In everyday life people do the grossest things. We pick our
noses, scratch ourselves in private places in public, we make horrible smells
and offensive noises, we stick our fingers in our ears and then wipe our
findings on our jeans, we scrape goop from eyes and squeeze puss from our faces
and our bowels hold us to ransom. Have I grossed you out enough yet?
My point is, being human can be disgusting, so why shouldn't
your characters have the same traits? Ah, maybe because it's gross... Yes, but
it's also realistic. That's not to say all of your characters need to start finding
treasures in their noses and producing obnoxious gases. You have to consider a
character's personality, social standings and the situation they're in.
For example, in my Healer Trilogy, I have a character, Princess
Adalin, who wouldn't dream of farting in front of the mirror let alone in
company. But her nomadic companion, Carius, takes pride in his bodily
functions.
Farting can be great for breaking the tension between feuding
friends. A scratch of the privates can show a character's lack of social etiquette.
Grabbing of privates can be an insult, as can spitting (ew, spitting). Chewing
on dirty fingernails can be a nervous tick. Chewing on dirty toenails a
disgusting thing to do in front of others, but necessary if they're really,
really long. An unwanted burp is a great way to embarrass a character in front of
their love interest. A gluggy, wet sneeze sprayed in the face of someone
important makes for an awkward situation. Sweat glistening off a naked body can
be sexy. Big, dirty sweat patches under the arm unsightly. The list goes on.
Being gross can be a handy tool, but choose your moments
wisely. Intense romantic, fight or conflict scenes can lose their punch if one
has to stop and pick their bloomers from their slot. You don't want to destroy
the tension when the world is about to fall apart by farting. Funny yes. Suspenseful
no.
That said, I encourage you to be gross, be disgusting and
let it all hang out. And remember not even your hero can smell like roses all
of the time.
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2 comments:
LOL - this is great - not quite sure how one can chew on their long and dirty toenails though. Obviously, more flexible than I :)
Great post Jane. TOTALLY gross. And I completely agree that characters shouldn't fart when it's tense. Definitely deflates the tension (among other things).
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