If you’re a crime writer, a mystery novelist, or you just need to bump off a character without violence or bloodshed, using poison might be your cup of tea…or maybe in their cup of tea.
Sometimes writers think it’s easy to just pick out any poison and use it to kill off their characters…but it’s not that simple. Some poisons work more slowly while others are almost instantaneous; some have strong flavors or don’t dissolve in liquid; some are more easily accessible than others. And that just scratches the surface.
The point is that you need to do some research to make sure the poison you choose works in your scenario.
What doesn’t work…
Say you pop a belladonna berry into your character’s smoothie, then have him thrashing about in agony before blood spurts from his mouth in a final gruesome death scene. Well, there’s one problem with that – small amounts of diluted belladonna are actually used for medicinal purposes and wouldn’t cause death, let alone a dramatically violent death.
Or maybe your character lives in the northeastern US and you have her picking wild sneezeweed in a city park. The problem is that sneezeweed only grows naturally in portions of the western US and only at certain elevations.
So as you can see, you need research to make your story believable.
How to make it work…
Research, plain and simple. But be careful of your sources because some websites haven’t double- and triple-checked their information – they’re just taking the first thing they come across as gospel, and some of that comes from forum discussions where “facts” are debated and debatable. Find reputable sources and double- or triple-check that information.
Here are a few sites we’ve found helpful:
~ Encyclopedia.com – just put in the name of the poison or
poisonous plant you’re interested in, and you’ll find out everything from where it’s grown to how it works.
~ Some gardening websites, like Gardening Know How.
~ Poison Control: lists common and dangerous poisons.
~ USDA has an entire section on poisonous plants.
~ ListVerse: 10 Poisons Used To Kill People.
~ Earth-Kind Landscaping: lists common poisonous plants AND the parts of each plant that are toxic.
There are others, of course, but these can get you started.
One word of caution – always, always double check (at the very least) information you get from Wikipedia. Wiki entries can be modified by just about anyone, so you never know if the information you’re getting is 100% accurate.
just can’t hear what it wants to say.
how time consuming and frustrating it can be searching online for the right fit, spending precious time clicking and clicking when you’d rather be writing and submitting.
die? Is there a chase that’s moving like lightning?
large man came into focus eerily through the door’s frosted glass pane. Frantically she looked for a way out, but there were no windows in the room. Suddenly the door frame cracked; the man was forcing his way in. Josie looked around wildly for a weapon – anything to defend herself. Her eyes landed on a baseball bat standing in the corner; it was better than nothing. Moving quickly but quietly toward the bat, she grabbed it just as the door gave way.
So we checked out several different online sources that offer premade book covers, and we’re going to highlight some things in their agreements that illustrate why you need to read each agreement carefully before you hit “accept”. (We’re not going to list the names of these websites or companies because agreement conditions can change at any time, and not all companies have all of the same conditions.) Again, it’s up to you to decide whether a company’s conditions are acceptable to you.
Do you plan your writing out with outlines, character development exercises, and other pre-writing activities? Or do you just write as it comes to you?
There are few interesting things that can be said about my home town. I grew up in a mildly racist country town in the Santa Barbara mountains, though I am hopeful that things have changed there. Having grown up during the great migrant issues of California during the 80’s and 90’s, I was able to experience some of the issues when I was getting my higher education in university. The biggest part of my life was finding my self-identity, which was never truly clear to me as a youth.
A. Claire Everward takes the world far too seriously. Passionate and sensitive to her surroundings, she takes it all to heart, sometimes too much so. but it makes her fight for what she believes in. She is direct, although she tries not to be, at least not always. Like every artist she has her quirks, some understand them and some don’t. She prefers to keep to herself and spend time with her characters, and for her escaping into writing is always the best refuge. She would say it maintains her sanity but her sister Kate says that sanity does tend to be overrated.
When A. Claire Everward said all she wants to do was write, her sister Kate Anne decided she would use her ten-year PR and marketing experience to start a publishing company that would support it as a business.
After ten years working as a PR expert specializing in crisis and reputation management, voicing other people’s thoughts and needs and making sure they got what they want, Kate knew it was time for a change. She’d always been a dreamer, a bookworm who escaped to her imagination when things got tough, and when her sister, another bookworm (they got it from their bookworm mother) came to her and told her she wanted to be a writer, and already had stories and books to show her, Kate decided to help her dream come true.
Ben Starling is passionate about marine conservation and boxing, both central themes in his upcoming novel. His interest in marine life has taken him across three continents over the past three decades. He is Oxford’s only ever quintuple boxing Blue (varsity champion five years running), was Captain of the university boxing team, and coached and competed until a few years ago. He is 6’3”and 192 lbs. Ben graduated with a Master of Arts and a Master of Philosophy. He was born in the USA but has lived in the UK since childhood.
across her shoulder, angled over her small chest.
Joshua currently lives in Alaska with his wife and children. In 1999, he began crafting the world for Thrice Nine Legends, including Melkorka and Anaerfell. He is also the author of the A Midwinter Sellsword and Gladiators and Thieves in the Hawkhurst Saga. His short story, Grimsdalr, is inspired by the tale of Beowulf.