Sometimes I want to write stories on specific themes that require knowledge of jargon vocabulary. I have to inform myself of this because it's important for making the story believable. I don't have personal experience on those fields, so there's no way I would know the words without studying them because they're not a part of common speech. I'm interested in learning jargon from different fields, such as law/crime, medical, science, business, war, fantasy/magic, etc. There is actually one book series I know of that focuses on one of these themes, which is law/crime. I'm referring to 'The Howdunit Series'. This is quite impressive because there's a book for pretty much every aspect of law/crime. They have writer's guides on homicide, how criminals work, how criminals think, the police & how they work, police procedure & investigation, investigators & investigation techniques, crime scene investigation, forensics to find the cause of death, wounds & injuries, how crimes are committed & solved, how private citizens solve criminal cases, private investigating, finding missing persons, crimes of deception, a guide to poisons, a guide to weapons, etc. As you can see, they go very in-depth on exploring this subject. I like that there's at least some resources out there for crime writers, but I wonder if there's an app or an online guide that offers the same type of information for writers. I prefer something more portable that I can access through my cellphone or tablet because I'm often working on my writing when on the go. I'd definitely love to have access to a guide that I can pull up anywhere I am. Also, I want to know of any resources covering terminology that can help guide writers to create stories on other themes as well, such as those I mentioned above. If you're aware of any, please let me know. Thank you!
An important point. I love to sail and if the jargon isn't right in a sailing scene, I'm kind of put off. Don't pull in a sail, trim the mainsheet, please, and remember sheets are running rigging, not pieces of cloth. Wikis might be the easiest resources to find.
Forgot to add, you might look for writing groups with a focus on mystery or crime writing. These days a lot of meetings are held over Zoom, and you might find a lot of good information that way. DAWG, the Dallas Area Writer's Group, just held an online seminar with Kathleen Kent. She's got a wall of awards and has written best sellers. Pretty neat to hear her talk about crime writing for a couple of hours in a small group setting. I'm a member of DAWG, but I live more than an hour away from their meetings. 'Course, I live more than an hour away from the nearest movie theater, Starbucks, and most everything civilized. I like it that way, but it makes it tough to get off work in time to make DAWG meetings. I hate to say anything good about a killer, but COVID has made writer's groups a lot more accessible. If you attend such meetings, please support the hosting organization.
Likely the best sources are the very sources you are using to understand the topic itself. These sources can vary a lot. I picked up my Napoleonic jargon from Zbynio Olszewski and his website that collects Napoleonic sources. Anything 15th to 17th century, I've learned & picked up from Sandhroman History youtube channel and the research it prompted me to do. Rarely do you see a history channel this well sourced. Rarely I say? Military History Visualized is the perfect source for anything WW2, as well as some lovely videos on the age of sail. For the age of sail, you also have Patrick O'Brian's books that are pretty much the best-researched books concerning the topic. You get a chart of royal navy jargon on the first couple pages on each book. As for business, that's a lot harder to pinpoint. I would suggest getting a subscription to GetAbstract and reading a couple management / business related summaries. It's a good resource depository in general; though prepare for most of the summaries to be business/development related.
