~ By Melina Kantor

Happy weekend, everyone.

To those of you who took the poll on Monday, thank you! If you haven’t had a chance, click here.

The poll showed that readers are most interested in author guest posts, posts on writing industry, and resources and tools for writers. Good to know! We’ll do our best.

As for what’s happening with our favorite genre this week:

Mostly, there’s a lot of talk about chick lit author and member of parliament (aka “Chick Lit MP”) Louise Mensch. (We mentioned this article she wrote, in defense of romance and chick lit, two weeks ago, as you may recall.)

Of course, most of the attention she’s getting this week is on her phone hacking select committee hearing.

Sadly, it seems that her history as an author of 12 chick lit books has come back to haunt her, especially on one particular blog:

. . . but the blog’s snide, patronising tone – Bagehot calls her “the author of breathless ‘chick lit‘ novels” — sticks in the throat. Since her election last year, Mensch has struggled to be taken seriously, her career as a bestselling author continually bandied about as an indication of her lack of gravitas. Such sneering persistently dogs female authors of commercially successful novels that appeal predominantly to women: the genre dubbed, in a vastly unsatisfactory and reductive term, “chick lit”.

Thoughts? Comments?

And yet again, Jennifer Weiner is all over Google again. She herself posted a link on Facebook to an interview in the San Francisco Chronicle about her new TV show and new book.

Yeah, she’s still on a roll!

Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments! As always, if you’ve got links to any other chick lit or romance news items, let us know.

Have a great weekend, and see you next week.

Melina writes contemporary women’s fiction with a pinch of oregano and a dash of chutzpah. She is spending her summer visiting family and friends in Crete and Israel, and doing her best to turn her travels into research and inspiration for her writing. You can visit her at http://melinakantor.com.

We really hope you’re enjoying the blog!

We’re curious though. . .

What would you like to see more of?

Please take our poll and let us know. You can also leave a comment with other suggestions, or email me at melina@melinakantor.com.

And if you’re interested in writing a post for the blog, do get in touch!

Thanks, and have a great week!

Melina

So there I was gathering links for one of our “This Week in Chick Lit” posts when an excellent piece of news appeared on my computer screen. Ann Brashares had a new book coming out! The Sisterhood was back!

I scanned the screen for information on the release date. June 14^th. I’d only have to wait a few days, but I knew it was going to feel like an eternity.

I was dying to know what had come of Bea, Lena, Carmen and Tibby over the past ten years, especially since the last time I’d seen them, they’d lost the pair of pants that bonded them and magically fit them all.

Say what you will about the Traveling Pants series, but I’ll admit to being a complete and total fan. I discovered the books as an adult, as a result, I confess, of the movie. Even in movie form, the personalities of the characters shined through, and I couldn’t help but be impressed. I was at Barnes and Noble buying a copy of the book minutes after the movie ended.

Somehow, I identified with all four girls – especially Lena. You see, Lena and I are both Greek, and like Lena, I spent my high school summers in a small Greek village on the water. Somehow, even without have ever visited Greece, Ann Brashares’ description of Lena’s experience was amazingly accurate. (Although I did choose to overlook the fact that if Lena’s grandfather were real, he’d probably eat yoghurt with honey, and not Rice Krispies, for breakfast.)

I’ve since read or listened to each of the books at least twice. So you can imagine why I was happy dancing in my desk chair when I found out about Sisterhood Everlasting.

To sweeten the deal, it seemed the girls were headed back to Greece for a reunion.

But then I saw something in an interview with Ann Brashares that gave me chills. She was describing what it felt like to kill off a character.

No!!!!!!!

Suddenly, I wasn’t so sure I even wanted to read the book.

But how could I NOT read it? I’d come so far with these four girls.

So, on June 14, right on schedule, I downloaded the audio version of the book, which was, coincidentally right on time for my own trip to Greece.

At the beginning of the story, I felt an incredible sense of comfort at being back with the girls. After ten years, they remained true to their characters yet had changed just enough (Carmen’s eyebrows are “a little thinner” and her jeans are “a little tighter”) to show the passage of time.

I was also excited to continue the love stories between Tibby and Brian, Bea and Eric, and (frustrating as their relationship may be) Lena and Kostas.

