#scriptx

[scriptautistic]

The ScriptX family as of 01/01/2018

Have writing questions, but don’t know who to ask? Check out the ScriptX family of blogs, all of whom provide detailed writing advice on a huge variety of topics!

First, ScriptFeature shares some of the best posts from the ScriptX blogs, as well as giving updates and announcements about the family: @scriptfeature

The rest of the blogs are in alphabetical order in two groups, with active blogs first, and inactive/archived blogs second. If you are looking for something in particular, try searching using Ctrl+F or ⌘+F

Active:

Accountant: @scriptaccountant (Accounting)

Autistic: @scriptautistic (Autistic characters)

Ballerina: @scriptballerina (Ballet and dance)

Canuck: @scriptcanuck (Everything Canadian)

Chemist: @scriptchemist (Chemistry and chemical laboratories)

Criminal justice: @scriptcriminaljustice (Criminal justice system, including court procedures and criminal investigations)

Equestrian: @scriptequestrian (Horseback riding)

Firefighter: @scriptfirefighter (Firefighting, including fire science and safety, forced entry, rescue, HazMat and related topics)

Florist: @scriptflorist (Flowers, florists and flower shops)

Foodie: @scriptfoodie (Food and drink)

Genetics: @scriptgenetics (Genetics and evolutionary biology)

German: @scriptgerman (Everything German)

Hacker: @scripthacker (Data retrieval, steganography, cryptography, white hat hacking, and general purpose computing)

History: @scripthistory (History) [on hiatus]

LGBT: @scriptlgbt (LGBTQ+ characters, community, and issues)

Librarian: @scriptlibrarian (Librarians and libraries)

Medic: @scriptmedic (The original! Medicine, human anatomy/physiology, hospitals, EMTs and paramedics)

Myth: @scriptmyth (Mythology and folklore from around the world)

Pastor: @scriptpastor (Religion and people of faith)

Sailor: @scriptsailor (Navy, sailors and nautical history)

Script a world: @script-a-world (Worldbuilding for science fiction and fantasy)

Script structure: @scriptstructure (Story structure, narrative and themes)

Shrink: @scriptshrink (Clinical psychology, psychiatry, therapy and therapists)

Sociology: @scriptsociology (Social sciences applied to world building)

Spoonie: @scriptspoonie (Characters with chronic illness, disability)

Torture: @scripttorture (Torture methods, torture victims, and torturers throughout history)

Trauma Survivors: @scripttraumasurvivors (Writing survivors of psychological trauma)

Veterinarian: @scriptveterinarian (Veterinary medicine for animals domesticated, wild and occasiontally fantastical)

Witchcraft: @scriptwitchcraft (Witchcraft)

Archived/Inactive: These blogs are not currently active but are still a useful resource when researching your stories

Astronomer: @scriptastronomer (Astronomy)

Brain Scientist: @scriptbrainscientist (Neurology) [ARCHIVED]

Brit: @scriptbrit (United Kingdom) [ARCHIVED]

Economist: @scripteconomist (Ecomonics) [ARCHIVED]

Educator: @scripteducator (Schools and teachers)

Kink: @scriptkink (Sex and sexuality)

Lawyer: @scriptlawyer (Legal stuff)

Linguist: @scriptlinguist (Linguistics)

Pharmacist: @scriptpharmacist (Pharmacies and pharmaceuticals)

Politics: @scriptpolitics (Politics, world-building political systems, and international relations) [ARCHIVED]

Publishing industry: @scriptpublishingindustry (Publishing industry, including writers, editors etc)

Service Dogs: @scriptservicedogs (Service dogs, emotional support animals, and therapy dogs)

Social work: @scriptsocialwork (Social workers and the field of social services) [ARCHIVED]

To get the most up-to-date version of this list, be sure to check this link here:  scriptshrink.tumblr.com/scriptfamily

Are you an expert in a topic? Interested in joining the ScriptX family? Apply here!

[scriptveterinarian]

How bad are paralysis ticks? The Australian kind? For my Nano, I have this scene of where a family's house is infested with ticks and the father nearly dies. Can they kill or at least bed-rid a man? Or I'm overblowing things?

