What is Chick lit?

[Michelle]

Can I ask what it is you want to discuss.. the difference between the two phrases? If so, perhaps this should be in the Chick Lit? thread?

 

Can you also please not link direct to Amazon's images, thanks.

[Guest]

Righto.

 

It was just the common - not even confusion - between the two, but (and this is a real word, promise) interchangeableness of 'chic' and 'chick', which mean two completely different things.

[ChickLitMom]

These are usually labelled as chick lit, but I'm not sure that they are.. I would personally call them 'women's fiction'.

 

One of the terms that I see often is Mommy Lit for those books that are similar to chick lit but deal with married women and their issues. My very favorite Mommy Lit books are Odd Mom Out and Mrs. Perfect by Jane Porter. Written with the same flare as Chick Lit but for old mommies like me!

[wrathofkublakhan]

Fun thread!

The TV show Sex in the City could be held up as an example of what chic-lit could be; I could only manage to watch a few episodes (hated it) the men were cardboard-two-dimensional-flat. I remember wondering at the time if it was a sort of backlash to men objectifying bimbos for years in the media.

 

So, anyways, IF chic-lit is the flashy pastel covers like Janet Evanovich then I love this type of writing. It's fun and frothy and entirely disposable. It's not the coincidence that makes it work but rather the circumstance.

 

One worthy in this thread mentioned lack of character development over the arc of the series, our hero never learns anything for the experiences. I would look fondly over at Miss Jane Marple and see that she really didn't change over a series of books because her character arrived fully developed. Like sit-coms on television, the fun is putting familiar characters in different scenarios; so, we see Marple or Holmes or Nero Wolfe or any cast on a sit-com dealing with circumstance (it's Christmas at the 4077). It's a different style of writing because it's not about any rite of passage but rather the foibles of society, the outer not the inner.

[Kylie]

Fun thread!

Like sit-coms on television, the fun is putting familiar characters in different scenarios; so, we see Marple or Holmes or Nero Wolfe or any cast on a sit-com dealing with circumstance (it's Christmas at the 4077).

 

Good point Wrath, and good to see you around the forum again!

[flowersarah]

Seems that chick lit isn't always taken as seriously as other genres of books. A bit annoying as the "chick lit" books I've read have been brilliantly and have to be regarded as high as other pieces of work.

[madaboutbooks]

Where did the expression "chick lit" come from anyway? I also find some of them are real page turners and should be up there with some of the classics!

[Kate]

Where did the expression "chick lit" come from anyway? I also find some of them are real page turners and should be up there with some of the classics!

 

I agree, I love chick lit. I think it is a solid, good genre, just like all the others.

[Kell]

Where did the expression "chick lit" come from anyway? I also find some of them are real page turners and should be up there with some of the classics!

Here you go - from Wikipedia:

"Chick" is an American slang term for young woman and "Lit" is short for "literature".

 

The term was introduced by Cris Mazza and Jeffrey DeShell as an ironic title for their edited anthology Chick Lit: Postfeminist Fiction, published in 1995. The genre was defined as a type of post-feminist or second-wave feminism that went beyond female-as-victim to include fiction that covered the breadth of female experiences, including love, courtship and gender. The collection emphasized experimental work, including violent, perverse and sexual themes. James Wolcott's 1996 article in The New Yorker "Hear Me Purr" co-opted the term "chick lit" to proscribe what he called the trend of "girlishness" evident in the writing of female newspaper columnists at that time. Works such as Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones's Diary and Candace Bushnell's Sex and the City are examples of such work that helped establish contemporary connotations of the term. The success of Bridget Jones and Sex and the City in book form established chick lit as an important trend in publishing. The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank is regarded as one of the first chick lit works to originate as a novel (actually a collection of stories), though the term "chick lit" was in common use at the time of its publication (1999).

 

Publishers continue to push the sub-genre because of its viability as a sales tactic. Various other terms have been coined as variant in attempts to attach themselves to the perecieved marketability of the work.

 

Some critics have noted a male equivalent in authors like Ben Elton, Mike Gayle, Paul Howard and Nick Hornby, referred to as "lad lit" and "dick lit".

You can find out more about the origins of Chick lit at Wikipedia HERE.

[Bronwen]

I'm not as into chick lit as I am horror and exciting stuff such as zombies, vampires, scary things emerging from the sea to eat you etc. and I love Dean Koontz and some comedy too. I like a bit of everything really. Marian Keyes is good.

[Ruth]

Fun thread!

The TV show Sex in the City could be held up as an example of what chic-lit could be; I could only manage to watch a few episodes (hated it) the men were cardboard-two-dimensional-flat. I remember wondering at the time if it was a sort of backlash to men objectifying bimbos for years in the media.

 

 

I loved that show - it was one of my very very favourites. But I didn't like the book it was based on very much, it was very disappointing, and an example of bad chick lit.

