I don't want the success to go away. I don't want it to seem unearned. Roxane Gay More Quotes by Roxane Gay More Quotes From Roxane Gay I would love to see more acknowledgement of how challenging it is to feel positive about fatness when you can't find clothing. When there literally is not something made for your body. Nobody ever talks about that; all those fat girl clothes swaps and stuff are for a very specific kind of fat girl. If I was Lane Bryant fat, I would be joyful about fatness. Roxane Gay girlkindchallenges Generally, the ways we discuss the fat body pathologize it; we treat it as a medical problem and/or a social problem that must be solved. "Morbid obesity" is in many ways saying we are the walking dead. Or walking to our death. And that is no way to live, with that sort of moniker hanging over your head at all times. I think it forces fat people to internalize a lot of unnecessary self-loathing. Roxane Gay walking-deadpeoplethinking No woman or man is any one thing and the men in my stories, well, some of them are good and some of them are terrible, and most of them make the lives of the women they love much harder than need be. Why? Because that's the kind of storytelling I was drawn to when I wrote these stories, most of which are at least seven years or more old. Roxane Gay menyearsneeds The more successful I get, the more I am reminded that in the minds of a great many people I will never be anything more than my body. No matter what I accomplish, I will be fat, first and foremost. Roxane Gay successfulmindpeople I thought a lot about how so many memoirs about fatness focus on weight loss; they don't focus on living with weight in a world that is rather inhospitable to it. So I knew that was the idea that was going to be most interesting and most challenging, and I like to be challenged as a writer. Roxane Gay focuslossinteresting Most of the time, writing is a lot of fun, and not a small amount of self-medication. Roxane Gay selfwritingfun I think hunger is a natural state of being for most people. I mean, hunger is a desire - and you don't only have physical hunger, you have emotional hunger. A lot of my hungers are, in fact, emotional. I think a lot of fat people's hungers are emotional. There are things we very much want, and it can be so difficult to satisfy those hungers. Yet we try. We try so hard. Roxane Gay emotionalmeanthinking I write for myself, first and foremost and I also write for people, mostly women, who just want to be seen and heard and all too often aren't. Roxane Gay wantwritingpeople My fiction is a very accurate reflection of the world we live in. Certainly, in some stories, that reflection is amplified but America elected a man who enjoys grabbing women by their pussies. Roxane Gay reflectionmenamerica Oftentimes, when a woman demands accountability, respect, or consideration, she is crazy or nagging or whatever. Roxane Gay accountabilitydemandcrazy I am fine with my books being categorized as African-American literature but I hope they are also considered Haitian-American literature and American literature. All of these things are part of who I am and what I write. Roxane Gay who-i-amwritingbook I am trying to keep growing and improving as a writer. Roxane Gay improvinggrowingtrying I never imagined that I would be the kind of person who is recognized when I am out and about just living my life. Roxane Gay living-my-lifekindwould-be I never imagined any of the success I am currently experiencing. Roxane Gay The designation is useful and necessary and sometimes limiting but it is only limiting to people who think, for example, that African-American literature couldn't possibly be something they could be interested in or relate to. They have limited imaginations, which is sad. Roxane Gay imaginationpeoplethinking I read constantly because there is so much to learn from the writing in the world. Roxane Gay writingworld Violence is a common part of far too many women's lives. Roxane Gay violencecommon I write toward both idealism and reality - how things are and how I wish they could be. Roxane Gay wishwritingreality I probably write the same story a hundred different ways. I suppose right now I am looking for the 101st different way to write that same story. And the 102nd, and 103rd and 111th and 133rd. Roxane Gay differentstorieswriting My dream was to write a book and see it published. I didn't dare imagine anything beyond that, so, I'm trying to keep my head on my shoulders. Roxane Gay dreamwritingbook
