Very good reply. I have covered the fire which occured in 1675 in the story. The Bishop did not need to be knowledgeable, he only witnessed the cure. 2/The colleague was a known confidant of the Bishop (historically true, most believe) 3/The Pope's authority still played a large part of in the Church in the middle ages. However, you are correct. I had to take some historical liberties. 4/Allegedly, an ampule containing the blood of a saint dating back to the year 305 is still kept at the Cathedral in Naples. There are many other other examples of centuries old containers of liquid. It is definitely conceivable that a properly sealed container can last 750 years 5/The lands deeded to St Pauls has not changed since approximately 1200. I handled the great fire in 1675. It actually aided my story that the Bishops files were removed to another location. But primarily, the story concerns correspondence (letters) to other colleagues which were not at St Pauls at the time of the fire. But your criticisms are very well taken and helpful. I thank you for your post.
I'm sorry no one seems interested in the actual question you asked. That's not unusual, I'm afraid to say. But I would happily accept a medical science person running off to have adventures in the countryside. I assume he's the only one with the knowledge to preserve the cure if he happens to stumble upon it. Or that no one believes him. Or that it would take longer to explain than the long drive out into the country with adventures and whatnot.
I apologise if it appeared as though I was trying to analyze your personality. My comment was purely based on your posts. I am not defensive, but I doubt that you have anything of value to add to this thread, so I would appreciate if you just ignored it.
I apologise if it appeared as though I was trying to analyze your personality. My comment was purely based on your posts in this thread. I am not a defensive person and can accept any criticism for its own merit. But, I doubt if you have anything of value to add to this thread, so I would appreciate if you just ignored it.
No its obvious that he wasn't looking for that answer. No one would be looking for that answer. How, in any conceivable fashion, would your objection to his characters nationality help him with his "quandry [sic]"?
You're going to have to bold the parts you thought would be helpful, because I can't find them anywhere.
I can't decide if you're being genuine or willfully obtuse. I'll assume the first, I guess. So... I suggested that the author establish the MC as an outsider, someone excluded from the establishment and forced to look for creative, out-of-the-box solutions. Then I suggested that an outsider character could be added, one who contacts the MC and sends him down the non-traditional research path. This didn't work for Robert D, but that's not because I wasn't trying to help, it's because it's really hard to come up with suggestions that fit into someone else's long-established plot. Later on I suggested that he not worry about it too much, which is, I think, the only suggested solution you've come up with as well. So, if you genuinely couldn't find those ideas, there they are. If you were just being silly? Oh well. There they are anyway.
Let's get back on topic. While it's true that I didn't feel the OP provided sufficient information for - myself at least - to be of much help, the solution to that is to ask questions, not accuse each other of being unhelpful.
Well I can understand your wish to flesh this part of the plot out. You can have him go out of his realm and research real estate a few different ways I imagine.(In perfectly reasonable ways) There is no limit to how you can write this story and it is hard, mind you, for us to nudge into a plot that has been well established, without at least hearing the parts that interest us individually. We each have our own ideas about how to interpret 'realism' and 'how to' reinforce the suspension of disbelief. Besides all that here are my suggestions. Since part of finding cures is finding disease origin, he will have great interest in the geographical location of where the disease began. (The tomb where these diseased people where buried, where the bacterial infection was reborn.) He could be looking for a lot of things, patient 0's bones, to carbon dating to determine the original timing of the disease. That could lead to historical research, to find out when this disease existed in the past, or to find out more about what was done to combat such a disease.(If something hinted to him that they indeed have some way to do so.) he could find clues in the first historical location he visits (The tomb) which leads him to believe this alternate method of research as a valid way to possibly find a cure. He could have assistants doing the 'lab' research. They could correspond information from their tests which help him track down the original cure. So he could be just as geeky/informed/prepared as you'd realistically expect of them, even though he's never looking through a microscopic lens himself. Hope some of that helps
