Now, get your minds out of the gutter, hussies. lol! I'm not talking about what you're thinking. And don't bother denying it, all of your minds went to the same place when you read the blog title.
What I'm referring to, this time, is rubenesque heroines.
Thankfully, no two women are the same. Well, unless we’re talking twins, but even identical twins who look the same are different in other ways, such as personality. I got to thinking after a discussion in my Yahoo group concerning the size of heroines in romance books. Several readers complained that while plus-size heroines exist, they are in the minority. Of course, this prompted some online research.
Different sources offer different results, but the average American woman seems to be 5’4” tall, weighs 140 pounds, wears size 14 clothes, has a 36C bust, and shoe size of 6.
I took a look around some of the most popular publisher’s websites and found that some do not even have a separate listing of books with full-figured heroines. For those that do have a category, there are not many books listed. Hmm…
Personally, during the course of my life, I have worn everything from a size 8 to 18 and all the numbers in between. Heck, I don’t fit into any of the averages above. At 5’10” tall with a shoe size of 10 I’m pretty far from average. I will never go below a size eight because I truly do have large hip bones and an 8 is the smallest size that will encompass them.
Many readers tend to put themselves in the heroine’s role when reading. I certainly do. If the writing is vivid, I often picture myself as the heroine and find it hard to relate to her experiences when she doesn’t come across as a real person. I have written heroines of various sizes and shapes. For me, it’s more about how the heroine acts and reacts to different situations than any physical traits of how she looks.
What about you? This is the part where you get to sound off and be heard. Do you prefer your heroines thin? Is it a more enjoyable experience to visualize yourself through a thin heroine as part of the fantasy? Would you like to see more big, beautiful women? Are authors just clueless as to what readers really want? Do you enjoy reading books where a plus-size heroine gets the hunk or have problems accepting that particular storyline?
Different sources offer different results, but the average American woman seems to be 5’4” tall, weighs 140 pounds, wears size 14 clothes, has a 36C bust, and shoe size of 6.I took a look around some of the most popular publisher’s websites and found that some do not even have a separate listing of books with full-figured heroines. For those that do have a category, there are not many books listed. Hmm…
Personally, during the course of my life, I have worn everything from a size 8 to 18 and all the numbers in between. Heck, I don’t fit into any of the averages above. At 5’10” tall with a shoe size of 10 I’m pretty far from average. I will never go below a size eight because I truly do have large hip bones and an 8 is the smallest size that will encompass them.
Many readers tend to put themselves in the heroine’s role when reading. I certainly do. If the writing is vivid, I often picture myself as the heroine and find it hard to relate to her experiences when she doesn’t come across as a real person. I have written heroines of various sizes and shapes. For me, it’s more about how the heroine acts and reacts to different situations than any physical traits of how she looks.
What about you? This is the part where you get to sound off and be heard. Do you prefer your heroines thin? Is it a more enjoyable experience to visualize yourself through a thin heroine as part of the fantasy? Would you like to see more big, beautiful women? Are authors just clueless as to what readers really want? Do you enjoy reading books where a plus-size heroine gets the hunk or have problems accepting that particular storyline?
