By Mursi Saad El-Din I have just been introduced to a new literary form: chick-lit. In a review of a book about this type of writing in the Book Supplement of the London Times I got to know what chick-lit is. The book, by Sarah Mlynowski, is called See Jane Write: A Girl's Guide to Writing Chick-lit. To begin with, the author contradicts the most common definition. It is not at all about shoes or clothes, or purses. Neither is it about getting a man. It is "about the main character's path to self-discovery". It is often "upbeat, always funny fiction about contemporary female characters and their everyday struggles with work, home, friendship, family or love". The writer goes on to say that chick-lit is about women growing up and figuring out who they are and what they need, as opposed to what they think they want. Furthermore it is about observing life, about coming of age. "It reflects women's lives today, their hopes and dreams as well as their trials and tribulations." Going through this I felt that it was almost a feminine manifesto, a literary movement of feminism. But the book does not stop at that. It goes on to describe the steps taken in writing such a book. First theme is creating the main character, who is the single most important element in the novel. Since chick-lit is written for women, they should feel that "the heroine is them -- but with more attitude, more courage. She is everywoman with all the quirks and problems that are believable yet larger than life. She's confident yet insecure, smart but naïve, loveable yet flawed." Does this main character reflect its author? There is no doubt that, consciously or unconsciously, the creative writer's protagonist is in her own image. There is a little of her in the main character. Then let the character behave in the way she wants, not in the way the writer wants. The writer should then start on the journey among other characters, having settled on a protagonist. What kind of journey should the writer send her heroine on? The path followed is known as an "arc" -- a kind of learning curve. The main character starts in one place and ends up in another and "the novel tells us what happens in between, how she grows up as a person". Readers of chick-lit expect it to be "light and fluffy" but there are other ways of telling the story. Language is very important and the right choice of words is essential. The author of a chick-lit novel should not "overwrite", or use "purple patches", or have a flowery style. "So don't hurt yourself," writes Sarah Mlynowski, "trying to create fancy sentences." To make sure the dialogue feels true, the writer should read it aloud. The dialogue must feel real. Good dialogue can make or break a chick-lit book, so characters must not speak in "clichés". Good dialogue should be surrounded with action or description. Having given these details, the Times 's Book Supplement gives the opinion of some chick-lit novelists. Needless to say they are all women. Unfortunately we are not familiar with their works, but their opinions can be taken as a guidebook for this kind of writing. They have different opinions, but there seems to be a general agreement that there are no hard and fast rules. "If a book is good enough," says Sophe Kinsella, "it can break any rule." "Women should write from the heart," writes Adele Parks. "The worst thing you can do is to concentrate on plot at the expense of the characters' claims," insists Freya North. But Kathy Letle has something different to say: "When it comes to women's fiction, critics have a condescension chromosome. The demeaning label chick-lit says it all." Eventually I came to my own modest conclusion that chick-lit is novels written by women, about women, for women.
