I am an imperfect woman. A proud one. I have curves, I have bits that will never look the way I want them to, or the way society wants them to. My hair will always be a little too long, and then a little too short. My bum will always look a little too big, my eyebrows will never be symmetrical and I’ll never like the sound of my own voice. If that makes me imperfect, I am happy to stand up and admit it.
As a reader, I realized the main characters in books nowadays are hard to relate to. How many people work a 9-6 job, go to the gym afterwards, get home and cook a roast dinner and make it to bed in time to look fresh as a daisy the next morning? Translate that to ‘real life’. Tumble through the doors of the office at 9.05, trying to avoid eye contact with the boss because you’re late, work nine hours, no time to take a break longer than to shove a supermarket sandwich down your throat, and then pick up the pace on the walk to the train station to burn the calories you consumed when you just couldn’t say no to another chocolate digestive…or three. Get home after the commute and it’s 7pm. Go to the gym? Nope. Throw a ready-meal in the microwave, eat the food that bears a striking resemblance in taste to that of cardboard. Go to the gym? Nope, it’s already 8pm and by the time you get to the gym, you’ll have time to buy a drink out of the vending machine before it closes. Maybe tomorrow.
I think it makes stories incredibly difficult to relate if the main character is a stick thin, flawless gym bunny, who isn’t desperately trying to cram a to-do list a mile long into the few short hours known as a day.
As a writer, I decided to do something about that. Women aren’t ‘perfect’, if there ever is a true definition of the word, and we constantly have social expectations thrown in our faces in the form of TV shows and magazines. But has anyone considered that literature is doing the same thing?
So I pushed the boundaries with my debut novel Second Chance Hero, but not so much in the physical aspect. My main character, Jenna, has a bum and boobs and is by no means ‘perfect’. But what she does have is personality flaws that I think many women have. I have had readers tell me they wanted to shake her. After initially being offended that people didn’t love her, I realized them wanting to shake the life out of her was more of a compliment. They felt something for her, something strong enough for them to mention just how frustrated they were. Why? I think it’s because many of my readers can see a little themselves in Jenna.
Many times in life we are faced with a decision. Every day presents us with tens if not hundreds of choices that we must make, many of them going unnoticed. And we all reach that point where we’re standing at a crossroads and have to make a choice on which path to take.
Meet Jenna Rivera, the girl standing not only at the crossroads, but on the precipice of falling in love – the kind that will make it through anything – or finding herself shattered again, on her knees collecting up pieces of her broken heart.
Rewind five years, Jenna and Deacon are best friends. They attend university together, attended school together and before that, the same mother and baby groups. Best friends their whole lives they decide to take the plunge and cross the invisible line between friendship and something deeper.
Jenna is left feeling rejected and used, losing her best friend in the process. She shuts down, moves away from her family and creates a life for herself void of any real passion, never taking chances because the one she took backfired and left her with a heart made of stone. She finds herself in a relationship built solely out of comfort and the need to conform. At 26 years old, she knows she should be moving forward with her life, meeting a man and settling down. Meet Kip, self-absorbed stockbroker and Jenna’s boyfriend of ‘convenience’. On her 26th birthday she goes back to the town where it all began and the rollercoaster ride leaves the platform.
And then meet Deacon Reid, your next book boyfriend and the one who broke Jenna’s heart. Their reunion is a bittersweet one. Jenna is faced with the realization that she is still madly in love with him and always has been. But she also realizes how much they have both changed. Their frustration and feelings for each other create a cocktail of lust and obsession, anger and resentment, love and redemption.
And the affair begins. There are many opinions on affairs, and I might have written a story with a love triangle and adultery, but that doesn’t mean I agree with it. What I wanted to do was address it, and thus expose Jenna’s imperfections. She is stubborn and has created a thick, impenetrable skin. On the outside. She battles with everything internally – whether to end her relationship with Kip and give her love for Deacon another shot, or whether to stay with Kip and accept that she and Deacon had their chance and they let it pass them by.
When you think of the word ‘affair’, what comes to mind? Anger? Confusion? Many people are unable to understand why people cheat, thinking the choice is a simple one. But life is not black and white. There is no simple choice, no easy road to happiness. It is never easy to walk away from one person and into the arms of another without repercussions and the risk of asking yourself ‘what if?’. If love was that easy, would it be worth it? I think not.
