what bodily function are we obsessed with

[Jo Zebedee]

I notice with GRRM, he has a slight obsession with people going to the toilet/ making water/ etc. etc, (really, read it, he does.)

I have an obsession with feeding my characters, none of this battling for days without food, or even lasting 3 hours without something in your stomach.

And I wondered if that's mad, or if we all have something that our characters do too much of because we think it grounds them in reality.

 

[Hex]

Mine throws up a lot.

Vomit pretty much defined my reality for the first few months of writing the story... Bleh. It wasn't a conscious attempt to ground anything though. Subconscious, perhaps.

 

[AnyaKimlin]

mine is grinning/smirking/smiling/giggling/laughing I think my characters have a nervous tick. They also do a lot of things with backs, heads and eyes.

oh and I do a lot of snot. Partly because it makes Soc vomit lol, then the vomit makes him vomit, then there is snot - without help it could go on for days. However Johnny and Tim in my other stories also do snot.

In fact I am just gross and pretty well do all bodily functions from feeding, drinking, right through to the full gammet of expulsions - including sex.

 

[allmywires]

I always find it unrealistic when characters are expected to be chained up/locked away for days and there is no mention of their downstairs bodily functions. I don't know why, probably just me. I know if I was being chained up I would be worrying about that a lot...

Nonetheless, I don't like to write it. I like a bit of blood and gore myself. And allergies. Are we expected to believe people in fantasy don't suffer even a wee bit of mild hayfever?

 

[Mouse]

I have an obsession with feeding my characters, none of this battling for days without food, or even lasting 3 hours without something in your stomach.

This. My characters are always feeding their faces. Probably cos I'm always thinking about food.

Can't think what else. I do have a character in something who seems to nip to the loo more than the others.

 

[Warren_Paul]

I don't necessarily have an obsession with bodily functions, but more along the lines of Anya. Expressions. My characters are always looking around 'wide-eyed'.

 

[Colbey Frost]

One of my characters gets urinated on by a group of small mammals....

 

[crystal haven]

My characters probably eat a lot.

 

[Abernovo]

I'm another who has hungry characters, obsessed with food. There's occasional nausea too, not related to the food.

Just had a look, there's quite a few breathing references: gasping, shortness of breath, deep breaths (and no, not from what some of you are thinking!! )

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Honestly, would we?

 

[Warren_Paul]

Just had a look, there's quite a few breathing references: gasping, shortness of breath, deep breaths (and no, not from what some of you are thinking!! )

Mine tend to suffer from these symptoms too, I think they might all have asthma...

 

[HareBrain]

Mine are always picking their noses. So far, though, I've managed to avoid mentioning it.

 

[alchemist]

Mine are hungry all the time, so their stomachs are constantly rumbling. Or to give it its scientific name, borborygmi.

 

[Christopher Lee]

Mine think a lot. "blah, blah, blah", she/he thought to her/himself. They also cough up a lot of phlegm; of course that could be do to the plague spreading . . .

 

[Pyan]

At least these days you can mention bodily functions. For an earlier generation of writers, it just wasn't allowable. Can you imagine the Fellowship of the Ring?

"Merry!" called Pippin from behind what looked like a large tree. "Are there any big leaves over there?" "Do you mind?" rumbled Treebeard. "That's my foot!"

Or the Swallows and Amazons? Four children camping for a week on a small island in the middle of a lake? I wouldn't like to take an early morning swim near their camp...

 

[Venusian Broon]

At least these days you can mention bodily functions. For an earlier generation of writers, it just wasn't allowable. Can you imagine the Fellowship of the Ring?

Although most of the characters appear to smoke quite a bit.

However, with a modern perspective and reading between the lines it's clear that the Hobbits were Middle Earth's producers/suppliers of high grade Skunk. I mean they are hooked on their own supply and they constantly have the munchies.

You could probably argue that the entirety of the Lord of the Rings was a feverish nightmare after Frodo had a massive paranoid hallucinatory attack one night aftering OD'ing on his whole stash of 'Old Toby'.

 

[Galacticdefender]

I have a character who seems to be obsessed with cleaning his gun in the exact same manner over and over again.

Another one of my characters seems to get hurt a lot.

*shrug* lol

 

[Galacticdefender]

Although most of the characters appear to smoke quite a bit.

However, with a modern perspective and reading between the lines it's clear that the Hobbits were Middle Earth's producers/suppliers of high grade Skunk. I mean they are hooked on their own supply and they constantly have the munchies.

You could probably argue that the entirety of the Lord of the Rings was a feverish nightmare after Frodo had a massive paranoid hallucinatory attack one night aftering OD'ing on his whole stash of 'Old Toby'.

WTF did I just read?

That was the most hilarious thing I have read in the past week or so I have to admit. lol

 

[Esfires]

I can't say that I ever focus on eating unless it actually has a function in the narrative. I do find that my characters cry a lot, so take how you will.

And my characters never, EVER, poop.

 

[hopewrites]

I can't say that I ever focus on eating unless it actually has a function in the narrative. I do find that my characters cry a lot, so take how you will.

And my characters never, EVER, poop.

Even Audry Hepburn went to the bathroom.

my favorite saying.


I think I am guilty of unreasonable non-functioning bodies. food, toileting of all kinds, sleep... rarely make an appearance unless it is to do something it oughtn't. like talk.