Technical Advisors

[Raptor]

CII mentioned this in the Dialogue lesson when she was referrring to "specialist" characters like scientists and such. You want your Professor of Kaijuology to come off like a Worm Guy? He would if you didn't know anything about giant monsters!
I already mentioned mobile communications "chatter". The "basics" are pretty much the same, be they pilots, cops or whoever is using a handheld or at Mission Control. It's not the same as yakking on a cell phone, folks, or the CB (even if they do use a 10-code to a certain degree).

You've probably noticed which writers do a great job with certain "professions" their characters have so use this topic to spotlight some good examples and WHY you're impressed. I'm hoping the author(s) will also comment on how they went about "doing their homework" as Kedz does! :thumbs:

[CII]

I do my homework. But I have a lot of people who can give me information that I need to do my stories. Believe it or not, they don't like Godzilla, but hell, I ask them questions, don't equate it to Godzilla, they tell me, then I write it, then I show it to them, and then the look at me and say...."Wait...this is a Godzilla story you're writing? It's better than the movies."

Take notes!

My special perfession is well, art and a little paleontology. But when it came to the technical stuff, I have friends to tell me which is quicker than the internet.

[Raptor]

The value of the Internet for "research" can't be ignored! Remember when we used to go to the library for getting information about everything for school reports to just looking stuff up for fun? There's even a Reference section where you can find out of town phone books and registries of various businesses/manufacturers/producers, as well as encyclopedias, map gazettes and dictionaries.
Now we plug a few key words into a search engine and voila! Google giving you too many results for hotels and eBay listings? Try Dogpile (http://dogpile.com/). If your search criteria is more than one word, put it in quotes ("... ..."). It's quicker than messing with the Advanced options. This is a "crash course" approach so you'll probably want to look over several results, from the "dumbed down" introductory pages to more technical samples by the folks that actually deal with whatever you're looking to learn about. It can also give you a feel of some of the jargon that might be involved, as well as how they present their material. A great way to add to your Dialogue references at the same time, especially when it comes to scientific and technical stuff! :p