But Ann Brashares wastes no time. Tragedy strikes from almost the beginning, making the story first and foremost about grief.

I can’t say I agree in any way with the dramatic choice Ann Brashares made, but I can’t fault her for it either. In fact, it’s pretty impressive that even though one of the girls is dead, her character remains true and present in the book.

I do believe that an author knows what’s best for her story. Jennifer Weiner made a similarly controversial choice in Certain Girls, and she’s standing by it.

On the other hand, I also believe an author has to take her readers and their expectations and emotions into consideration.

When I first heard about the book, I pictured myself listening to it while relaxing on a Greek beach. Instead, I listened to it while sitting on my bed in the hotel, feeling drained. Was I cheated?

I’m not sure. . .

What do you think? Have you ever chosen to kill off a character? Have you ever grieved the death of a fictional person?

One last question: Sisterhood Everlasting could easily be considered chick lit. What do you think? Does tragedy have a place in chick lit?

Leave a comment and let us know what you think.

Melina writes contemporary women’s fiction with a pinch of oregano and a dash of chutzpah. By day, she is an elementary school computer teacher. You can visit her at http://melinakantor.com.

I just returned from a glorious weekend in my favorite town – Carmel-by-the-Sea.

An artist’s enclave, I was charmed by the storybook cottages, many galleries, and dog friendly shops and restaurants.

But the highlight of my trip – the ultimate chick lit lover’s souvenir.

A high heel shoes permit! Though many people think it’s a myth, Carmel-by-the-Sea bans ladies from wearing high heels. So to strut in your Louboutins, you must get a permit. I strolled into City Hall and the lovely City Clerk took my driver’s license.

I think I’ll frame it!

Alana Albertson is the President of RWA’s Chick Lit Writers Chapter and the founder of Academe Advantage, a college admissions & test preparation company. A recovering Chick Lit author, Alana currently writes contemporary romance and young adult fiction. She lives in San Diego, California, with her husband, seven-month old baby boy, and a menagerie of rescue pets. When she’s not spending her time needlepointing, dancing or playing the drums, she can be found watching episodes of House Hunters, Big Love, or Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team. Keep up with her at alanaalbertson.com.

It’s the fourth Monday of the month, which means that it’s time for one of our chapter PAN members (PAN stands for Published Authors Network, a professional designation within RWA open to members who reach a certain level of sales) to visit the blog to share some of their wisdom and expertise.

This month, Maureen McGowen talks about the art of writing about female friendships.

Take it away, Maureen!

Female Friendships and Comedy

~ By Maureen McGowan

The recent release of Something Borrowed and Bridesmaids got me thinking about the way that female friendships are portrayed in Hollywood comedies.

I’ve never understood why, when Hollywood screenwriters are trying to write humor for women, they think the only answer is to have the characters be viciously mean to each other and/or have them act like toddlers fighting over toys.

One relatively recent film that really bothered me was Bridal Wars, with Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway. I went to this movie hoping for a light 90 minutes of fun and instead I got angry. I get that it was comedy and exaggerated, but to me the idea that these two best friends would get so vicious over a wedding venue was appalling. Not to mention the ways in which they let their fight escalate. Who behaves that way? Throughout that whole movie, I wanted to tell them both to grow up.

Yes, women get jealous of each other. PEOPLE get jealous of each other. And we all sometimes behave in ways we later regret. But I’ve never understood where this stereotype of women attacking other women comes from. As if it’s the default behavior of our gender to claw each other’s eyes out at the slightest provocation. As if we all secretly want each other to fail.

That has not been my experience with any real-life women I have known.

On the other hand, Bridesmaids did an excellent job of portraying a real female friendship and it was funnier than all those catfight movies. Plus, it was genuinely touching. It’s also about a long-term friendship on the rocks, but instead of resorting to catfight territory, the film found a way to make the friendship seem real — you could tell these women love each other, even when things go downhill so far they aren’t speaking.

I think most women can identify with the not-so-commendable but complex emotions that Kristen Wiig’s character experiences in the movie — trying to be happy for her best friend, while feeling jealous and mourning the fact that nothing’s going to ever be the same between them again. I think any woman who’s had a best friend or sister get married, or a friend develop a new friendship that excludes her, or a friend who otherwise moves into a different phase of her life, can identify with the mixed emotions that Kristen Wiig experiences.