I will sign out of this thread and ask the mods to close it. I made a mistake in posting here. I am a novice writer and from what I could garner from perusing before I posted, it look like a good place to learn. I was wrong. There seem to be a lot prejudices here that I have no desire to participate it. I explained in the beginning that my work was fiction. There were liberties that had to be taken for the story to work. It was always my belief that that is what fiction was: freedom to tell the story, no matter what. I have read posts here where characters from the planet Zog fall to earth and become zombie wizards. I don't recall anyone challenging their "facts". For what its worth, an author of a reasonable level of credibility has read the first seven chapters of my book and cautioned me from publicly revealing too much about the plot because the story was very good; that I shouldn't offer it up as a freebie. With that said, there are a number of posts in this thread that genuinely tried to assist with my dilemma. To those people I give my genuine thanks. There were a couple of very good ideas. If I use one of them, I will message that person and personally thank them. To those that had an issue with my main character being American, I can only tell you that, in my story, this doctor worked for the CDC (Centre for Disease Control) in Atlanta, Georgia. This is a global organization dealing with genuine outbreaks of disease worldwide. My apologies that it happens to be headquartered in Atlanta, which of course, is in the USA. I am a veteran who has been shot and wounded in war. I have no illusions of America as the world's saviour. But I will never understand the many who hate America (and possibly by association anyone born there) because of their overwhelming presence on the world stage. I will never forget the video I saw of a young middle easterner cheering with glee right after 9/11, wearing a T-shirt that had "Coca-Cola" on it. He hated America, too, or at least he did for that moment. Not long after, I saw a video of a young American missionary cradling a malnourished and crying child in Uganda. He was wearing the exact same T-shirt that I saw on the young middle easterner, reading "Coca-Cola". What's the point? None, except that American influence, good or bad in the eyes of the beholder, is a matter of fact. It is not likely to go away anytime soon. In the end, if I were the sensitive type, I might have decided to chuck it in and forget writing after visiting here. But I'm not the sensitive type. I have dedicated four years of my life to this project and I will see it through to the end. Will it ever be published? Probably not. But, I won't be discouraged by my experience here. Bob
That's shame. Please don't take criticism of plot that way. Writers here are only trying to help. Agents, publishers and the public will be far more ruthless. If we're pointing out issues, so will they. You can pick and choose what you like. There is no need to defend it at all. Your constant defending is tiresome. Write what you like. Disagree and say thanks but no thanks. We have a very healthy culture here of being able to openly express opinions without people storming off in a huff, and this needs to be protected. It means we can be safely constructive. If someone says 'this is dumb' we say, 'I disagree, but thanks for your input.' If you are actually serious about writing and learning you'll stick around. If not, you may be too guarded for creativity. Because the arts are ruthless.
Ok, thank you for your comments. But just to set things straight, I am not storming off in a huff. After re-reading all of the posts in this thread, I take full responsibility for those wishing to offer assistance being stymied by a lack of clarity. I should have provided more information or not asked the question at all. This is a complicated plot with many sub plots. One of the questions that kept being raised is about the church. It's probably useless now, just for clarity, the church figures heavily in the plot, but not for the cure. They are involved because of a "cover up" involving the land where the release of the bacteria originated. So afraid are they of getting bad press that someone actually hires two "heavies" to scare the doctor off. I hope that clears up the question about the church.
The church is worried about bad press because some land they have owned for 750 years turns out to have had plague victims buried on it? Would plague victims have been buried in a churchyard anyway? Pope Clement actually consecrated the River Rhone so that plague victims could be dumped in it.
Are you familiar with London? The Church of England owns a lot of land nowhere near the church yard. The area in my story is near St Katherines docks. The cover up has more to do with the construction deal that penetrated the pit to begin with. More complicated than that. But hopefully that gives you an idea why the church is involved. And their fear of bad press is financial. They control four billion pounds of assets (fact) and with paedophiles running through their ranks and dramatically lower church attendance, they are hurting (in my story)
No more familiar with London than an average tourist. However, I'm aware that the church's land-holdings were vast - after all, they were income-generating in days of yore - and, I'm assuming, still are. You're already a little suspicious about this when you qualify it with "allegedly"! However, while a "properly sealed container can last 750 years", it says nothing about the likelihood that the organic substance contained within hasn't been the subject of chemical change in that time. I have a memory about a similar "blood of the saint" container which, it turned out, was renewed every decade or so.
You ask quality questions. But for the purpose of my story some things have to be possible if not true. I don't believe Indiana Jones could physically do the things he did in the move, but it sure was entertaining
