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?