Sure, some of the things she does to act out were a tad over the top (it is a comedy) but I totally believed the motivation behind all her actions and it wasn’t over something trivial. It was over their friendship. It was over being hurt. It wasn’t over a room. And a lot of the funniest moments where Wiig is ruining things for her friend, her motivation isn’t malicious; rather there’s a series of unfortunate circumstances. She doesn’t pick that restaurant hoping they’ll all get sick, and when Rose Byrne dopes her up on the plane, she might not have wonderful motivations but I don’t believe anyone expected what happened. Byrne just wants Wiig to stop fall asleep and/or stay away.

Speaking of Rose Byrne, even Bridesmaid‘s “mean girl” has a heart in the end and we understand the motivations behind her misdeeds–loneliness.

I wish more movies portrayed female relationships in such a real way and took the time to develop female characters.

To that end, I’d like every female writer reading this to take a solemn oath.

All together: I shall not portray female friendships using blatant negative stereotypes.

What do think? Am I off base here? Was I just in a bad mood when I saw Bride Wars? If you saw Bridesmaids, did you love the friendship between Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph as much as I did?

Maureen McGowan is the author of Cinderella: Ninja Warrior and Sleeping Beauty: Vampire Slayer, adventurous fairy tale re-imaginings where the heroines are capable of saving themselves—and get the prince. You can keep in touch with her at www.maureenmcgowan.com , follow her on Twitter or “like” her on Facebook and Goodreads.

~ By Meredith Schorr

My dear friend Alan bought me a Kindle for my birthday. My birthday was in December and, so far, the only book I’ve downloaded is my own. (Don’t roll your eyes and make like you wouldn’t download your book first too!) Of course, I haven’t read my book on the Kindle because, at this point, I’d rather stick toothpicks in my eyes than read that book again. Seriously. I’ve read it so many times, I can act out all the parts in a one woman show.

Anyway, since I went to town (twice) at the Border’s ‘going out of business sale’ and purchased quite a few print books, I haven’t had the opportunity to try out my Kindle. Until now. The book-club I organize has chosen Chasing Harry Winston by Lauren Weisberger for the April meeting. Although I really enjoyed Weisberger’s Everyone Worth Knowing, the back cover blurb for Chasing Harry Winston has never particularly appealed to me. Although I could be mistaken, the three main characters seem like the type of women who wear only expensive designer labels, gather only in the most “seen and be seen’ types of places, date only rich and/or famous men and are just kinda snobby and I prefer reading about women to whom I can relate. Aside from a few ‘cliquey’ years in college, I don’t think anyone has ever described me as snobby and since I try not to associate with snobby people, I had no desire to spend my money on a book to read about them. Not to mention that I am running out of room in my apartment to fit all of these books. (Yes, I know that’s what the library is for, but I’m sort of addicted to buying books. I do have a library card and have actually used it (once) but I like to know that the book I want to read is available to me when I want to read it and I don’t have to wait for three strangers on the waiting list ahead of me to read and return it first.)

At last, the opportunity to use my Kindle had finally presented itself and I downloaded Chasing Harry Winston on Sunday night. Correction – I paid for Chasing Harry Winston on Sunday night. I nearly had a nervous breakdown when I clicked “Buy now with one click” on the Amazon page and received a confirmation receipt in my email account but no book appeared on my Kindle. I tried to ‘sync and check for items’ but my Wi-fi password was rejected. When I plugged the Kindle into my computer instead to avoid the necessity of a Wi-fi connection, I received an error message that I could not download and read books on my Kindle while the device was plugged into my computer. So, I unplugged the Kindle and tried, once again, to do it wirelessly and once again my password was rejected. Fast forward a half hour and I’m ready to throw my Kindle across my apartment. I dropped the f-bomb multiple times, sent frustrated text messages to my sister and Alan and finally, after succumbing to Tylenol PM, went to bed. I used my firm’s Wi-fi password the next morning, the book was finally synced to the device and all was right in the world. (I know I will likely suffer the same frustrations the next time I try to download a book from my apartment but hopefully I’ll have restocked my Tylenol PM by then, assuming I can’t get my hands on anything stronger (jk).)

