writing about poisons ~ ckid

Hey there! This is Gianna, and in this post I’ll be teaching you writers (and readers) about describing, using, and writing about poisons in a novel. I’ve taken some inspiration from places like tumblr and pinterest, so if you’ve also written a popular post about poisons, it’s possible I’ve seen it and decided to write this post based off of that. By the way, this is my first time doing a workshop post so let’s begin!

Important Note: This is a post JUST for writers’ and readers’ knowledge. In no way am I going to be assisting you in poisoning anyone or anything- this information is purely for recreational purposes which do not involve hurting someone in any way.

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History and Use of Poison:
Poison is one of the OLDEST murdering and harming tactics in the books. People have been using it for ages to get others to submit into the intoxicating after-effects of poison and toxins entering the body. Many associate it with women, though due to events of previous centuries, men are no less to do so as well. Along with that, ancient tribes and civilizations used poisons and venoms to quickly ensure the death of their prey or enemies, and by doing so, poison use grew more advanced, weapons being designed and created specifically for poison enhancement.
Poisonings were a common occurrence in some parts of the world- Ancient & Old Rome being a main. Throughout Roman mythology, stories have told that poisoning one would usually be executed at the dinner table or in drinks. Regardless, poisons have been used for many purposes, most commonly as weapons, anti-venoms, and medicines and this allowed progress in branches of toxicology and technology, among other sciences.
Like I said, this won’t be a guide to poisoning people- it’s a resource to use so that continuous research of toxins don’t add up on your search history on Google and the FBI, CIA, and other secretive associations don’t put you on their watch list next to actual, potential threats of the world. I’ve been thrown under the bus for that, so you can thank me 😉

Who would use a poison now?
Before I start telling you how to incorporate writing poison into your story, I want to start with the pros and cons of doing so. Though poison is both archaic and still somewhat in fashion, it may not be the best fit for some stories unless it’s really necessary.
– Pros:
Poisons are distinct; they can be made (in stories of course) through magic or science, and depending on various situations, you can hide them in basically anything. Depending on the scientific or magical knowledge of whoever is tailoring the medicine, you can fit it to your exact needs. Along with that, there are numerous ways to make one take in poison- for example skin contact or absorption. The speed the poison will act will also depend on where it is placed in the body as a starter point.
– Cons:
Depending on who you’re trying to poison in the story, it might be a waste of time to continue writing trial-and-error scenarios where a character is attempting, with fail, to harm one who is wary of these kinds of methods. Step into a characters’ shoes for a minute. If you were trying to poison someone of power, like a dictator or an emperor, who has already received various death or harmful threats, chances are that they’ll be aware of the situation and will have someone like a designated tester to keep themselves safe. Also, depending on what poison you use, your given antagonist may have a solution to the poison, and there’s a possibility that they can get to a medic or doctor for safety measures without being seriously harmed.

If you choose not to go with poison as a character death in your story, then you can stop reading. Going on ahead in the passage means that you either think that this is the best choice of harm and/or you just want to know for later Works in Progress. Continuing…

The Purpose of Poison:
Poison was and still is thought to be a main killing agent. Depending on the abilities of whoever’s making the poison, however, the chemicals might be able to do any sort of thing. Maybe they’re supposed to harm a certain organ system or temporarily knock out whoever would be affected by it. Or if magic is involved, the poison has some limitations such as only a certain thing can reverse its effects.

Creating the Poison:
Now when you’re considering abilities or limits of your potions, there are a few specific things you’ll need to entail in order to get the top results in your writing.
Firstly, when picking your poison’s abilities, try to stay reasonable. A poison that shuts down the body’s nervous system would be reasonable, such as some neurotoxins, or a poison that, when entering the bloodstream, thickens or thins the blood so that your heart pumps are irregular. HOWEVER- a poison that turns someone’s hair blue and then makes their eyes fall out and turn into mushrooms is not reasonable. Frankly, I as well as the readers of whatever story you might conjure up that has that aspect will be repelled and may never want to read your writing again.
Secondly, think of poison as anti-medicine. They’re both drugs, allegorically, and they’re administered to people with desired effects in mind, such as to heal or to hurt. When creating a poison or using already present drugs as a makeshift, try and do so with an unbiased mind. Don’t think about the poison itself as bad, think about what motive it will be used for and go based on that.

Putting the Poison in Place:
You can’t really poison someone the way you can medicate them, which is of course in plain sight, so the best thing to do would incorporate some sort of an excuse in the writing, or rather give it in a way that you know will affect the “target” (i swear i’ve never poisoned someone before.) The asker here wants to hide the poison in a medicine, but you’ll want to think of any chemicals that might screw up that process.
Chemistry would be the best bet. It’s a weird thing and also incredibly unpredictable- two separate chemicals combined might create something entirely new. Now it might be neutral, or it might be deadly. If you’re making a poison without a goal to actually kill the person using real life chemistry, be careful. I would suggest using a placebo instead of hiding it in an actual medicine; it’ll take away a lot of the factors that might get in the way.

