)O( Tea Witch’s Musings )O(

It seems I’ve been paired up on Amazon.  Right now Tea and Witchery is being sold in combination with The Sugar Cookie Murders.  The second book is by a different author and even a different publisher, so Amazon must think sugar cookies go well with tea and witchery.  Which isn’t a bad suggestion.  Makes me crave a good sugar cookie.  Yum.

As writers we strive to make our book reflect real life.  This is good.  But we should remember that real life is filled with many dull moments.  Dull moments that any decent editor will probably suggest that we remove from our manuscripts before they reach our reader.  But I often get to read work before it has reached an editor and just want to take a moment to say — Please potty train your characters before using them in your work.  Having your adult character take a piss or even worse, take up valuable word count just contemplating that he needs to take a piss does not usually add to the character development or move the story along.

Now there are exceptions.  If you character is trapped by the bad guy and forced to hide for a long time in a small damp place and she squirms wishing she could get out and go pee, I will squirm with her.  Of if your character goes into a public bathroom and overhears an interesting conversation while she’s in the stall, you might be moving the story along.  But this sort of thing seems to happen only to female characters.

Male characters?  Well, yet again, I have read a chapter where the male character uses up word count by lying in bed thinking that he needs to pee.  Nothing stands between him and the act of peeing except standing up and opening the bathroom door.  At least I hope these characters know to go into the bathroom and aim for the toilet, but wondering this about them does not increase my fondness for them as characters.  So, please, potty train your characters before you write.