Quick bathroom break.

[TheRedChamber]

I'm reminded of two things.

Firstly towards the end of the first season of 24, the Guardian newspaper ran a competition where a prize was given to the best answer to the question 'Who went to the lavatory this season and what happened to them?'

The list of answers were something like:
- Killed by hitman
- Passenger and hostess joined the mile hile club. Hostess garottes passenger, steals their data drive and parachutes out of plane.
- Guard knocked out by Bauer on exit
- Mole is discovered and arrested sending top sectret data from cubicle.

And so on.

The other thing is this clip

The relevant part is the third clip but it's all funny. It's also my way of stealth Kumquatting the thread.

 

[Smuttyandfun]

My story, About That Kiss has the couple meeting on the way to bathrooms at a camp site. I think if it fits the story you can mention things like having a shower together, or anxiously brushing their teeth and checking their breath, or even her crossing her legs, desperate to pee.

 

[EmilyMiller]

I seem to read a lot of stories where characters never go to the bathroom, even over several days of continuous activity, as narrated.

Do your characters see to their needs, or do you skip any and all reference? Why/why not?

Does the FMC having effectively colonic irrigation in preparation for anal with a next gen fucking machine count?

Em

 

[Djmac1031]

I have mentioned bathroom usage quite a few times in my stories.

But as most others have pointed out, only when it really has a reason to be mentioned.

In one instance (probably more than one now that I think about it) I've had a character excuse themselves to the restroom specifically to give two other characters space to talk without them around.

In another case, it was sort of a little fun moment for a newly intimate couple; he wakes up, has to pee, but she's in the shower already, and there's a cute little exchange while she watches him pee.

Later in the same story I reverse it and see barges in on him in the shower because she has to pee.

And since many women do indeed need to pee after sex, I've had that come up a few times as well.

 

[KeithD]

In one instance (probably more than one now that I think about it) I've had a character excuse themselves to the restroom specifically to give two other characters space to talk without them around.

I think this is a good--and common--use of it. I take it further occasionally. I use a character going to take a pee and leaving the door open for his partner in bed to see as a signal of domination, disdain, and command.

So, again, like anything else, it depends on if/how it's being used to progress the action or reflect character.

 

[Jmanchu]

If there's a reason for it in the plot. Otherwise, they take care of their business before and after their scenes like good actors.

 

[AWhoopsieDaisy]

I seem to read a lot of stories where characters never go to the bathroom, even over several days of continuous activity, as narrated.

Do your characters see to their needs, or do you skip any and all reference? Why/why not?

I tend not to mention it as its sort of a checkovs gun. Once you establish that a character can pee the audience will expect some variant of piss kink.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

I’ll mention it if necessary to the plot, as I might menstruation were it relevant. Ditto birth control, brushing teeth, brushing hair, shaving, locking the door on the way to work, plugging in a phone, etc. Otherwise, if it isn’t relevant, why bother?

 

[ronde]

In many of my stories, people use the bathroom and women have periods. I don't use those actions as a fetish. I use them to generate interactions between the characters.

I can guarantee that if you're on a long drive with a woman, she's going to hint that she needs to stop at least every couple hours. My experience with my wife is about every hour and a half. In some of my stories about the Old West, the two main characters are traveling together for months. Both are going to have to answer Nature's call at least once a day, and the woman is either going to have to make up a good story for why she needs to be alone a few times a day for a week every month or just tell the male character why. If my characters are camping in the woods, that introduces a whole new level of interaction if a woman is involved.

Using common body functions just makes characters seem real.

 

[YDB95]

In my Elizabeth series, the title character has to pee a lot. I introduced that characteristic as an excuse to remove her from the scene for a few minutes where that was necessary to move the plot forward, but it ended up being a nice little humanizing feature that makes her seem more real (and in one of the stories, it actually plays a substantial role). The matter gets an occasional mention in some of my other stories, but I never really considered the presence or absence of it consciously. I just figure my characters are human, of course they go to the bathroom. If it's not necessary to the story, no need to mention it.

 

[HordHolm]

My ex-wife was obsessed with Friends back in the late 90s and I inevitably ended up sitting and watching some of it with her. One thing that I picked up on with it was the number of times that the characters would go to the toilet (I mean, it wasn't all the time, but still). The thing was, though, that it always had a plot reason. It stood out, to the point where it was noticeable, because to this day I have hardly seen any other TV show really have their characters needing a dump (Two and a Half Men used it a couple of times). The writers tend not to use any of this boring crap we get up to in life unless it is essential to the plot/provides a get out. And I don't think this absence hurts these shows, either.

