Fic Research Threads

Nonnies often ask one another for research help on topics that are obscure or esoteric. That's why the “Fic Research Thread” was invented. Sometimes there are also “Ask the Experts” threads in which nonnies offer answers to questions in their particular fields of expertise.

Over the years, FFA has had far too many “Fic Research/Unfuck My Plot” threads for all of them to be listed on this page. FFArchive/Dememe has them indexed going back to the start of 2013. However, some earlier examples are provided below.

• Ask the Experts (Nov. 14, 2011)
• Things that are harder to research than you thought they would be — Started by a nonny who was looking for information on the late-Victorian English court system. Subthreads on life in colonial New York and details about the Napoleonic army. (Dec. 22, 2011)
• Funny coincidences in research — “I've been researching homosexuality in victorian london and discovered that one of the main bars for meetings was the Criterion. Then, when looking up apartments I read the first chapter of 'A Study in Scarlet,' and Watson is at the Criterion when he meets up with his old friend. Makes you think, huh? haha.” (Dec. 23, 2011)
• going crazy — “I'm trying to figure out what a bachelor pad in Victorian London would have looked like. I was using Sherlock as a reference but other than that I can't find anything. What do you think anons, what would a victorian bachelor have?” (Dec. 23, 2011)
• ITT: Creation assistance — “Any kind anons out there feel up to answering questions from those of us currently working on fandom stuff? I've got a medical question of sorts that involves a nasty infection following a fairly brutal beating and I'd really appreciate any assistance anyone could give.” (Dec. 27, 2011)
• Fandom Resources (Jan. 18, 2012)
• ITT: Primers for things you wanted to learn more about (Jan. 19, 2012)
• Re: The largest amount of research you've ever done for a fic? — “I can't even begin. I love researching details for fic and get obsessive about it. What types of roses were the ancient Greeks familiar with? When exactly did the fact that the light we see from stars is years delayed enter into the popular consciousness?” When other nonnies asked them if they'd like to do research for them, the nonny replied, “In case anyone wants to take me up on it, I've left a comment at the friending meme.” (Jan. 20, 2012)
• Need medical help for fanfic (Jan. 27, 2012)
• Movie theatres in London (Jan. 30, 2012)
• Asking for fic/fandom help! — Thread covered how to date an old (fictional) Forbes magazine cover and common UK brands of tooth-whitening toothpaste. (Feb. 2, 2012)
• Book recs for fandom purposes (Feb. 9, 2012)
• Help! Popular UK beer bottle to use as a buttplug (Feb. 16, 2012)
• I've got a nit I'd like to pick with you — “What research errors have you come across in fics lately that trip you up even though you know they're minor and you shouldn't care?” (Feb. 17, 2012)
• Random medical question (Feb. 18, 2012)
• Too much fic research… (Feb. 18, 2012)
• Questions You Always Wanted To Ask.… (Feb. 19, 2012)
• The Little Details Thread — with subthreads on British army doctors, prostitution in ancient Rome (the post linked in the OP is bullshit, but many good resources and comments in thread), and teenagers and exercise. (Feb. 20–21, 2012)
• Ask the experts (Mar. 15, 2012)
• Fic research thread (Sep. 6, 2012)
• Fic research? (Mar. 28, 2013)
• Fic research thread (Apr. 6, 2013)
• Fic Research (Apr. 8, 2013)
• Research /Question Meme (Apr. 18, 2013)
• Fic Research! (May 8, 2013)
• Fic Research/Unfuck My Plot — In particular, good advice about un-Sue'ing an OC. (May 19, 2013)
• Fic research & plot debugging (May 27, 2013)
• Fic Research? (May 27, 2013)
• Fic research thread (May 29, 2013)
• Fic Research Thread (Jun. 2, 2013): How dislocating a joint feels and how much it hurts to have to popped back into place, esp. without painkillers; name for a Bengali Christian man born c. 1945; what women attracted to women might fixate on the most, physically, in a crush or relationship; how long henna paste takes to dry so that it won't smear; how long food preserved with non-modern methods keep in a cold, dry environment before becoming completely inedible, and what types of food/ingredients would keep longest; anecdata on how Xanax affects social skills, especially during acclimation; length of and recovery from coma caused by blunt-force trauma; prominent fountains in Volterra, Italy; details of vasectomy in 1961; why a sniper and spotter might have gotten isolated from their recon team and not been rescued by their teammates; how injuries could be caused a metal palette knife; name of business/finance district in Los Angeles; ways to cover a squeamish, vain char in “gunge”
