Last
week we discussed Redefining
the Romance Genre with Maggie’s Song,
a novel featuring an African-American lead struggling with identity and
self-esteem as a “plus-size” woman in the music industry. And I think it’s safe
to say that, as writers and readers, we’re excited to see a story told from the
point of view of a POC main character who isn’t runway-model flawless. By that
token, I think Maggie’s Song deserves it's applause. It's actually not wholly alone, though...
So what is redefining the genre, really?
For many of us in the genre, we
struggle against more than the pre-conditions by editors and readers expecting
our characters to be perfect white women with all the ideal beauty traits and a
totally winning personality to boot. In fact, while those certainly are some frustrating expectations of the
genre, I’d say they are less predominant in recent years, and less binding than some of the Sacred Commandments that
truly limit us.
