Scene from ‘Elf’
I’ve been asked a few times about how one fits in the necessary daily actions of a character during a story. This ranges from eating, sleeping, using the bathroom, and grooming activities. They’re tiny things, but many people wonder about how characters do this when they’re in the middle of an adventure. So, we’ll hit on the big ones here with a few tips on how to factor them in.
Going to the Bathroom
Honestly, this is the most common curiosity because it appeals to one’s sense of humor. It falls into potty humor many times with jokes and teasing. If it is involved in a scene then it’s because someone barged in on someone else. There is rarely a serious scene when someone is answering nature’s call. My advice is to leave this in the realm of ‘they get the job done’ and don’t touch on it unless it’s somehow plot essential.
Sleeping
This is something that can be put down for a given because a reader can assume characters are getting sleep. If they are yawning and stumbling around then you can tell that they’ve been missing a few nap times. A big use for sleeping is a transition point that ends a scene, chapter, or the entire book. There is a sense of peace that can be brought out when a character is going to sleep, so it makes for a tried and true ‘The End’.
Bathing and Shaving
Shaving is easily touched on by describing if a male character has an unkempt beard or not. A female character can mention it in passing as a complaint about traveling if you really feel the need to mention it. As for bathing, there are three uses for this type of scene. One is a transition like sleeping because a sense of serenity can be created. You can also use it for humor scenes much like the bathroom a scene. Barging in on a bathing character is a staple of Japanese cartoons and comics. A final use is for romantic/erotic scenes if you’re aiming for that. When this isn’t mentioned then assume characters are bathing as long as nobody is bringing up their terrible body odor.
Eating and Drinking
This is the easiest activity to fit into a story because people do this in public and while doing other things. Characters can talk while having lunch and take breaks from talking to have a drink. The simple act of a character saying he or she is hungry then going in search of food can answer this question. If characters are traveling then showing them pack a meal or mention trail rations is enough to put a reader’s mind at ease. In truth, you can assume a character is eating and drinking from the fact that they’re not dehydrated or starving to death.
Haircut
I’m putting this in because it’s come up once or twice. Especially in fantasy, you never hear about heroes going to their barber. I’ve read one book where it is brought up and the character in question cuts his own hair . . . with his saxe knife. This is The Ranger’s Apprentice Series if anyone is interested. You can show characters trimming their hair if you want and it won’t do anything good or bad to the story. It can be used as a character conversation backdrop, but this seems to be more common with heroines.
Legends of Windemere 
I’ve never thought about this before, but now that you’ve opened the bottle, I’m sure I’ll be thinking about it with the next novel I read. 🙂
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Same here. It never occurred to me until somebody mentioned. With me, I realized how often my characters were eating and drinking in a book. Guess none of them are starving.
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Aah, this reminds me if an “intro to DnD” game I played in once. Outside of the DM, I was the only person who had ever played the game before, and someone asked about whether you had to roll to poop in the woods. We came up with various scenarios, from a natural 1 being constipated, or having crapped your pants… it made for fun speculation, but in the end we assured the person no, you don’t have to roll for that. 😉
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I remember those days. Seemed these things only came up with you angered the DM. In the game I ran, I had the issue of a few characters sleeping around with NPC’s. So, I had to instate pregnancy roles, which didn’t stop any of them. Players do odd things.
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I find doing all this suttle stuff is super tough. Ugh. This helps, but still…ugh. 🙂
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A lot of it is more background. You’d be surprised how far a single line of ‘he ate some stew’ can go to clear this up.
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I always assumed characters were eating and sleeping and doing da business … well, except for that time when one guy was stuck in a coma, then I wondered how he survived for several weeks without any advanced medical technology or magical assistance.
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Comas can be tricky, especially if they’re outside of a hospital. I try to avoid those situations or use magic to answer that question.
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Yeah, that whole situation was iffy: guy takes a sword to the head, which cracks his skull and, instead of death … coma! But then, there was a lot of screwy things happening, hallucinations, divine interventions, etc.
Still, I enjoyed it.
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Sounds like fun when you throw those things into it. I have a character that is put into a magical coma and has visions every few chapters.
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There is one scene in my writing that actually goes into bathroom implements after a bout of exhaustion induced diarrhea.
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I keep thinking of the three shells from Demolition Man now.
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I don’t know if you guys know it but, uh, you’re out of toilet paper.
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A problem fixed by excessive cursing. Love that movie.
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I love hearing it in other languages.
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Haven’t had that experience yet.
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I am one of those people who always wonder about these things, especially about female characters. Cause you know, it is FANTASY, but I do wonder for example why the “that time of the month” rarely gets incorporated or mentioned anywhere.
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I think part of the reason for that not being incorporated is because people have a habit of exaggerating. It’s also not universal. In college, a fellow student tried to put it into a short story and he was reamed. Each female classmate argued about it being too bad, not bad enough, they didn’t deal with cramps, etc. It’s incredibly sensitive and I don’t think a lot of male writers want to get involved or subject fans to it.
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Well, there are some general pointers. Even tho this subject is affecting each women differently, slightly or largely, we all for example use tampons or pads – aka this is the same for everyone. To be honest, I would be just glad to see it mentioned somewhere, just so I stop wondering how wouuld a constant horse riding for 1 month look like for a woman who is fantasy, but also relatable physicaly in natural way. For this reason, female characters in fantasy books will always be much more distant to me emotionaly and to relate then male ones.
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Again, it’s probably more that the author doesn’t want to touch on it. Same thing as wet dreams and morning wood for males. Not the same level and extent of issue, but it shows that most things that deal with character genitalia is left out because people are squeamish about it.
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