Bring Your Fandom to Work expertise sharing

[corbae]

Hey all!

I promised I'd make a post where people could offer to be sounding boards for fic about their jobs or hobbies, and this is it!


I asked the panelists to answer these three questions:

• What do people get wrong?
• What are the weirdest things about your job, the things no one who doesn't do it would realize?
• What are the coolest parts of your job?

Therapy and Crisis Counseling

• Outpatient therapy is not a gotcha; your therapist is not trying to trip you up.
• It's difficult to force someone to stay in a hospital unless they are a risk to themselves or others; most forced hospital stays only last a few days. Also, the crisis team generally wants the person to be able to go home quickly; they need those beds!
• If you're boinking your client, you're out
• Hannibal: Not an ethical therapist
• Speranza's Eight Sessions (due South) is an excellent portrayal of therapy. One good therapist, one bad therapist.

Nursing

• Don't rip out your IV! You'll get blood and fluids everywhere.
• Long hospital stays are unlikely (in the US)
• Most hospitals are not soap operas full of sex (though this may be different for ER nurses & doctors? Not enough data)
• demon_rum's Everything is a Stall (The Eagle) is an excellent portrayal of hospitals and nursing

Baby Development
Your (fictional) baby is wrong:

• Babies can't physiologically speak at 8 months
• Babies probably can't sit unassisted at 6 months, let alone walk
• Babies can't eat things like pieces of raw carrot until they're at least 3 (choking hazard!)

Tips for writing kids:

• Google "[age] [target behavior]" (e.g., "3 months eating")
• Google "[age] [domain] milestones" (e.g., "3 months cognitive milestones")
• Follow celebrity mom Instagrams and learn in real time!
• Be vague! Your baby character is probably more important for the emotions they invoke in your other characters than for every detail of their development
• Ask @seascribe_ and consult her notes here
• Verity's Open Ticket (Hockey RPF) has great kids

Libraries

• Librarians see a lot of shit
• Librarians do not just read all day, sorry
• Libraries are of course the perfect place to get books! They are also used for free internet, workshops, as community gathering places, etc
• CommaSplice's Game of Stacks (Game of Thrones) is a great fic about the library. They all fight over the good chair, which is very accurate.

The IRS

• The IRS does not pick people at random to be audited (unless they are doing research to improve their algorithm, in which case that is the stated reason); instead, an algorithm throws a flag.
• IRS agents visit people who are being audited
• Sometimes taxpayers are hella creepy

Data Science

• Prediction from data is hard and never as accurate as media portrays

Programming

• Most developers don't have the skillz to be hackers. Also, hacking is more complex (and boring?) than most media portrayals.

College Radio

• All terrestrial stations (i.e., not just satellite or over the internet) have a 4-letter callsign. Except in rare (old) cases, east of the Mississippi starts with W and west starts with K. Your Sunnydale station will be KVMP or something similar.
• The actual frequency (e.g., 89.3) will probably be lower than 100
• With few exceptions, there are no commercials, only PSAs. Use these for clever worldbuilding details!
• (Anecdotal) Incarcerated people seem to be big listeners of college radio
• We get weird callers. Use that!

Comic Stores

• Comics come out once per week! These shipments will also include most trade paperbacks, statues, anything from Diamond. They arrive on Tuesday and are for sale on Wednesday
• Diamond has an industry stranglehold and is terrible

Horses
Writing Horses by Judith Tarr is a must-read

General tip for everyone: If you don't want to do research, just be vague! That lets the experts assume it's a magical world where something is fundamentally different.


I'll start us off: If you have questions about college radio or comic & game stores, lmk! I'm @corbae on Twitter and most other places.

Comments

[cyprinella]

I have extensive knowledge of freshwater aquariums and the fishes there of. I also raise heritage breed ducks as a hobby/possible business and am also conversant in sheep, goats, and cows, and other assorted livestock and gardening shenanigans. My twitter is your best bet outside this thread @cyprinella but if I've locked it back up, I'll respond from my always public account.

[cinco]

I'm happy to help with questions about chain bookstores, video stores, technical editing, and non-intelligence government jobs. DW message or DM me on Twitter at cincodmaygirl (I'm locked, but I'll accept follow requests from fanpeople).

I'd also be delighted to see posts from anyone answering the panel's three main questions-- What do people get wrong about your job in fic, What do you like best about your job, and what else do you want us to know (Corbae, am I remembering the questions correctly?)?