Debunking Danger: Explore Five Survival Myths to Enhance Your Story

Welcome to another captivating episode of Writing Rural With Alley! In this episode, we unravel common survival beliefs that could put your fictional characters in grave danger.

Join us as we explore five critical survival myths:

1. Sucking Snake Venom - Discover why this could do more harm than good.
2. Moss Always Grows on the North Side of a Tree - Uncover the truth about using moss for navigation.
3. Identifying Good Water Sources Because Animals Drink from Them - Learn the risks of relying on animal behavior for water safety.
4. Drinking Cactus Water - Understand the dangers of trusting cacti for hydration.
5. Boiling Water Always Makes It Safe - Debate the effectiveness and limitations of boiling water.

We'll also explore our segment "What Could Possibly Go Wrong?" where we discuss various pitfalls and complications these myths can create in your story. Perfect for fiction writers aiming to add realism and tension to their narratives!

Keywords: fiction writing, survival myths, character development, writing tips, story ideas, fiction podcast, writing podcast, survival beliefs, writing realism

Transcript

Should you write your character’s sucking snake venom from a snake bite? What is dangerous about cactus water? What do boiling water and chemicals have to do with your character’s health? Animals drink what? Learn about all of this and more in today’s episode. 

Welcome to Writing Rural with Alley, the fiction writer’s weekly inspiration station for rural life and lifestyles, from historical to post-apocalyptic, helping you bring your rural stories to life! I’m Alley, and this is episode #96, 5 Survival Myths. Stick around to the end to find out all the ways things could possibly go wrong in your story. Now, let’s get into this.

There are all kinds of survival myths and misunderstandings, well-intended but very wrong advice, and sometimes outright lies. This is a five-part series that will help you write realistic survival scenarios or at least let your characters give good advice. Or argue if the advice is bad. That could be fun, too. So, without further ado…

1) Sucking out snake venom

This is one most of us have heard; many of us have even seen this in old Western movies like True Grit. In fact, this is something I remember being taught in school as a young child. Many believe this practice originated in the Middle Ages, but documents from the fifth century BC actually detail the use of tourniquets and incisions for blood removal through sucking the blood out or cupping. Cupping means to use cups to make a suction. This technique was used all over the world. 

Now, there are a few problems with this technique. First, it is not likely your character will be able to get the venom out as it will soak into the muscles and bloodstream faster than they would be able to get to safety and do this technique. This renders this technique useless at best, painful guaranteed, and at worst, it will help the venom move in the blood stream faster as pain will elevate the heart rate. 

Second, let’s assume they were fast enough to suck out the venom. Now your second character has a mouth full of venom. Even if they spit it out, there is a chance some of the venom will be left in the mouth. This can easily be swallowed by accident, or even absorbed under the tongue, like some medicines are. The last thing your character needs is a second victim in a survival situation unless the aim is to kill them off. 

Now, something interesting I found out during my research for this episode is that most rattlesnake bites are not fatal, with less than one in every 600 resulting in death. This could be because rattlesnakes can control the amount of venom they inject and can even drybite. A dry bite is a bite with no venom. 

I actually had always known venomous snake bites might not be fatal, as my mother was bitten by a cottonmouth (Aka, a water moccasin) when she was young. Although, since she was growing, it did do permanent damage to her ankle, and that affected her mobility all her life. Like most people who receive venomous bites, she had a lifelong terror of snakes. 

2) Moss always grows on the north side of the tree 

I don’t know where this saying came from, but as I researched this, it seems to be something that was repeated a lot in history. Perhaps there is a forest where this is true, but if so, I don’t know where it is, and neither does Google. 

I know what you are thinking, “But, Alley, if it doesn’t grow on the north side, where does it grow?” Short answer: wherever it wants to. 

Long answer, moss needs two things to grow: shade and water. Instead of growing on the north side of the tree, it is really growing wherever the shady damp side of the tree is. 

