(Originally written for the Wilson Barbers Newsletter, Issue four)
Being a writer of fantasy is not without its odd moments.
In a culture that values hard facts and the bottom line, fantasy writers can be a questionable presence - like polka dancers at a funeral. Combine that presence with a sexual preference that many folks also consider dubious (like fat appreciation) and your capacity for oddity is magnified.
Being a writer of FA fantasy is not without its very odd moments.
I'm not much bothered by people who are out of sync with what I write: FA fantasy is a rather rarified sub-genre, after all. But I do find myself occasionally getting boggled by correspondence from readers who are supposedly supportive of my writing.
It's not as if I get a lot of fan mail. I don't, and in a way that's a relief, as I'm notoriously poor when it comes to responding to mail. (Just ask my creditors.) I'm also capable of becoming churlish with letter writers who come up with suggestions for “improving” my tales (e.g., “Put more specific measurements in your stories!”) Writing involves authorial selection, and unless we're discussing logical inconsistencies or sloppy syntax, I'm going to ignore most “helpful” suggestions from non-editorial folk.
But recently I've had some correspondences that are more difficult to dismiss. Written in response to my series of stories revolving around Fat Magic, these communications may differ in their messages but agree in their basic premise: these stories must be taken seriously.
The first came from a reader who was ordering one of my printed booklets. A fan who knew most of the fiction I'd written, this FA started by first praising my work (always a good way to get my attention) then adding that he was himself studying witchcraft with the goal of finding a weight gain spell similar to ones I'd imagined. He ended his letter asking me to recommend some pertinent volumes to aid him in his quest.
I had none to offer. My knowledge of witches comes more from humorist Thorne Smith than Aleistar Crowley, which is to say it has its roots in comic fantasy, not mundane reality. I've got no particular desire to delve into the world of “real-life” witchery. What interests me about the idea of witchcraft is its place outside the mainstream, which links it thematically with fat appreciation.
I was a bit bemused by the letter, but I suppose I shouldn't have been in light of a second set of correspondences I received. The thrust of these communiqués has been openly cautionary and critical. They take issue with those elements of my fantasies that diverge from traditional Christian mores or, worse yet, play with some of the old symbols of medieval Christianity (as I did in “Emblems, Inc.,” which works a variation on the Seven Deadly Sins.) Their line goes like this: in writing stories where the heroes and heroines traffic in practices not recommended by conservative Christians, I run the risk of promoting those practices and “endorsing sin.”
It's tempting to take the easy approach to such criticisms and respond, “it's only a story!” But that would negate my own beliefs about the need to counteract fat bashing when it takes place in mainstream media. Every bigoted yahoo on record has responded to a criticism of their offensive putdowns with a variation on that excuse. (“It's justa joke! Ain't you gotta sense of humor?”) Besides, to be honest, a part of me gets off on tweaking the beliefs of old-line Christians.
For too long, these beliefs have been misapplied against fat people.
I say this not to insult anyone's faith but to acknowledge a hard fact. The fat/gluttony correlation has often been used by religious conservatives to put larger-sized adults and children down, and it continues to be. (At least one Christian university has included weight restrictions in its admission requirements, for instance.) This history of Christian fat bashing has inspired stories like “Emblems,” where my fat heroine ends up reveling in her status as representative of one of the Seven Deadlies. I'll admit that one of the less-noble desires behind a story like “Emblems” arises from my irritation with the belief that a.) size and spirituality don't mix; and b) Christian spirituality is the only valid form extant.
There's a practical side to my use of such imagery, too. In writing FA fantasy, where part of the plot typically turns on a fabulous transformation, the author must turn to magical (or pseudo-scientific, which amounts to the same thing) explanations. I've found it more effective to use familiar mythology to help ground my stories, which, after all, are based on fairly impossible situations. It does not mean that I “endorse” the beliefs of my characters.
One of the major fallacies of much pop criticism is the assumption that art and autobiography are constant companions. A lot of junky analysis has been written from this premise (e.g., Donald Spoto's Freudian critiques of filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock), which owes it popularity to our cultural elevation of gossip. This assumption gets reinforced with FA fantasy: we know that a major premise of the fiction - the idea that big is beautiful - is one shared by both audience and author. But that doesn't mean that every other facet of the fiction is sanctioned by the writer. I've written some fiction with mild elements of bondage in it, for example, but I've got no desire to act any of that out.
I would like to live in the Adipost Zone, though.
To some readers, to put it down on paper is to validate it: these are the folks who want Frank Baum's Oz books banned from their local libraries because of Glinda, the good witch. Yet fantasy is about messing around with conventional rules, about stirring up the established order and seeing how different characters will react. At heart, it's irresponsible, and how you respond to it probably depends on your own capacity for playfulness.
All of which is a roundabout way of letting any future correspondents know that I have no plans to join any covens or announce my religious convictions to the world. I do have some FA fantasies still to be written, however. You have been warned.
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