[pelourinho]

I forget what image started it, but I know when I was about 13 or so I started having dreams of girls I knew growing taller than me and amazingly muscular.  I might add that this was before I knew very much about female bodybuilding and had only limited exposure to it.  The first few times I saw very muscular real women I did not find it attractive, but had a hard time getting the imagery out of my head.

Maybe there is something psychological about that.  Like in adolescence girls hit their growth spurt earlier than boys, and begin their way toward sexual maturity, like they discover their own sexual power.  Maybe the physical strength and musculature represents another manifestation of that same power.

[pelourinho]

Smoking isn't really my bag, and I haven't included a character who does yet, but that's not to say I wouldn't.  If the rest of the plot called for it, I would include it.

[pelourinho]

It depends.  How tall is she?  Not all weight is the same.  Supposing she is 5'8" or taller and athletic, she probably does not need to lose any weight at all.  If she is 5'6" or shorter and flabby, with an ordinarily slight frame, then she could probably lose 30 lbs total.  Then there is the matter of how she loses the weight.  If 160 is too heavy for her and she normally eats too many snacks, but cuts out this part of her diet, and/or starts exercising, then she will lose weight steadily over the course of a few months, but the first week might be slow going.  So maybe 5 pounds would be a safe weight loss over the 2 week period.  I'm sure there are less safe methods that would work faster.

[pelourinho]

I don't so much have a source of literary inspiration, I guess, except maybe to take some story idea from a genre that is pretty far-removed from fmg/sf literature and maybe work it into into this genre.  More often, though, I will flesh out some old dreams and daydreams into full length stories, but instead of just focusing on the fmg or the eroticism, I like to mesh those themes with love, loss, regret, sorrow, and other more complex emotions. 

I like to think that this is a genre of art and literature just like any other, with the possibility of making good, satisfying works.  Of course, there are simple bread and butter tales, but there have been enough stories and drawings submitted that I think we see a wide range of poor to excellent art in this category.

[pelourinho]

OMG?! 10 hours of poker?

Okay, that may not be an exact figure  :), but I you'd think poker must be the most popular spectator sport (if anything engaged in by grizzled, chain smoking meatballs can be considered such) judging by ESPN's programming.  Try finding a 4 hour window in which one of their networks does not air a game.

[pelourinho]

The point is, they're not doing it for straight men.  It started in the haute couture world, where most of the designers are gay guys, who therefore naturally tended to favour a teenage boy-like, gawky figure.  In addition, I have read suggestions that the designer's dresses can be better displayed on skinny models.  From there, it entered the glamour world of celebrities and magazines, whereupon teenage girls and young women saw it as being chic and glamourous. 

The irony to that is, that while the dresses can be "better displayed" on the twiggy bodies, the clothes themselves don't look like they fit on a live body, but merely hang loosely as if on a moving coat rack.  Some of the models look pretty, I would grant, but yet so brittle that they can't possibly look sexy. 

[pelourinho]

You're preaching to the choir, brother.  The fact that the National Geographic channel featured it in one of their Taboo episodes, and TLC had its Supersize She special suggests there is enough interest in the phenomenon to warrant putting it on TV, but I guess ESPN and Fox Sports do not agree.  It's a shame we get poker shoved down our throats for like 10 hours a day, but a niche sport like bodybuilding never makes the airwaves.  I guess the networks just didn't see it as a growth market.

I've wondered at times, though, if bodybuilding, especially women's, should be considered a form of avante-gard art rather than a sport.  There is something to be said of the idea of using your body as a hunk of marble or pile of clay and shaping it as you desire.

[pelourinho]

This is going to sound like a completely stupid question, but is growth stories pretty popular?  I take it as such, but had never thought about it before I joined this board.  Hmmmmm…   😉  it’s an interesting concept. 

Maybe one day, I’ll write one.

~Mimi

It's not a stupid question, but it could use some context.  If you mean among people who frequent forums like this, then yes.  With the general public?  Not as much, I would guess.  Those who like fmg like it a lot, but I honestly don't know how many people are into this type of fiction.  For my taste, not nearly enough.  😉  After all, this is still a non-mainstream taste.

[pelourinho]

There are certain story elements that I'm not sure are cliches or just elements that turn me off completely:

1. Incest.  I can't think of names, but I've seen a bevy of stories where the growing female becomes not only sexually insatiable, but has a desire to rape/assault/abuse a brother, son or father.  Yuck.
2. Violence.  Having unprecedented new power, the heroine (if she can be called one) has the desire to harm, kill, or overzealously punish people with no respect for law, morality, or even general descency.  It's one thing if the person deserved it, but there are limits.

3. This one doesn't disturb me like the first two, but it's just a bit weird:  The heroine gets zapped with a strange ray, doused with chemicals, or swallows something strange, and after growing into an amazing body, she is instantly totally comfortable with it, even orgasmically aroused.  Not scared, concerned or curious.  This one doesn't put me off, but it does get a little repetitious.

Most other cliches I can live with, even if they don't necessarily equal great story telling. 

[pelourinho]

Hmmm… that last sentence, pelourinho.  I never stopped to think about it that way… and it does make a lot of sense. 

On that side of the coin, guys… do you find that your male protagonists are a lot like yourselves, or someone you could root for getting the girl at the story's end?

I think in any lengthy story, the author draws on him/herself and people they know for inspiration.  A protagonist might not be based on any specific person, but maybe an archetypal amalgam of whom we know.  Assuming the author is male, the protagonist might be autobiographical in nature, or at least might share some common traits with the author.  But since it is fiction, as an author you want to use the opportunity to exaggerate or distort some traits of the people you know.  Maybe you idealize certain character types, like in one story the male lead might be the way the author sees himself.  In another, it might be the way he would like to see himself, or maybe the way that others perceive him. 

Part of the fun of fmg literature is the opportunity to start with characters with familiar personalities and to depict how they would react in a fantastic situation.

[Author]

Posts