3) You can identify good water sources because animals drink from it

I don’t know who thought this was a good idea, but they were wrong and clearly never had a dog. How do I know? Because I have had dogs drink out of toilets, muddy puddles, and things that will not be said here because no one wants to lose their lunch that way. 

I’m under the impression animals have a better, or at least different type of immune system than humans. In the same way, we are told to never drink the water in some countries, but the locals drink it because their immune systems have learned to tolerate it. That’s how I picture this one. 

And with a bit of research after writing that, I found out I was right, and it has the name bacteria resistance. 

4) Drink cactus water 

This one is a newer saying to me, but it seems to run rampant online and in survival and apocalypse type of shows. However, this one is wrong in most cases. The vast majority of cactus plants are acidic, contain toxic compounds, have a laxative effect, and cause serious kidney strain. In fact, it is such a strain on the kidneys that even after rescue, they can still cause lasting effects or even shut down. 

So, why would anyone say that this was a good idea? Well, there are two cacti that can provide water without killing your character. The first is the fishhook barrel cactus. It is technically one that can be used in a survival situation, but it risks making your character have an upset stomach or even diarrhea. 

The second is the prickly pear cactus. This one has to be made correctly, or it can induce vomiting, have laxative effects, and spike blood sugar. I have not done this personally, but this is what I understand you do. Start by harvesting the fruit; watch out for the spines. This type has big spines and little spines. Get rid of the spines by fire or boiling them. Then, mash the fruit and squeeze to get all the juice. Next, boil it. The impurities and toxins will sink to the bottom, and the top is safe. 

Now, even with all that, drinking too much will cause blood sugar spikes, upset stomach, and diarrhea. 

Also, I have a story about my run-in with this cactus as a kid. I’ll place this on my buy me a coffee page if you want to hear about my giant oops that led to me having the cactus spines between my fingers. Ouch!!

5) Boiling water always makes it safe

Boiling water is something that has been well documented in history and is still used today. So why does it make this list since we know it kills bacteria? Because boiling water doesn’t kill chemicals. 

Chemicals today are all over the place, and until more recent waste disposal mandates, they were disposed of in bad ways and in less than honorable places. 

But, before you think that it is only modern, chemicals can be toxins in nature. I distinctly remember learning a historical story about a village that enemies killed by soaking toxic plants in the water upstream from the village. Even if the villagers had boiled the water, the toxins would still be there, as they were not bacteria. This can be applied to many other things in many ways. And it’s an interesting way to poison or kill your characters. 

One quick reminder before we get to all the ways things could go wrong in your story. 

To help others find this content, pop on over to Apple podcasts and leave me a review. Or if you are watching on YouTube, drop me a comment and say hello, or ask a question. This is the best way to help others find my content. 

Now, for everyone’s favorite part, what could possibly go wrong in your story? 

Likely to go wrong: Your character believes that moss always grows on the north side of a tree and follows the “moss directions”. They are soon walking in circles. 

Likely to go wrong: Your character tries to drink cactus water, only to learn the hard way it is toxic. This could be deadly. 

Possible to go wrong: Your character drinks prickly pear water that was properly made, only to get diarrhea. This causes them to lose more water than they can take in, leading to dehydration. 

Possible to go wrong: Your character drinks muddy water that they saw an animal drink out of thinking it is safe. They get cholera and are vomiting and pooping themselves at the same time. 

Unlikely to go wrong: Your character tries to suck out snake venom and contracts hepatitis from the person with the snake bite who had the disease. 

Unlikely to go wrong: Your character drinks water that an animal drank out of and soon starts vomiting because their stomach is trying to purge the bacteria in the water. 

Improbable but still technically in the realm of possibilities: Your character didn’t know to spit when sucking snake venom out of someone and swallows it. This could be deadly. 

Improbable but still technically in the realm of possibilities: Your character drops a poison ivy leaf in their water and thinks nothing of it when they take it out because they are not allergic to poison ivy. They share their water, and the other person is allergic to poison ivy. Their throat swells. This could be deadly. 

Thanks for listening! Until next time, happy wordsmithing.