fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2477 ]

[ SECRET POST #2477 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2477 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 036 secrets from Secret Submission Post #354.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ], [ 2 - posted twice ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

How would you react to a female character who drinks while pregnant (unplanned; she isn't sure if she wants it)?

Are we talking a glass of wine with dinner or downing a bottle of bourbon nightly?

Depends on how well it serves the plot.

I would think that it was careless and kind of stupid, espcially if she drinks a lot. If she has like one glass of champagne I think I can forgive that, but still careless.

How much is she drinking? What kind of person is she? Why is she drinking?

What I think about her depends on a lot of different things.

I think it sounds like a realistic character flaw, but I don't know if I would like that character very much after that.

I would react strongly, and negatively.

Negatively. Very much so.

A few sips of wine/champagne is fine. Other than that, I'd be judgey.

I'd say she's a dumbass, but not necessarily unrealistic.

Depends on the time period and how much the character knows about the effects of alcohol on a fetus.

Depends on how much and how often. Some wine here and there, I wouldn't care, but I'd rather she already decided she doesn't want to keep it if she's in the habit of getting completely sloshed.

I would think 'damn, poor kid', but...there's a chance nothing at all will happen, especially if she's not black-out drinking, and - if she decides she doesn't want it, it doesn't matter anyway.

What are you trying to say about her through her drinking?

Everything you make a character do as a writer has to have a point; it reveals something about the character. Decide what you want her drinking to mean, and if it fits your character, then write it.

(It's not cool to drink a lot while you're pregnant, but you can drink a little while you're pregnant without any harm. I had a glass of wine at Christmas, one at New Years and another in April at a wedding while I was pregnant. I assume you're talking Drinking and not three glasses of wine spread out over ten months).

TBH it depends on such a huge amount of factors, I can't really answer this. Please give us more details.

Though, if she's drinking on purpose in an attempt to induce abortion, I shall say there are better ways for that ^^;; Most of the time it doesn't work. And then she'll have an unwanted baby which also has fetal alcohol poisoning syndrome. Not a good idea.

Some doctors recommend the complete avoidance of alcohol during pregnancy; others say that occasional light drinking is unlikely to cause harm. Although heavy drinking is known to cause problems, the potential effects of small amounts of alcohol on a fetus are not really well understood. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is a very real thing though and having seen and heard about its effects, I would be very cautious about how it is presented in any character the reader is supposed to like and/or sympathize with.

I'd have negative feelings across the board (which is good when looking for a flaw, so congrats!).

That said, the amount she was consuming in conjunction with the trimester she was in (I'm assuming first) would determine the extent to which I felt those negative feelings. Knowing that it was unplanned and she's still undecided re: keeping the baby, I imagine that I'd assume she was attempting to induce significant enough damage to induce a miscarriage. (I'm not even entirely sure that's possible, forgive me. I'm tired and biology/hard sciences aren't my best subject.)

How much, how often, how long has she known, and what time period?

If she just found out [say...within a week or two] and it's a time period where the effect alcohol would have isn't well known, if known at all? Then I wouldn't be so judgey about it - but if it's well known, and she's had time to get used to the idea...yeah, no. That's not cool.

[I'm not making assumptions on when since well...Abortions/forced miscarriages have been a thing for a very, very, very long time. It was just generally kept on the down low until very recently history-wise.]

A glass of wine a day? No problem. If someone can produce a real study that shows the harm of casual drinking during pregnancy, I'd be interested to read it, but so far it just comes across as a popular scare tactic. Obviously, regular intoxication would affect a fetus. But some people flip their shit at a woman having ONE glass of wine ONCE during their pregnancy and I think that's ridiculous. If it were that dangerous there wouldn't be any eastern europeans.

If your character is drinking a lot with no care as to how it could affect the baby, that's... really shitty of them, unless they knew 100% that they were going to abort it.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ SECRET POST #2477 ]

Character flaws

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See the TVtropes entry "One Drop Kills The Baby"

If you're going to write it, handle it very carefully

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