Weekly Plot Help - Week of November 10th

[alison-sky.livejournal.com]

Got a problem in your NaNo? Who doesn't?! But we've got a way to help!

Post here with your plot problems, and all through the week members of the community will scan through and see if they can help.

AKA - The best way to procrastinate is to help others!

So post your problem. Then take a moment to look at everyone else's and see if you can help them.

People helping people. That's what makes this community great :)

So have at it!

Comments

[walkertxkitty.livejournal.com]

I didn't have time to do my usual research and now I've nearly (or maybe I did) killed my main character. This is a real, modern setting. Magic doesn't exist beyond what you might see a Wiccan or a faith healer do. And that's the problem: I'm not sure realistically the faith healer can do anything for this guy. Saving him with a prayer seems like a cheesy cop-out.

Suggestions?

The character in question had a run-in with datura (that's jimson weed) poisoning a while back (no, he doesn't use, the bad guys put it in his food). Now he has gastroparesis (that's a partial paralysis and slow emptying of the stomach) resulting from nerve damage...and my resident pranksters decided that a load of hot pepper in his food would be just the thing. For various reasons (*cough*stupid male pride*cough*) the main character felt he had to go through with eating the meal.

So, as you can see I've nearly killed him.

Suggestions? Thoughts? Cookies? I really do not want ot use the miracle faith healer card if I can at all help it.

[situationgirl.livejournal.com]

As a person who has dealt with stomach and intestinal ailments, I must say that this character will need a strict diet by which to continue living! At least until you find a cure. And if he recovers, he may find he has lost the ability to tolerate some foods, say, like a wheat sensitivity or something. But I think that would be intersting. If something that drastic happened to me, I'd mourn the loss of those foods for a while, and then my tastes would change to accomodate the foods I can tolerate. Maybe this will affect him in other ways, too, like how he views the world. Or maybe he'll be able to read personalities by the ways and things that people eat.

For a cure:
Take a moment and remind yourself that you're writing fiction. Then take ten minutes and look up some treatments for gastroparesis; even if the options are limited, you can use science as a basis to concoct a cure. There are many herbs and natural healing aids that my doctors were willing to discuss with me, so feel free to use those sources, too.

Just a few things I know of:

Swedish bitters - used to stimulate the stomach and prepare it for the reception of food.

Ginger/liquorice root/calendula - separately, or in a tea, used to calm the stomach.

Garlic - to fight off parasites and stimulate the immune system.

Honey and cider vinegar - used to tame stomach acid.

Turmeric - used to treat inflamation of any kind.

Anyhow, I hope this helps!

[walkertxkitty.livejournal.com]

Ack, I can't believe I missed so many of those! I had discarded most of my arsenal because they're not meant to be used on someone so badly compromised.

That just might stabilize him enough to get him out of the bayou and somewhere civilized.

And yeah...I don't think he'll be dipping into the jambalaya again, regardless of male or professional pride.

[situationgirl.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah, and umeboshi in whole plums or paste.

Cat's claw tea, to calm and heal.

And there are many ayurvedic herbs that would also be used to treat stomach ailments.

[walkertxkitty.livejournal.com]

Cat's claw! I forgot about that one too!

*hurries off to resurrect her damaged character*