Never Stop Learning, But Erase Your Browser History
By Julie, finding it hard to believe it’s supposed to be close to sixty degrees on Saturday
On February 24 I am going to moderate one of the panels for Sisters in Crime’s SinC Into Great Writing: Top Five Tips for Writing Mysteries. My panel is Top 5 Fave Poisons for Fictional Murders. I am enjoying the conversation the panelists are having on an email thread as they make sure they don’t duplicate choices. Some of the poisons are familiar to me, but I’m learning about new ones.
Let me repeat that. Some of the poisons are familiar to me, but I’m learning about new ones. When I was fifteen, I never thought I’d type those words, but here I am.
As mystery writers, we do a lot of interesting research and think about some dire circumstances, trying to figure out how they work. How would a person get free if they are bound with duct tape? How do you pick a lock? Release handcuffs? What poison can mimic other symptoms, or isn ‘t traceable, or is traceable and rare? How can you kill someone with food? How long can someone hold their breath without passing out? How long does it take for [insert biological function here]? There’s other research we do that may not be appropriate for early morning reading, but you get the gist. We never stop learning.
And our browser history could get us in big trouble.
I’ll never forget meeting a friend’s husband for the first time, at a dinner party. She and I went to grad school together for business degrees. I knew he was a doctor, and asked him over the first course what the best household poison was that could mimic symptoms from a natural death. He turned pale, and his mouth hung open a bit.
“Oh,” I said. “She didn’t mention I wrote mysteries, did she?”
To my credit I had him laughing in a few minutes. And to his credit he emailed me the next day with some ideas.
Crime writers are usually fun people to be around. But trust me, these things are also true. First, we never stop learning. Second, at any given moment we’re thinking about how to kill people.
And we should all clear our browser history on a regular basis.
I’ve just ordered a lock picking kit from Amazon. Never stop learning indeed.
Friends, do you love learning new things, even if they are a bit untoward?
