Let's get serious - guest post by author Claire Allan

Do all writers have to grow up? I don't mean physically, of course. I have learned that despite the best Clarins has to offer there is little I can do to stop the ravages of time taking a toll on my skin. As for my hair colour? Dying these days is not so much a case of "Because I'm worth it" as "Because I have to."

That aside and back to the basics of writing - is there a time when every writer worth her word count has to sit back, take stock and put away childish things?

I ask this question with a semi heavy heart. Only last year I fervently and adamantly fought the corner of the Chick Lit title on this very site. I have said that I embraced the term - loved it - felt inspired by it.

Have I changed my mind with the passage of just 12 months? Sadly, and with my big fat slice of humble pie eaten, I have to say yes. In the last 12 months, you see, this particular chick has grown up. And while I still feel there is good chick lit out there - and in no way feel that the very name of the genre denigrates women - I just don't feel I fit the mould any more.

I now consider myself very much a contemporary women's author. That sounds grand doesn't it? Even saying it makes me react in a different way to those times when I told people I wrote "chick lit". I feel, although I'm loathe to admit it, as if I should be taken a little more seriously.

There's nothing wrong with chick lit, of course. If what you are writing fits that exact model. Chick lit to me is - and I'm aware I'm contradicting my previous viewpoint - the lighter side of women's writing. It is cool glasses of wine, designer clothes, rugged men, falling in and out of love, getting a cool job in a trendy magazine of similar. I love books like that - books which offer complete unadulterated escapism.

But are they relevant to my life these days? I'm afraid not. And I've come to think that dismissing tales of depression, domestic violence, miscarriage, adoption and more as "chick lit" has been doing those topics a disservice. We should not dismiss serious topics as fluffy - we should not say it is okay to write them only as long as they have pretty covers.

Chick Lit is still alive, for sure and for certain but it's not a one size fits all label for women's fiction either. I'm proud of what I've written, and of what I'm writing. And I proud to have served my time at the coal face of the chick lit industry, but I'm moving on.
Claire Allan is an author and journalist based in Derry in Northern Ireland. She has been a reporter with the Derry Journal since 1999 and has written for a number of newspapers including the Belfast Telegraph, the Irish News and The Mirror. She has an Honours degree in the Humanities and a MA in Newspaper Journalism. She writes a weekly column on topical issues, with a focus on women's issues and parenting. Claire is a regular contributer to BBC Radio Foyle and Culture NI Magazine. Her bestselling novels have all been published by Poolbeg Press in Ireland. Her fifth 'If Only You Knew' is now available.

SAME AGAIN, PLEASE?

Last week the papers seized on a story about certain best-selling novelists whose sales have fallen dramatically in the past year. Jodi Picoult and Marian Keyes are among them. Here’s The Independent’s take on it:

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/have-we-fallen-out-of-love-with-chick-lit-2361445.html

I don’t want to re-hash what the journalists are writing. But I find several things interesting about this story.

First, that women fiction writers are so often lumped together under the banner of chick-lit, whilst no mention was made at all of ‘lad-lit’ (does it still exist?) or, indeed, of the sales of any male writers.

Second, and leading on from this: what exactly is ‘chick-lit’? The universal (and often supercilious) answer appears to be novels with pastel covers adorned with stilettos, martini glasses, hearts and flowers – in which case, what are Jodi Picoult and Marian Keyes doing on the list?

Third, and leading on again: there seems to have been a recent trend among publishers who insist on creating ‘chick-lit’ style covers for a wide range of women’s fiction, regardless of content. A women’s fiction author recently made the headlines by leaving her publisher because of the way her novels were being portrayed by their covers.

A pattern begins to emerge. A sense of blanketing, of homogenisation. Of ‘more of the same.’

