The Origins of "Romance with Dangerous Curves"

Hi everyone. I'm Francesca Hawley and I'm new to Sweet and Sexy Divas. This is my first official post as a diva, so I wanted to tell you all a bit about myself.

When I first started reading romances back in my teens and twenties - a LONG time ago - all heroines were gorgeous and thin. They possessed the requisite slender waist and perky bosom. Now, for you ladies that fit that mold, I'm happy for you but I never looked like that. And I do mean never. Reading those romances often reinforced the feeling I had as a young woman that only thin and pretty girls got the guy. I know that wasn't the message the writers intended, but I was...um...sensitive.

However, the books I read back in the day inspired me to hope I might one day write romances too. In retrospect, I have no points of contention with the authors who wrote (and still write) stories with slender heroines. But back then I wondered, "where is a heroine like me?" Where are the heroines with wide hips, full busts, and legs that aren't long and lean?

As I grew older and my thoughts turned to writing seriously, I didn't immediately decide to "break the mold" with my heroines. I tried to write about slender heroines. Women with waists whom a man's hands could span. Heroines with legs that didn't rub together.

Alas...I had major trouble. Why?

The last time anyone could span my waist with his hands or my legs didn't rub together, I think I was about...three? Five? Probably around five. Yeah, I've been fat all my life. Yo-yo weight for better living through yo-yo dieting. Hence, I was usually fatter rather than thinner. As much as I loved stories with slender heroines and their sexy heroes, I had trouble relating to those heroines. I think we all have a little trouble relating to people and situations with which we aren't familiar.

That translated to paper when I started writing, because when I tried to write thin heroines they didn't feel authentic.Probably because I've never inhabited a small body.One thing writers hear when they are getting started is: "write what you know." Well, I don't know thin. I have thin friends, but I've fought my weight all my life to be thin. I never was thin. At best, I was pleasingly plump.

So what's a writer to do? Write fat. Plus-size. Rubenesque. Whatever you want to call it.

I decided to write heroines like me. Even if no one ever read my stories, at least I'd recognize the women I wrote about. My heroines are big girls. Some have issues with their weight and believe they aren't beautiful, so they work through those issues. Others know they are fine and expect everyone around them to acknowledge it too. It's fun to explore those issues. Especially now.

I think the way society is beginning to look at all kinds of women as beautiful makes it easier for me to write my BBW heroines because publishers recognize that heroines come in all shapes and sizes, too. Many of them accept...even welcome...plus-size heroines.

When I was in my twenties (many years ago), it was unusual to find a big girl as a heroine. And if she started out big, she had to lose weight to get the boy. Now, that's no longer the way it is and I'm really glad about that.

So that's how my tag line, Romance with Dangerous Curves, was born.

It's wonderful that as writers we are given the freedom to make our heroines exactly who they are...fat, thin, or somewhere in between. It's a good thing.

And to celebrate Valentines day, I have a contest running all February long. Comment on my blog posts or anywhere else you see me (like Facebook) and each response will count as an entry for the contest. At stake, a $25 gift certificate to Barnes and Noble and another $25 gift certificate to Ellora's Cave Publishing. And you know me...there will be other sexy goodies thrown in - like print copies of my books and sex toys for the adventurous reader. Wink...