I scalded my mouth and throat the other day testing my homemade chicken soup broth that had only been boiling, oh, 4 or 5 hours. Dimwitty. It was just one tiny spoonful, but, wowza, what an effect! I knew right away that I was in trouble, and I drank a glassful of very cold water. Then I went on to other things. So yesterday I think I’m getting a sore throat. As time passed, I realized the soreness is a result of the soup-scalding and not a virus. It’s in the exact same place as where I felt the burn when I swallowed that damn tiny spoonful. Today, the area is even more tender and was especially so upon waking. So what do I do? Get a flashlight and shine it in my mouth and investigate the effects of swallowing a spoonful of scalding chicken broth, because who knows when I’ll want to maim a character in such a way? Yeah, maybe I could work scalding-chicken-broth-down-the-throat into a torture scene of my WIP. Maybe, if I really wanted to torture the character and not just inconvenience him, I could have the villain force his mouth open and pour way more than one tiny spoonful of scalding liquid down his throat. Yeah, baby!
I’m happy to report that one tiny spoonful hasn’t damaged my throat in any major way I can tell. I mean, I don’t normally shine a flashlight into my mouth. I suspect the skin at the back of my throat is meant to be pinky rather than kinda white, but at least I didn’t give myself throat blisters. Would my character get throat blisters, though, if he swallowed more than one spoonful? Hmm. I’m not about to use myself as a guinea pig and find out. But the funny thing that strikes me about the whole episode is how willing we are as writers to use any little experience in our lives as fodder for our stories. It’s all research…it’s all fodder.
Have you ever accidentally hurt yourself and then used the “research” in one of your stories?
Cindy,
Take care. 🙂
I have used maybe one or two experiences in my writing, and one critiquer said that couldn’t be so.
Since then, I’ve been more careful realizing that truth really is stranger than fiction and at times too strange for the reader to believe. 😉
Jeanmarie
Jeanmarie, you’re very right. That’s an excellent point. Yes, truth really can be stranger than fiction. Even if we’ve experienced something, if it doesn’t ring true to the reader, as writers we’re in trouble. However, if I’ve researched an experience up the whazoo (as I am wont to do..can’t have too much research), I don’t hesitate to use it, even if it’s slightly out there. But there’s a line that definitely can be crossed.
Cindy, I’m so sorry you’ve hurt your throat, but laughed that you found a way to use the experience. Don’t we all do that? We take any little event and use it for our characters. Fodder for the mill. I also use the experiences of others, so sometime my heroine may taste the delectable soup she’s prepared for the hero and so damage her throat that she ruins the romantic evening she’s planned. LOL
I used [with her permission] an event in my ex-sister in law’s life in one of my books. She was out hunting and climbed a deer stand that was under a large live oak tree. She heard a strange noise while leaves kept falling on her head and shoulders. She looked up and there was a black panther in the tree about her. After her escape, she alerted a parks and wildlife officer, who told her the panther had been spotted all over the area and regularly made a route through the area. I’m sure people will think I made it up as it is so weird. Jeanmarie is right–truth is stranger than fiction.
Good luck gargling salt water and recovering from your cold.
Carolyn, I’d love to see you torture your heroine by having her burn her throat on her soup.
That’s an amazing story about the black panther. Wowza. My husband has been treed by a bear, well, more than once. The worst was when he had to kick it in the head to get it to leave (it charged him three times–scary stuff). I think he was 60 or 70 feet up in the tree. And he had a friend with him, standing on his hard hat, LOL. Yes, his experience is in one of my books, albeit an unpublished manuscript at this point.