Publishers are running scared. It’s understandable. What with the economic climate, the rapidly changing environment of book-buying and reading and the rising costs of actually publishing books, let alone marketing them effectively, little wonder that publishers are becoming risk-averse. If you know that a celebrity autobiography is going to sell in shed-loads, then that’s what you’ll publish. If there’s a call for chick-lit (whatever that may be) then when you publish it you’ll make sure that it's easily identifiable across a crowded supermarket. Chick-lit (so called) has been ruling the roost, publishing-wise, for a decade or more, and publishers obviously want their best-selling authors to keep writing within a narrowly restricted range and to present that writing in a narrowly-restricted set of images.

Inevitably comes a backlash. I think it’s known as entropy. Eventually, trends will begin to turn, usually in the opposite direction. The focus on materialism which began in the 80s and resulted, perhaps, in the chick-lit trend, is losing ground. Already, as the article above mentions, there’s a turn away from materialism towards magic, spirituality and the fantastic. Is this a good thing? Yes, in the sense that it may break new ground. No, in the sense that the same thing is likely to happen all over again.

But wouldn't it be wonderful if books could be celebrated for their originality, their freshness and their difference? Wouldn't it be fabulous if genre and gender came second to sheer, brilliant story-telling? A dangerous notion.

Would love to hear your thoughts...

Guest Spot: Bestselling Author Claire Allan

We're thrilled to have bestselling author Claire Allan guest for us, especially as her fourth book, “It’s Got To Be Perfect” is released today . Hi Claire, and welcome to Strictly.

Q. Can you tell us a bit about “It’s Got To Be Perfect” and where the idea for it came from?

It’s Got to Be Perfect is my most traditional chick lit book to date. It has more comedy in it that anything else I’ve written and I can honestly say I adored every second of writing it. It is a fairly upbeat story - one woman’s quest for perfection in her life, her relationship, her work, her friendships etc. The only thing is she seems to constantly get it disastrously wrong and she is envious of her friends who seem to have it sussed. Of course, we all know that there is no such thing as the perfect relationship and that everyone has their secrets if you dig deep enough. 

Q. Your first book, “Rainy Days and Tuesdays” was a massive success and dealt sensitively with the very real issue of Post-Natal Depression. Was this a cathartic exercise for you and what kind of feedback did you get?

It was a massively cathartic experience and while the book is not a misery lit memoir, there are passages which I find hard to read now as it brings back to me the very real pain and guilt associated with my PND experience (which I experienced after my son was born in 2004). It was a book I felt I had to write however and I’m very glad that I did and that I made PND a big part of the storyline. The feedback I got, from people who have been there and even from health professionals has been astounding. One doctor told me she would give the book out on prescription if she could! It was a very humbling experience, to be completely honest. 

Q. How did you find writing the infamously difficult Second Book, “Feels Like Maybe” (which I adored, btw!).

I loved it! I know at times, especially at the beginning while I was trying to get the voices of the two main characters just right there were times when I wanted to tear my hair out in frustration but once I had Aoife and Beth in place it was a joy. The book was one of those really happy author experiences where it just seemed to write itself and there were times I would read back the previous chapter and not quite believe it was me who had put those words on the pages. 

Q. Can you tell us a bit about your road to publication and how it felt to realise you were a ‘Bestselling Author’?

I had a very lucky experience - one which makes some people pea green with envy but it really was the case that my book hit the right desks at the right time. I started writing RD&T in January 2006 with a goal of finishing it by June. I did and that was the first and only time I’ve ever written a book in six months! I sent it out to agents and got a yes from the first lady I approached - Ger Nichol of The Book Bureau. She helped me through a few revisions and then, around October time we sent it out. By early December I was sitting with a four book deal from Irish publishing giant Poolbeg Press. Poolbeg advertise themselves as “the Irish for bestseller” but I never expected my book to hit those dizzy heights. Indeed my editor, Paula Campbell, went to great lengths to explain to me that sometimes it just doesn’t happen. It was an amazing and happy shock with RD&T hit number 2 in the Irish charts and I still a get a buzz when I see that “bestselling” catchline on my books. 
 

Q. You write a regular column on the Derry Journal, “Skirting The Issue” . Are you any different  since becoming such a household name?!