• Fic Research (Jun. 5, 2013): How long after a bar exam in the U.S. it takes to find out whether you've passed, and means of notification; ways a seasoned criminal character could sell something illegally and get screwed over, other than brute force; how a char could catch the attention of fairies from somewhere other than her home; meaning of “You either turn from a bite or die” in Teen Wolf; how to make a female European character seem understatedly sophisticated; how to say “Vampires!” in Italian to alert your comrades; whether doctors still swear the Hypocratic Oath; how a real diamond in a heist story would be unloaded after a pair of fall guys were set up with a fake; festivities for new marriage of middle-class widower in France c. 1815; online resources for getting a feel for Chicago; how a first-time prostitute might go about staying within legal boundaries; existence of PTSD support groups for survivors of situations such as hostage crises; how a female char disguised as a man would hide her breasts if she's stripping down in front of the crew but has the medical officer on her side; whether an Englishman in his 40s would have called poking light fun at someone “teasing” in the mid-1980s; methods for abbreviating Japanese names, similar to initials; typical book for 16-year-old to be reading in English class in the U.K., and what that “grade” (form) is called; whether U.S. pharmacists tell experienced Ambien users of the risks each time they get refills; name for rule!63 Chiba Mamoru, born early to mid-1970s; believable reason for char on the lam, aiming to leave the country, to team up with a stranger
• Fic Research (Jun. 9, 2013): What “slushies” are called in Canada; existing guidelines to lengths of hospital stays for different kinds of injuries; where the UK Joint Intelligence Committee would meet; how long it takes for airborne nerve toxins to be dispersed to the point that the affected area can be considered “safe”; how large an object launched into orbit around Earth, positioned just above the upper reaches of the Earth's atmosphere, must be in order to be visible to the naked eye; where and how deep a throat must be cut to sever the carotid or jugular, and how long bleeding to death takes in either case; writing an adult char who must relinquish some control of the child (not his own) he's been caring for in a dangerous environment for a long time, after leaving said environment; safety/mortality rate of Caesarian sections in late 17th century; most famous/popular Pushkin quotes; symptoms in far-future canon of debilitating, poisoning-related illness resembling an auto-immune disease; name of a “nice” small town/village in England
• Fic Research (Jun. 11, 2013): What kind of non-kitchen knife might be stuck into a knife block; how to carry out a high-end kitchen renovation; best way to kill a char who will later be revived; name of outfit an auto mechanic wears; indicators of intimacy/serious familiarity between two young men (English and American, both affluent) living together c. 1900 that could pass as innocent to the unsuspicious; if childhood epilepsy can go into remission in adulthood and later reappear; why it might be impossible to rescue a prisoner immediately from the bad guy's lair; whether a medieval monk or friar could hear confessions; writing time travel fic in a fantasy vs. s/f setting; unfucking a love triangle and patching up its plot holes after it gets jossed; conveying hierarchical language in a very class/caste-based society without resorting to “thou”; object on the bottom of a cello (the endpin)
• Fic Research (Jun. 15, 2013): How two 8-year-old white boys new to NYC street life might survive and avoid detection; slang terms for “bisexual” in late-1970s U.S.; legal issues when a band under contract breaks up; whether students at Goldsmiths' College, London, could take time off from degree completion to tour with their band; how a young, masculine-presenting trans man in early-1980s East Coast U.S., not on hormones, would be “read” if he were hospitalized; how to show two people falling in love very quickly; reason for char's grandfather to move in with him; how Japanese daimyou during the bakumatsu would have paid for British goods; what a teenage boy in the UK would call a sleeveless padded jacket; details of sniper work; how an unhitched/unburdened cab truck might speed up very fast; where in Southern England besides London or Essex a poor black teen might live with his single mum; how odd the surname “Stilinski” would sound in Norway; how to write a char who literally never had a childhood (began life at age 20)
