tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7525820254930644579.post8158988260968668880..comments2023-10-07T10:10:32.589+01:00Comments on A SLIGHT CASE OF OVERBOMBING: The Facts Of LifeJonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01957384209312857833noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7525820254930644579.post-75831012779725941712007-11-26T02:38:00.000+00:002007-11-26T02:38:00.000+00:00Apologies for the delay in reply, wrist still bein...Apologies for the delay in reply, wrist still being difficult.<BR/><BR/>I've done some thinking about using poisons in the past as well. I did consider having what I suppose could be considered a 'generic' poison but I started to realise that in a thriller the type of poison would have to be specified for various different dramatic reasons (why the killer might have it, why any other suspect might have it, how they got hold of it, etc.) and also for realism there is the issues of symptoms and antidotes... one poisonous mushroom doesn't manifest symptoms for 48 hours (sometimes up to 3 weeks), has no antidote and, if it isn't flushed out immediately, will kill. Unfortunately, there's always someone in the audience who will know! A poison bottle with skull and crossbones is fine depending on tone but there's weedkiller (as seen in Poirot), cleaners, table salt, plants (in the excellent unreleased Mother Love), pharmaceuticals, fungi (a great Midsomer Murders features these), narcotics and metals: all with different symptoms and effects. (Now you can see why I worry: I spend way too much time thinking about ways to kill people!)<BR/><BR/>Either Ruth Rendell or PD James has a big book of poisons that they swear by but I can't recall the name unfortunately. I hear that once you're working for a company proper it becomes much easier as there are official police/ forensic/ pathology/ medical advisors to whom you gain access.<BR/><BR/>The thing about criminals themselves, that hit home to me maybe 15 years ago, came when I saw some bloke running from the police using a payphone opposite the doorstep I was sitting on at about 3am. It was around the time of Pulp Fiction and everyone was writing crime dialogue in that overly stylized manner: this bloke I saw was terse, precise and didn't swear once. I've rarely seen this sort of thing genuinely portrayed on screen, most notably in the films of Jean-Pierre Melville.<BR/><BR/>I thought about mentioning CL but realised I really didn't want to sully my blog! ;-) He's really queered the pitch for genuine research!Jonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01957384209312857833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7525820254930644579.post-43769805614765983322007-11-21T10:49:00.000+00:002007-11-21T10:49:00.000+00:00I've just been thinking about this recently with r...I've just been thinking about this recently with regards to a short script that involves a poisoning. I got it into my head that I needed to research types of poison to make sure that it was realistic and also to start working out why this person might keep poison around. Then I figured that I might just go the Repo Man root and have a bottle with a plain label with the word posion on it and a skull and crossbones. <BR/><BR/>As far as associating with criminals goes, the library is probably a good place to start as there are so many "real life criminal" autobiographies and factual books that you can get most of the information you need from there.<BR/><BR/>I think Chris Langham tried to use the "it's all for research, honest m'lud" argument didn't he?<BR/><BR/>(Sorry for the lack of cohesion in this comment - I believe that it's mind-of-a-small-orange-swimmy-thing day today.)DraconianOnehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01568395940552236401noreply@blogger.com