# New "Fat Magic" Story



## Wilson Barbers (Sep 3, 2011)

For the Labor Day Weekend, a new "Fat Magic" story has been posted. It's a transformation story w/ magical elements, so don't look for any reality here:

"Waking Moments."

As always, feedback is appreciated.


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## Ravens-son (Sep 3, 2011)

Well, since you brought up the fact that your stories lately have taken a political/lecturing bent, I guess I can speak freely about this turn.

I haven't cared for it, really. Mostly because the lecturing part has never felt too organic to any given story, it's distracting from the narrative, but also because I've never liked "weight gain as punishment" stories. It reinforces the idea that being fat is something terrible or to hate, and you've gone further than other writers by having the heroines fall economically and socially as well, just piling on the "being fat is miserable" idea. I haven't revisited any of the Lew Baird stories because they all take this 'revenge' angle, but in particular I was put off by how Sophie/Sofia was about someone who wasn't even presented as being all too terrible being punished for some slight or other.

As for the political aspect, the only one that's really bothered me was the set-up for Thoughtful. An adjustment to the BMI index wouldn't be news on the slowest day of the year, let alone something Bill Maher (or his expy) would cover. But what was really out of place was the idea that a fat acceptance activist would be invited on the show, or that 'fat acceptance' would even be recognized as a thing by most people. I don't want to start a flamewar here, since I don't have the interest necessary to actually carry one out, but I've never been convinced that size acceptance is a serious issue in our society. Certainly not an important one given all the other problems and social ills out there.

That's enough ragging, and I have to stop here anyway since I, a bit surprisingly, liked this new story. Perhaps it's the absence of any "she got what's coming to her" tone of the story, but also I appreciate that the issue of child obesity is a real one that people are concerned with. The driving idea of the story, taking away children whose parents are deemed unfit because of weight issues, is not only realistic, but I'm pretty sure I've seen it advocated. If you've never watched Penn & Teller: Bullshit, add season 8 to your Netflix account and watch the episode on fast food. One of the talking heads is a woman not only committed to eradicating all fast food and junk food everywhere, but who I think has some kind of repulsion to food itself. Anyway, she actually at one point seems to state that if parents can't provide healthy meals for their kids, then "the government needs to step in." Whatever that means.

P&T also point out the inherent bias of only going after fast food outlets, and how nobody complains about high-caloric offerings at sit-down restaurants or bistros. It's all passive "punish the poor" bullshit, which you touched upon in the story as well.

And you managed to do it all without being heavy-handed, so good job there.

It doesn't hurt that that story ends on a positive note, either. You avoided the whole "social/economic fall."

This isn't going along my favorite stories of yours, like Ceres' Chosen or The Chain, but it is a high-point among your most recent work.


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## squurp (Sep 3, 2011)

Ravens-son said:


> Well, since you brought up the fact that your stories lately have taken a political/lecturing bent, I guess I can speak freely about this turn.
> 
> I haven't cared for it, really. Mostly because the lecturing part has never felt too organic to any given story, it's distracting from the narrative, but also because I've never liked "weight gain as punishment" stories. It reinforces the idea that being fat is something terrible or to hate, and you've gone further than other writers by having the heroines fall economically and socially as well, just piling on the "being fat is miserable" idea. I haven't revisited any of the Lew Baird stories because they all take this 'revenge' angle, but in particular I was put off by how Sophie/Sofia was about someone who wasn't even presented as being all too terrible being punished for some slight or other.
> 
> ...




Actually, when they did change the BMI index, in 1998, it did make news.

http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/9806/17/weight.guidelines/


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## Ravens-son (Sep 4, 2011)

squurp said:


> Actually, when they did change the BMI index, in 1998, it did make news.
> 
> http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/9806/17/weight.guidelines/



I wouldn't exactly call that extensive coverage. It got about the same number of words as a feel-good piece about Girl Scouts takings collections for Toys for Tots.


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## Wilson Barbers (Sep 4, 2011)

I would agree that the set-up is the weakest aspect of "Thoughtful." If I were to rewrite it, I'd probably find a different way to introduce my Ann Coulter-y protagonist, though I've gotta admit that it was a chance viewing of one of those "Politically Incorrect" shows (something I typically avoid) that sparked the story in the first place. I still like the way the mid-reading/weight sequences build in that story, though.

The Baird stories were always meant to be a somewhat darker take on my stories - which probably made it inevitable that I'd take some Baird-like material and refashion it in a more positive direction. Don't see myself helping Lew with any more stories in the near future: the next planned piece is another more uplifting one, set in the world of my _Fast Majicke_ publishers.


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## Ravens-son (Sep 5, 2011)

Oh, and since we're discussing your work, I'll add that after posting yesterday I realized that the vast majority of your stories involve women (and sometimes men) gaining weight without... well, without their consent. That makes it sound worse than it is, I realize, but it just occured to me that you don't have many stories where the protagonist wants to gain weight (or, when magic is involved, realizes it's happening). It's usually thrust upon them by some outside force.

Just an observation.


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## Wilson Barbers (Sep 5, 2011)

That's not an unfair observation: with the primary exception of the "Adipost Zone" sci-fi tales (and even that series opened with its heroine being enhanced without her consent) and many of my non-magickal stories ("Mistress of the Family Business," for instance), the majority of my fictions have hinged on characters who gain weight without planning to. Though it may seem odd to use the term in regards to fantasy fiction, I've long thought this was the more realistic tack to take with this material. Few people in the real world actively seek to become fat, after all, which makes the moment when one of my heroines grows accustomed to or starts to celebrate her newly huge self even more powerful - for this reader at least.


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## Ravens-son (Sep 5, 2011)

Wilson Barbers said:


> That's not an unfair observation: with the primary exception of the "Adipost Zone" sci-fi tales (and even that series opened with its heroine being enhanced without her consent) and many of my non-magickal stories ("Mistress of the Family Business," for instance), the majority of my fictions have hinged on characters who gain weight without planning to. Though it may seem odd to use the term in regards to fantasy fiction, I've long thought this was the more realistic tack to take with this material. Few people in the real world actively seek to become fat, after all, which makes the moment when one of my heroines grows accustomed to or starts to celebrate her newly huge self even more powerful - for this reader at least.



Yeah, I can see that, but I mostly prefer heroines that want to gain weight, or at least realize what's happening as it's happening and they come to like it. Even if it's less realistic, I don't consider it to be so unrealistic that the plot falls apart.


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