Oh God no! I still do the same as I did before - I still cover school prizegivings and courts and bomb scares and whatever else comes our way. I do tend to get kicked out of the office to all career events though as I’m a bit more high profile and occasionally people I’m talking to for stories get very excited when they realise who they are talking to. It’s very surreal because I’m still working full time to pay the bills and journalism is still a way of life for me. It is nice to get a wee ego boost now and then though - I can’t deny it! 

Q.Do you already have an idea for book number 5 and can you tell us anything about it?

As I write a year in advance, book five is well underway and should be finished in the next few months. Essentially book five is about friendships, how they can come and go but how someone will always survive. It follows three school friends, now in their 30s, as they take a holiday together and uncover each other’s secrets. It’s set partly in the South of France and I have loved researching the region, dreaming of chateaus and hunky French men. I’ve also really enjoyed exploring the dynamics of friendship. 

Thanks so much for taking time to be our guest today, Claire, and on behalf of everyone at Strictly Writing, huge congratulations and we wish you enormous success with “It’s Got to be Perfect”. Here’s to another bestseller!
You can find Claire here:

www.claireallan.com
Released by Poolbeg Press

Into The Pink?

Sometimes I feel a little left out. You see, I want to fit in with the crowd, but I don't read contemporary women's fiction, despite being female. And I hate telling people I don't read it. So I never mention it publicly. Until now of course.

Part of me thinks I should feign an interest in this genre? Should I educate myself on Maeve Binchy and ......um.....my mind goes blank when I try to recall another women's fiction author? Uh...Cecilia Ahern?

Oh dear. Sometimes I feel like an oddity. When browsing in Waterstones, I make pfaffing noises at the plethora of pink covers which often take up a full shelf. I take on board the point that chick lit books are often good character studies and they leave you smiling at the end, which I supposes is what the majority of readers seek in escapist fiction.

Sometimes I feel I need to fit in. When someone asks me 'oh you like reading?' and I say 'yes, yes I do' they then ask me if I have read the new one from Cecilia Ahern. Actually I've heard of Cecilia. But I have to say 'no, actually I prefer *awkward cough* literary type stuff, you know. Stuff with a bit of depth to it.' They give me weird looks, then ask me what it is and I try to explain.

'Misery memoirs?' they ask.
'Um, yes, sort of, but honestly, they're not that depressing. You really should read some. I usually take two to three to read on holiday.'
'So you don't read Cecilia Ahern?'
'No.'

I have no interest in reading about shoes, dating or relationships. I assume this is what women's commercial fiction is about. I apologise for this ignorance but I simply give the books a wide berth. Just like any genre, I suppose, you have your good and your bad. And I can't really shoot down books I haven't read, can I? That would be grossly unfair.

I admit I have read a few chick lit type books, although you could count them on one hand. A few summers ago when I had booked annual leave for a holiday to Nowhere, I spent two weeks lying on the bed listening to the rain while reading some chick-lit. Yes, chick lit. And I laughed at Getting Rid of Matthew. What a funny book, so I browsed around and found a few authors I thought I'd like. I made a mental note of them.

So after I finish writing this blog, I'm popping over to my Amazon wish list and adding some light chick lit for summer reading. Yes, chick lit. Why not? That's where I need your help. I need some suggestions, perhaps one or two you think I'd like.