Ixodes holocyclus is the most common species of paralysis tick in Australia, essentially limited in its distribution to the Eastern seaboard. Humans are not really my thing, but most human cases reported have been children because their smaller size makes them more vulnerable, and they may be less able to express that they’ve been bitten.

They tend not to infest houses so much as grassy areas that have a lot of native mammals pass through, so if the house is in bushland the garden may be host to these ticks.

Tick paralysis needs requires hospitalization if it occurs, but an adult human would likely require multiple ticks attached for a prolonged period to cause paralysis. However, these ticks can also cause anaphylaxis which will potentially kill your adult human. Check out Aunt Scripty’s write up on anaphylaxis for more information.

Australian ticks can also cause mammalian meat allergy, where the bitten human may develop lift threatening allergies to consuming mammalian meat. That’s a nasty little complication that not a lot of people know about.

- Dr Ferox.

For more information see: Reference 1, Reference 2, and more about mammalian meat allergy.

Disclaimer

[scriptfeature]

I saw that ScriptEconomist is no longer being updated, so do you know of any other economics blogs where I could ask a knowledgeable person about the feasibility of my fictional economic system?

So first - thank you so much for sending this in, because I just realized I hadn’t slid it down on the ScriptX Family page to the Archived section, woops! Fixed. Because you are correct, the blog is Archived now.Unfortunately I don’t know much about economics or economics blogs outside of that. All I can suggest is:1.) Peruse the archive of @scripteconomist to see if you can find something applicable, which may help anyway?

2.) Depending on the question, the folks at other ScriptX blogs such as @script-a-world or even @scriptsociology MIGHT be able to help? The reason I suggest Script-a-world is that you’re looking at this for worldbuilding purposes, and their blog is designed to help with making overall fictional worlds more plausible, so they might have some ideas depending on what you need that fictional economic system to do in-story.

The reason I suggest ScriptSociology, is that Sociology as a field includes studying complex aspects of human culture and how they impact groups of people within them, and while it’s not the same as full-on economics, it by necessity can definitely include the impact of economic changes or the consequences of some aspects of economic systems, which is honestly the most important part of working with an ‘economic system’ in a worldbuilding sense anyway, I would think. Examples of this include how poverty levels or class divisions might shake out in terms of large-scale effects on actual people (I think they had a post on how street gangs in America originally formed as a way to ‘protect’ neighborhoods that were mostly ethnic enclaves, which presumably had less consistent access to reliable/non-abusive law enforcement due to poverty and class division, for an example of what doesn’t LOOK like it includes economics but technically does? At least that’s how I recall the post, but it’s been a while and I don’t have time to hunt for it >_>), or - There’s also how economic prosperity or pressure influences where people move to or from; e.g. how most major cities have historically developed along a waterfront due to resource access and/or trade access (Los Angeles for instance could not possibly exist as far inland in a desert like it does, without the massive man-made infrastructure that was installed that draws water to the area; but NYC existed before modern plumbing was really a thing, and became one of the early trade hubs with Europe and elsewhere because it’s in a region that connects to the ocean and several rivers; Chicago is near major water sources and lies between many other places that it engages in trade with too, etc.). That could be a question posed to either blog, I think, though the perspectives on it and the depth of information will likely be different and it’s probably better-aimed at ScriptSociology in particular? At a guess.3.) You could try browsing the Economics tag or Worldbuilding tag on tumblr?4.) Finally, I will open this up as a question to our followers to see if they have suggestions? Remember to check the notes in case we have a viable suggestion given! Good luck with your worldbuilding!-Mod Vorpalgirl(Feeling generous? You can click here to Buy Me A Coffee!)

[scriptshrink]

The ScriptX family as of 5/10/17

Have writing questions, but don’t know who to ask? Check out the ScriptX family of blogs, all of whom provide detailed writing advice on a huge variety of topics!

