I've been seeing a lot about chick lit and women's fiction on blogs lately. Since Jennifer Weiner and Jodi Picoult started their discussions on the “Franzen Frenzy”, posts about chick lit seem to be popping up all over. Linda Holmes has written two posts about it on the NPR Monkey See blog: one about the chick lit label, the other about the NYT’s choices of books to review. Writer Margo Candela, who has on her website the line "modern women's fiction written the old-fashioned way", wrote a guest post on Writer Unboxed about the evolution of chick lit. Another writer who has stepped into the discussion is Diane Meier, who wrote about it for the Huffington Post (which, by the way, had already published an article on Weiner, Picoult and the Franzen Frenzy). In her post, Meier said that "if Tom Wolfe had written "The Recessionistas," he would have noted the brands of shoes, the Birkin bags and the personal trainers. And he would have been praised for his attention to detail." In the UK, The Guardian covered Picoult’s and Weiner’s opinions and published a “chick lit debate” with posts by writers DJ Connell and Michelle Gorman. The issue has definitely caught the public’s attention.
And if you do a little search, you’ll see that the issue was being discussed even before this whole thing started. Some of the older posts on the topic are being retweeted now, like writer Allison Winn Scotch’s post about repackaging chick lit that was published in June. On the BookEnds Literary Agency blog, I found a post written over a year ago by agent Jessica Faust on the definition of women’s fiction and the chick lit taboo.
Everyone seems to be discussing it. But have we reached any conclusions? What on Earth is chick lit? And what is women’s fiction? Are they different things? Are they way too many things jammed into a label?
As I’ve mentioned before, I’ll have a contest on this subject, one to keep this discussion going. I won’t tell you much about it now, except that we will have guest judges (including published author Margo Candela) and we will have great prizes.
But before we get to that, I’d like you to think about this discussion. I strongly suggest you read the links above, they all make very good points. And then I would like to know your thoughts and questions about it. Who do you agree with? Who do you read and what do you write? Do you feel comfortable putting your favorite authors and your own work into these categories? Do the labels bother you? Do you get doubts about these genre definitions? Let it all out. And then maybe we can begin to re-invent these labels.
Yes, way too many things jammed into a label. That's the problem. Chick lit is so far different from the standard women's fiction, I can't believe they're trying to put them together. It's like saying MG and YA are the same. It would be like all of a sudden it was taboo to say MG, how dumb would that be? Ugh sometimes this industry really irritates.
ReplyDeleteExcellent post Gabi, I'm RTing it.
ReplyDeleteI am totally not a fan of labels...fiction is fiction, isn't it? Because it's geared more towards a specific audience doesn't make it any less credible, you know? Great post!
ReplyDeleteWhen I first started my journey into the world of publishing there was a specific genre that my then agent wanted to pitch me as. She also said I'd have to "spice" up my manuscript to fit the label and appeal to editors.
ReplyDeleteThat was some years ago, but the label issue is just as if not more important. Agents have to deliver what editors want and what editors are looking for are books that can be marketed to the most readers possible. For that you need, yes, a label.
It makes sense to me that writers take an active role in defining what we call what write as we're the ones who have to not only write it, but stand behind it, too.
I'm excited to see what comes of this effort. I'm also submitting that the label Titty Lit not be considered even though it's my own suggestion.
What a great post. I recently heard that 'chick lit is dead' from a writing conference I was at - and to call it rom-coms or light women's fiction. My view is that anything written about women and dealing with an aspect of a woman's life is women's fiction!
ReplyDeleteI don't mind labels. I totally agree with Margo - that to sell, whether it's to the public or editors, books need labels. But I don't think we should be 'classist' about books. I've read and blogged about Michele's post in the Guardian and I strongly believe 'chick lit' or whatever label you want to put on it is just a valid a genre as any out there.
Thank you for RTing and commenting! Love your thoughts. Now, do you think it's easier to stick to a generic label like "women's fiction" or should we have specific labels? Which one is more helpful?
ReplyDeleteAlso, here is another link I was sent on twitter, it has great info: http://janekennedysutton.blogspot.com/2010/09/gender-bias-in-literary-world.html