Why Your Story SUCKS | Writer's rants & discussions

Fat characters? YAS QUEEN SLAY

I'm tired of seeing stories with some random plus size bint on the cover and it getting praised because she's not a twig or isn't an hourglass. Sure, most stories don't have fat main characters but when they do, they make sure everyone knows they aren't skinny.

Alright, so she's a bigger girl, and this makes the story just so much different because?

Who cares if your MC is fat, being fat isn't a personality trait so why does it matter so much to the point you need to base your story's title around it, put a fat girl on the cover, and add tags about it? 

Just YIKES. What type of body your character has doesn't just automatically make your story different.

But isn't that the opposite of what we want? Having a fat MC is supposed to make the MC feel more relatable, more realistic yes? Since in today's world being fat is normal. 

But when an author glorifies their MC being fat, it turns being fat into this big deal and makes it seem like being fat is something important (and important for the wrong reasons, it's important when it comes to your health but that's not what these books talk about) when the whole point of having a fat character is supposed to make the reader feel as if they can connect with the character and relate to them having a common body type. Most aren't shouting from the rooftops that they're overweight/fat.

Would the story be given the same praise if the author did the same thing except with a skinny girl? No, they'd be reported for glorifying being skinny and people would say they're pro-ana. It's the same with being fat, being fat isn't healthy so I wish authors would stop treating it like it's a healthy body type.

No, I'm not saying you shouldn't be proud of your body because you should, you should embrace your physical. What I'm saying is if you have an unhealthy body type—doesn't matter if it's unhealthy as in too skinny or overweight—it shouldn't be glorified like it's healthy. So many personal factors play into what YOUR healthy body type is, but being overweight has it's health risks and life long effects just as equally as being emaciated.

I'm not saying you can't have fat people in your book, having fat characters technically is diverse since it's not every day you see a book with a fat character. I'm talking about when authors glorify being fat simply for those diversity points and no one thinks twice about it because we're all blinded by the fact its diversity. Not all diversity is done for the right reasons or done the right way, you have to look past the fact it's diverse because diversity can be toxic too.

But by all means, have fat people in your books; but don't turn it into a huge deal and base your story around it unless it has a message against being bullied for being fat or something along those lines.