Spotlight & Giveaway: Because Fat Girl by Lauren Marie Fleming

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Lauren Marie Fleming to HJ!

Hi Lauren and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Because Fat Girl!

 
As a reader who loves a good romantic escape read, I’m excited to be here chatting with you all!
 

Please summarize the book a la Twitter style for the readers here:

For everyone who’s ever felt too big, too weird, too queer—or just too much—comes a happily ever after for the rest of us.
 

Please share the opening lines of this book:

By the time I heard the giggles, it was already too late. A junior clerk had my arm in a grip and was pulling me behind a mannequin.
“Is it true?” she asked.
“Is what true?” I replied.
“Is Chris Stanson really in the store today?” Her voice was a conspiratorial whisper.
“God, I hope not,” I said.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• It’s based on a dream I had that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson wanted to date me – and I turned him down.
• I have also published a non-fiction book called Bawdy Love: 10 Steps to Profoundly Loving Your Body, and I joke that this is a fictionalized version of me trying to put that book’s content into action.
• Many of the celebrity run-ins are based off of real encounters with famous people that I’ve had throughout my career.
• I basically wrote this book as an excuse to eat my way through L.A. wearing very cute clothes and call it a tax write-off. 🙂
• The content is 333 pages and 33 is my lucky number!

What first attracts your main characters to each other?

The attraction is a slow burn, especially for Diana, the main character. She’s coming out of the fog of grief and a past relationship that made her feel really crappy for being fat. I don’t think she trusts that she can find love, especially in Hollywood, and is focusing on her career so hard she doesn’t even realize when love finds her. Eventually, what attracts them to each other is what makes love work for all of us long-term – mutual respect, kindness, and a common goal.
 

Using just 5 words, how would you describe your main characters”love affair?

Opening up to love’s possibilities.
 

The First Kiss…

Ooh, how do I tell you about this without giving too much away. Here’s what I will say: she’s very wet.
 

Without revealing too much, what is your favorite scene in the book?

My favorite scene is an intimate one where Diana (who is a version of me about seven years ago) and Jaqueline (an older queer character I want to grow up to be) are singing and dancing in the rain to Melissa Etheridge. It’s towards the end of a magical evening a group of characters have had together and is a moment where everyone is just the same: humans enjoying life.

Here’s a snippet (I took out some bits to avoid spoilers):

“Looks like a storm is coming,” Jaqueline noted, her head lifted, her voice deep and husky. “Let it rain.”
Her words sparked a memory in me, and I started singing “The Late September Dogs,” my favorite Melissa Etheridge song, all about the rain setting love free. As if we’d cast a spell, the sky opened, and water started pouring down on us. We continued singing, grabbing each other’s arms and twirling …

“This song was playing when I kissed my first girl!” Iconfided in Jaqueline.
“I once had sex in a rainstorm to this song!” she countered, and we both laughed at the absurdity of it all, dancing in circles and continuing to sing as our clothes and bodies got drenched.

If your book was optioned for a movie, what scene would be absolutely crucial to include?

I think the scene helping Alex – a genderqueer kid that comes into the department store where the main character, Diana, works – is such a powerful and important scene showing support of a gender nonconforming kid. I wish I had scenes like in books I read as a queer and non-binary kid and teen, and hope it encourages more empathy and love in adults as well. It’s also a great example of how to show up for a queer kid, even if their parents are not supportive. The key is that Diana asks Alex what they’re comfortable with, instead of assuming from the mother’s reaction or what she thinks the kid might want. Kids are so smart. They know their needs better than we do. We need to let them lead the way, and this scene shows that. I think it would be even more powerful in a visual medium, like TV or movie. Here’s a snippet:

“So,” I said, sitting back down on the sofa across from my client, “what name would you like for me to use with you?”
“My friends call me Alex,” the kid replied. “But my mom says I have to use Alessandra.”
“What name would you like me to call you today?” I asked.
“Um,” the kid said, smiling shyly. “Alex is cool.”
“Hi, Alex, nice to meet you.” I extended my hand. They shook it, looking me in the eye for the fi rst time. “Now, what pronouns would you like me to use with you?”
I guessed Alex was in middle school, and I wasn’t sure what they knew yet about queer culture, but I’d realized I was gay and gender nonconforming at twelve, and we didn’t have the internet back then, so I assumed Alex knew something, if only just a hint within themselves of the desire to live differently. Still, I clarified, in case they didn’t know they had options in how they wanted to live their life. “Do you like to be called she, he, or something neutral like xe or they?”
“I use they/them with my friends.”
“Would you like me to use the name Alex and they/them pronouns here?” Alex nodded before I clarified, “Even in front of your mom?”
Alex sat quietly, thinking for a while before meekly saying, “Yes please.”
“They/them it is.” I smiled.

Readers should read this book …

• If you’ve ever longed for your own kind of Hollywood ending, this is for you.
• If you’ve ever felt unlovable, unlikeable, and unfashionable, this book is for you.
• If you’ve ever felt too weird, too queer, or too much, this book is for you.
• If you are fat, queer, neurodiverse, a person of color, differently abled, or any other historically underrepresented group in society, this book is for you.
• If you love fries with cheese, this is definitely for you!
• And, most importantly, if you’re a romance reader who loves the kind of happily ever after that leaves you feeling empowered, in love, and crying tears of joy, then this book is for you.

Also, if you love audiobooks narrated by the author, the audiobook is for you! I had SO MUCH FUN recording it!
 

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have planned?

