Help required for a wannabe author!

[johnnox]

Hi

I'm about 90,000 words through my first attempt a novel and I need help with some research.

My main character is an architect - a bit silly really I suppose considering I don't know the first thing about it!

However, the job fits in quite nicely with how I need him to be (ie his life collapses around him but the only thing thats stable in his life his work and what he creates)

I am stuck on one particular scene. He's in a coffee bar in 1982 San Francisco and ends up getting a job when he helps someone with a design problem.

Someone on the table next to him is having a problem with a roof he has designed for a building of several storeys.

So this is what I need help with - the technical side of things in laymen's terms.

What could be the problem with the roof he is designing?

How could my character help him with the problem - ie what could he suggest that makes the design work?

What document could the man have been reading that would fit on the table of a coffee shop that might character would have seen? (ie how big would it have been, what kind of paper would it be printed on, etc)

What would the technical term for this paper work/ design be?

AM very sorry at the vagueness of my question!

Thanks

Johnno, England

[WiseChild]

Hi

I'm about 90,000 words through my first attempt a novel and I need help with some research.

My main character is an architect - a bit silly really I suppose considering I don't know the first thing about it!

However, the job fits in quite nicely with how I need him to be (ie his life collapses around him but the only thing thats stable in his life his work and what he creates)

I am stuck on one particular scene. He's in a coffee bar in 1982 San Francisco and ends up getting a job when he helps someone with a design problem.

Someone on the table next to him is having a problem with a roof he has designed for a building of several storeys.

So this is what I need help with - the technical side of things in laymen's terms.

What could be the problem with the roof he is designing?

How could my character help him with the problem - ie what could he suggest that makes the design work?

What document could the man have been reading that would fit on the table of a coffee shop that might character would have seen? (ie how big would it have been, what kind of paper would it be printed on, etc)

What would the technical term for this paper work/ design be?

AM very sorry at the vagueness of my question!

Thanks

Johnno, England

Okay well first off, the next book you wanna write, Trying using a subject you know well. That would help. (:

To answer your questions... A roof problem could be that he wants to redesign it but he is missing a panel or to wide.

The character could suggest to add panel here or there or to try measuring the sides of the house.

The man could be looking at a sketch of a floor plan. a sketch is 'bout the size of a poster & the type of paper would be 'normal' kind paper. Normally called a blueprint.