• About
  • About the Brooklyn Project
  • Allies
  • Bound to the Flame Chapters and Artwork
  • Definitions and Erin-isms
  • Erin’s Point-Based Guide for Evaluating Movie Adaptions
  • Novels
  • The Archives of Selay’uu

The Upstairs Archives

~ A random repository of how-to-write and geekery, with an occasional snippet of accidental wisdom.

The Upstairs Archives

Tag Archives: you know you’re an author when

You Know You Are An Author When…

05 Tuesday May 2015

Posted by erinkenobi2893 in Living Life with Passion, Story Dynamics, Tales of a Wandering Bard

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

authors, captain america: the first avenger, cyanide poisoning, forensic science, poison, science, toxicology, writing, you know you're an author when

…you pause a movie which you love to research if the way they portray a chemical poisoning is accurate. (True story–I just did it.)

I was watching Captain America: The First Avenger and paused it to look up cyanide poisoning and how it kills. The answer: Oxygen deprivation, which literally kills you because, while you may be able to keep breathing, it keeps your cells from performing oxygen intake, or something like that. (Please forgive the grossly inaccurate medical terminology.) It basically causes brain damage and cease of discernible activity in a very short space, via oxygen deprivation, and then “true” death shortly afterward.

Basically, the way they killed off the spy in The First Avenger is inaccurate.

I think they just hammed it up and threw in some instant rigor mortis to make the audience realize what was happening. Medical realism: Under the bus.

(On a side note, I also just spent a few minutes reading about cases of cyanide poisoning. And that is infinitely morbid, but I have an excuse–I’m a science geek fascinated by forensic science and toxicology. I am not likely to kill anyone. Ever. Unless you count killing off the nasties and bad guys in my novels. -_- In which case, I reserve the right to get creative, because I’ve been hating them and by extension myself for most of the book.)

#107 on the You Know You’re An Author When list. (See what I just did there? ;-P)

Thanks for reading, and God Bless!

[EDIT: I was just looking at the toxicity for strychnine and it seems that Hydra may have been mixing it with the cyanide in their false-tooth L-pills, because those cause muscle spasms. Still looks a bit unlikely to me, though.]

The Teenaged Superhero Society

Proud Member of the Teenaged Superhero Society

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 300 other followers
Follow The Upstairs Archives on WordPress.com

Categories

  • Artwork (19)
  • Living Life with Passion (204)
  • Story Dynamics (156)
  • Tales from Selay'uu (36)
  • Tales of a Wandering Bard (229)
    • Bound to the Flame (21)
    • Shifting Tides Series (20)
      • Battlefield of the Soul (5)
      • The Hero's Dream (15)
  • The Brooklyn Project (11)
  • The Music Writing Challenge (5)
  • Uncategorized (231)

Archives

  • March 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • April 2017
  • February 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013

Blog at WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • The Upstairs Archives
    • Join 300 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • The Upstairs Archives
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar