still working out some of the details - but ready to start. Working on a rough outline at this point. I've got a medical background, but even then I'll be doing a little internet research.
12,637 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2008 - 02 52
A specialized forensic investigator, my MC obtained degrees in criminal science and advanced nursing. My story takes place in the future. The plot involves a disease which is killing doctors. It shouldn't be fatal.
At first, I was writing about my medical history with a nasty viral infection and fictionalizing it. I was sick for three years before I got diagnosed. After reading a book on editing and revising, I took my half-baked idea and made it into an espionage/conspiracy/medical thriller. Boy am I having fun now.
I used to be a registered nurse and I love research.
50,075 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2008 - 16 29
Check out Joshua Spanogle - Isolation Ward. The MC is a CDC epidemiologist. It was kind of a strange book, but I really enjoyed the medical mystery side of it.
----------Bloomington, IN ML
Participant and Winner 2002-2008!