Best-Selling Author
"I wrote for twelve years and collected 250 rejection slips before getting any fiction published, so I guess outside reinforcement isn't all that important to me."

~Lisa Alther, best-selling author.

Labels: author, Fiction, Lisa Alther, publishing, rejection, wild women, wild words, Wild words from wild women, writers, Writing

  posted by Matildakay at 1:19 PM 0 comments

Yosemite Writers Conference: Demystifying Chick lit and Women’s fiction
I remember the reactions I received last year during the 2006 Yosemite Writers Conference when I said "women's fiction" was the genre my writing fell into. Some people assumed I wrote chick lit and responded as if it wasn't a real genre.

Why such a reaction? What’s wrong with women’s fiction? Nothing. I was simply a minority in a sea of mystery and thriller writers.

So I was excited to learn that at this year’s conference Farrin Jacobs, co-author of See Jane Write: A Girl’s Guide to Writing Chick lit, which I bought at last year’s conference, and a former chick lit editor was conducting a workshop called “Chick lit is dead and other myths about women’s fiction.”





Is chick lit dead? According to Jacobs chick lit is not dead, however, because of its popularity and market saturation it’s harder to get chick lit published now than a few years ago.

In a heavily saturated market, how do you get your chick lit novel or women’s fiction novel published? Quite simply, you have to make your novel stand out. Jacobs stated, “you have to have perfectly imperfect main characters that are identifiable to every woman; you have to get your chick lit voice down and write the novel you want to write, and you have to know your audience.”

The thing that chick lit or women’s fiction does very well is deal with tough issues in a humorous, human way. A perfect example is Jennifer Weiner’s debut novel, Good in Bed, where she wrote:

“Loving a Larger Woman,” said the headline, “By Bruce Guberman.” Bruce Guberman had been my boyfriend for just over three years, until we’d decided to take a break three months ago. And the Larger Woman, I could only assume, was me.”

Weiner, who is now a household name in the world of chick lit, cleverly propels her character and the reader on a journey of self-esteem issues and self-discovery that is poignant, endearing and quite funny.

And let’s not forget Helen Fielding, the queen of chick lit who created the character of Bridget Jones and gave her to the world through her novels Bridget Jones' Diary and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. For Bridget Jones lurks in every woman everywhere no matter how hard we try to hide her.

Chick lit as we know it today stems from or is modernized Jane Austin. Jane Austin is the real first lady of chick lit or women’s fiction. She helped create a genre for women when it wasn’t fashionable to be a woman author.

What I love about chick lit or women’s fiction is that it deals with the tough issues, the emotional issues, and while the writing can be very literary, it’s also smart and humorous, like women.

Jacobs covered the basics of writing chick lit and women’s fiction in her workshop discussing the importance of character development, character arc, pacing, plot, tense, point of view, the art of having a storytelling device, and the ending. “Chick lit wants either a happy ending or the promise of a happy ending,” Jacobs stated, “however, if your work is more literary your ending may be more ambiguous.”



The chick lit label does come with somewhat of a stigma. I think it has to do with all the pink book covers and references to shoes. Which is great for marketing, but for some reason the term chick lit sends a message that its not serious fiction. Whereas the term women’s fiction seems to have more depth. In a recent interview with Lara Tupper, author of A Thousand and One Nights, I asked her thoughts about chick lit and the chick lit label.

Here’s what Tupper had to say:

“I think the chick-lit label is problematic because it implies that a book is meant to be read by a certain demographic. And I find the term itself a little confusing-- not at all subversive (as in “we are chicks, hear us roar”). It’s become synonymous with ‘light’ subject matter and I’m not sure why that is. Because it’s written by women about women? A book such as Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity (a book I adore) is also a novel about pop songs and relationships. It’s narrated from a male point of view and yet it’s certainly not a book meant only for men. So I think the label chick lit points to a misconception or a double standard based on gender: Women write books for women while men write books for all.

