Rephrasing my question

[hmpf]

I am interested in opinions from people who aren't medical professionals or 'medical geeks'. I'd like to get at least *one* opinion from one such person, because at the moment I'm really worried that I was being a bit too obscure in my fic.

Heck, you don't even have to be a LoM fan - if you can spare a few moments, I'd be thrilled if you could have a quick look at this and tell me if you got what the abbreviations in the last part were about, essentially. I think it should be possible to extrapolate this from the context - but then, I'm the author, so I can't trust my own judgment on this. The ficlet is only 652 words, so it shouldn't take much time. I'm not after general feedback, and I'm certainly not fishing for compliments - I just want to make sure I'm communicating clearly enough before I release this story to a wider audience.

(Original question here.)

Comments

[elliejane.livejournal.com]

Heya :) Thought I'd reply to your query, though I may have invalidated my response by reading the question, lol.

I didn't recognise any of the medical acronyms, none of them registered as medical BUT then again I am not a very well versed person in even your average medical drama. I THINK that Sam's ref to the HRCT scan, would lead me to back track to the other letters and go, oh, that's what they must be, BUT I did that knowing (from your question) that that is what they were.

From my point of view maybe a couple that are more obvious would be a good thing. Not all of them though, because you are wanting to be subtle and not use a sledgehammer to get your concept across!

As to what WOULD be more obvious? Um, the only thing I can think of off the top of my head is ECG...electrocardiogram. And ICU, as Intensive care Unit. IV as Intravenous.

Sorry not to be more help. If it's any consolation, I really, really liked the fic. I'm not much of a LoM person, and it took me to almost the end to remember/realise that it was an Annie pov! But that didn't stop me thinking the writing was great!

Heh, thanks.

[hmpf.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm kind of wracking my brain for good 'obvious' abbreviations ATM. I'm not sure which would make sense in the situation, but then, I'm still not entirely sure the ones I have in there at the moment make sense, either. (Why oh why did I have to pick a fandom that requires so much medical knowledge??)

Ones I've come up with so far:

EEG (makes perhaps more sense in the situation than ECG? Or maybe not? I wish I could tell.)

ICU is a bit too obvious, I think - one thing about that crossword is, it should *not* be obvious to Annie what it's about. ICU would be too big a hint, I think. Same for IV.

MRI might be another one that's reasonably well known? I dunno.

Anyway, glad you liked the fic. :-)

Re: Heh, thanks.

[elliejane.livejournal.com]

I recognise MRI, if that's any help! Don't know what it stands for but I think my Ma had one done. I guess what people recognise really will be governed by how much medical stuff has gone on in their lives. I think I had ECG in mind because I got hooked up to a monitor to check my heart rate (or something) the other week. All of which makes it difficult to write for, I guess! Maybe your actual LoM fandom is more attuned to this kind of thing than your average, run of the mill FS and Stargate fan, lol.

Yeah, I think I can assume a *slightly* higher degree of medical knowledge...

[hmpf.livejournal.com]

in LoM fandom, though not as much as in, say, a medical show's fandom.

What really scares me is that I have this monster fic waiting to be written (four pages are already done, but it's going to be a long one, so four pages are nothing) that requires me to know stuff from at least half a dozen areas of medicine. And I've been researching for a year and I still don't know how to even *start*, in some areas. Arrgh.

I must be crazy.

(ETA: I should probably just give up on this whole 'realism' thing.)

Re: Yeah, I think I can assume a *slightly* higher degree of medical knowledge...

[space-oddity-75.livejournal.com]

I must be crazy.

You and be both! ;)


(ETA: I should probably just give up on this whole 'realism' thing.)

Don't you DARE!!! I don't wanna be the only med geek 'round here!

Re: Yeah, I think I can assume a *slightly* higher degree of medical knowledge...

[space-oddity-75.livejournal.com]

(and of course my first sentence should have been: 'you and ME both'... Damn keyboard!)