No bathroom passes in AB or MG worlds

[denouement16.livejournal.com]

I just finished reading both Swallowing Darkness and Skin Trade, and it occurred to me that, though we follow them through every second of their lives in the books, neither Merry nor Anita use the bathroom.  Yes, they both bathe, but they don't use the toilet.  It's weird.  Not even a passing mention.  In other books this makes sense.  There are breaks in the action between scenes where we can reasonable assume the characters are taking care of business so to speak, or a passing mention is made to the toilet business.  Anita and Merry don't do this.

Merry is particularly bad since Seduced by Moonlight, Stroke of Midnight, and Mistral's Kiss don't even have time between books for the characters to heed the call of nature.  Do the fey have super bladders in addition to special sparkle powers?  Does Merry ever eat?  or drink some water?  I think the books have reached a point where these sorts of omissions, combined with YAABIs and YAMGIs, make the willing suspension of disbelief very difficult.

As for Anita, she's the only character I've ever read who has sex more often than she uses the bathroom.  Perhaps she simply lets "everything" go during those screaming orgasms and that's the real reason they always have to change the sheets afterwards?

Anyway, has anyone else noticed this?

Comments

[tooimpurenangel.livejournal.com]

Please nobody ever let LKH "discover" golden showers. I'm sure in certain situations they can be hot, but written by her....
EUGH!

[denouement16.livejournal.com]

Good Lord, NO!

[dreamstrifer.livejournal.com]

I think I'm so used to bathroom business being left out of novels, even when showers and the like are mentioned, that I haven't really noticed it, but then again I haven't read the books in a couple years, so who knows.

[denouement16.livejournal.com]

If Merry didn't narrate every single thing she does for several days, it wouldn't be so obvious, but there are no breaks in the narration where one could reasonably assume she's doing the necessary things for life. If you don't void your bladder every so often, you die.

[frabjously.livejournal.com]

Yeah I know what you mean. Usually it's not something I have a gripe with in novels but because LKH's timeline seems like she's writing a stream of conscious you do wonder about little things like that.

[dreamstrifer.livejournal.com]

That's true. I only read the first 2 merry novels because I greatly disliked them.

[clover-elf-kin.livejournal.com]

It's rare to see much mention in fiction, since writing actual bathroom usage is kind of awkward. Still, most novels DO mention people going into the bathroom first thing in the morning, at least... and meals are reasonably frequent. I haven't read either series in a while, they seriously don't mention even EATING in passing anymore?

[denouement16.livejournal.com]

Anita eats. I'll have to reread them, but I don't think Merry has eaten anything on screen in several books.

"Still, most novels DO mention people going into the bathroom first thing in the morning, at least."

That's what bugs me. I don't need LKH to detail the process or anything, but a simple "I took care of my morning business after sex" Or something like that anyway. It's particularly jarring after seeing every minute of Merry's life for what amounts to several days, and realizing she hasn't eaten or used the restroom. Every other book I've ever read had breaks where the characters weren't onscreen at all (even first person) where one could assume they were taking care of things like this.

[denouement16.livejournal.com]

I will totally read that book :P

The AB not sleeping stuff doesn't bother me quite so much because time passes between the novels. I figure she's running on little sleep during these "crises" and catches up on it in between.

[clover-elf-kin.livejournal.com]

My characters certainly mention needing to go when they're on bedrest! (And in my stories, that happens a LOT. XD) Nothing like not only having to ask for the bedpan, but then falling asleep on it.

[magdalen77.livejournal.com]

This is true especially for Merry. I can't remember the last time she ate anything or even mentioned food in passing. The same goes for her harem, no one eats. drinks, uses the bathroom. I actually can't even remember anyone bathing that much which is pretty gross considering all the sex that's continually going on.

[shalotts-lady.livejournal.com]

also, I dont know about you but when I'm only 1/15 as "busy" as Anita and Merry, I am freaking STARVING.

I remember Merry eating at her grandmother's in A Kiss of Shadows but she was so nervous about the meeting with the queen that her grandmother floated the cakes she liked down the stairs because she picked at them. Did she eat when she was finally at the banquet? That part where her ankle is being iced because she tripped on that magic crack?

I mean LKH makes this whole big deal about Anita being unable to control the succubus because she doesn't "feed" herself regularly. And why LKH has not fixed this is BEYOND me. Its been a reoccurring trend throughout the last few books right? At least up till Incubus Dreams.

[dwg.livejournal.com]

Given the style of writing and the genre, I'm not surprised it gets left out. Does going to the bathroom advance the plot or add characterisation? No. Does it add to the prose? No. So it's not...actually necessary in the context of the novel. And, given all this, do you really want to read about someone having to dash to the bathroom? I don't know about you, but I don't want to have scenes that linger lovingly on every drop of piss. For the most part, I think authors have enough faith in their readers to infer that characters do things like have a shower. Just think of how much more verbose Lord of the Rings would have been if we had to stop every time Frodo needed to dash off into the bushes.

