Writing a Curvy Waitress

This was the ninth He Wanted Me Pregnant I wrote (coming just after The Nurse and the Soldier), but the first with a curvy heroine. I was very nervous about writing a BBW heroine, especially one with body issues, because I didn’t want to either gloss over things or be heavy handed about it. I decided I wouldn’t write Holly, the curvy waitress, unless I felt I could do it convincingly.

Once I started, though, I fell in love with the character. Holly doesn’t take handouts from anyone–not even a billionaire! I was conscious that there are a lot of conventions in billionaire romances, one of them being the billionaire buying the heroine a gorgeous dress. Now, I like a gorgeous dress as much as the next girl (and I love billionaire romances, for that matter) but when I wrote that scene with Holly, it didn’t come across as convincing. I couldn’t see our curvy waitress going that fast from unhappy with her body to willing to slip on a summer dress, so I ripped the scene out and rewrote it so that she refuses, and winds up with the t-shirt and skirt combo.

Curvy Waitress to Curvy Translator

Another change was that, in an early draft, Holly went from curvy waitress to curvy assistant, actually taking a job with Erard as his translator (there was a whole conversation out by the limo that I removed). Eventually, I decided that it made the story feel too rushed  and decided to take it out and go with the simpler plot.

The Curvy Waitress Uniform

The 50s uniform was my little nod to a time where a curvy shape was more accepted (even celebrated). I like to think that, if Holly had gone back to the diner with her new mindset, she’d have rocked it as a curvy waitress, 50s hairdo and all. Although she’d be unlikely to need the money, given her new boyfriend 🙂