Reverse It:
Somehow the target’s been caught- now you need to figure out the antidote before it’s too late. This is also your responsibility to figure out, whether the cure is as simple as drinking milk with blue food coloring in it, or it’s as complex as hiking to the farthest forest range in your area and eating every other leaf of the trees there.

Some Interesting Poisons:

Hemlock—
– super famous, used in ancient times. the most notable use was socrates’ alleged suicide.
– looks: the plant has clumps of small, white flowers, and can grow up to 10 feet tall.
– necessary amount for optimum poisoning: about 6-8 hemlock leaves can and will be fatal for adult humans. seeds and roots are also toxic and can kill you.
– side effects/death: kind of panicked, although at first glance it wouldn’t appear so. hemlock is quite paralytic, so the cause of death would often be asphyxiation due to respiratory paralysis, though the mind would be unaware of what’s going on.
– cure: immediately be taken into hospitalized emergency room

Curare—
– lesser known but it’s quite deadly
– looks: raw curare is a resinous dark brown-black mass with a sticky-hard consistency and a strangely placed odor
– necessary amount for optimum poisoning: it’s not poisonous if ingested through the mouth- if one eats prey with curare poisoning, they won’t be harmed. 375 micrograms will kill someone though if injected into their bloodstream.
– side effects/death: it’s incredibly slow- the victim is aware of what’s going on in their body and the heart will beat for several minutes until the rest of the body is physically paralyzed.
– cure: if artificial ventilation is performed, the person will be (mostly) fine.

Belladonna—
– deadly nightshade is another name for belladonna. it was used in earlier times for women to rub on their faces to make their cheeks flush and their eyes dilate. It’s toxic to animals, but cattle and rabbits can eat it just fine, for some reason…
– looks: beautiful, trumpet-shaped, purple flowers and dark, shiny berries (looking delicious even though it’s ironically the most dangerous part of the plant.)
– necessary amount for optimum poisoning: 10-20 berries from the belladonna plant can and will kill you.
– side effects/death: the death itself is very lethargic, and the symptoms are much worse- pupil dilation, light sensitivity, balance loss, blurred vision, slurred speech, constipation, confusion, hallucinations, convulsions, and many more.
– cure: physostigmine, or the active ingredient of the calabar bean, will help to stop the effects of belladonna.

Strychnine—
– causes poisoning which results in muscular convulsions and eventually death through asphyxia. convulsions appear after inhalation or injection—brain death can take 15-30 minutes.
– looks: a bitter, odorless, crystalline powder that can be ingested, inhaled, or given intravenously.
– necessary amount for optimum poisoning: 1/2 mg will be fine to kill, although death cases have been reported with less.
– side effects/death: if a lower dose is ingested, other symptoms begin to develop, including seizures, cramping, stiffness, hypervigilance, and agitation. seizures caused by strychnine poisoning can start as early as 15 minutes after exposure and last 12 – 24 hours, often triggered by sights, sounds, or touch.
– cure: it also notably has no antidote. in low doses, some use it as a performance enhancer.

Foxglove—
– it may have from the term foxes-glew, which translated to fairy music. a side effect of the plant is not having a major appetite, so some people eat it in the hopes of weight reduction.
– looks: a pink-purplish flower in the sort of structure of a lavender plant- it can grow up to 2 meters tall (do not confuse it with comfrey, which is a plant for anti-inflammation produce.) it also tastes spicy hot/bitter and has a peculiar smell.
– necessary amount for optimum poisoning: just 2 grams of fresh-leaved foxglove, or 5 grams of dried foxglove leaf are fatal to humans
– side effects/death: Intoxication causes nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, along with jaundiced vision, and blurred outlines. drooling, irregular cardiac patterns, tremors, elongated periods of seizures, and ultimately death.
– cure: get to a hospital/medic as soon as possible and remove as much of the substance as possible from whatever body has been targeted.

Wolfsbane—
– has several names- monkshood, queen of poisons, devil’s helmet, aconite, etc.
– looks: a pretty purple plant with gourd-shaped flowers. it should be handled with gloves, as the slightest squeeze can make the poison seep through the skin.
– necessary amount for optimum poisoning: 2 milligrams of wolfsbane can cause a heavily induced death in around 4 hours- however, cases of wolfsbane deaths are rare as they taste terribly bitter (at this point, you may want to mix in the aconite with some sort of sweet to mask the taste in your story, otherwise it’d be spat out instantly.)
– side effects/death: gastrointestinal nausea, vomiting, & diarrhea are the first signs of knowing that you had an intake of wolfsbane, followed by burning/tingling in the face and abdomen. Motor weakness occurs and numbness spreads to the limbs and finally irregular heartbeats.
– cure: there is no specified cure, but usually to stop the heart palpitations, resuscitation efforts via electrical shocks to the heart.

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There are a whole lot more I could go into a tangent about and rant about too, but I think this is adequate enough for you guys to hopefully not think that I’ve had experience with poisoning someone before- I swear, tumblr and pinterest helped me lol…
Thanks so much for reading this incredibly long post!!