Does chick lit have to be... straight?

I've never really written chick lit before and I've really only seen movie adaptations of chick lit books, but I was wondering... is all chick lit straight? I have a few minor ideas rolling around in my head, but they're all... well... more on the gay side of things.

Could that pass or is it like a chick lit faux paux?

I don't see why it would have to be "straight". As long as they are lesbians and not gay men you should be good ;)

I don't think it has to be straight, not at all.

I don't think it matters what gender the heroine is interested in as long as it has the tones of a chick lit book. If you get too involved with sex scenes where it becomes almost pornographic it might be thrown toward romance, but if you can keep everything quirky enough I don't think that it should matter.

Actually, thinking about it again, I really think a lesbian chick lit book would be awesome. If you had an MC who was really struggling with her sexuality and the book was about her journey to self discovery? TOTALLY chick lit-y.

This year I'm writing lesbian chick lit. My ML and I have decided to dub this sub-genre chick chick lit. I see no problem with the MC not being a straight woman. Nor do I think you necessarily have to categorize your novel before it's written. Write it and see where it takes you and then categorize it!

I have two lesbian characters in my chick lit novel that are going to fall in love. One is the roommate of my main character and she is looking for love, and the other is a friend of the romantic boy/toy in the story and she is just looking for a good time but falls in love. But my story isn't romance focused. It's about a young woman trying to find her true path.

Go for it. The rules are there to be broken. But then, I’m a NaNoWriMo rebel!

Mine hardly ever is...no matter how hard I try... LOL

This sounds great. And a good book to read that isn't quite chick lit (but could be at a stretch) but does the lesbian thing quite well is Fingersmith by Sarah Waters. I would definitely read lesbian chick lit.

Go for it!

Not at all. Go for it!

I've been having trouble genre-fying my novel, and put "Lesbian Chick Lit" as sort of a placeholder when I filled out the info. I was going to post some questions either here or in the "other genres" forum... until I saw this thread. Awesome thread, and good to know I'm not the only one thinking this. :)

I don't see why you can't do that? :)
There must be girls out there who don't want to read just another 'straight' love story?
Go for it and have fun would be my advice!

I am so glad you put this thread out here. The story that I want to write is chick-lit in all sense of the term, except for the fact that my two female main characters fall for each other. I was so unsure as to what I could categorize my novel as because it isn't really a romance (although there is romance in it), but at the same time I didn't think it would fit in mainstream fiction. So there you go, another chick chick lit writer over here and I'm glad by the positive responses in here as well! =)

I think there might have been a thread on this a few years ago. In fact, it was possibly by googling 'lesbian chick lit' that i found NaNo! I'm also writing lesbian chick lit and think there is a serious gap in the market waiting to be filled, though mine is YA chick lit.

LOVE the name chick chick lit - genius!

my idea for this year would actually fall into this category! i think it woul be great to start a genre around this.

It's called Chick Lit, not Hetero-Chick Lit. ;)

Seriously though, go for it. Although my main character is straight, there is a very prominent sub plot about her best friend, who is a lesbian and ends up getting married to her partner. I'd love to read lesbian chick lit. I think it's a great idea. :)

Mine may well have a lesbian relationship in it. I know one of the characters is bi, and she ends p figuring prominently in Mia's life...I'm just not sure if it's just as a friend or if there's more to it. I'm letting them decide that when the time comes.

I'm also doing a lesbian chick lit novel for my first attempt at Nano. When I first thought of the plot idea, I just instinctually made the love interest a man. Then on an impulse I thought - what if the love interest as a woman instead? Why not? I didn't want to do a coming to terms with my sexuality novel, however. There are plenty of fantastic books already out there written much better than I could. I wanted to do a chick lit novel where the sexuality aspect wasn't the focus but just another part of who the characters are. The change up has really helped to get me even more excited to write because I've never personally read a chick lit novel with a lesbian romance story. I'm curious to see how it pans out. Plus, I think having two females creates an entirely new dynamic for me, dialogue wise. Also, I am much more comfortable writing in a female voice/perspective. It's a win-win all around!

No! I say that because I'm writing chick lit (actually, I think it's more women's fiction, but those definitions seem to blur a lot) and one my MCs (I have 4) is a lesbian. So glad I am not the only one writing a lesbian character.

OMG, no. As long as it follows the rules of a woman starts out in one place, faces adversity, learns something and takes her knowledge and applies it to change her path and it ends on an uplifting note, it's Chick Lit. I say that "owning" the word Chick Lit. What I really mean is good fiction of the type that reflects the lives of women.

Have you never watched The L Word?

I'm on a "mommy board" in NYC and believe me, lots of married, middle-aged mommies want to read about sex and romance between women. Hello sub-genre. Break down the wall for us, sister, and my novel will be right behind yours.