Although my book was published by an e-publisher and, therefore, I should be all ‘Rah-Rah”, “Goooo E-books!”, I wasn’t quite sure I was going to like reading on my Kindle. I like the feel of a book in my hands and the ability to physically turn the pages and watch my progress. I also like the ease with which I can go backwards if I find myself confused. Oh, let’s be honest: I’m just not that comfortable with change and I am simply accustomed to reading books in print.

With that said, I started reading Chasing Harry Winston on my Kindle yesterday and am currently 20% completed. I rather dig it! It is definitely less bulky than a regular book. I also like that I can only see one page at a time. I’ve always liked writing on my Blackberry because the screen is so small that the task of filling it with words seems much less daunting than filling up a full-sized computer screen. The same can be said with reading on a Kindle. With each page I read, I feel like I am accomplishing something and I never felt that way when reading a regular book. Finally, I tend to read ahead and, as a result, I have removed the surprise and suspense from the ending of many books. You can’t simply flip through the pages in a Kindle book without completely losing your place (or at least I haven’t figured out how yet) and so I might actually be surprised by the ending for a change!

In sum: my first impression of reading on a Kindle is a positive one. And my first impression of Chasing Harry Winston is pretty positive as well!

Dear Readers,

What are your opinions on the Kindle and other ereaders? Leave a comment and let us know!

Meredith Schorr is the author of Just Friends With Benefits, a humorous women’s fiction novel. She lives in New York City and works as a trademark paralegal at a prestigious law firm. In addition to writing humorous women’s fiction novels, her passions include running, spending time with friends and family and rooting for the New York Yankees. Meredith is a member of Romance Writers of America and Chick Lit Writers of The World.

~ By Chris Bailey

The first feedback I received in a novel writing course was, “clearly publishable,” but “too reportorial.”After years of attempting to eliminate all traces of the objective style drilled into me by journalism professors, I’ve finally discovered that I don’t have to discard all the old rules to pursue of creative writing.

For example: Don’t bury your lead.

In journalism’s inverted pyramid structure, the lead is supposed to provide the five Ws, and an H as well, if you can fit all that information into 36 words or fewer. The point is to convey the most important facts in the beginning, so that if the newspaper runs out of space and only the first paragraph of your masterpiece fits into the available newshole, the public still gets the gist of the story. This seems contradictory to the idea of slowly revealing a story over 325 or more pages.

But look at what a lead can do. The top story in The Birmingham (Ala.) News March 13 packed who, what, when, where, why and a hint of how in 35 words.

Japan’s nuclear crisis intensified Sunday as authorities raced to combat the threat of multiple reactor meltdowns and more than 170,000 people evacuated the quake- and tsunami-savaged northeastern coast where fears spread over possible radioactive contamination.

The lead offers presents the latest development in a heartbreaking disaster and serves as a dramatic hook that draws you in to the full story.

If the story began instead with the fact that Japan is an island nation that lies on a major fault line, you might not continue reading long enough to learn that a natural disaster had occurred.

The important thing is to keep people reading. When I advise volunteer or not-for-profit PR writers, I find that they—like freshman journalism students—almost always begin their stories with a justification for their important causes. Around the third paragraph, they’ll announce that because of the great need previously described, they’re having a fund-raising event.

No matter how worthy, the cause isn’t news. It’s a pile of backstory, and it won’t pull readers far enough into the story to find the buried lead.

Agents and editors are quick to make a similar distinction. Unless we keep them reading, they’ll never find out how lovable our characters are. In fiction, we call it in medias res—but it works for me to remember not to bury the lead. Someone—heroine or villain or nature—has already acted. The heroine must react, and it’s in the reactions of the cast of characters that the story unfolds.

Tell me—is there a rule you learned in another occupation that benefits your fiction writing? I’d love to know!

Chris Bailey’s writing for hire has appeared online, in numerous U.S. newspapers and in mailboxes across the U.S. and Canada.

~ Interview Complied by Elle Filz

It is a truth, universally acknowledged, that if you’re a bridesmaid enough times (especially in weddings taking place south of the Mason-Dixon line), you will eventually encounter a delightful tradition called “The Cake Pull.” As delicious as it sounds, it involves the bridal shower guests lining up to pull brightly-colored ribbons from the bottom layer of the day’s cake in the hopes of receiving a small fortune-telling charm.  These little keepsakes can represent upcoming engagements, impending births, new jobs, monetary windfalls, and even true love.