 

[Bazzle]

I seem to read a lot of stories where characters never go to the bathroom, even over several days of continuous activity, as narrated.

Do your characters see to their needs, or do you skip any and all reference? Why/why not?

My characters always use the bathroom

I think it's a useful way of getting one character out of picture for a few minutes?

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Thanks @TheRedChamber - love Mitchell &Webb. The fourth clip is also relevant to this thread.

I've had characters go off to public toilets - one was asked to remove his shirt and replace his jacket, didn't want to go it at a restaurant table. A couple in a club found the Ladies was blocked by guys shagging, so both had to use the Gents, where cocks become visible at urinals. A different couple have sex in a nightclub toilet.

In a home, I'll have a narrator observe things like "I trot off for a quick wee piss, and file my nails to perfect curves" - preparation for fisting. Or "we go shower after - it's one of those rare times when those anal-retentive types who insist on douching before sex might have a point. Maybe three nights of curry was too much?" Quite enough detail! Lots of shower sex so the bathtub gets a fair bit of description.

Also useful for showing confusion for transatlantic travellers:
Emily's talk was in an hour. First, a trip to the ladies to touch up her make-up, hiding the jet-lag. A crowd was in the way.
"Excuse me, is this the queue for the toilets?"
"No, it's the line for the restrooms," a middle-aged American lady informed her.
Emily sighed, and waited patiently.

Some characters seek a bathroom or restroom stall, others the Ladies/Gents, loos or toilets for a cubicle (and think stalls are for horses or cows!) Mostly without incident, though my college and several houses I've known have had bathrooms with no toilet in, not to mention workplaces providing restrooms for pregnant women etc with just a bed in, and both have led to stressful incidents for visitors from abroad...

 

[MrPixel]

Restrooms also make for comedic moments, too. Both from the Off Campus 04 series:

After my fifth cup of coffee I excuse myself for a nature break. As I head towards the restroom Meg appears out of nowhere, grabs my shirt and pulls me into a dark niche behind the host stand. She presses into me.
...[lover chit chat]...
"I'll let you know what they say. Excuse me, Meg. Too much coffee. I really need to pee!"

Getting gas at the Oakley truck stop is uneventful. The bladder parade is sort of fun to watch. A couple of "Ewww!" protests on their return. I chuckle, but understand fully.

 

[Euphony]

Some folks follow the Chekhov’s Gun school of thought, where storytellers don’t bother mentioning things unless there’s a narrative reason for it.

100. If an common event sneaks its way into the pseudo reality of fiction, as a reader I am assuming there's a reason naturally perk up.

Finding yourself chapters later thinking about random character bathroom breaks is... awkward.

Others create characters who are living, breathing people, and rely on the reader to assume they pee. No description needed.

Bathing, mensuration, brushing teeth, nail clipping, hair care, plucking, etc. etc.

When they crop up, I'm keying on the reason and mildly annoyed if there ends up none.

Still others, myself included, DO write characters who go to the bathroom. But you’ve apparently not read them yet.

In fairness, somewhere on Lit there is surely a chromic nose picker or wedgie remover. I've yet to stumble on them but the catalog here is immense.

Fingers crossed the streak continues.

 

[SimonDoom]

I wouldn't include a trip to the bathroom in a story unless it served a plot purpose. I see no reason to include mundane activity in a story just to make it seem real. I think readers understand that these things happen even if they aren't narrated. But if it serves a purpose in the story, sure.

 

[MediocreAuthor]

So I think I've only mentioned bathroom usage a few times in my stories.

In Fucky Friday, Delilah goes to use the shower, and locks herself in the bathroom.

Then in the sequel, Anthony (with his soul still trapped in his wife's body) goes into the men's bathroom at the office out of habit, although he's there to clean up, not to use the toilet.

And one scene in the second chapter of Rescuing the Fallen takes place in a bathroom, although Thomas is there to get ready for work.

Ummm... And if you wanna count it, Barbara in the first chapter of RtF ponders how she needs to pee really badly, but she can't use the bathroom... Although that's more of a buildup to a squirting/watersports sort of thing later on.