Where's the potty?
I’m noticing a trend in romance novels recently. And this may be an old trend I’ve never noticed before, or it may be popping up more and more in contemp novels. And that’s the bathroom.
I was surprised to see that bathrooms in contemp novels play a pretty big role. Not in a bodily function sort of way, but the room itself.
I read one novel where the hero hid in the bathroom to hide from a visitor, one where the heroine hid in the bathroom from the hero. Books where one character escaped to the bathroom to be alone and think. One where the heroine hid in the bathroom from a bad guy, and while there hallucinated the absent hero, and from that figured out a plan. And of course, the personal favorite of most of the pirates on here, I’m sure, the sex scene where the hero has the heroine slammed up against the tile wall of the shower, warm water cascading over both of them, his lips hot against her wet, icy skin…..
Wait, what were we talking about? Right, the bathroom.
The bathroom is quite a small, intimate room, when you think about it. You’re very “closed in” in a bathroom. Not a lot of places to go. Yet there’s almost always a lock on the door, a shower curtain to duck behind.
It’s a safe place to hide.
And it’s a pretty good place to go if you have a hero who just can’t wait another minute before he has to have you, right here and now.
Oh crap, I got distracted again. Oh right, the shower. There’s something about a shower too. It’s cleansing. It’s where you go when you’re dirty, inside or out. It’s often where people go when traumatized. There’s something healing about cleansing soap and water.
One of my favorite movie scenes of all time is from Casino Royale, when Vesper is traumatized and retreats to the shower. She’s fully clothed, sitting on the shower wall,
sobbing, mascara running and her gorgeous black gown water logged around her. And Daniel Craig comes in, sees her, and without saying a word, sits down beside her under the water.
So let’s have it pirates. For those of you writing contemps, do you have a pivotal bathroom scene? One planned? For our historical writers, where do your characters go to hide or when they’re traumatized? Read any good bathroom scenes recently? (I know what Sin’s favorite bathroom scene is!) Any that stick out in your mind?
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40 comments:
Well, I'm not writing a contemp...but I took Jack and Miranda into a modern hotel room at one point... Where Miranda coaxed Jack into the shower with her... And things got steamy...
I do love the scene in Gross Point Blank where father and daughter are hiding in the bathroom and John Cusack is off in the hallway getting all bloody beating off the villains. And he cracks the door open for the big opening up scene... Just lovely stuff.
Funny post! I have this blog linked to my blog, and the headline caught my eye. Makes me want to see "Casino Royale."
I have a love scene in NAKED EDGE that takes place in the bathroom. In the tub, to be precise. I guess bathrooms are fun and easy to incorporate into contemps because of the "people get naked" aspect. And the steam.
As for historicals, I can't see anyone running and hiding in the outhouse unless they're really desperate. My great-grandfather had an outhouse till the day he died at the age of 98, and it was the most disgusting place in the world. I was terrified to go in there -- wasps, spiders, things you can see that crawl on you. EW! Someone fetch me a chamber pot!
In historicals, I guess I have people hiding in nature -- the forest and so on. I do have tub scenes in historicals, too, but there's no bathroom per se.
I've heard steel tubs are great for stopping bullets, but I've never tested that.
I think the emergence of the bathroom in contemporaries is due to wanting to "be real." How many times have readers thought, "characters never do normal human things like use the toilet or have a period?" I haven't written a bathroom scene, but I might do a shower/tub sex scene someday. It's the only place in the bathroom that's at all seductive. I can see the kid watching Dad shave being cute too.
As for hiding in there, well, think about it. You're trapped in what's usually a small room. The window is too small to use in most cases. It's perfect for suspense. As far as contemporary romance, what's more embarrassing than being caught in the bathroom?
I think Joanna Bourne's 'Spy master's Lady' has a fascinating and highly original bathroom scene.
Annique has been captured and the hero is charged with extracting vital info from her. The interrogation room is in the basement and contains a large bath.
Annique finds herself in the bath with the hero washing her hair. The British technique is impeccable and irresistible. She spills the beans....eventually!
My Siren heroines live in caverns under the sea but there is a waterfall that serves as a wash room and a hot spring. I'm just wondering how to exploit that combination to generate steam! :lol:
Wow, how true. Never thought of it that way!
I have a bathroom scene in Hidden Beauty, have one in Immortal Beloved too. No sex happening in either of them though.