First, the Fascinating Feature, where you can get the best posts of all the ScriptX blogs, as well as updates and announcements about the family: @scriptfeature

The Matriarch of Medicine: @scriptmedic  The Astonishing Astronomer: @scriptastronomer The Caustic Chemists: @scriptchemist The Helpful Hacker: @scripthacker

The Saintly Social Worker: @scriptsocialwork The Shrewd Shrink: @scriptshrink  The Terrific Trauma Survivors: @scripttraumasurvivors The Tactful Torturer: @scripttorture

The Eclectic Economist: @scripteconomist  The Harmonious Historians: @scripthistory  The Laudable Linguist: @scriptlinguist  The Plucky Politicians: @scriptpolitics

The Amazing Accountant: @scriptaccountant The Breathtaking Ballerina: @scriptballerina The Fearless Firefighter: @scriptfirefighter The Fair Florists: @scriptflorist The Learned Librarian: @scriptlibrarian The Patient Pastor: @scriptpastor The Powerful Publishers: @scriptpublishingindustry The Sincere Sailor: @scriptsailor The Splendid Soldier: @scriptsoldier

The Autistic Answerers: @scriptautistic The Radiant Rainbows: @scriptlgbt The Shining Spoonies: @scriptspoonie The Wondrous Witches: @scriptwitchcraft

The Valiant Veterinarian: @scriptveterinarian The Eager Equestrians: @scriptequestrian

The Audacious Australian: @scriptaussie The Beautiful Brits: @scriptbrit The Charming Canadian: @scriptcanuck The Germane German: @scriptgerman

The Wonderful World-builders: @script-a-world The Stupendous Structurer: @scriptstructure

Inactive / archived blogs:

The Brilliant Brain Scientists: @scriptbrainscientist The Edified Educator: @scripteducator The Fantastic Foodie: @scriptfoodie The Gentle Geneticist: @scriptgenetics The Knowledgeable Kinkster: @scriptkink The Lively Lawyer: @scriptlawyer The Majestic Mythologists: @scriptmyth  The Phenomenal Pharmacist: @scriptpharmacist The Stalwart Service Dogs: @scriptservicedogs

This list is current as of 5/10/17!

The changes are:

@scripttraumasurvivors and @scriptpastor have joined the family!

Scriptecology has decided to leave the family and is now located at @flukedoesecology. We wish her well in her future endeavors.

Several blogs have gone inactive. 

To get the most up-to-date version of this list, be sure to check this link here: scriptshrink.tumblr.com/scriptfamily

Are you an expert in a topic? Interested in joining the ScriptX family? Apply here!

[scriptfeature]

I'm so glad this blog has a ScriptX Family tab. I recently discovered script blogs and this introduced me to several more I didn't know about.

I’m glad it’s been helpful! :) And yeah, tell me about it - there’s a whole slew I didn’t even know existed until I saw the full list myself XD-Mod VorpalGirlFeeling generous? You can click here to Buy Me A Coffee! :)

[scriptveterinarian]

I was wondering if you could help me writing a dog who's been through a very tramatic event. See the story goes that some guys are trying to beat it to death but a young man steps in and saves the dog. Even goes the extra mile to adopt it after it gets out of the clinic. And I'm wondering what kind of behavior (and bond with the young man) that dog would have?

Unfortunately the dog is not guaranteed to recognize the hero as the person who ‘saved’ it. Once a dog is at an extremely high level of fear, or panic, just about everything that happens will be perceived as ‘bad’. Consider the events from the dog’s point of view:

Extremely bad thing is happening (being beaten towards death)

It’s still scary being rescued from that situation, especially if there’s much yelling

Car ride to vet clinic, and car rides are scary at the best of times

Is then in the vet clinic in a state of anxiety, which is scary at the best of times, and still in pain if it was beaten badly enough.

So all of these events are potentially perceived as Very Bad and so is everything associated with them. Dogs also interpret some cause and effect differently than us, so if they are in pain when encountering something new the may ‘blame’ the new thing for being associated with the pain, including meeting new people.

What I’m trying to get at is that dog’s don’t understand complex motives of people all that well, and the beaten dog may well associate the hero with the abuse it went through. Just because he was there and part of the events.

