[LMB] "Caught short" theory of fiction

[Mark A. Mandel]

(catching up...)

> Rachel Ganz wrote:
> > 
> > I've realised that I could describe a lot of my literary criticism
> > based on the "What would these characters do if caught short?" In
> > fact, could you ever believe that they needed a lavatory at all. Does
> > their universe have sewage disposal?
> > 
> > Dickens passes this test. So does Miles . And Ekaterin would pass in
> > spades (sorry about unintended and dradful pun). Less so in Chalion.

I don't have a problem with this -- with stories that lack excretion. I
think of the years when I was playing D&D (that's Dungeons and Dragons --
version 2) with the kids to bring them up right :-). Somewhere or other,
maybe in an FAQ, was a discussion of this question, maybe as advice for
the beginning GM (Game Master). It was along the lines of "You don't need
to have the characters go to the bathroom/outhouse/ditch/meadow, just as
you don't need to have all the details of their wiping the sweat from
their brows or chasing away the flies or taking each and every individual
step of their ten-day journey on foot. If it advances the adventure or
adds color to the story in a way that you want to use, then by all means,
but don't feel you have to do it."

m a m


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