So far I'm bathroom free with Untamed Beauty. But I'm thinking of making it a running theme now. Only with sex this time! LOL
I have several sex-in-the-tub-water-sloshing-everywhere scenes in a couple of my books. Christie Craig wrote a funny shower scene with a case of mistaken identity in Weddings Can Be Murder. As for where my heroines go to retreat, they're just like me---in their gardens or bedrooms.
Great blog Hal! :)
I'd forgotten you mentioned this to me last week and I spent all day yesterday writing a chapter in the bathroom! Seriously. :) One of my characters catching one of my guy characters in the bathroom after a shower. Wet hair, still droplets on his skin, towel slung low on his hips. Yummmm....
I just read Rhyannon Byrd's Edge of Hunger (she's a fairly new HQN author and I like her stuff a lot). There's a bathroom scene in that one and it's pretty good. Oh, and I think a couple of JR Ward's characters go at it in the shower. Maybe it's Lover Unbound?
Oh and I love that scene in Casino Royale! I think Daniel Craig is a great James Bond. :)
Chance - I love Gross Point Blank - you're right, that's a great scene! Well, I love anything John Cusack does, because it's always so weirdly funny.
And yay for heroines coaxing heroes into the shower!
PC - that's RIGHT! You did show us a small snippet with Kat in a tub. I cannot wait for this book :) I'm surprised Christie hasn't come running out here to talk about the Julian/Tessa shower scene. You know the one, where Julian is in those leather pants and walks into the bathroom and she holds out her hand.
of course you know it, you wrote it. I just wanted to think about it for a bit *g*. That's probably my favorite shower scene ever.
And um, ewwwwwwwww about the outhouse. I never even thought of all the bugs and creepy crawly things that would live in there. I guess it's much harder to scrub an outhouse than a toilet, huh? I think I would have done very poorly living in Colonial times!
I agree with Hal about the outhouse, PC. I am already a big spaz with the lysol in my perfectly modern bathroom facilities.
The house my dad grew up in had an outhouse until he installed indoor plumbing after trade school. That was the early 70s. I can't even imagine. Well, I could, but I think it's traumatizing.
Hi Megan - I think you're spot on for all the reasons bathrooms are being included. I mean, we read contemps because they're people in our time and place, and that includes indoor plumbing.
I write RS, and I don't think I've used a bathroom to trap someone. That's a brilliant idea. You're right - if you didn't purposely go there to retreat, it's a terrifying place to be stuck!
Q - now that sounds like a book I could get on board with! I have too many spies to keep straight in my WIP, but at one point, the hero has to use similar techniques to interrogate the heroine. No bathroom though.
Ohh a waterfall! You could totally create some steamy scenes under that waterfall. Love it!
Tiff! A bathroom theme. I love it. Though the sex scenes really do pull it all together, don't they? lol
Maggie, that's interesting, that you're heroines retreat to the same place you do. I always use the bathroom - no idea why. Maybe that's why it sticks out so much when other heroines hide in the bathroom, since that's what I do too *g*
I haven't read that Christie Craig book, but I read her two "Divorced, Delicious..." books, and they both had people hiding in bathrooms. That's actually what got me onto this topic, which is hilarious, as she'll be here tomorrow! I'll definitely have to look for "Weddings Can Be Murder"
And yay for more bathtub sex! *g*
Marn -- oohhhh, I cannot WAIT to read that. And luckily, I already have an excellent image of Nik in my head, so I'm pretty sure I can use my imagination until then *g*
Actually, I was thinking of the scene with Ice and the razor and the blood swirling down the drain. I forgot you cut that one for now. All excellent uses of the bathroom!
(and I'm totally with you on the lysol thing!)
It's actually Cass and Laura. You'll see. :)
And yeah, I cut that for now. Maybe I can use it later.... It hurt to cut that scene out.
Yay! I see Pam is here!
I knew as SOON as I started reading this that this blog had to be Hal. Only Hal would know my ultimate favorite bathroom scene. It's probably the hottest scene I've ever read. EVER. Sort of like Hellion stating the best bar EVER. This is the best bathroom scene EVER. Period. No ifs, ands or buts. (And there is a butt, a delicious one by the name of Julian Darcangelo. Hotness incarnate.)
