I'm making an effort to get on with writing my new Western instead of spending all my time on the fforum, and I'd appreciate some ffeedback on this bit.
One of the Bad Guys, has crawled under the hotel to set a smokey fire so's everyone will leave and his partners-in-crime can rob the place in peace. Tomcat Billy has just come face-to-face with a rattler, which was having a nice nap and is a tad annoyed about being woken.

Now the sensible thing for Tomcat to do, is to clear off and leave the snake in peace. However, he needs to encourage it to leave so he can get on with his nefarious plans. (Black Elliot's plans, actually). He can't try shooting it, not when he's under the floorboards of hotel reception, and he's certainly not going to try getting close enough to use his knife.

My answer is that he kicks the ground a few times. The vibrations disturb the snake enough for it to move off, but Tomcat hasn't done anything overly aggressive which would encourage the snake to strike. This sound sufficiently plausible ? Any other suggestions ?

I've looked at several sites about snakes. They all give advice on ways of avoiding snakes, and on leaving them alone if you encounter them. Very sensible for real life, but no help if you're an author who needs some way of having a character drive a snake away quietly, for dramatic purposes.

Why do writers get themselves into such holes ?

I don't know much about snakes, but....

This is exactly the sort of question people regularly ask in the Research and Craft area of the Compuserve Writers Forum, and usually get pretty good answers.

If you want to try asking there as well, the URL is:

[go.CompuServe.com]

You can go to the Research and Craft section, and post your question there and likely get lots of answers (I know several folks there (including Diana Gabaldon who is one of the moderators) do live in the American West, and may have personal experience with rattlers). They're an entertaining group too, so you may want to browse other threads while you're there.

Just title your post something meaningful, so the folks likely to know the answer will read it.



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"I've often said that the difference between British and American SF TV series is that the British ones have three-dimensional characters and cardboard spaceships, while the Americans do it the other way around."
--Ross Smith

Thanx, Magda,

A really sensible answer.

The last thing I expected on the fforum. No doubt, there may be other, more fforumish answers. I'll try your suggestion later this evening. Mum's making tea now, and the news is on soon.

I grew up in rattlesnake country and let me tell you, by vibrating the ground, it does not make them flee....it puts them into defensive posture and they start rattling like crazy and if YOU don't back off, they'll strike.

Does he have a box or a crate or even a stiff bag of some sort? If so, he could throw it on top and trap the snake in at least long enough to do his dastardly deed. We used to throw apple crates on top of the snakes all the time when we were in the orchards. Bushel baskets are even better, cuz they have handles that let you stay even further away! Gads, I hate rattlers! The only good use for them is to make pretty cowboy boots! (but at least they eat the mice and other kritters) LOL

Hope that helps.

How about him spitting his plug of chewing tobacco into its eyes?

I'd have thought that spitting tobacco into a snake's eyes would make it more likely to lash out.

As to AAC's suggestion, I suppose Tomcat might find some kind of box in the general trash under the building. Although dropping a box over an irate snake, whilst under a building might be tricky.

Long ago on 'Whicker's World', there was an Australian who killed snakes by picking them up by the tail, whirling them in a circle, then cracking them like a whip. Their heads flew off.

Can you do that under hotel floorboards?

A friend's grandad used to catch wasps in his fingers as they flew past and pull the stings out.

*Seriously Impressed*

He wasn't called Mister Miyagi was he?

ps current music: La Femme d'argent, by Air. It's sublime.

Dave:

last CD played: Moon Safari, by Air.
First track: La Femme d'Argent

Spooky....

"Shake shake shake...shake shake shake....your entroposcopes, entroposcopes...."

~K.C. and the Chronoguard Band

Come to think of it, the grandad who caught wasps in his fingers might have disposed of adders by the whipcrack method. Presumably the snake needs to be over a certain length, or else there will be insufficient force to break bones, let alone remove heads.

SINGS: Whipcrack away, whipcrack away, whipcrack awaaaaaaay !

Visions of Doris Day swinging rattlesnake around her head as she drives the Deadwood stage into town.

I've decided to combine both methods of dealing with snakes. Presumably anything dropped over a snake needs to be sufficiently heavy to stop the snake from getting out. More plausible to find a lightweight box blown under a building. (would pasteboard be the right word ? We have cardboard boxes over here. ) . Tomcat holds box up and throws it over snake as it attacks. Snake not fully trapped, end of tail sticks out. Tomcat grabs tail and whips snake out, around head and cracks. Snake is demised.
If he's careful, there might just be room under the building and I don't suppose he'll mind too much if he catches the snake's head on the boards above him as he swings it, so long as he doesn't lose too much momentum.

Of course, you might argue that Tomcat's chances of succeeding are pretty slim, but this *is* a novel we're talking about. And it's good, exciting stuff (that fills up an extra page or so).
Better get on and write that scene for the third time then.

Bit late, but why not have your bloke smoking a dog-eared cheroot, and use that to set fire to a bit of dried grass or something, and use that to drive the snake away in good ol' Indiana Jones fashion?



PSD

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This is the work of an Italian narco-anarchic collective. Don't bother insulting them, they can't read English anyway.

whilst saying 'snakes. Why did it have to be snakes? I hate snakes' in a cool fashion.

Maybe he could throw a convenient rat at it, which would keep it happy enough.

The snake, that is - I doubt the rodent would approve.



PSD

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This is the work of an Italian narco-anarchic collective. Don't bother insulting them, they can't read English anyway.

Snakes like dark little hidey-holes, the easyest thing for you're villan to do would be to drop his jacket/convenient sack etc on top of the snake, it should quieten down enough to crawl past. On the other hand, moving slowly past the snake should be ok, and you could get a nice sense of urgency if he'd already lit the fire and had to get away from it, and then came face to face with the snake.

Fuzz,

Darn, that's a good idea; trying to get away from the fire when he meets the snake. On the other hand(cart), Tomcat would be retracing his path after he's lit the fire, so why wasn't the snake there as he was crawling under the building on his way in ? There's a good reason why he wants to come out in the same place. Plus, the smoke from the lit fire is likely to drive any snakes away.

Tomcat is lighting his fire (so to speak) in a very specific place, which is more or less where the snake is. So he can't go round it.

PSD

Alas, in spite of his name, Tomcat is not in the habit of carrying rodents around on his person, and now is probably not a good time to start trying to catch one. Tomcat also has to be very careful about what he sets fire to. There's a lot of dry stuff under this building with him.

Dave

Tomcat is not at all cool about snakes. He was bitten by a rattler a couple of years ago. He *really* doesn't want it to happen again.

Depending on exactly WHEN this novel is set and whether the Chronoguard are active <grin>, a cardboard box would not have been available in the Old West.

The American Robert Gair invented the corrugated cardboard box in 1890(according to Wikipedia), but they were used mostly for packaging small things...nothing with too much weight. Cardboard boxes were not really used for mass commercial shipping within the US until the 1940's or so, I believe.

Have him do an Irwin

"Let's see if I can really piss him off by poking him with this stick - and maybe he'll go away."



PSD

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This is the work of an Italian narco-anarchic collective. Don't bother insulting them, they can't read English anyway.

Laura Ingalls Wilder does refer to a pasteboard box as a bed for a kitten in 'Little Town on the Prairie' (I think that's the one). That would have been about 1885. It was probably something smallish, about the size of a shoebox.

I suppose I could change it to a packing case. Or just leave it as rapidly disintigrating pasteboard box and hope my publishers won't notice. If anachronisms were good enough for Shakerspear, they're good enough for me.