PSA for writers:
Per the infrared kitchen thermometer, the rings I have been wearing all day (materials tested: platinum, palladium, 14k gold, and I guess technically diamond) are approximately the same temperature as the fingers that they are on. Yes, I took a few of them off and measured them when they were not on my skin.
(I mean I could have told you that would be the case because science without actually measuring the temperatures, but I have the thermometer, so why the hell not? Also I was bored, and my only real use case for the thermometer is "can the thing go in the oil now?" and I don't do that often at all, so I figured I'd make it feel useful.)
I can also assure you from years of experience with "would like to remove this, but my fingers are swollen, and I'm too lazy to go grab the Windex" that they do not feel appreciably cold against the inside of my mouth. Which would indicate that they would not feel appreciably cold against any sort of mucus membrane.
You'd feel any intricacies of the metalwork and the jut of any stones though.
By the way, back when I had more time and used to beta read for people on the regular, this was exactly the kind of fact checking you could expect in addition to your regularly scheduled grammar and spelling pass.
(One time, I actually read out the dialog to see how long it would take to say vs. how long the mentioned song in the story ran to see if the scene was possible as it was written. I think that might have been the same story where I made my spouse blink near my cheeks so I could see if I could feel any disturbance in the air from his eyelashes, which are just as criminal as the character in question's. I actually can't remember if I could or not. I'd have to check the edited file with my comments.)
It's possible, perhaps even probable, that this was overkill, but I am also the person who feels that any good story-type daydreaming must have some sort of factual grounding and will research the hell out of what I want to idly think about before idly thinking about it so that I don't start wondering how plausible the scenario I'm idly thinking about actually is.
@gothiccharmschool has informed me that this is not how most people approach such things. Probably several times. It's just how I roll.
I just press ganged @taraljc into finding out the street numbers and their ordering at the facade filming location for 35 Portland Row for a throwaway line about the house to one side (is it 33, 34, 36, or 37?) Just In Case someone from London who knows the filming location happened to be reading, so that they would not be thrown out of the story by "actually street numbers are consecutive getting larger as you move away from the city center so it would be 36, not 33."
For a throwaway line.
Please send help.
If even one person is not thrown off by a throwaway line, then all this is worth it.
I am STILL gonna say this is not how most writers roll, but I recognize your quirks and love you for them.
⊠remember when I was writing the last MS I sent out? You said I needed to find some sort of architectural diagram that would match what I needed so I could envision the layout and I looked at you in confusion? Yeah, that.
Having looked at the comments and reblogs - huh, I guess I'm the statistical outlier here! I DO research certain things when I'm writing, but not to the level of detail on everything that the rest of you do. Neat!
(Mind you, @minim-calibre has been in the room when watching vaguely occult-themed media and heard me mutter disapprovingly when someone gets a piece of folklore or supernatural knowledge wrong, so I've got my own quirks.)
I briefly came back for this to reblog it because YES this is exactly the level of obsession to detail for Things That Will Only Ever Happen In My Head (or my reading audienceâs head) that I live with!
(Also, everyone follow @gothiccharmschoolâ. Do it. Youâll thank me later.)
