Do you have any chubby characters in your romance novel?
In Hunger Pangs (you may need to be more specific I am writing quite a few lol)? I do indeed have characters who would probably be considered chubby, although some might argue with me. I find it’s rather subjective.
I have been told I am somewhat vague when it comes to physical descriptors, which might be because I have personal issues with body dysphoria which are often triggered when reading romance novels (which is super great in my line of work...just, really, peachy keen...), so I try very hard not to focus too much on describing physical appearances beyond brief descriptors of vital things like “he was tall with dark hair and blue eyes” or “she was medium build with long red hair and a glowing smile”.
Nathan gets described as “large” a lot because he’s a 6ft 5 werewolf and it’s rather hard for him not to loom over people. Vlad is described as well dressed and fidgety more often than anything else, and Ursula is noted for her confidence and self possession and the way her smile makes her eyes crinkle.
I much prefer to read and write about things like freckles and the crinkle of smiling eyes, the person’s mannerisms and quirks that make them attractive and fun to be around. I think it’s healthier than pointing out whether a person is slim waisted or not (I hate that, I hate the breaks in narrative that make sure to tell you the hero is thin but not too thin and how perky their tits are but how totally average they are too while listing off the features of a plastic surgeons wet dream. or in the case of a lot of current mlm fiction being written by women “he took care of himself but not too much, he was after all a masculine man” like what the fuck is that even supposed to mean Sharron, oh I see he’s gay but not one of those gays, I see, uhu, great thanks, I’ll be returning this book now. I don’t care that it was 99 cents, it’s 99 cents you don’t deserve. Get your fucking toxic heternormativity out of here)
It’s partly why I’ve enjoyed writing about paranormal creatures so much. They can’t do the “look into the mirror and describe self” thing, all of their reflections are distorted, either by the silver or by having to use another hammered metal instead, so even they only think of themselves in vague terms and in Vlad’s case hope like hell their eyeliner isn’t too badly smudged. (Personal headcanon: vampires invent the smokey eye look because they can’t fucking see what the fuck they’re doing until someone invents modern mirrors and by then it’s just a Look)
But for whatever it’s worth, Ursula is not described as a small person. She’s broad hipped and big thighed with a belly she doesn’t care to hide with tight stays. She’d rather just be comfortable. And she’s comfortable being pair shaped. Her tits are definitely not pert and perky or perfectly sized or made to fit into a man’s hand.
Nathan as well is not a lean V shaped hollywood muscle man. There’s no dip in the shoulder to hip ratio, there's just solid muscle and a good layer of podge protecting it the whole way down. He’s tall and often described as broad and thick. He’s the type of person who if the horse went lame, would pick up the horse and pull the cart along behind him.
Vlad is really the only one of he trio specifically described as slim, which, most of the vampires are—a predominately liquid diet will do that to you. He is the classic hollywood V shape, the kind of person three piece suits were made for and even then he wears his waistcoat so tight it might as well be a corset. He does this because he’s self conscious of the fact that he's stuck looking forever 20, and if you’re going to be stuck looking tall and skinny for your entire unlife, you might as well find a good tailor and plump for sleek and deadly while you’re at it and make the most of it. The phrase “legs for days” applies rather well to him.
Sorry, I feel this went off on a tangent haha. To answer your question: I am a vague mother fucker who will hyper fixate on things like scars or eye color, but then completely fail to ever mention anything else. I dunno if that’s healthy of me or not. But I’ve tried to be as body positive with this book as I possibly can. At least I hope I have.