And I can tell you that I read that scene on an airplane and was 99% sure I would get kicked off the plane. My face was flaming hot.
I take a shower with Mattycakes on the weekend (might be TMI, but honestly, I don't know how the both of us fit in that damn thing) and I think I want to incorporate something like that into a contemp. Not so much for the sex aspect (though there is that) but it's very intimate to take a shower with someone. And I like that intimacy for my characters. Sadie seems to lack intimacy. It's very curious.
Great blog babe!
And I can't believe no one has mentioned Stephanie handcuffed to her shower curtain rod. LOL!
Crazy busy!! I love this blog. And I love all those Christie scenes referenced. The mistaken identity one in Weddings is freaking hysterical, but the on in DD&Delicious is hot and funny since they both end up hitting the tub and bruised up. LOL!
I haven't written a bathroom scene yet, haven't gotten that far. Though I'm sure it'll show up somewhere along the way. Though right now I'm thinking more along the lines of using it to build the tension. Something like he walks in and catches her shaving her legs, some great dialogue, he gets her all worked up thinking he's going to join her, then he walks out. Would definitely crank the tension. LOL!
Wait, it's DD&Dating that they take the tumble, huh? My brain will kick in eventually....
I want to read Pamela's bathroom scene!
And that scene in Spymaster's Lady Q is talking about is about a lot more than interrogation. Amazing scene!
Sin - I knew you were going to bring that one up. I was trying to save it for you *g* And I must agree - best shower sex scene ever!
I think showering together, sex or no sex is very intimate. You've gotta be real comfortable with the person standing less than a foot from you, very naked *g* And I could totally see Sadie not wanting any part of that level of intimacy.
Ter - your idea sounds awesome! A definite way to add in sexual tension.
I don't remember which Christie Craig book the falling down shower scene was in, but you're right, it was hysterical. And weren't they bruised for days? Love it!
And you must read Hard Evidence, just for the shower scene. Well, it's a phenomenal book all the way through, but the shower scene. Whew!
I totally forgot abut Stephanie and the shower rod. Talk about a hysterical shower scene!
Hal, your blog is the bright spot to this Monday--and that's wild since it's about toilets...with some potty humor thrown in with excellent effect. *LOL*
Clearly I'm missing out on shower scene sex--though I think it should be written about more--I mean, shower sex is... Never mind. There should be more scenes in books.
I'll have to get Hard Evidence, clearly. *LOL*
What an interesting blog, Hal!
The first thing that comes to my mind when I hear "shower scene" is the famous scene from Psycho. Shudder.
In addition to intimacy, I think bath scenes evoke vulnerability. Nowhere else is a character so completely exposed, and that physical nakedness can be used to suggest other barriers stripped away.
Maybe because bath scenes are less common in historicals, I remember those most vividly. Loretta Chase has a great bath scene in Lord Perfect, and I could never forget Poppy's bath and haircut in Eloisa James' An Affair before Christmas.
Speaking of bath tub scenes, what's up with the couple in the bath tubs on some cliff in the male stamina pill commericals? For one, who takes a bath on the edge of a cliff? And two, if he's taking the pills, wouldn't things work better if they were both in the same tub?
Glad I could potty up your Monday Hellie! And I completely agree. More sex in showers. I completely agree *g*
Ohh the tub, Janga! I don't think I've ever taken a bath with another person (mostly because I've never lived somewhere with a bathtub two people could actually sit down in). But you're right, it's very intimate. Wasn't it EJ's Duchess in Love when Cam tried to ruin Gina in a tub, so that they'd be forced to stay married? I loved that scene!
I always wondered that too, Ter! How exactly did they get those tubs out to the edge of the cliff anyway (and for gods sake, why? LOL!). And yes, holding hands while sitting in separate tubs -- if that's all those pills accomplish, what's the point? *g*
Exactly! And who filled those tubs? Huh?
These people actually have marketing degrees?!?! You know someone had to propose those commercials at some big meeting and the suits went, "Let's go for it!"
Stupid nitwits....
Now that I think about it, there are actually tons of bath scenes in historicals. And one book I remember actually including the bodily function stuff was a Lyndsey Sands book. The Perfect Wife? *googles* Thank goodness, I got one right! LOL! Anywho, it's medieval and they are traveling and the heroine's morning needs become an issue.