There are some really cool projects in the works that I can’t yet talk about – including books and scripts! – but one thing I’m really excited about right now is supporting my clients and friends in their book releases. I run a company called SchoolForWriters.com and it brings me as much joy and excitement helping other people’s stories get out into the world as it does in mine. It took me 20 years of actively writing and pitching to get my first novel traditionally published, I want to savor that moment while helping others to get theirs out faster than it took me! So my biggest focus right now is bringing others along for the ride and making sure we all enjoy it.
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: I’m giving away two things!
1. One signed copy of BECAUSE FAT GIRL.
2. Free access to my popular Creative Life Blueprint course for anyone who enters. This short course will help you carve out time to write your own Happily Ever After. Because the world needs your story now more than ever.

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Who in your life is your biggest pep talk friend? Who do you call when you feel like being convinced into doing something you might not otherwise have the confidence to do?
Bonus points for taking your phone out right now and texting that person a thank you.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Excerpt from Because Fat Girl :

Janelle Zenon and I met as incoming freshmen at UCLA film school, the two queer kids in a sea of geeky white dudes who all thought they were going to be the next Tarantino. It was Janelle who got me the job at Roussard’s when I was struggling to make rent and pay for my senior thesis film. They were hiring extra help for the holidays, and she’d dragged me to the job interview, promising it would be an easy way to pay the bills.

She was right; it was easy money. A little too easy. Instead of pursuing the shitty-paying director’s assistant roles my fellow graduates had taken, I worked my way up the Roussard’s ladder, enticed by the high-paying commissions I made from selling clothes I couldn’t fi t in or afford. It was fi ne in the beginning, when I had the time and energy to work at Roussard’s and hustle for film gigs on the side, but then my brother died and took my ambition with him. These days, the closest I got to
making movies was watching Emmy dress the stars of them.

Janelle hadn’t let Roussard’s consume her like I had. A talented cinematographer, she was the best director of photography to come out of our program, yet she always seemed to lose the big jobs to people “with more experience” and “a style closer to what the director was seeking”—a.k.a. straight, white, and male. Those same “more experienced” cinematographers, however, would have to hire Janelle to come in and consult on scenes involving Black actors, which they had
little to no practice in lighting. That sums up white privilege right there: the world is lit up for your skin tone.

Despite our setbacks, neither of us had abandoned the dream of making a movie together, and with Janelle’s encouragement, I’d started writing scripts and putting myself out there again.

“This party is our ticket to network with the big dogs,” Janelle said as we ordered our lunch. “We have to go all-out. Make a statement. Think Cinderella going to the ball.”

“Except we don’t have a fairy godmother to come bibbidibobbidi-boo us some gowns and a carriage.”

“No, but we have connections at Roussard’s,” she replied. “And your film fund.”

“Which I refuse to tap into for an outfi t to a random party.”

“This isn’t just some party! This is exactly the kind of event you’ve been saving for,” Janelle argued as a waiter dropped off our food. “It will be years before you make enough money to fund a film on your own. Even if you want to make an indie film, you’ll still need fi ve hundred thousand dollars bare minimum. And I know you don’t have close to that much saved. So you’re still going to need investors. This is the kind of party where you can meet them! But you’re not going to attract anyone looking like you’re going to a funeral.”

I sighed, resigned to the fact that she was right. “What do you suggest?”

“I thought you’d never ask.” Janelle grabbed her phone and opened up JIBRI’s latest collection, a designer whose outfits I’d drooled over for years. The clothes were gorgeous, fashionable,
and colorful—total showstoppers.

“We aren’t Emmy,” she said, grabbing a spring roll. “We don’t get invited to Hollywood parties every week. This is your opportunity to hobnob with the elitest of the elite here in town. You’ve got one chance to shine like the star I know you are. Wear something so bright that they can’t help but notice your brilliance.”

“These are from the spicy curry.” I motioned to my tears, the ones that had pooled during her pep talk.

“Sure they are.” Janelle winked.

“I have only one problem.” I pointed down at the JIBRI site still up on her phone.

“What?” Janelle asked.

“How do I choose which fabulous skirt to buy?” I laughed, scanning the assortment of colorful options.

Excerpts. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 

Book Info:

For everyone who’s ever felt too big, too weird, too queer―or just too much―comes a happily ever after for the rest of us.

Hollywood isn’t nice to women like Diana Smith, but that hasn’t stopped her from being unabashedly queer, plus-sized, and determined to make award-winning movies that showcase the diversity of her community. She was so close to her goal, appearing at festivals and gaining attention for her short films, when grief came and shattered Diana’s directorial dreams.

Forced to move to the suburbs with her sister and kids, the closest thing Diana gets to the movies these days is dressing the stars of them at her high-end department store job. Until one day, she gets a pity invite to a gala full of Hollywood’s most elite, where she unwittingly attracts the attention of a famous action star.

The unexpected pairing shocks their friends–and the tabloids–forcing Diana to choose between the status quo and the silver screen. For the first time in her life, doors open for Diana and the possibilities seem endless. The chance to create unforgettable films. To shake up the industry. To inspire everyone who’s ever felt like they didn’t belong.

But fame always comes with a cost…and to get her Hollywood ending, Diana’s going to have to go completely off-script.
Book Links: Amazon | B&N | iTunes | Goodreads |
 
 

Meet the Author:

Lauren Marie Fleming (xe/her) is the author of BECAUSE FAT GIRL and coach helping people discover their story and tell it to the world. Her company, School for Writers, helps aspiring authors write their books in a way that harnesses the transformational power of storytelling. In her twenty years as a professional writer, Lauren has written multiple books, been featured in prominent publications including VICE and the Huffington Post, and spoken at prestigious conferences and colleges including Yale and BlogHer. When not writing, coaching or traveling the world, Lauren can be found walking her dog on the beach in San Diego listening to a good audiobook.
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