That said, I think there’s nothing wrong with ‘light’—and I think it’s entirely possible for novels to be both ‘entertaining’ and substantive. In A Thousand and One Nights, I try to use pop lyrics in service of humor and to place the reader quite firmly in the mid to late 1990’s. But I also try to say something about disillusionment.”

I agree with Tupper that the label chick lit can have some negative connotations. It’s almost like saying men read real books and women read the pink fluffy books called chick lit. However, some chick lit can be just as compelling as the 'real' books. I’ve laughed and cried my way through chick lit just as I have more literary works.

As a reader and writer of chick lit and women’s fiction, I was pleased to have the genre represented at the conference and presented so well by Farrin Jacobs. I learned a lot more about chick lit and women’s fiction, why I love it and why I want to write it.

More on the 2007 Yosemite Writers Conference:

Yosemite Writers Conference: Demystifying Chick lit and Women’s fiction
Yosemite Writers Conference: Poetry talk
Mystery talk after David Morrell's big speech
2007 Yosemite Writers Conference: Brenda Knight Sidesteps the TVA man
Yosemite Writers and the Chukchansi bathroom break
Headed to Yosemite Writers Conference to talk writing for social change

Labels: Bridget Jones' Diary, chick lit, Farrin Jacobs, Fiction, Good in Bed, Jennifer Weiner, Lara Tupper, Literary, Noveltown, women's fiction, Yosemite Writers Conference

  posted by Matildakay at 7:37 PM 1 comments

Schedule for the Yosemite Writers Conference
In a recent interview with Bonnie Hearn Hill about the Yosemite Writers Conference, she stated:

“We have four workshops an hour geared for everyone at every stage of her/his career; however, we encourage writers to follow their passion. If a beginning writer wants to attend a workshop on how to sell books to film, that’s fine. I should add that we have a talented sound professional from Hawaii recording all of the workshops, so if you miss one you think you might like, you can purchase a CD.”

Wow! That’s a lot of workshops! And there are a lot of great topics being covered! There are a couple of timeslots where I wish I could clone myself and sit in two workshops at the same time. I just might have to purchase a CD of the workshops so I don’t miss anything.

Take a look at the schedule of workshops for next week’s Yosemite Writers Conference:

Friday August 24:

9:15 – 10:15 AM –
Sharpen Your Hooks – Fiction
Writing For Social Change
Writing and Publishing Your Memoir
Writing Anthologies For the Soul

10:45 – 11:45 AM –
Ghosting Where the Money is: A Guide to Co-authoring
How to Stand Out in the Nonfiction Market
Selling to Chronicle Books
Editing Poetry: Entering the process whole and coming out humming

1:45 – 2:45 PM –
All About Platform: If You Build It, They Will Come
Spiritual Writing in the Age of The Secret
Selling to Tor Books
Chick Lit is Dead, and Other Myths About Women's Fiction

3:00 – 4:00 PM –
How to Pitch an Editor
Rates, rights and rules of engagement: What you need to know about magazine freelancing
Selling to Weiser Books
Take Your Book to the Movies

Saturday August 25:

9:15 – 10:15 AM –
He, She and the Dreaded Omniscient: Point of View at Close Range
Confessions of a Contest Judge
Picture Book Manuscript Critique
Beyond the Basics - What Every Author Needs to Know Before, During and After Publication

10:45 – 11: 45 AM –
Sharpen your Hooks – Nonfiction
Blogging Your Way to Fame

1:45 – 2:45 PM –
How to Pitch an Agent
Murder, They Wrote: A Guide to Mystery, Suspense & Thrillers
Writing for Guideposts

3:00 – 4:00 PM –
Tapping the Hot YA Market
Invisible Genius: Ghostwriting for The Penn Group
Twisting the Mystery Plot

*****************
www.noveltown.net
www.yosemitewriters.com

Labels: Bonnie Hearn Hill, editors, Fiction, literary agents, Mystery, non-fiction, Noveltown, women's fiction, workshops, Writing, Yosemite Writers Conference

  posted by Matildakay at 1:25 PM 0 comments