Saturday, July 26, 2008

More to love

If you've read any of my books you'll know that I'm a fan of the plus sized heroine. That means size 14 and above, not the Hollywood ideal that a size 10 is plus sized.

From Jo to Bea, Wren to Pearl, and Sam to Emma my plus-sized heroines have found themselves men who love them, generous curves and all.

I wrote my stories with these heroines for a specific reason -- I'm writing what I want to read. Real women - no I'm not saying fat is 'real', just that a sz 14 is more realistic for the average woman than a size 4 or 6 - meeting real men (okay, I caved a little on the men, but hey, Rex in Accidentally Were? is a big hairy bear of a man) who fall in love with them as they are. Outside of Chicklit - where, face it, they usually get 'skinny' to get their ideal guy - it's damn hard to find women of size battling the bad guys, solving the crimes and saving the day. I like to write stories about women doing exactly that. Well, saving the day maybe, suspense and crime drama storylines seem to be eluding me at the moment :)

Why am I rambling on about heroines with more to love? The ladies over at Smart Bitches, of course! They have an interesting topic up today: The Plus Size Heroine - the one who's well adjusted. A topic near and dear to my heart.

Frankly, no woman is ever happy about her shape. If there's not too much, there's not enough. If the weight is right, the proportions are not. It webbles, it wobbles, and horror of all horrors... it all falls down! It's universal - fat, thin or in between. Seriously.

As a plus sized woman I don't want to read the 'I'm so fat, and he's my gorgeous gym instructor and he will only love me when I'm thin' story line. I also don't want to read the story that is 'my life is so bad because I'm fat' or the 'I'm fat so I don't deserve any better' either.

I want to read stories with kickarse heroines who save the day, who worry about all the same things every woman worries about and finds a lover who thinks a bit of junk in the trunk (or hood in my case) is just what he needs keeping him warm on a cold winters night. NOT A STORY ABOUT A FAT WOMAN.

There is a difference. A really fricking huge one (no pun intended). Confidence.

People don't like to read about size 4 Mary Sue whining her little head off about not being pretty enough, and they sure don't like reading about Mary Sue's size 18 sister whining about not being skinny enough. But they do love reading stories about women who have confidence, who get on with doing what they have to to succeed/live to fight another day/beat the bad guy/save the world -- why not have that woman be a size 18? Make your heroines as diverse as the world live in, embrace all the different sizes and colors of women the world over.

Romance novels are a fantasy, an escape, it's said. Well my fantasy includes a size 18/20 woman, in some kick arse, sexy as hell 3 inch heels beating the fuck out of a bad guys goolies (with aforesaid heels), before reapplying her lipstick and making out with the hunky geek neighbour who's in absolute awe of the beautiful amazon next door - not one of the Olsen twins on a 'fat day'.

You know, that really is a good idea for a plot line. **scribbles on idea pad**

PS Imagea are of Fluvia Lacerda an intl sz 16 model pretty damn sexy - no?

2 comments:

Zetta Brown said...

Hi Anne!

Thanks for telling me about the Smart Bitches and for visiting The Full-Bodied Book Blog!

I'm totally with you on this. Yes, we all have our good and bad days. Some have more good than others and vice versa. But don't give me a whole damn book about a "bad" day.

I'm a big girl. My husband could be described as "a long streak of piss." LOL He used to be a runner and let's just say I never ran for anything farther than I could spit. And that ain't far considering my cleavage!

veinglory said...

tend t assume mose heroine are about my size. So long as I avoid chick lit most authors don't directly contradict me ;)