use strict;
use warnings;
use DBI;

my $dbh = DBI->connect("DBI:mysql:bugs:localhost", "bugs", "sockmonkey", {RaiseError => 1}) or die $!;
$dbh->trace(2);
my $sth = $dbh->prepare('UPDATE sometable SET value1=? WHERE value2=?');
$sth->execute('something with \n in it', 'something else which incidentally has 
+a \n in it');