Today’s discussion topic comes from QSFer Jim Comer:
What is the place of cleanliness, and of dirt? Are we so automatically used to hot running water that we are unable to imagine living (and sex) without it??? Delany has written some truly squick-inducing scenes of “anti-pornography” involving dirt and filth.
It’s an interesting question. We generally like our characters pretty and clean, but sometimes they have to get dirty. I write a lot of stories that involve quests across a lot of territory. They’re gonna get dirty. So I try to be realistic about that, up to a point. And I do like to arrange for the odd bath here and there.
So our questions today: How do you as a writer handle dirt and dirtiness in your stories? Is it a factor? Doers it get in the way? Do you feel like you need a shower now?