Since November 2009Author Article: Chick Lit gets Serious by Nina Bell
September 23rd, 2010 by Chloe
I recently had the pleasure of reviewing Nina Bell’s new title Lovers and Liars which covers the touch subject of domestic abuse, and is therefore a little different to the usual chick-lit subject you might expect from such a book. Nina has kindly offered to write us an article on the change in direction of chick lit, and so we present ‘Chick Lit Gets Serious’. Enjoy, and do let us know your opinions in the comments!
Chick Lit Gets Serious by Nina Bell:
“I recently heard a snatch of a Radio 4 literary programme, criticising Chick Lit because ‘it didn’t address the real issues in women’s lives.’ Hello? How can a genre that tackles alcoholism, anorexia, adultery, adoption and acne (and that’s just the ‘A’s) not address the real issues in women’s lives? Bridget Jones lifted the lid on young women’s drinking, but a decade on, Veronica Henry’s The Beach Hut, in spite of its pretty, summery cover, shows where that drinking can lead. Sam Baker’s The Stepmother’s Support Group, also packaged in pastels, was written after a deluge of heart-felt communications from struggling stepmothers. Blockbuster-style foil-blocked covers on Dorothy Koomson’s The Ice Cream Girls, Marian Keyes This Charming Man and my own Lovers & Liars (I hope!) conceal unflinching portrayals of physical and psychological abuse, all the more effectively conveyed via storytelling rather than in an information leaflet that will never be read. My daughter will be better equipped for life if she reads these books rather than any Booker-Shortlisted novel. Today’s Chick Lit has morphed from the search for The One to the search for yourself, tackling dark issues in a light, informative, enjoyable way.
And layers of research often go into these apparently frothy confections – while writing Lovers & Liars, my desk piled up with psychology books and interviews with experts in treating psychological abuse. My notebook is always thick with interviews: for my previous book, Sisters In Law, about how divorce impacts on wider family relationships, I talked to top divorce lawyers. And for The Inheritance, set in the world of horses, I immersed myself in the world of horses for two years, asking riders everything from obscure technical questions to whether they preferred jelly babies or Smarties.
The frivolity of chicklit makes it quite subversive - it’s a way of women talking to women about serious issues while no-one else notices. For example, the ‘sex and shopping’ novels of the 1980s and 90s were part of women beginning to earn –and spend - their own money and own their own sexuality. No wonder some people found them threatening.
I think the Radio 4 literati were probably referring to the classic ‘Cinderella’ chick-lit plot, where the storyline suggests that provided you are good, sweet, self-effacing and hard-working, your prince will rescue you. I think an evil witch - or, more probably, wizard - devised this myth to keep young girls in line (or in the kitchen), but few chicklit heroines are now just waiting to be rescued.
They’re getting on with their lives: if you think Chick Lit doesn’t connect with reality, then consider the way many other novels rarely feature children. Or animals. Or proper jobs. There’s a kind of ascetic unreality about an Iris Murdoch novel, for example. Chick lit heroines juggle careers, children, friends, colleagues, a boss, parents, even pets or horses. And that’s not easy – when I was writing The Inheritance, the need to make sure the horses were fed or transported to the right place was as demanding on the plot as it is in real life. And as for fictional babysitters….just don’t go there. Write like Iris Murdoch. It’s easier.
I once overheard a middle-aged man ask a young female book reviewer what ‘chick lit’ was. ‘If a book has a pink cover,’ she replied. ‘It’s chick lit, so you throw it away.’ I hope – for her sake - that when she has a real problem in her life, she stops, hand halfway to the wastepaper basket, and thinks ‘Maybe I should try this….’”
Thanks so much, Nina!
Posted in Author Article | 4 Comments »
Well said, Nina. So far in my three novels I’ve dealt with attempted suicide, schoolgirl sex, domestic violence and miscarriage. Like many of the other novels you mention they have appeared in typical ‘chick-lit’ covers, (though I have managed to avoid pink so far!) If men write about these subjects their novels are taken seriously. Women’s novels, it seems, are not. When trying to get my latest novel stocked by an independent bookshop, the manager took one look at the cover and said ‘we don’t stock that sort of book’. It’s time for authors to rail against the pinkification and homogenisation of jackets. (I’m getting a new style jacket for the next novel which will hopefully reflect this) Friends of mine say they have no idea which of the books on the shelves deal with serious issues and which are more frothy reads. The whole ‘chick-lit’ label has got out of hand. Women’s clothes come in different styles and sizes and we need to get away from the ‘one jacket fits all’ approach to any novel written by a woman under 50. And in the meantime we need to get the message across to booksellers and reviewers not to dismiss our work without taking a look behind the cover.
I couldn’t agree more, Nina. I started writing twelve years ago, and the book that kick started me? Rachel’s Holiday - an in depth portrayal of drug addiction, which is both witty, wise and immensely moving. I really don’t see why we shouldn’t include “real life” issues in our work - I’m too old to be still searching for the “One”, but I know all about juggling children and careers, and sickness, and heartache that comes from things other then our romantic relationships. My last two books have tackled serious issues: in Last Christmas I dealt with depression and alzheimer’s; in The Bridesmaid Pact it was alcoholism, life threatening disease and infertility. I hope I have also written books that are warm and life affirming. I don’t see why you can’t mix the light with the dark stuff. We all do it every day. And after all, no one ever accused Dickens of being shallow cos he mixed up light fluffy romance with more serious stuff did they? Oh, but then again, he’s a bloke AND a National Institution. But Little Nell is still a seriously wet character…
People who think Chick Lit is all about fluffy wuffy girlies simply haven’t read any and are perpetuating stereotypes that I’m not sure have ever existed. The books simply wouldn’t sell if they weren’t grounded in reality, and that reality can include heavier topics than the perfect height for a kitten heel. We’re not helped by some of the covers, which I’m sure put off as many readers as they attract - personally I gave up pink and sparkles when I was 6.
Hear hear! Just because a book has a happy ending doesn’t mean its characters haven’t worked for it! I call my novels ‘psychological romance’ rather than chick lit, even though reviewers try to switch labels on me. I’ve written a hero with cerebral palsy and my new book deals with drug addiction and street gangs - but I bet someone, somewhere will call it chick lit. I think it’s just a convenient label, a shorthand way of saying ‘this book was written by a woman and is about ‘women’s things” just in case a man should stray in its direction.