I could totally come up with a better marketing campaign than "two bathtubs on a cliff". Of course, a we'd just throw Johnny Depp on a pirate ship. I'd buy anything that included Johnny Depp and a pirate ship *g* I'm sure there are enough women who feel the same to make it much more lucrative than bathtubs on a cliff!
I wrote one scene bodily function scene. Well, it was half a sentence inside a scene. And from my hero's POV. I figure guys would think more explicitly about having to take a piss than girls would. But yeah, medieval times? Morning "needs" were not nearly so easy to take care of!
Yeah, and I forgot to mention they were traveling and her new husband had burned hands so couldn't take care of his own needs either. Gosh, that book was hysterical.
I admit, those ones about Bob and how happy he always is and all the euphemisms they use crack me up. In the gutter but smart. That's a fine line, my friends. LOL!
Marn,
Rhyannon Byrd isn't that new to HQN. She wrote three Nocturnes and has three more coming out back to back in 2010. :) I've been following her for a while now. She wrote for Ellora's Cave before that.
This is interesting timing because lately I've read two contemporary novels where the bathroom is used for bodily functions. I'd much rather read about the slammed up against the shower wall stuff. On the other hand, I often wonder in books, don't people have to wee-wee?
I love this blog Hal!
Bathrooms are so intimate and important. I've laughed, cried, and relieved myself in some wonderful and disgusting bathrooms. And yes, I've pulled a Sin or two in mine. *g*
I like to write bathroom scenes now that you mention it. Great sex and emotionally heavy crap happens in the loo:)
Sorry I'm so late, the day was quite hellish.
You all are cracking me up!!!
I don't have TV so I've never seen the commercial with two tubs on a cliff. But what in the world is that supposed to say? "If you don't take this pill, your marriage will go over the cliff -- IN SEPARATE TUBS!" I'm not really getting the imagery there.
Marnie Jo — Yeah, I'm a big clean-freak, too. Outhouses can't really be cleaned in the same way. And there's nothing to be done about the smell. I should tell you about the time I went to Sun Dance and 250 women (roughly) had to share ONE outhouse with no door. It had a curtain, which blew in the desert wind. The "seat" was very dried out splintery wood. You couldn't stand on it unless you want to risk falling through. So... I took handfuls of sand (this is the desert, right?) and created a sort of toilet-seat cover with a layer of sand, which also protected my tush from other women's biological byproducts and splinters. TMI, I know. Truth, too.
Sin, Hal — I'm so glad you love Julian's shower-side manner. ;-)
Speaking of showers, I had a total panic attack in the shower today, freaking out because I thought my WIP sucks. That was my conclusion after not sleeping all night due to work anxiety. I sent it to my agent. I think she's ignoring me. The last time I sent her a book and told her it sucked, it was UNLAWFUL CONTACT. I called it a "train wreck," I believe. But what if I'm right this time??????????????????????????????????
I should add that this luxury outhouse I've described was on the rez. Some of you might not know what Sun Dance is, but it's a special ceremony. Four days, 500 people, one outhouse for men, one for women.
See? I have outhouse PTSD.
sorry I didn't come back last night! Actually, I was stuck in a bathroom *g*. Seriously, I was trying to recaulk the tub this weekend, and it's turned into a bit of a crisis. Grr.
Dee - you know, I've never read a bodily function in the bathroom scene I don't think. but you're right - we all gotta go! LOL!
Lisa - sorry you had a hellish day. Here's to today being better! Isn't it crazy how many things happen in a bathroom when you think about it?
PC - You know you're insane, right? NE is going to be totally awesome. Of course, if you're having doubts, I'd be completely willing to make the sacrifice to read and tell you if it's any good ;) It'd be hard, you know, but I think I could do it just for you! lol But seriously, it does not suck (and I'd kill the read the thing!)
And uh, one outhouse for 250 women? That would definitely lead to outhouse PTSD, though the ceremony sounds awesome. I spent some time in southern India, and we didn't even have an outhouse. We had to dig our own holes. Then us group of girls would stand in a circle, facing out, and take turns going inside the circle to the hole. That might have led to some form of potty PTSD too. Eek.
I love this!!
What can I say, the bathroom is a favorite of mine. Didn't even realize it until you pointed it out. And in the new DD&D novel, coming out in late November, the heroine fights for her life in the bathroom. Ahh, she wins, but only after finding a potty-room appropriate weapon.
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