To research or to ask my husband? That is the question I ask myself every time I need to write medicine from a physician’s perspective. More often than not, thanks to his schedule, it’s Google to the rescue.
Most of my novels come from personal experience—things I’ve observed, witnessed, or simply lived through. But every writer has a trusted sidekick, and mine is a good Google search bar.
Sometimes those searches are completely normal. But there are times they’re the kind of thing that makes you wonder if you’ve accidentally landed yourself on a government watch list.
Here are just a few things I’ve Googled while writing Emergency Contacts:
-
How are cadavers stored?
-
How many medical students, on average, pass out in anatomy lab?
-
What happens if a medical student recognizes one of the cadavers? (This one actually made it into a work-in-progress, and yes, I asked my husband.)
-
What happens if someone accidentally nicks themselves during anatomy lab?
-
Where do anatomy labs get their cadavers?
-
What does the first semester of medical school actually look like today?
-
What support systems are available for struggling medical students?
-
How do you get the smell of formaldehyde out of your nose after anatomy lab?
-
How do you survive medical school when everyone around you is competing?
-
How do anatomy practical exams actually work?
Thankfully, I have a built-in medical consultant who survived medical school and now spends his days as a surgeon.
Unfortunately for him, I still Google first. Mostly because he’s busy. Partly because I enjoy the rabbit holes.
And honestly because every now and then, Google answers one question while giving me three more story ideas.