There's only so much realism you can expect from a book about faerie porn, no matter what the author claims about having to make everything as true to life as possible.

[ladymina.livejournal.com]

the point is with both merry and usually anita during the book, we get to know a lot of details down to who makes the coffee in the morning and how ... but no bathroom breaks or in Merrys case food breaks
with Anita no food breaks often means earlier rise of the adeur, so it is plot relevant.

Lord of the Rings does not tell us who cooked what tomato how for breakfast so it is easier to add it in

Though I always wondered about the bathroom problem with prisoners in most fantasy novels, but that is just me ...

[dwg.livejournal.com]

I know that we get every precious detail about Merry's and Anita's lives, but there are bigger and more glaring plotholes that could be picked at before you get to the whole "Merry and Anita never eat or use the bathroom, this is weird!" part. And considering that most other authors don't write about their characters coming home at the end of the day to make a sandwich and take a shower when they can just skip to the next relevant part of the stoy, it doesn't bother me as much as the OP.

See, at least in a prison, that could present a problem. When stuck in a place that has indoor plumbing and hot and cold running live-in help, not so much.

[denouement16.livejournal.com]

"And considering that most other authors don't write about their characters coming home at the end of the day to make a sandwich and take a shower when they can just skip to the next relevant part of the stoy, it doesn't bother me as much as the OP."

But that's the thing, we see everything Merry does for days at a time. There are no breaks to infer that she's doing the necessary things for life.

[bloodredroses1.livejournal.com]

The reason they never use a bathroom except for sex & cleaning up is that they're both too "delicate" to need to do anything so crass as to have to go pee, much less take a dump.

And if you can't hear the sarcasm in that statement even across a computer then I'm doing something wrong. *snicker*

Morgan

[x-trickster-x.livejournal.com]

I'm more concerned with how painful going to the loo must be considering how many baseball bat-sized dicks Merry and Anita have rammed up them every single day.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_shiisa_/]

While I have no particular problem with the bathroom part (it's nothing unusual to leave that out, no matter what you're reading) I think I remember someone (Nathaniel?) mentioning to Anita that, if she just tried eating actual food every once in a while, she wouldn't have so many problems with her energy levels and whatnot. Don't know if it's been mentioned in any of the more recent books?

[leggomylegolas.livejournal.com]

The constant narrative with no breaks is one of the things that bugs me the most about the books. It's just annoying, and also it leads to things just being that much more unbelievable - I'm reading one of the Merry books right now and it's like she turns Maeve back into a god, turns Frost back into a god, finds that chalice in her dream, turns Nicca into a winged guy, turns Doyle back into a whatever he is that can shapeshift...and all this is happening in the same goddamn night, right after they spent what felt like hours on the mirror phone with the stupid goblin king. It's ridiculous - in a good book these things would be spread out a bit so you could sort of follow a story line.

Anita just sort of stumbles from set piece to set piece too, wich nothing linking them but "oh no a phone call gotta go over there now".

I think it's ammeturish writing.

[flirtswithfan.livejournal.com]

I believe Anita and Co. went through a drive-thru fast foodplace in ST.

[bubblefaerie.livejournal.com]

I actually get thrown off by mentions of bathroom usage in books, tv and movies. I guess it's because it doesn't happen often. I never notice when it's not there, but I do get the point of the constant narration of everything for days and it's like they don't have to go at all. Usually I just assume it's something that takes place off screen.

[flaveur.livejournal.com]

I think I've see enough in the last panels of the comics. And lot of author do not speak of bathroom other than for bathing. (and I remember clearly a sex-scene with Micah.. and Jean-Claude, and Richard I believe, in a bathroom or a shower) Do not bother me really.
I do think too that it's not relevant to the plot.

And think of what LKH will make of that if she get wind of the complain. Think of the terrifiant idea to a scen where Anita or Merry get to the loo... and end up with more POWWWAAA or lose the babies because she juste push too hard.....
HEHE.. I hope I make a very bad image in your head. Horrible and terrible.

[broomstick.livejournal.com]

Oh, good lord, no! NOT a bathroom scene. Remember in early Anita Blake where she'd go on about the color of her Nikes and the swooshes on them? She'll be rambling about how the floor tile doesn't match the walls and why one should always use white toilet paper instead of colored because of how the colors make the shit and piss look ever so much worse and how Jean-Claude's toilet has black toilet paper and where does one find black toilet paper or is it special order and do vampires ever go to the bathroom and what that looks like....

Please. No. Let us not go there. {{{{shudder}}}}

[whispertwistair.livejournal.com]

Novels rarely describe pissing and pooping. I think LKH gets a thumbs up on passing on those scenes.

[denouement16.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but how many novels never have a break in time between scenes?