More on the definition of a Chick Lit Novel

Chick lit doesn't have to have romance. It's told from the perspective of a woman, and I suppose it needs to be about womanhood, so the story wouldn't work if the protagonist were a man. I think the "Sex In The City" stuff are cliches (or perhaps more marketable), and I would much, much rather read a chick lit that's not like that.

Even if the woman gets the man in the end, she usually has to have more than that. Success in her career, an epiphany, a grand adventure... something so that the romance, if there is any, is something on the side and not the purpose of the story.

I've never read modern romances, so I can't really compare those. I think classic romances like Jane Austen's are more like modern chick lit than modern romances.. but again, I don't know. Jane Austen's books are studies of character and classes; they aren't meant to be hot and romantic. =p That is, I guess, a difference between chick lit and romance.

Thanks Lucky, I now now that this novel belongs here. While there is one major and one minor romance side plot going on in my novel (and my MC is married and has a child) none of these women need men the way those in some romances seem to do. These are very strong characters! (Nothing meant against the romance genre.) And the romance is most definitely not the main action of the novel, although you might not know that from what I am writing just now. (I have to stretch out the main conflict, because basically once it's over, so is the book. Not entirely, but pretty much. THAT'S why I introduced the romance. And I am just having too much fun with one of my major male chars...

I also don't think my novel belongs in modern romance. If I tried to write romance at all it would be much more along the lines of Jane Austen, whom I adore. (I don't think I could do her justice.) But I just can't write a really steamy scene I give people's thoughts and feelings and once in a while I hint but I leave the vast majority of the physical interaction to the imagination.

So does anything that stars a woman and is about something unique to the world of women qualify as "chicklit?" (If so, we really need a new name for it.)

How I like to think of a chick lit is- think of a chick flick. Romantic comedies are typically good examples. Now, think of that story as a book. Get the picture? Most genres are easy to understand if you give them a movie comparison.

Chick Lit is one of the blurrier genres, in my opinion. So much so that I sometimes am tempted to agree with one of my male friends who likes to say "There's no such thing as 'Chick Lit'." Which is sort of true. Chick Lit is not really so much a genre as a movement in books and publishing. Most books classified as "Chick Lit" could be just as easily placed in humor, romance, or just general literature, but they do seem to have things in common, too, aside from the similar pastel covers. They tend to be told in first person, by a quirky, spunky twenty-something woman living in a city. She is generally dissatisfied with both her job and her love life. She has a best friend who is prettier than her and (often) more lucky in love. She meets a handsome, charming man who is either A) the ultimate love of her life or B) a complete jerk whose jerkdom leads her to the realization that she's always been in love with her dorky co-worker guy friend.

Of course, that is a very limiting view of chick lit. Plenty of Chick protagonists are in their thirties (or their teens). At least a few of them don't end up with anyone at all. What my friend means when he says there is "no such thing as Chick Lit" is that it mainly seems to be a marketing thing left over from the nineties and Bridget Jones, the book that launched a thousand chicks. I would say that though it does seem a bit limiting to say that any book should be marketed only to women, and a bit condescending of publishers to assume that they should, that doesn't make their Chick Lit any less fun to read (or write!), and when it's well done it doesn't make the protagonists any less real-feeling and appropriate to the 00's.

But if we use movies as a comparison, I'm even more lost. Bridget Jones Diary is generally considered "chick lit." But isn't it also really a rom com (romantic comedy)? She pursues one guy and winds up with another.

What is P.S. I Love You? A rom com? A dramedy? A chick lit movie?

WELL, as much as we can say that Chick Lit doesn't HAVE to have romance, I would say that most chick lit really is slightly more empowered rom-coms. But I would also say that the modern rom com has been greatly influenced by chick lit. Whereas a couple decades ago you would be more likely to see a beautiful, graceful woman paired with the clumsy, awkward man, we are seeing much more of the more realistic (hollywood realistic, that is, which is still impossibly beautiful) heroine with guys who are slightly less clueless.

ok I pretty much get the idea of of what is chick lit...

but now I am starting to see Women's lit on the agents pages....

Maybe this is not new but it is new to me... I have just recently started querying agents and have been seeing this listed as what they are looking for.

What is the difference?

I have been calling my book chick lt with a sci fi twist... but now i am starting to wonder should I be calling it something else?