This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
This week’s Novelicious Natters is about something that has irked me since I started reading Chick Lit. Why, when people ask you what type of books you read and you answer Chick Lit (or should it be Commercial Women’s Fiction?) do some of them look at you as if you’ve said that in your spare time you drown kittens? They get that scrunched up nose, kind of squinty eyed look that says ‘Really?’
Many a time before, probably since I was about fourteen and stopped reading Point Horror and picked up my first actual Chick Lit book, people close to me have said ‘Why don’t you read a real book’, as opposed to what, this fake book that keeps disappearing before my eyes? What do people mean when they say a real book? And why should we be judged just because of the genre we choose to read? If someone said to me that they loved reading Science Fiction books, I’d respect their choice as if it’s something they like and enjoy then who am I to say it’s not what they should be reading?
It’s something I’ve been dying to write about. Chick Lit is one of the most popular genres around and if you step into a Waterstones or WH Smith's I think you’ll find that most of the paperback chart is taken up with these supposedly ‘unreal’ books. And I highly doubt that popular authors who write these books are complaining when they reach the Sunday Times Bestseller list. Just sayin'.
What do you think, people? Do your friends and family support your reading habits? Have you ever been in the midst of a chick lit sneer? How did you react? We’d love to hear about it…