TONIGHT'S ADVENTURES

In which I discuss a chick-lit forum, and then move on to the Style Court screening of "Nerd vs. Nerd" (and I knew both nerds!)

First off, it is right balmy in New York City right now. I can't walk down the street without seeing someone's face pointed toward the sun, their tanning oil sinking softly into their pores.

Now, then.

Tonight I went to a forum run by the Women's National Book Association on the "chick-lit" phenomenon. Since I run into people nearly every day who still don't know what I'm talking about, a brief explanation: "Chick-lit" books have been the most profitable publishing trend lately. They're books about young single women trying to find satisfaction in their careers, relationships, or both. After Bridget Jones' Diary and similar books took off, a few people realized that there was a big market in women's literature. Young women buy books.

A company called Red Dress Ink formed in NYC in 2001 specifically to publish one "chick lit" book a month. People said at the time that the market was already saturated -- but to their surprise, RDI's books really took off. Since then, companies like Simon & Schuster have also started "chick lit" lines. This past summer, the books exploded. Nowadays, they have to evolve and grow a little bit from what they were -- they can't keep being about the same exact thing. A new trend, for instance, is "Mommy Lit." There's also male "Lad Lit."

Okay. So the WNBA (not basetball) ran this forum on chick lit and the direction in which it's going. Panelists included book-buyers, an agent, a sales guy at Kensington Books (which has both a chick lit line and a more erotic-type chick lit line) and author Jennifer Weiner, who has a well-read blog and wrote Good in Bed and In Her Shoes, considered among the most popular American chick lit books. (Good in Bed is set to be an HBO series.)

It was pretty much established that in order to be chick lit, the books have to be about women who have to grow or overcome some dilemma, and they generally have some humor. They're different from romance in that the main character can be happy whether she finds a man or not...but it's always nice if she does.

I promised a few chick-lit authors who couldn't attend that I would recap the forum. I won't go over the stuff that's kind of old news. So here are some highlights:

1. The panelists think that, despite backlashes against chick lit (particularly in Britain, where it's an older trend), it hasn't reached its peak yet. (Of course, no one there was going to be negative and say it HAS, but anyway.)
2. Chick lit WILL have to evolve to stay viable. Jennifer Weiner (hereafter referred to as JW) noted that her next book is a Mommy lit (she is, indeed, a mommy now). She also mentioned marriage and dealing with aging parents as possible issues for future chick lit. She noted that a next step for the "Bridezilla"/wedding books is to look at what happens to the brides AFTER the wedding.
3. Guys tend to get more respect for their books. JW noted that the male trend seems to be addiction memoirs. (Actually, the most oft-mentioned 'lad lit' author seems to be Nick Hornby, since he writes about singlehood sometimes.)
4. Some of the panelists said it's not good when a previously-serious novelist is slapped with a pink cover in order to get in on the chick lit trend, because then readers buy the book, open it, and are peeved that the cover didn't represent the book.
5. Girls who grew up reading Judy Blume didn't really have anything after that. (A good point -- when we were little, we always knew we could go to the young adult shelf and get a Judy Blume book about a kid like us dealing with problems like ours.) I've always said that one key to chick lit is that its buyers know, at least a little bit, what they're getting. When you're about to get on a plane for four hours, sometimes you want a little guarantee.
6. Social reasons for chick lit: Women have more choices, we're children of divorce and saw our moms figuring out how to live without a man, so all of this affects us. Also, it's more socially acceptable to screw up a little bit now, what with two stock market crashes in the last 15/16 yrs.
7. One of the best questions asked is, is there value to chick lit besides entertainment? Jen Weiner said there definitely is. She noted that the books are about more than frivolity...they're about women dealing with really important issues. (I'd add to that that not all chick lit books are the same...for instance, Riding with the Queen brings in issues of dealing with a mentally ill parent, etc., all in a riveting read.) There's a lot of variety in chick lit, and hopefully there will continue to be.

So hope that's helpful to anyone who is interested in publishing trends. I went up to Jennifer Weiner afterwards, covered my nametag, and said, "Can I have your agent's address?" Actually, we have a mutual friend, so I wanted to say hi. She was quite nice. She said she read my book and actually liked it. She also said I looked shorter than in my photo. Usually people just tell me the photo looks too serious (well, sorry, folks!) She also has read this blog, and as proof, she recited, "Woke up, got dressed, went to work." Geez, maybe I should write something important here if famous Philadelphians are going to read it... I liked Good in Bed, too.

Ron Hogan also recapped this at his literary website. Also, since it hides inconspicuously at the upper right corner, here's a link to my homepage in which I link to a short article I wrote on chick-lit once, and have details on my first novel (Carrie Pilby) and the second one, Starting from Square Two, coming this March 1. There's also a ditty on how to get published.

Adventure Two

After the forum ended, I took the F train downtown (that's not meant to be a euphemism) and arrived just in time for a very special screening of "Style Court" in which I knew both plaintiff and defendant. Style Court is a show in which someone takes an acquaintance to court for their bad fashion sense, and a nutty judge rules on whether the person will get a makeover or not. Michael Malice and Todd Seavey hosted the event, in which they played a video tape of their recent appearance on the cable show. Malice was the accuser and Seavey was the accused. Malice, who has pretty good fashion sense for a geek, was accusing Todd of still dressing like a nerd. The judge had a field day asking which one of them was actually the nerd. But Todd was purposely dressed in an exaggerated manner with giant glasses, his blonde hair licked forward, and a tight shirt. Malice, who used to do standup, was quick-witted and sharp-tongued and explained that he himself used to dress like a nerd until a co-worker set him straight. Todd responded by saying that he was a nerd and that he was proud of who he was. At one point, Malice's answers to the judge (and accusations against Todd) were so quick that the judge's mouth was hanging open.

After the judge lashed Mr. Malice for alleged superficiality and asked Todd why it was important to him to be a nerd, His Honor asked Todd to approach a circle and stand in a beam of light. Todd quipped, "Just like Star Trek." (This was a total ad lib, which is evidence that Todd is really a nerd.)

The judge and the jury found Todd not guilty, their rationale being that what's REALLY important is the person inside. Thus, he didn't get the $350 in free clothes. And that's what you call winning?

I hope this description of my night was entertaining...but mostly it's been read by the people who were involved, and that's o...kaaaay.