Maybe that makes Jenna selfish, maybe it makes her a coward, but she is only human. I have had some backlash about the communication problems between Jenna and Deacon, but again it was something done intentionally. Many couples don’t communicate with each other, and it does lead to problems and disagreements and misinterpretations, but would the book have been as entertaining and thought-evoking if they had simply told each other how they feel in the first chapter? No. Do couples always discuss how they are feeling the minute a problem arises? No.
Jenna is not perfect. She lashes out at her family, she hides herself away, she is afraid of the decision she has to make, but isn’t that something we can all relate to? She has confidence issues, commitment issues and the love she feels for Deacon consumes her every thought and clouds her judgement. She knows what she wants, but she just can’t allow herself to grasp it because of her fear of rejection from the only man she knows she’ll ever love. If that makes her imperfect so be it, but it makes her relatable and real, and that is all I wanted.
Have a read of Second Chance Hero, see if you want to shake the life out of Jenna and scream at her to make the decision that you know is right. Then look at yourself. Do you feel the frustration because you see a tiny part of her in you?
All of my writing features characters with flaws, because, as Imperfect Women so accurately put it: We are all a working progress.
You can find Second Chance Hero via the links below and feel free to join me on facebook, twitter, or goodreads if you want to discuss or leave your comments.
Amazon UK
Amazon US
Twitter: @RRSherwin
Facebook
Goodreads
Thank you to Imperfect Women for allowing me to explain why I created Jenna the way I did. I don’t feel like I need to ‘defend’ myself, but I did need to voice the reasoning behind my imperfect character, so thank you for letting me do that.
About the Author:
Rebecca Sherwin is a coffee drinking, music loving, full-time-mothering, writing insomniac. When she is not writing, she reading and when she is not reading she is squeezing her eyes shut and willing sleep to descend.
Rebecca writes about serious issues, giving the emotional turmoil a twist and adding a little humor and sarcasm. Primarily she writes for herself, using the words and scenarios in her head to escape to a world where fairy tales, true love and men who don’t leave their socks on the floor for days on end, exist. Rebecca’s writing aims to bring problems and tragedies that people face every day to light, make them relatable and leave her readers thinking long after they’ve read the last page.
If Rebecca can make one person smile, laugh, cry or get their heart racing with her writing, then she feels she has succeeded.
~~Giveaway~~
We have a great giveaway courtesy of Rebeca Sherwin!
Up for grabs are 15 eBook copies of Second Chance Hero.
To enter: Just leave a comment telling us how you feel about your fictional characters being imperfect? Will it stop you from reading the book?
Ends on 11/17/13 at 11:59 pm Eastern time.
This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook. We hereby release Facebook of any liability. Winner(s) will be contacted by email 72 hours after the giveaway ends. They have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be selected. Must be over 18 to enter. Ends on 11/17/13 at 11:59 pm Eastern time. Imperfect Women did not receive compensation for this contest. They are also not responsible for prize shipment of the books. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, & other social networks are in no way associated with this giveaway and are not responsible for anything involving this giveaway. Void where prohibited. Winners will be selected by Random.org.
When I saw this tweet arrive, and the title ‘imperfect women’ I had to follow the link straight away. Whilst I see the need for women in fiction to be lithe, slender and always aroused (it’s fiction, people; our imaginations get a break from the daily grind), I love reading books where the heroine isn’t perfect. I find it much more relatable. Also, I imagine that it’s a lot harder for the author to write. To deal with our human flaws, especially those that we don’t like in ourselves, takes a brave and open-minded writer.
I have gotten sick of the perfect girl meeting the perfect boy and *ta da* they fall in love and everything is perfect in their perfect world.
I like my fictional characters to feel real. I like them to be screwed up and make mistakes. I like for them to make choices that will make me scream out loud in frustration. I get bored with the perfect people in the perfect world.
I’m much more likely to read a book that has imperfect characters in it. Give me the slightly insane, self-destructive, trouble maker and I’m all over it!
I want to read this book!
I love books that make the characters relate-able. Kinda like Bridget Jones, the world fell in love with her because she WASN’T perfect. Kudos for making a character that actually makes you feel something towards her, other than complete jealousy!
I prefer my characters to have imperfections, it makes them more real.
I love the sound of this story and love your write up about how we, as readers, have Difficult time relating to the perfect of the characters in most books!!
I would love to read this book. I have loved that there are so many great shows out there that are starring real beautiful women. It is a nice change.
This sounds like a great book and I love your intro to your post – it sounds just like me!
There are lots of “perfect women” in literature nowadays & that gives so many young ladies false ideals of what they should be like. I prefer the imperfect gal since there are things that are so relatable & lovable!
