#and his boyfriend nags him about it and when he forgets his lactaid he suffers the consequences

[softdedue]

I saw a post the other day where OP was like “why don’t girls ever get their periods in fiction” and someone had replied to it “well, no one farts or goes to the bathroom or whatever in fiction either, we just don’t bring those things up unless they’re what the story is about”

And while I totally get what they were trying to say (obviously we can assume a character goes to the bathroom without having to be told), I also think the attitude of “those things shouldn’t exist in fiction unless it’s a Big Deal” is something that should be challenged

People go to the bathroom. People fart. People have periods. Those things affect their lives in all sorts of ways every day—why should they not also affect fictional characters? It’s not hard to find ways to weave those things into the plot without doing anything other than making your characters feel more grounded and relatable and human.

You’re writing a story about a girl whose the object of some vampire’s affection/bloodlust?How does the fact that she starts bleeding once a month affect their relationship? Your character is taking his boyfriend out for ice cream? Have him remind them to take their lactaid pills. Need some characters to have a conversation without a person who’s staying with them? Have that person go to the bathroom

It can be really helpful to the flow of your story to remember that your characters need to eat and drink and pee at regular intervals. Characters on a long drive have to stop on occasion: have those stops be fun!!! Let them move the story forward!!!!!

And remember that people are gross and awkward sometimes. Let them burp in the middle of what would have been a romantic moment! Making these things taboo in fiction only increases people’s discomfort and shame about their own bodily functions