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Author Topic: How to kill this character?  (Read 9031 times)

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xv9d

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How to kill this character?
« on: June 29, 2011, 03:47:12 AM »

I'm working on a story and trying to figure out how to kill my character. My criteria are
1. Has to look like an accidental/natural death
2. Has to happen inside the character's brain
3. Cannot destroy/damage any brain cells that are linked to memory
4. Clean, not messy
Are there any ideas you might have out there, I'm kind of at the end of my rope here.
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PathLady

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Re: How to kill this character?
« Reply #1 on: July 01, 2011, 11:48:21 AM »

Hi,

A little more info might be in order. I'm not sure what you mean by "has to happen inside the character's brain." Are you saying that you don't want any of his (or her) other organs affected by whatever kills him? Also - and I'm not being snarkly! - if your character is dead, what difference does it make what brain cells are affected? Do you intend for him/her to survive for a while and impart some "revealing" info or something?

Anyway, as your criteria stands, the only thing I can think of might be a large injection of booze directly into one of the arteries that feed the brain. This would lead to death by poisoning the respiratory center of the brain. Unless he were looking for it, a pathologist might well miss the injection site. And - voila! - accidental death by acute alcohol poisoning brought on by binge drinking. Of course, your character may well vomit. However, since alcohol depresses the nerves that control the gag reflex, he could conceivable just choke and expire from asphyxia without making a mess by spewing all over the place.

If this scenario is suitable, some of the other symptoms your character might exhibit would be: 1) mental confusion, stupor or coma - always handy, if your character survives for a while but is still unable to tell anyone that their condition was brought on by the dasterdly deed of another party; 2) slow (< 8/minute) or irregular (about 10 secs between) breathing; 3) cyanosis (blue or purplish skin color); 4) hypothermia (low body temperature)

Hope this helps. Good luck.

PathLady  >:D
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Guren Noire

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Re: How to kill this character?
« Reply #2 on: August 20, 2011, 11:33:28 AM »

I'd start researching various poisons and see which, if any, have the effects you are looking for.  Without more info, it does seem tricky to me to find a method which affects ONLY the brain... other organs are likely to be damaged.

I like the idea of alcohol poisoning, unless it completely contradicts the character's nature.  Are friends/family going to be saying "But he never drank that much!" etc?  Or could you use their very confusion as a plot point?
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Dave Freas

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Re: How to kill this character?
« Reply #3 on: August 20, 2011, 12:18:19 PM »

Of course, your character may well vomit. However, since alcohol depresses the nerves that control the gag reflex, he could conceivable just choke and expire from asphyxia without making a mess by spewing all over the place.PathLady  >:D
The only problem I have with this, PathLady, is that usually alcohol-induced vomiting is brought about by irritation of the stomach lining.

Dave
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Guren Noire

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Re: How to kill this character?
« Reply #4 on: August 20, 2011, 12:31:59 PM »

Of course, your character may well vomit. However, since alcohol depresses the nerves that control the gag reflex, he could conceivable just choke and expire from asphyxia without making a mess by spewing all over the place.PathLady  >:D
The only problem I have with this, PathLady, is that usually alcohol-induced vomiting is brought about by irritation of the stomach lining.

Dave

Which wouldn't show up if the alcohol was injected, hence tipping off investigators that something was amiss.
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Quoth

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Re: How to kill this character?
« Reply #5 on: April 02, 2013, 11:36:31 PM »

A good idea would be to use the sealed room trick. In case you don't know, it is where the victim has just been killed and the killer has locked the door, but the key is back in the victim's pocket. This is accomplished by taping fishing wire to a keychain attached to the key, and using a needle to poke one end of the line through the bottom of the victim's pants. Taking both end, the killer leaves the room, takes the end without the key on it and pulls. The key slides along the floor and up into the victim's pocket. A quick tug will detach the line from the tape, but it would leave less evidence to simply tie an easily undone knot. I saw a variation of this done in Case Closed, which is where I got the idea from and modified it a little. This would usually be used in combination with the poison of your choice, in order to make it look like a natural death.
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