Beyond Body Positivity

By Danielle Jackson, author of The Accidental Pinup

I knew when I first started writing The Accidental Pinup that I wanted the heroine of this book to be confident. It didn’t matter what she looked like, how she wore her hair, or what the world perceived her to be… Cassie Harris was going to love herself and know her worth. The fact is that other people—other characters on page, even—discount Cassie because she’s a plus size Black woman business owner trying to catch her big break to take her career and boudoir photography studio to the next level. But Cassie knows from the start that she’s the best and she deserves to be respected for the job she’s been hired to do.

But when that job morphs from being the photographer to the photographed? Even Cassie, a confident woman who loves her body and curves, has her doubts. Because it’s not just any old photo shoot she’s now starring in… It’s a sexy lingerie ad campaign. Now, Cassie has experience with lingerie photography; she’s the owner of Buxom Boudoir, Chicago’s premiere boudoir and pinup photography studio. She makes her clients feel comfortable and powerful and beautiful at their most vulnerable. And when she has to model dreamy lingerie in front of Reid Montgomery, a fellow photographer with a bit of a bad boy reputation, Cassie isn’t insecure about how she’s going to look, she’s worried about doing a good job in a situation she wasn’t anticipating. 

It was important to me that Cassie didn’t just practice body positivity, but body acceptance. Cassie’s hot and she knows it. But though she’s used to calling the shots on set and aside from goofing off with her friends, she hasn’t been a model. To bring her vision fully to life for the photo shoot in question she has to pose, scantily clad, outside… in winter. In Chicago! But beyond thinking she looks great, Cassie also has to feel it. It’s through these photo shoots and seeing the photographs after the fact that Cassie really embraces that she’s beautiful, powerful, and in charge of how the world is going to see her. 

And the fact that Reid thinks all of this, too, is icing on the cake. But that’s an entirely different blog post ;-) 

Body positivity, body neutrality, and body acceptance are all different things—yes, we should find different bodies beautiful. Yes, we shouldn’t judge people based solely on their outward appearance (because you really don’t know what is going on with someone, the size of their body notwithstanding). But above all, we should accept people as they are. It’s easy to judge someone by what is presented to us first and foremost, and it’s often hard to go beyond the surface. But we owe it to each other to get to know people and understand their values and motivations. And I hope, through this fun love story, more people start to do exactly that. 

Danielle Jackson is a contemporary romance author, avid reader, lackluster-yet-mighty crafter, and accomplished TV binge-watcher. Once upon a time, she was a publicist in publishing and continues to cultivate her love of books and reading by chatting with the best authors in the business as an event coordinator at an independent bookstore and as the co-host of the Fresh Fiction podcast. She also moderates panels, interviews authors, and hosts a romance book club. Danielle lives in Chicagoland with her very own romance hero husband, darling daughter, and two tempestuous cats. For more information, visit https://daniellejacksonbooks.com/ and follow her on Twitter and Instagram, @DJacksonBooks.

Jesmeen Kaur Deo on Writing About Female Body Hair Stigma

Inspiration is a funny thing. It can come to us like a lightning bolt, through the lyrics of a song, or in the fog of a dream. Ask any writer where their stories come from and you’ll get a myriad of answers, and in that vein I created the WHAT (What the Hell Are you Thinking?) interview.

Today’s guest for the WHAT is Jesmeen Kaur Deo, author of TJ Powar Has Something to Prove, a charming rom-com about high school debater who—after becoming the subject of an ugly meme—makes a resolution to stop shaving, plucking, and waxing, and prove that she can be her hairy self and still be beautiful

Ideas for our books can come from just about anywhere, and sometimes even we can’t pinpoint exactly how or why. Did you have a specific origin point for your book?

I do remember the idea to write a book about body hair stigma came to me all at once. But I don't remember exactly how, or what I was thinking at the time. I think it had something to do with discussions I'd been having with a friend about how ugly women are rarely afforded love stories. That, and the culmination of my teen years wondering how all these female YA protagonists never seemed to care about or mention their body hair at all, were big catalysts for this book.

Once the original concept existed, how did you build a plot around it?

I'd always wanted to write a story about high school debate, but hadn't found the right angle for it until the body hair stigma idea came to me. I wondered if the two concepts could co-exist in the same story. The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. And so debate became the structural basis for the plot. From an emotional standpoint, I knew where I wanted TJ to start and where she should end up; a lot of the main beats of the story got filled in with debate related things!

Have you ever had the plot firmly in place, only to find it changing as the story moved from your mind to paper?

Many times! The bones of this book didn't change from what I wanted it to be, although it grew more nuanced and refined as time went on. But other stories I've written for sure have changed a lot. Sometimes the vision in your head doesn't translate well on the page because there are so many things you're forced to think through when actually writing it down! And sometimes I start out with a vision but quickly realize I'm not passionate enough about it. That it needs something else, which I can only figure out by writing through it.

Do story ideas come to you often, or is fresh material hard to come by?

Very hard to come by. I'm not one of those amazing authors who can develop new ideas at the drop of a hat. If I'm lucky, I get 1-2 new book ideas a year. But I'm also a slow writer, so it's fine!

