forum Why are characters so commonly skinny or short and not tall or fat or athletic?

Started September 21, 2019 by @mozartsnumberonefan group

tune

I think the title says it all.

Idk about you mah dude, but most of my characters are tall af and look like they work out regularly even tho they dont XD

It's all about the direction ur looking at tbh.

I have one short and skinny, one tall lean and muscular, and one that's in the middle.

Honestly, my main character is chubby and short, but I have a habit of making a lot of characters thin and tall.

I have some short characters, but most of them have some sort of muscle depending on what they do. My best girl (not my protag, sadly) is the tallest at about 6. I do have a habit of not having chubbier characters, but that's something I'm working on. It does make sense for my story to have them all be more muscle than fat, but I do need more variety in that direction.

I think it's because writing tends to mirror reality. There are more "average" folks than super tall, short, fat, or athletic people in general. I'm tall as a freakin tree and skinny as all get out but most of my characters fall into the "average" body type for their ethnicity.

I think it's because writing tends to mirror reality. There are more "average" folks than super tall, short, fat, or athletic people in general. I'm tall as a freakin tree and skinny as all get out but most of my characters fall into the "average" body type for their ethnicity.

whoops

_{Like Deku from MHA, he was originally a skinny boyo, now he's buff}

_{Like Deku from MHA, he was originally a skinny boyo, now he's buff}

ah yes that's exactly what i was referring to

most of my characters are skinny and relatively short because im skinny and relatively short lol
that's just me personally though, i cant speak for others

Idk, I think skinny is seen as "default" for girls and athletic is "default" for guys in (especially YA) books. It's not the default. It's not average to be skinny. It's just idealized, you know?
Personally I've been trying really hard to make a bunch of people with diverse builds. There are many types of muscular alone, even if you do need your characters to be fit and in shape. So I have people who are lean and muscled, straight up buff, and even people who are thick and chubby but still athletic (idk how to explain it, think like a viking.) There are just sooooo many ways to even fit one category of body type, and idk why people don't use them all more other than idealizing the human figure.

Idk, I think skinny is seen as "default" for girls and athletic is "default" for guys in (especially YA) books. It's not the default. It's not average to be skinny. It's just idealized, you know?

Exactly, people are romanticizing being skinny and I don't like it. You put what I was trying to say in words.

There are just sooooo many ways to even fit one category of body type, and idk why people don't use them all more other than idealizing the human figure.

I definitely agree!

As for romanticizing being skinny, it kinda sucks. I feel like a skeleton man all the time

most of my characters are skinny and relatively short because im skinny and relatively short lol
that's just me personally though, i cant speak for others

Lol I think you said it, tbh. It depends on what you read, but I'm willing to bet there's an upsurge in short, skinny characters in fiction because that's the demographic writing the stories themselves.

Because we all hella skinny. Holds onto that one memory of getting shoulders complimented.

I think it's because writing tends to mirror reality. There are more "average" folks than super tall, short, fat, or athletic people in general.

I think this is about right. Unless we try, a lot of the time we go with “the most regular” people because that’s what we know. So a lot of characters are going to be white, relatively small etc. Unless one has a more rounded view of the average person, these defaults are default.

But skinny isn’t average.
Average person- in America, at least, is going to have some noticeable amount of fat on their body, so even if all characters represent something roughly average, they’re not going to be skinny.

I suppose it depends in what is considered skinny.

There are more "average" folks than super tall, short, fat, or athletic people in general.

Well, that's a bit obvious since the average body type would be the most common one! But I guess what is average varies from place to place. Like @BecInMYday said, America has a more diverse range of body types compared to, say, China. And yet characters are mostly skinny/short in today's literature.

It's all about the direction ur looking at tbh.

I don't know about you, but I read a lot of YA fantasy like the Mortal Instruments where the main character is short (and redheaded, but that's another stereotype altogether). Contemporary, I've realized, is getting a lot better at varying body types - however, that's not my go-to genre.

For a bit of background, I'm female but I've always been really tall, as in taller than most men, and I'm built like one too. And it frustrates me when these types of bodies are not shown in books.

I think it's because no author wants their characters to be perfect. They want them to be semi-underdogs.

I think it is because our perspective on what would go good with the story. If you had a story were a girl likes a football but the football player doesnt know she exist, the football player would be buff but the girl would be small so it would be easier to understand why she would go unnoticed in comparison to a tall girl that would more likely noticed.

I think it's because no author wants their characters to be perfect. They want them to be semi-underdogs.

I'm curious as to why being short/skinny would make you more of an underdog than being tall/fat, because both body types stand out and get bullied, and why being tall/fat would be considered 'perfect' or a more ideal body type than being short/skinny?

Umm… Who wouldn’t want to be tall? I wish I was 6,4.

Tall is ideal if you aren’t a woman, I think. I mean, it would be nice to be a little taller, but for some reason women get made fun of a lot when they’re tall (but also when they’re short, so there’s really no winning).
And I guess they mean more skinny as in you pull for the little guy who doesn’t look like they could take anyone on in a fight. Which yeah, makes sense.
But #1 is almost certainly idealization of skinniness.