![]() There are lots of books that deal with the Guilt of Being a Fat Lady, and hey, that’s totally a real thing and should be written about. Just don’t put an arrow on the damn thing. Aren’t you glad you’re not fat? You can talk about her family history, you can talk about what kind of food she likes. A lot of fiction portrays fat people as lovers of food, and there’s nothing wrong with loving food, but it’s often a lampshade. If your character is fat, she doesn’t need a reason. One can have healthy eating habits and still be fat! Truth is, some people are fat because of unhealthy eating habits, some people are fat because of genetics, some because of their childhood, etc. The author may have intended it as a 'she doesn’t obsess over her weight,’ but it felt more like a much more common trope - the this is why she’s fat. What you should not do if you write the fat girl: One YA book I read had a heavier than normal protagonist who did action and adventure stuff - awesome! Except… she was often munching on a candy bar. This post is using girl and she to talk about a certain norm, but have at it, genderqueer writers!) (Also, you can write the fat genderqueer person! As a genderqueer person myself, I cannot name a single genderqueer character who isn’t some sort of alien. This post is written more for the fat girl, but the fat guy? Of course you shouldn’t hesitate to write them in! Why I say write the fat girl and not the fat guy: You can, absolutely, write the fat guy! The only reason I’m leaving them out is that the fat dude as the protagonist gets a lot more roles both in film and written fiction as a person, whereas the fat woman tends to be regulated to the supporting character or comedic one. They turn on the TV and never see themselves, they read books and never find someone like them. These sound like shallow reasons, and they’re not, because the fat girl is going to be told 'at least your hair is pretty,’ she’ll become the fat teen who can’t eat food in public without feeling guilty about it, she’ll become the fat adult who gets greeted with 'that’s a great way to lose weight’ whenever she tries a new hobby. Can the fat girl be the hero too? Can the fat girl win the guy (or girl!)? What about sex? Because there are tons of people out there, young people especially, who wonder about questions they don’t know how to ask. Why you should consider writing the fat main character: Because writing the fat girl is important. ![]() Wouldn’t it be cool to have someone other than a Hollywood girl save the day? And there’s nothing wrong with that! But when you look at your fiction, think about the people you know - or hey, even yourself. They dwell in YA, especially (romance actually has a lovely variety of people, which folks might not suspect if they don’t read it!). And, often, written main characters reflect the Hollywood thin and pretty the ‘average’ girl is, in fact, quite pretty, even unaware of how pretty she is. A lot of that can be fun - writing someone prettier than you, someone with that hair color you always wanted, someone who wears the clothes you’d never be able to afford. Writing is, in some ways, a way to put on a different skin and explore someone you won’t get a chance to be.
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