fat characters

[A. E. Lowan]

I've told this story before, but with our first book, I had a character who's been white since his inception. I had Henry Cavill in mind as his body model and everything. *happy swoony sigh* But, literally the night before we published, the Question came back. Was there any real reason he had to be white? And the answer was no. So, I spent the next few hours picking through the manuscript making changes.

The next day, when I told our alpha reader about it, he responded with, "Wasn't that your only straight white male?"

Whoops.

So, Faerie Rising is lacking in straight white men. We have straight men. We have white men. But none who are both and, the best part? No reader, in the seven years the book has been in the wild, has ever noticed, at least not enough to comment on it.

 

[pmmg]

So...upon some reflection. I am bailing on this thread.

Initially, I found the subject here unclear. And had a suspicion this thread would slide into all the things that might fit into the category of diversity as it is meant in political circles today. Which it has. And while I find I might have comments on many of the posts that pass by on this one, its lack of focus lends itself to rekindling stuff after it has passed, and taking it away from whatever its purpose was. With some posts being an effort to bring it back on track, and others wanting to discuss the ancillary issues it brought up, or signal personal values about stuff, I find its just too scattered to address. Do I rail it, or continue with the derail?

So, I will save my comments about those topics until they show up elsewhere on the site, and will assert only, that I am unpersuaded from any of the previous comments that there is enough to take something unlikely, and make it likely.

 

[The Dark One]

So...upon some reflection. I am bailing on this thread.

Initially, I found the subject here unclear. And had a suspicion this thread would slide into all the things that might fit into the category of diversity as it is meant in political circles today. Which it has. And while I find I might have comments on many of the posts that pass by on this one, its lack of focus lends itself to rekindling stuff after it has passed, and taking it away from whatever its purpose was. With some posts being an effort to bring it back on track, and others wanting to discuss the ancillary issues it brought up, or signal personal values about stuff, I find its just too scattered to address. Do I rail it, or continue with the derail?

So, I will save my comments about those topics until they show up elsewhere on the site, and will assert only, that I am unpersuaded from any of the previous comments that there is enough to take something unlikely, and make it likely.

I have to say (and I've suggested this to one or two regulars) that there are threads and posts over the last few months which have the whiff of AI bots about them.

Do we know for sure everyone is human?

 

[Finchbearer]

I have to say (and I've suggested this to one or two regulars) that there are threads and posts over the last few months which have the whiff of AI bots about them.

Do we know for sure everyone is human?

Is this your dry Australian humour or…?

 

[The Dark One]

Or am I a bot myself?

Who can tell...

 

[Jackarandajam]

Obviously nobody whose been here for a few years is sus, but I've wondered the same thing. Not on this thread, but elsewhere on the forum.
Apparently the problem has gotten bad enough internet-wide that it's no longer a weirdly paranoid thing to ask.
A certain percentage of the internet is just bots arguing with each other now.

 

[Jackarandajam]

Then again, asking if there are bots where there aren't any just to stir up trouble sounds like a real bot move to me.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

Obviously nobody whose been here for a few years is sus, but I've wondered the same thing. Not on this thread, but elsewhere on the forum.
Apparently the problem has gotten bad enough internet-wide that it's no longer a weirdly paranoid thing to ask.
A certain percentage of the internet is just bots arguing with each other now.

Which naturally leads us to the question: Do we need to take fat AI representation into consideration?

 

[The Dark One]

Which naturally leads us to the question: Do we need to take fat AI representation into consideration?

You'll break the internet with a question like that.

 

[Mad Swede]

You'll break the internet with a question like that.

Riiiiight... So, if a fat AI makes a contribution to the discussion, is it called Ralph? Because I assume it isn't a troll.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

Riiiiight... So, if a fat AI makes a contribution to the discussion, is it called Ralph? Because I assume it isn't a troll.

Nope. Lola.

 

[Jackarandajam]

Nope. Lola.

They made her on a screen,
Maybe Lenovo,
Where they make the cash,
Writing lots of things in the code-a,
C-o-d-e, code-a

 

[Renè Williams]

Weight/fitness is important in my world, so i don't go into detail with every character, but after a few chapters and some reveals, one realizes that fitness can be a way to gauge ones prowess and ability with magic, but that it's not hard and fast because someone overweight has the advantage of alot of kcal on their person to burn if they don't need to be physical active during their magical activities. I guess that's how i made it matter enough to approach it but gave myself a way to keep it pretty far from offending anyone, and I haven't decided how much of this will end up playing any part in the plot aside from a realization on the part of the reader on why describing someones body is important earlier in the book.