This sounds like an intriguing book about a “normal” human female-which would be refreshing to say the least. I will be putting this on my TBR list which admittedly is getting longer by the second!!
I love what you’re doing – which is why I love Bridget Jones so much. She’s “normal” and not some thing none of is can relate to.
I don’t think there is a PERFECT woman out there. Some of them think they are pretty perfect, but they are as flawed as the rest of us. It is more believable to read about the not so perfect people.
I can totally relate! I stopped worrying about being a perfect woman and rather be a HAPPY woman!
I love the concept behind this story. I am tired of seeing “perfect” women in fiction.
It is always refreshing to see “real” women. 🙂 No one is perfect.
I love it when the people on the stories aren’t perfect, it shows that they are just like everyone else! I would read these types of stories all day long
Thank you for sharing. No one is perfect and while not everyone cheats some people do. There is no point not to write a book about it just because the people that don’t won’t agree with it. I will have to check it out!
We seem to live in a world where what we see as normal is infact completely unattainable to most. Its really great to hear you are trying to bring the imperfect into reality 🙂 x
This looks like a good book. We’re all imperfect and don’t always make the right decision.
I have to be in the mood to read sometimes. The characters don’t seem real; the settings are crazy. I love reading about people like me but also love an escape.
Beautiful intro and so true! Women come in all shapes and sizes and we are all beautiful in our own way! Your books sounds amazing! One that everyone can relate to!
It sounds like you really tried to give your character some depth and make her relate to the every day kind of woman. That’s a challenge for me with this character, though. Having been on the receiving end of the fallout from an affair, I don’t find myself wanting to relate to or understand why someone would do that.
I actually don’t reading books where the characters are perfect. I like reading books when the character is real and on the run with a twinkie in hand or whatever. Life would be great if it was perfect but it isn’t and that is what makes everyone unique.
Its great that the heroine isnt the stereotypical perfect lead, great review
I have to read this book. Thank you for bringing this one to my attention! Going to Amazon.com RIGHT NOW!
I am an imperfect woman too and I love being that way. I agree with you that many times, characters in film and fiction books often do not represent us and it is great to have a book that has versatile characters.
This is so relatable!
A relatable main character! I love it, can’t wait to read it 🙂
This is my kind of book.After this review I just want to run out and get it right now.I love imperfection 🙂
I really needed this today! I have been feeling down, as a plus size woman I always look down on myself! :/
I like books with characters you can relate too, I think it’s great that the main character is a “real” woman.
I can’t say THANK YOU enough.. I love books that aren’t the norm, predictable and always the same sweet girl, mean boy etc.. Can’t wait to check out this book, it sounds really good. Will add it to my reading list
Perfect is boring. Strong work bringing real women to life!
I love stories about the “imperfect” person. I just think it’s more of what real life is like. I’d definitely put this on my bookshelf for reading!
beautifully written. I love reading, but when you find a book that has more truth than fiction its a keeper for sure.
No one is perfect. That is true. Would love to read this
interesting title for the article here – i do think we all strive for perfection at times – even when we “know” perfection isn’t really available.
i like that the character isn’t perfect. it gives people more to relate to. women and girls feel like they need to look like the ones on tv’s and magazines and it is such a crazy high standard. i hate seeing the victoria secret models every time it makes me feel crappy about myself.
Jenna sounds like just the right person I need to read about. You’re right these books do have unrealistic heros/heroines. Sounds like a really great read!
I do not think anyone is perfect. I love reading about flawed people it makes it more reality. The perfect story always gets boring.
I hate seeing perfect people in fiction.
Sounds like a great book. I love the fact that the character is “imperfect”. May make it easier to relate too.
PERFECTION:
Perfect women are an illusion.
Perfect men are an illusion.
Men simply judge themselves less harshly & allow themselves a few more excuses!
AFFAIRS:
Affairs occur when one partner is susceptible. They’re susceptible when they’re not getting what they want. Happiness & satisfaction greatly reduces susceptibility. Nothing eliminates it.
I absolutely love the idea of books about women that aren’t models or do everything perfect. Real women are human beings, we have our imperfections but in our imperfection is perfection. I AM an imperfect woman and have always thought and believed that no matter what I weighed I was beautiful. Glad to see someone write about US, the real women.
Congratulations to those that were selected for a copy of this book. Emails were sent out and the names of those that responded were sent on to Rebecca. Enjoy!
I’m so happy you stepped outside the boundaries of what a woman is “supposed” to be. We can’t be held to unrealistic standards, so thank you for calling those out in our society!!