• Fic research/plot unfucking station (Jun. 19, 2013): How a spy might address another who outranks him without sounding obsequious; how a secret cult trying to give humanity one last chance before the apocalypse might go about it; writing frottage; what being in an explosion is like; how a permanent resident in the U.S. who becomes a younger sibling's caretaker might obtain work rights for that sibling; a serious crime that does not make the char who committed it unredeemable; how a char thrown a decade into the past with nothing but the cash in his wallet and the clothes on his back could earn money while technically not existing; career paths for therapists; how a middle-aged Ontarian Anglo might refer to the RCMP collectively; exploring the dynamics of teenage m/m in which one is canonically 50x stronger than the other and the weaker one has issues about it
• Fic research/Unfuck my plot (Jun. 22, 2013): Shakespearean roles for theatre actor who got big break on Broadway a year or two out of college; how to indicate speech for alien race that communicates telepathically
• Language questions for meme (Jun. 23, 2013)
• Fic Research/Unfuck My Plot (Jun. 25, 2013): Cover job for investigator who travels a lot, modern U.S.; what special forces do at work; superpowers for a young queer man with barely restrained resentment issues toward the big-name superheroes in his universe, an interest in activism, physically smaller than many villains, and more of a brawler than a ranged weapon user; how the War of 1812 was referred to afterward in the U.S.; valuable McGuffin for mercenary in space opera to recover from her home planet; favorite magical object/creature that kills people; reasonably common male-specific nonsexual term of endearment that a male Texan might use; “noble healing cock” reason for sex when one char has rescued another from a villain and they don't know each other yet; political landscape of world in which magic is mainly used for professional sports-like entertainment rather than as a weapon; manifestation of powers re One Piece Devil Fruit with concept of Justice/Law; how a possessed character can take back her body; what (if anything) a child with high-functioning autism would have been diagnosed with in the 1980s; herbal teas bitter/astringent enough to disguise the taste of a drug, especially a sedative; creative reason to write a het “first time” as not PIV but male > female fingering
• Fic research (Jun. 29, 2013): What fainting feels like, before and after, and why one might faint; common industrial tools used in ship building and repair; why a fountain might stop working in a somewhat technologically advanced fantasy society, with bonus points if repair requires entering the sewers; ease of buying cigarettes in rural Northern England in late 1919; ethnic designation for Australian national whose ethnic-Chinese parents lived in Malaysia for generations; how a U.S. law-school student might stumble into labor law and choose it for a career; Australian equivalent of “That's not how it is in the movies”; offensiveness of the word “cripple”; length of time to get full-body tattoo that's only lines with no coloring/shading; household pests/vermin in older, run-down building in small-town U.S. Southwest; how in Old Norse Loki might say “Loki, brother of Odin”
• Fic Research/Unfuck My Plot (Jul. 1, 2013): Length of hospital stay in 1970s U.S. for char who went through a windshield head-first, bleeding heavily but sustaining no broken bones or brain damage; training in 1960-1970 U.S./U.K. for person who must know how to deal with interrogation/torture/threats; why a spy might not want their supervisor to know they praised the work of another spy; excuse for soldier to get stuck alone in an out-of-the-way village for at least a few weeks; finding schematics for large RVs that sleep multiple people and have “silly amenities”; why a family might lose their home and all their money after taking out a loan based on home equity; red tape, length of investigation, and possible defense re unfair