The best brides – say, those who’ll put you in a dress you’ll want to wear again and sit you next to their single Clooney of a cousin – will also find a way to rig the cake pull so that each member of the party gets the best possible charm for her current situation.  When it works, it’s an absolutely brilliant plan; when it doesn’t, you get a story like Kim Gruenenfelder’s delicious literary confection, There’s Cake in My Future.

In There’s Cake in My Future, bride-to-be Nic attempts to be one of those “good brides.”  She rigs the cake at her shower to bring the best, most needed, charms to each of her friends but somehow manages to still mess up the order by which the charms are distributed. Things go from bad to worse for Nic and her best friends, Mel and Seema, when they discover that not only do they have the last charm they could possibly want for themselves, but that the fortunes for the other guests have all begun coming true.

Kim, a Hollywood screenwriter who’s also the author of the hysterically funny A Total Waste of Makeup and Misery Loves Cabernet, sat down to answer a few questions for us.

Welcome, Kim!

The cake pull is a little known (mostly) Southern tradition. How did you come to use it as inspiration?

My friend Dorothy was at a cake pull a few years ago, and everyone who pulled charms started having their charms come true. Dorothy is a fellow screenwriter, but didn’t have time to write about such a tradition, so she suggested I write a book about it.

The three girls have such vibrant personalities and share equal billing at the top. Of the three, who was the easiest to write and who did you like the most?

Hm….. I’ve been wrestling with this question, because I feel like all of them were hard to write and easy to write depending on the moment. I am a Mom, so Nic’s household frustrations were easy – but trying to get her out of that damned bathroom took me 3 weeks. I was cheated on back in college, so writing about Mel’s discovery was actually kind of hard because it brought back all of those hideous feelings of low self-worth – but then her attitude about getting back out there was kind of fun because I know how it turns out – I eventually got a guy way better than the one who cheated on me. Seema was easy, but I had to edit myself – you can’t obsess about a guy all the time without boring your friends (or your readers.) I like all three girls for different reasons: Seema has the best lines, Nic has the best work ethic despite being unemployed, and I think Mel is the most loyal (although she risks being a doormat).

How do you think your career as a screenwriter has helped with your novel-writing?

Screenwriting is mostly about dialogue and character to me. Or at least my screenplays are. So every scene (or chapter) starts with, “What does my character want in this scene (or chapter)?” In screenplays, it’s all about the action you see a character doing. In books, the answer can be as simple as “She wants to obsess for 5 pages about her crush.” Or “She just wants to bitch about doing dishes.” Yes, at some point I need to describe wedding gowns and hotels in vivid detail, but I do that later. It all starts with the character for me.

You use one of most iconic, squeal-worthy, scenes in cinematic history as a major plot point. Without giving too much away — nobody likes a spoiled cake — how did that scene come into being?

Would be hard for me to give much away – I had to ask you which scene you meant. Those kinds of scenes are fun to write – I have no idea how I write them, my characters just start talking in my head and I type it up. But I do love it when a plan comes together. And that movie you refer to is one of my favorites – it’s all about dialogue!

Which of the charms best describes where you are right now in terms of what you want to accomplish in your writing career?

In terms of my writing career, I suppose the shovel – since it represents hard work. Although I also like that typewriter. In terms of my life, I wouldn’t mind the money charm! There’s also a travel charm that would be nice. What I want to accomplish in my writing career has varied throughout my career, so the charm would change. If you had asked me at 20 what my goals were, I would have said create a TV series – books hadn’t even entered my mind. My first novel was my take on turning 30 – love it or hate it, this is what I think. “Cake” was about some things that go on in your thirties. I suspect I will continue to want to explore things as my friends and I age and go through them. Hopefully my audience stays with me.

What do you say to those who claim “chick-lit is dead”?  What do you call the types of books that you write?

I am very saddened to hear “chick-lit is dead” because that attitude is keeping books from being bought by the publishers right now, which is keeping them off the shelves, which means no one can buy them. I do think the market got inundated for a while there, but the pendulum has swung too much the other way. If you ask me what I write in front of my editor, I will say I write “women’s fiction”. At a party, I say I write chick-lit. The term was originally coined as an insult: a teeny bit of gum that has no significance. I believe we need to own the term: I write comical fiction for women and gay men. It’s what I do. I adore Jonathan Franzen, but I will never be him. If you want to laugh out loud on vacation or on the subway, I’m your gal. Will it be thought provoking 20 years from now? Not sure, but hopefully you can relate to something now.