How do you choose which story to write next, if you’ve got more than one percolating?

Part of it is my mood and what's going on in my life at the moment. For example, sometimes I need to write something light when life is challenging (such was the case with TJ, actually), and other times I want to write something heavy precisely because life is challenging and it's cathartic. Another factor in my decision making is strategy. I look at what's going on in traditional publishing, what's selling, what's hot right now, and then look at my WIPs and try to figure out which one might have the best shot at getting published in the current climate. I would try to prioritize that one. But sometimes, I can't control it. If my heart is set on a particular story, and just that one thing, then strategy be damned. I will chase that story that speaks to me.

I have 6 cats and a Dalmatian (seriously, check my Instagram feed) and I usually have at least one or two snuggling with me when I write. Do you have a writing buddy, or do you find it distracting?

That sounds adorable! I don't have any pets, so I don't know whether I'd find them distracting. I do know I don't like writing with other people. I need it to just be me and the story. Some writers find that lonely, and I completely get why. But I love it!

Jesmeen Kaur Deo grew up in northern British Columbia, where she spent most of her childhood daydreaming. She loves books that can make her laugh and tug at her heartstrings in the same paragraph. When not wrapped up in stories, she can be found biking, playing the harmonium, or struggling to open jars. TJ Powar Has Something to Prove is her debut novel.

Is Fiction Ever Really Fiction?

By Dianne C. Braley

There is a saying in fiction writing that nothing is entirely fiction. I’d be interested in speaking to someone who disagrees with that statement. Even in writing the wildest of science fiction or fantasy, there are sprinkles of people and pieces of places with which the author is familiar; I’d venture a guess. In my women’s fiction novel, The Silence in the Sound, I knew I was writing fiction, but there were undoubtedly some things inspired by events, places, and people in my life. What I didn’t realize was the twists and turns it would take, and I ended up writing a much different story than the one I set out to write. It’s odd because I ended up in the same place, and the ending was what I envisioned, but I took a much different road to get there. I began writing from a child’s eye, the child being me and my perspective of mine and my father’s relationship. I had intended to touch on this, but I did much more than touch after thousands of words and many chapters later. 

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out why this may have happened. I clearly had a lot on my mind. My father’s and my relationship was complex, and when I found I was able to tap into my feelings from then, those thirty-five years ago—Yikes. . . I kept going until I was done. Of course, a sea of emotions flooded me. Writing about all of this now as an adult, I felt vulnerable and raw, but I continued, moving through it and being gentle with myself. Oh, and I also reached back out to my therapist but writing this all was more cathartic for me than the best of therapy. I tapped into a place that I didn’t think was possible; my character’s relationship with her father was more accurate than I anticipated, and being under the guise of fiction, it somehow felt safer. 

 I grew up in an alcoholic home. My father was not any functioning alcoholic, and my mother would say that we were lucky because of him being the way he was, we couldn’t hide him the way others sometimes do. That way, we were forced to seek help—us going to Children-of-Alcoholics and her to Al-anon. While I don’t deny these did help, although I resented every minute of it, I never felt lucky. My brother and I just wanted to be normal, like the other kids, and with any luck, we hoped we would one day, and one day, we were. Dad got sober and stayed that way for seven years. That was lucky.

During that time and even in the darkest times, my relationship with my father was much more profound than most would expect. We navigated his disease. I showed him my anger, disappointment, and resentment freely and loudly, and him, already feeling that way about himself, could deal with this, and we’d talk. For him, it was much easier to deal with someone who had given up any hope for you than to deal with someone who didn’t, as he didn’t have any hope for himself in active disease. The rest of my family had the hope, the one thing I learned early in life you should never have when dealing with addiction. I gave up on that at the ripe old age of eight. And when he got sober, it was the biggest surprise, but I did the second thing I found you should never do when dealing with the disease of addiction. I got too comfortable, and then seven years later, after my father became a drug and alcohol counselor and helped countless people in their disease picked up again and not long after succumbed to his. I wished for so long he was here to talk, even in our anger and resentment way that we did. In writing about him, I finally was able to; inspired by him and me and our way together.   

While The Silence in the Sound is a women’s upmarket coming-of-age novel with some celebrity and love and is set on Martha's Vineyard, its premise is about growing up in addiction and the devastating and long-lasting effects. Actual events inspired the book as I was the nurse for Pulitzer-prize winner William Styron, author of Sophie's Choice on the island, and caring for him inspired me to become an author. 

What's incredibly exciting is I have partnered with the Robert F. Kennedy Community Alliance organization here in Massachusetts, and part of the proceeds will go to their division that helps children and families affected by addiction. I think it's so essential for the public to hear from both those who suffer from addiction and the children and others in their lives. While we each have our own experiences and opinions, mine expressed here are mine alone; I think we can agree the children affected by this disease need much more support. My mission is to give them a voice, and I hope that I've done so in my work. I’ll let you; the readers be the judge. 

Dianne C. Braley is a registered nurse with a passion for music, poetry, and literature. Dianne has been featured in various online and printed publications, including Today’s Dietician and Scrubs Magazine. Her nursing blog, Nursing the Neighborhood, was named one of the top nursing blogs of 2018 by Nurse Recruiter.