 

I don't mind the odd chick lit book, and some of them are very well written. I think it's a genre that does seem to attract a fair amount of dross as well though.

[AnnieM]

I think chick lit and women's fiction are one and the same thing but the former can have airheady connotations. As Michelle said, many women's fiction deal with dark issues - even if the book cover is pink!

For me, chick lit falls into a few categories. The likes of Sophie Kinsella and Louise Bagshaw are pretty light reads, heavily involved in romance, fashion, finding Mr Right etc etc.

Then you have the likes of Marian Keyes who bring in darer themes but still manage a real warmth.

And then, having just read The Pirates Daughter, would you class that as women's fiction? I thought it was a masterpiece and blew me away. Was told from a woman's point of view and was passionate and romantic and emotional - everything good chick lit should be!

I've noticed of late there's a lot of 'mum lit' and I sometimes like that but would love to read a good chick lit sexy, fun book that's a bit naughty and funny...anyone? Kind of Bridget Jones but a fresh take on it.

Thanks:friends0:

[scottishbookworm]

marian keyes is my favourite chick lit writer.

 

[Weave]

I think there is different levels of chick lit, some that are more serious than others (if that makes sense). I tend to go with the lighter reads

[Stephanie2008]

I think there is different levels of chick lit, some that are more serious than others (if that makes sense). I tend to go with the lighter reads

 

It does make sense. There are ones that are really lighthearted (not many characters, not many plotlines, but easy to read) and there are more depth ones.

 

My favourite chicklit writes include Cecelia Ahern (Where Rainbows End will always be a favourite of mine), Mike Gayle (good to see a man's perspective) and Lucy Diamond (I just read her two books and really loved Over You - very warm hearted, especially dealing with the children).

[Philipa_Kay]

I think there is different levels of chick lit, some that are more serious than others (if that makes sense). I tend to go with the lighter reads

 

 

I think I agree with this. There are some authors that you just don't know whether to class as Chick Lit or not... Marian Keyes maybe, or Jodi Piccolt. Although, I personally wouldn't say Jodi is but I know some of my friends would. I also feel that the cover design given to the novel probably has a big influence on deciding which category it should fall into. Just wondering also, not not just about the definition of chick lit, but the origins? Did is start with Bridget Jones, or all the way back to Jane Austen for example?

[Philipa_Kay]

I loved that show - it was one of my very very favourites. But I didn't like the book it was based on very much, it was very disappointing, and an example of bad chick lit.

 

 

I only got half way through this book and that was a struggle in itself, very disappointing. I hate to not finish books... in fact I think it's the first and only Chick Lit novel I haven't finished, it's a shame because I thought the show was brilliant! Some might say its because the book didn't live up to the show, so maybe my expectations were too high, but I still loved Bridget Jones Diary after having seen the movie first :-)

[Maggie Dana]

There are some authors that you just don't know whether to class as Chick Lit or not... Marian Keyes maybe, or Jodi Piccolt.

 

I'd class Marian Keyes as chick-lit, but not Jodi Picoult, but they both write under the big umbrella of women's fiction, and while I'm sure some men read Picoult (and maybe even Keyes), they're probably few and far between.

 

Picoult confronts tough issues in her novels, and while she may sometimes produce an ending that disappoints her readers, she is prodigious and thorough with her research into topics many writers (myself included) wouldn't presume to tackle.

 

Definitely not, IMHO, chick lit.

[BookBee8]

No, I definitely wouldn't class Jodi Picoult as chick lit. At least, not under the definition in my mind. I see chick lit as mainly romance based, they're usually quite light and easy to read and tend to have your typical characters in. That's kind of the opposite of Jodi Picoult. But yeah, I guess more women do read her books.

[Pixie]

I seriously am puzzled by this term.

I noticed that an author I like, Jodi Picoult, is listed under this category. I have always thought of chick lit as steamy romance novels where the average woman gets this huge hunk of a guy who just happens to be rich and heroic as well.

If my definition is wrong, then what is chick lit? What are themes that only appeal to women? I see themes in Picoult's books that could appeal to men as well as women.

Inquiring minds want to know.

[Kell]

According to Wikipedia:

 

Chick lit is genre fiction within women's fiction which addresses issues of modern women often humorously and lightheartedly. The genre sells well, with chick lit titles topping bestseller lists and the creation of imprints devoted entirely to chick lit. Although sometimes it includes romantic elements, women's fiction (including chick lit) is generally not considered a direct subcategory of the romance novel genre, because in chick lit the heroine's relationship with her family or friends may be just as important as her romantic relationships.

 

 

I always understood it to be novels aimed at women, and primarily written by women, that weren't generally too heavy and often had a slightly humourous slant to them.

[Pixie]

Thank you, Kell.

 

I think I have better understanding now.

[Zumii]

I will thank you too Kell & many thanks to you too Pixie for asking. I was never quite sure either!