What are you working on now?

I am hoping to be writing a sequel to “Cake” and will know in the next few days. For the past 6 months, I’ve been taking a bit of a break from novel writing – I’m jotting down notes and coming up with character ideas, but not so much sitting down and writing. I recently saw an art teacher on TV who said, “Sometimes you have to let the ground be fallow for a bit before you can grow again.” I’m working on a few TV pilots – we’ll see if anything happens with any of them. TV’s even harder than publishing: even if you sell a script, there is no guarantee it will ever get filmed, and even if it does, no guarantee it will air. But it’s fun to work on something different.

Thanks, Kim!  Best of luck on the new pilots, and hopefully we’ll see another slice of Cake soon!

*Update: Kim just began working on the “Cake” sequel!

~ By Meredith Schorr

I love my mom more than all the sushi in Japan (a lot), but I have to give significant credit to her mother, my Nanny Tessie, for helping to raise me. While my mother worked full time to support three children as a single parent, my Nanny Tessie was there to greet me every day when I came home from school. My Nanny Tessie made me hot tea and toast and placed a cold compress on my head when I was sick. My Nanny Tessie did my laundry. My Nanny Tessie drove me to Hebrew School in her embarrassingly old eggplant-colored car. And my Nanny Tessie woke up at 7 each and every morning to prepare a six course feast for dinner. (It’s a wonder I was never obese.) I loved Nanny Tessie but, admittedly, I was sometimes embarrassed by her. She was old; she had fake teeth; she wore a hearing aide that never seemed to work properly; she’d stare out the window until my sisters and I came home at night and she never failed to call me by one of my sister’s names.

My Nanny Tessie passed away almost ten years ago and I’d give anything to struggle to converse with her on the phone just one more time, but until I read Adena’s Halpern‘s novel, “29″, I never gave much thought to her life separate and apart from her role as my grandmother. She was my Nanny Tessie, but she was once a beautiful (drop dead gorgeous, in fact) young woman with her own desires, dreams and struggles. As I look at the stray grey hairs sprouting on my own head and religiously apply moisturizer to keep the wrinkles at bay, I have no doubt that Nanny Tessie had her own issues with aging, especially as she watched her own daughter grow up, get married and have children and then her two eldest granddaughters do the same.

Adena Halpern’s “29″, while a light read, touched me in a way I’m not accustomed to being touched by a ‘chick-lit’ novel. Ellie Jerome makes a wish on her 75th birthday to be 29 again. When she wakes up the next morning, the beautiful face of her 29-year-old self greets her in the mirror and there is not an achy bone in her toned, youthful body. With only her 25-year-old granddaughter Lucy in the know, Ellie has a chance to re-live her youth, if only for a day, and an opportunity to embrace it in a way she didn’t the first time around.

I usually shy away from books about time travel, ghosts, vampires and the like, in favor of novels featuring plain ‘ole human beings living in the same time continuum. But I loved every page of “29″. Halpern managed to take a truly unrealistic concept and paint a story I believed in from beginning to end. I felt the love, the frustration and the regret right along with all of the characters. I laughed with them and I cried with them. And when I finished the book, I wished for the opportunity to spend one day with Tesebel Zimmerman; when she was young and beautiful and before she was Nanny Tessie, “Matzo Ball soup maker extraordinaire.” Unfortunately for me, my wish did not come true, but I strongly recommend this highly entertaining, witty, touching and, yes, thought provoking read to anyone who is lucky enough to have a grandmother or, like me, has lost one. I promise that you’ll come away with a better understanding of her as a woman in her own right and not just as your grandmother.

Meredith Schorr is the author of Just Friends With Benefits, a humorous women’s fiction novel. She lives in New York City and works as a trademark paralegal at a prestigious law firm. In addition to writing humorous women’s fiction novels, her passions include running, spending time with friends and family and rooting for the New York Yankees. Meredith is a member of Romance Writers of America and Chick Lit Writers of The World.