What is Chick Lit?

What is Chick Lit?

 

When I think of Chick Lit I immediately think of loss, love, and happy endings. One can look through the shelves of bookstores and immediately pick out some Chick Lit books based solely on their cover design. Bright neon or pastel colors with some sort of fashion item, makeup item, wedding item, or semi-sexual gesture (puckered up lips) engulf the covers. But what are some good characteristics of Chick Lit? What actually defines Chick Lit? Does it always have to do with romance or love? I chose to first stop at www.wikipedia.com to see how they defined Chick Lit.

“Chick lit” is a term used to denote a genre of fiction written for and marketed to young women, especially single, working women in their twenties and thirties. Chick lit features hip, stylish female protagonists, in urban settings (usually London or Manhattan), and follows their love lives and struggles in business (often in the publishing, advertising, public relations or fashion industry). The books usually feature an airy, irreverent tone and frank sexual themes.”

So it seemed as if I were very correct in believing that most, if not all, Chick Lit books deal with romance. So what is another definition of Chick Lit? My next stop: http://chicklitbooks.com/ .

“Chick lit is a genre comprised of books that are mainly written by women for women. The books range from having main characters in their early 20’s to their late 60’s. There is usually a personal, light, and humorous tone to the books. Sometimes they are written in first-person narrative; other time they are written from multiple viewpoints. The plots usually consist of women experiencing usual life issues, such as love, marriage, dating, relationships, friendships, roommates, corporate environments, weight issues, addiction, and much more. Chick lit is told in a more confiding, personal tone. It’s like having a best friend tell you about her life. Or watching various characters go through things that you have gone through yourself, or witnessed others going through. Humor is a strong point in chick lit, too.

This definition is very similar to the explanation from wikipedia. But after searching for some more sites about the definition of “Chick Lit” I came across some other genres that branched off of Chick Lit such as “Mom Lit” and “Teen Lit”. So Chick Lit is obviously growing and can be found in numerous languages, making it a world wide genre.

But I am still slightly unaware of how Chick Lit is different from regular women’s fiction and ‘romance’ novels? And as I kept reading on www.chicklitbooks.com I came across my answer:

“It’s all in the tone. Chick lit is told in a more confiding, personal tone. It’s like having a best friend tell you about her life. Or watching various characters go through things that you have gone through yourself, or witnessed others going through. Humor is a strong point in chick lit, too. Nearly every chick lit book has had some type of humor in it. THAT is what really separates chick lit from regular women’s fiction.”

So- now that we know what Chick Lit is, is the genre a good thing for Young Adult Readers to delve into? …to be continuted