Midsize - Tumblr Posts
EDITED. I’ve read the comments and reblogs and re-evaluated the manner in which I wrote parts of this post. Apologies to anyone who was offended; was not my intention in the least. I have edited the post below, and stand by the newly worded version.
What I don’t ever understand, is why authors in fanfiction completely disregard the actual character when writing about the character. For example, Lucy Carlyle from Lockwood and Co. I’ve read COUNTLESS fics that portray her as “tiny,” “light,” “skinny.” Stroud makes it a point to show that she’s not skinny as a stick. She’s curvier and heavier. Why to you have to wave your generic wand of cliche over her? Stop it.
Lucy’s body type is very rarely depicted in book, tv shows, movies, ect., at least from what I have read. In fanfictions, even less so. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve read mention of a heavier girl in a fic. I feel that it removes a key piece of the character’s... characterization. Furthermore, J. Stroud essentially made a whole CROWD of people (including myself, a midsized person, who is heavier around the hips and thighs like Lucy) very happy and appreciated.
I have absolutely nothing against thinner and lighter people. All I’m saying is that the representation they have is more than plenty. And the physical description of a character, especially when the character differs from the norm that is usually portrayed in media and entertainment, takes away so much from the character and the readers.
Also, all those nightmare fanfics. Not the ones reflective of the scene in the books. And not the ones that are elegantly crafted to reflect something that Stroud’s characters might actually experience. I’m referring to those that are most often found on the underwritten, under-edited, and under-thought side of Wattpad. The side of Wattpad that has 34 fanfics describing the same scene in different words.
Of course, I do acknowledge that characters are interpreted by different people in different ways. However, certain aspects of the character shouldn’t be pulled away. For example, Lucy’s hesitance to share. The entire constant enigma surrounding Lockwood. George’s adorable love of the “why?” of it all and the science (and how he knows both Lucy and Lockwood better than they know themselves).
I personally can’t see Lucy or Lockwood crying to each other in the middle of the night about a bad dream (which in most fics that I’ve ended up reading, is a dream about one losing the other; perhaps I need to dig deeper, but that is all I’ve found on that trope). Discussing? Sure. Sitting together? Sure. Once their relationship progresses, being more vulnerable? Absolutely. But I can never imagine them the way that these pieces do.
To each their own.