expulsion from military boarding school; whether vampire obsession with counting grains of rice can be used to solve math proofs; sneaking comatose char aboard spaceship without detection but with suspicions/rumors; major events in a U.S. high school during last month of school before summer vacation; how long it takes a char to die after a waterbender removes all water from their body; whether a 16-year-old with no driving experience at all might be able to pilot a motorcycle, incl. learning curve and common newbie mistakes; how actors obtain infomercial roles; career for secondary character other than law enforcement that might enable them to help out superhero friend; how to signpost that a char is an evil, scheming creep when POV character is naive and trusting; how to remove a collar with a detonation device without killing the wearer
• Fic Research/Unfuck My Plot (Jul. 5, 2013): Dynamics involving UST, propositions, and averted catastrophe; what to call zoomorphic humanoids with magical powers other than youkai; what it's like to obtain undergrad degree at big U.S. university, how teaching assistantships (TA jobs) work, and isolation between academic departments; how well-connected a bird's flight feathers are; essential elements of detective noir; why one char might set up a threesome between himself, past hookup, and third char; details of financial aid for U.S. university; “fun, flashy, but still fairly classy car” a rich woman might drive; unfucking the romantic subplot of a time travel fic; time required for skilled craftsman working alone to make a high-end piano bench from scratch, and highest-end type of wood he could use; what it's like to be a trans man in modern U.K.; how fast can the average man come; names for agencies that send out mercenaries/bounty hunters in s/f settings; what being in subfreezing temperatures for a few hours is like; whether Equalist influence turned Tarrlok into a power-hungry, manipulative maniac or he was always that way
• Fic Research/Unfuck My Plot (Jul. 8, 2013): Being able to tell whether your partner came in their pants; what a U.S. woman would call drugs specifically purchased to ease menstrual cramps; obvious tells that that two people are in a sexual relationship they're trying to hide
• Fic research/unfuck my plot (Jul. 14, 2013): How much time with tattoo artist would full-color, fairly detailed sleeve tattoos on both arms take; whether a public tennis court in London would be surrounded by a chain-link fence; aerodynamics of airplanes (agility, stability, etc.); historical figures an alien might select for Hunger Games–type fights; emotional fallout from teen having sex they're “not ready for”; when cops first began to put suspects up against cruiser hoods before cuffing them; meta/academic writing about sexual assault (recognized or not in the narrative) in Arthurian legend/literature; readability of a modern .txt file on a 1995 computer; historical attitudes toward and treatments of epilepsy, Europe, Roman era to 17th century; non-Oxbridge uni for posh UK character going into software engineering to apply to; whether home DNA kits can take blood samples instead of cheek swabs; circumcisions and genital piercings; how Christian char in high-fantasy medieval setting might instinctively respond to the presence of demonic evil; legal penalties for two young men caught in homosexual act, rural England, early 19th century; how modern 20-something in NYC living on minimum-wage jobs might further his goal to become an artist
• Fic research thread (Jul. 18, 2013): How long an “average” blowjob takes; where in San Francisco a powerful evil mastermind might establish headquarters; how many times a man in his late 20s/early 30s can come in six hours; whether the OC providing the plot glue and existing only in backstory should be male or female
• Fic Research/Unfuck My Plot (Jul. 20, 2013): Refractory period for men in early 50s; choosing gender of OC character who goes from dubiously amoral to outright villain; music collection for white man born in mid-1940s; tracking down a hospital patient's next of kin; logistics/mechanics of m/f wall sex with 5“ height difference; semen taste changing with age; nostalgic food for someone who grew up in the U.S. South in the 1960s; modern but rural corners of Japan where stabbing victims might have 50/50 chances of surviving; how to stop a char's heart for a few minutes and restart it again; terms for military “post-mission stress” other than PTSD