It would be very unlikely for the dog to be happy to see the hero, it’s unlikely to understand exactly what’s happened. Every dog is different, but I would expect it to be neutral at best, and there hero would have a lot of work ahead of them to ‘win the dog over’ as it were.

The dog may also have persistent anxiety and exaggerated fear responses to anything remotely associated with the beating: location, color clothes, raised voices, certain movements, certain sounds or smells etc. It may also be not obvious what it concerning the dog.

But if the hero does manage to convince the dog that he is a safe person, then they are likely to become the sort of dog that only trusts one person, and may be very uncomfortable when outside of their comfort zone or when left alone.

Dogs vary in their personalities and you can have a broad variety of behavior, but the dog may not recognize its ‘rescuer’ as being a separate type of person to the abusers.

Disclaimer

[scriptveterinarian]

Hi ScriptVet! In a fantasy, pre-industrial setting could a short haired dog native to a warm climate such as a saluki or Rhodesian ridgeback live in an area with winter temperatures between the 20-40 degrees Fahrenheit? What would need to be done to assist them? (Dog jackets, sleeping by a fire, etc.) It may be worth noting that these dogs would be used to hunt, highly prized as symbols of a god, and they can live almost twice as long as a regular dog. Thanks in advance for your help!

Converting Fahrenheit to something sensible like Celsius, that temperature range is only a few degrees either side of freezing. Warm climate dogs could survive, but it’s not going to be easy and they will definitely benefit from assistance. In particular, the points to consider for these dogs are:

Shelter

External heat

Clothing

High calorie diet

Cold is tough enough to deal with, but cold and wind or wet is much, much worse. Giving these dogs a place to go to avoid the weather will be hugely advantageous to their survival.

Eternal heat, like fires, warm floors, etc will also help them maintain their body temperature, though this wont really be much help when out hunting in the cold and (I assume) snow.

A high calorie diet will help prevent hypothermia, and if these dogs are highly prized I would expect they are well fed. Some extra subcutaneous fat wouldn’t go astray for them either over winter.

Clothing for the dogs should definitely be considered, not just jackets but also some sort of boot to protect their toes from both hard snow and frostbite. Toe injuries are very common in racing and hunting dogs, especially over uneven ground or with rapid turning. Dog snow boots can be bought commercially, and I’d recommend looking at some to determine how a similar thing could be constructed in your setting.

When exercising, the muscle movements of the dog would be expected to help keep it warm and its core body temperature high, providing it is well enough vet and not pushed to exhaustion. However dogs with thin fur and low levels of body fat, or thin skin (such as the greyhound and other sighthounds) can still be vulnerable to frostbite on their extremities. This is particularly true for ears, tail tips and toes. Short periods of time out in the cold will be fine, but prolonged exposure may cause issues. While tail docking and ear cropping is an unnecessary and considered both unethical and illegal in many countries today, it is a historical practice which might be considered in your setting. You may also consider some type of hooded jacket to cover the ears, though it’s very difficult to keep any covering on the tail of a happy dog.

Remember: anything can survive winter if its warm and cosy indoors.

Disclaimer

[scriptveterinarian]

More an RPG question, but: Do you think a halfling (36" high; 35 lbs) could ride a spotted hyena (28-36" high at shoulder; 150 lbs, per Wikipedia)? I'm assuming she could train it via magic, but I'm not sure its size and physical structure are suitable...

(I’m assuming a lot of D&D 3.5 edition rules because those are the one’s I’m most familiar with)

A halfling could certainly get a saddle made to sit on a hyena, but a standard hyena is probably approaching its carrying capacity and the limit of its strength to carry a halfling around for any length of time, and that’s not accounting for gear and armor.

You could potentially modify the hyena, adding a couple of hit dice to increase it’s strength score (and possibly height) so that it can carry more for longer. It’s only a small tweak that would be needed in the rules. Domesticated hyenas bred for increased carrying capacity is an interesting possibility.

Dungeons & Dragons often pairs halflings with riding dog’s, so I don’t see why you couldn’t modify those rules a little to suit your idea. It is fantasy after all. 

Disclaimer