Record of meeting 24 February 2016

The writers

Wendy, David C, Helene, Roslyn, Elizabeth, Juan, Lynn, Leonie and Elizabeth

The words of the day

Vindictive = spiteful, malicious, cruel

Flagitious = deeply criminal

Perpetual = permanent during life

Impiety = lack of reverence

Jeremiad = lamentation or tale of woe

Epitaph = inscription on a grave or a speech

Cosset = pamper or spoil

Pensive = deeply thoughtful

Writing from words of the day

With reverence the writers cosseted the words of the day and created a range of perpetual epitaphs on the topics Vince and Jeremiah, At his beck and call, She wanted an epitaph, the Roman Empire, Peter was upset, It will come in handy, Sadness in the community and It made me cry.

Reading of homework

Five studious writers read out their homework as follows - Good to see Koko from Helene, Not eligible – a funny story from David C, The same MO and the Tontine also from David, The grand ball by Leonie, Run Darcy run by Lynn and The investigation continues by Roslyn.

Poisonous passions

Lynn made a passionate presentation titled Poisonous passions starting with “all substances are poisons” and gave us information on the top poisons and use of poisons by crime writers. We also found out that 77% of poisonings are accidental

Top poisons - Analgesics, sedatives, household cleaning supplies, antidepressants, cardiovascular drugs, alcohol, tobacco, fumes gasses, stimulants, pesticides, anticonvulsants, antihistamines, cosmetics and personal care products, plants, anti-microbaterial soaps – Triclosan, food poisoning, carbon monoxide

Common poisons used in writing

Arsenic, Botulism, Cyanide, Mercury, Tetrodotoxin, Dimethylmercury, Belladonna, Aconite or monkshoods, Hemlock

 

Familiar poisons

Cyanide, strychnine, mushrooms, anti freeze, oxalic acid, heavy metals, insulin, Succinyl chlorine, corrosive chemicals.

Exercise

To create stories and poems for our exercise we selected a poison from the lists above and added three of minor and major symptoms

Minor symptoms - rapid breathing, restlessness, weakness, dizziness, headache, nausea/vomiting rapid heart rate

Major symptoms - convulsions, low blood pressure, slow heart rate, loss of consciousness, lung injury, and respiratory failure.

From the information we created the following stories and poems - Our poisonous excitement, The horrible man, Dinner in the oven, Weak and dizzy, Belladonna Lilies and Cinderella was wrong.

Homework

Select a fairy tale/fable involving poison or other criminal activity. Write the story or poem in 2016.