The Unlikely Heroine

I'm pretty sure this picture is from the Dove ads, which I absolutely love. Fat, thin, brown, tan, gold and white, body type and skin color seem to be the two biggest factors when describing a typical female heroine in the romance books. The large percentage of heroines in the romance market at large are white, skinny with boobs, and beautiful.

Now, I like fiction. And I don't have a problem reading or writing about a woman I wouldn't mind looking like. (I'm not talking at all about character. I'm talking about physical appearance. Character is something else altogether.) But some time ago I had a few readers ask me why I never wrote about women of color, and I was struck dumb. I hadn't ever really thought about it. Not writing about dark skin, Asian descent, and Hispanic roots wasn't a conscious decision at all.

I'm the daughter of an Italian-Sicilian father and Swedish/English/who-knows-what-else mother. My best friends throughout the years have been from different backgrounds, and I grew up in a suburb of Philly, where the culture was extremely diverse. (Note: I live in the South, and I've met ONE Jewish couple down here. Yeah, ONE.)

Heck, I also served in the military. I'm familiar with people from all walks of life. Yet my heroines tended to be very similar. Why was that? And now that I was aware of it, why not try something different? So I resolved to write about characters with different backgrounds. Black, white, Hispanic, Asian, and more.

Then I noticed something else. Most of my heroines were full-breasted and on the tall side. And okay, that's because I am, and with so many women getting boob-jobs, it seems to me that society favors a larger chest. But most women aren't perfectly formed up top, are they? Nor is every woman topping 5'7 and happy about it. So to fix my tall, boob fixation, my latest heroine is a petite woman with a bra size in keeping with her frame. (Foxy Lady, due out from Samhain next week.)

Now I'm wondering what other conventions I should play with. Long hair vs. short hair, maybe? Most of my heroines tend to have longer hair. They also tend to be shy of turning forty. The older heroine, perhaps? Then again, I don't seem to write about women in their late teens, early twenties. It's easier for me to write about women who have more life under their belts, so to speak. But why not have a fun heroine in her forties, or a mature 22-yr old looking for love?

It's an interesting thought process, and one I don't think I'll have as much trouble dealing with when writing my heroes--who have to be alpha. But I'll save that topic for another day.