A balanced literary diet

I’m often baffled by heated discussions about reading preferences. When it comes to certain books…Dan Brown’s novels, say, or the Stephanie Meyer Twilight series, it seems like battle lines get drawn and people are determined not to move into enemy territory. And as Claire Allen discussed in an entertaining and thought-provoking post on Monday, chick lit can be another of those light-the-touch-paper-and-run topics when it comes to discussions among readers.
I’ve been thinking about all this a lot and have come to the conclusion [again… sigh] that I’m a bit strange.
Let me put it like this: am I the only person who views books like food?
Okay, I know this sounds like a huge leap in logic, but stay with me here. Reading nourishes and satisfies me on a daily basis, or it can leave me feeling empty and hollow if it isn’t very good. But my point is this: just as I wouldn’t dream of eating the same meal every day for a month, am I alone in craving variety in reading matter?
The tone of the discussions mentioned above is often ‘I only ever read XXXX genre’. It seems a bit like saying, ‘I only ever eat cheese.’
My desire for contrasts means that on a broad level, I might read a children’s or YA novel straight after reading an adult one. Or if I’ve just finished something literary and sombre, a lighter, frothy book feels like a palate cleanser. It goes further than that too. If I’ve just read something historical and English, I’ll probably fancy something US and zeitgeisty straight after.
It’s part of the joy of reading for me. Part of this may be the freakish speed at which I read. It’s not big or clever or designed to sound like a boast in any way [I sometimes secretly think it’s actually a bit weird] but I am such a voracious and obsessive consumer of books that I tend to chew them up a bit quickly. Maybe this is a failing and I should spend longer savouring the experience, but I can’t help devouring books just as I would a delicious meal.
Now don’t get the impression I’m just some sort of reading Hoover and don’t care about quality. I do, deeply. But sometimes I fancy reading something a bit trashy, just as the urge for a bag of Marmite crisps [or two] can be impossible to ignore.
I’m not pretending I’ll read any genre either. I generally don’t enjoy sci-fi or fantasy [although my two favourite YA books of last year: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness both had sci-fi echoes] and I’m not a big fan of chick lit, apart from the few Marian Keyes I’ve read [sorry Claire]. I do have preferences, of course, but I can no more imagine only reading one kind of fiction than I could exist on a diet solely of cheese.
I’d love to know what others think about this.
Does anyone else feel the need for a balanced literary diet?

The never-ending chick lit debate by Claire Allan

Do you like the term Chick Lit? Do sparkling covers and pastel covers make you want to read on, or throw up? I don’t think there is another literary genre which evokes such a strong reaction from writers and readers alike. I have writer friends - who write what could easily be defined as Chick Lit - who baulk at the very name of their chosen genre. I myself have, on occasion, referred to the fact that I write contemporary women’s fiction when I feel the crowd I’m talking to might not be receptive to the Chick Lit label.

Somehow we are ‘supposed’ to feel it is our dirty little secret. My book has a pink cover (and I’ve had a bright blue cover, a turquoise cover and a purple cover) and it has an illustration of a very fashionable young woman on the front. In some circles I’m supposed to be ashamed of that. I’m supposed to justify it, because the market dictates that readers of Chick Lit like these covers but I’m not supposed to actually like them.

I’m supposed - some would have me believe - to shrug my shoulders and say “Well, hey, what do I know? I’m only the author!” and not even think - even for one moment - that what I am writing is actually a valuable contribution to the arts. “Sure it’s only women’s stuff” - some say, but then again, “women’s stuff” is damned important. And writing in a way that is accessible to all women, which resonates with them, which makes them think, and laugh, and cry and escape the monotony of day to life is important to me.

It is also a great misnomer to think that we Chick Lit authors (and for the purposes of today, I am wearing my Chick Lit badge with pride) don’t write stuff that challenges or has literary merit. Kate Long’s description of the loss of a child in ‘Queen Mum’ is perhaps the most touching depiction of loss I have ever read - second only to the loss and pain of Marian Keyes’ depiction of a woman recovering from a miscarriage in Angels. Likewise Marian Keyes’ depiction of depression in ‘Last Chance Saloon’ hits the nail on the head in so many ways while in ‘My Best Friend’s Girl’ Dorothy Koomson tackles not only loss, but betrayal and inter-racial relationships beautifully.

Chick Lit doesn’t have to be about issues - but where it is, it is often done with a sense of empathy and emotion which is unparalleled. I pride myself that while writing about drinking Pinot Grigio and wearing nice shoes and dressing in the latest fashions my characters also have real problems - real issues which make them, well, real. Yes, books are meant to inspire and delight but you don’t need to use fanciful language to achieve those goals. You don’t need to create a world so removed from the norm that while the reader can escape to it, they cannot recognise even an ounce of themselves in the words you have written.

Great literature does not necessarily equate with a use of flowery language and sweeping descriptive prose. We shouldn’t like things just because we are supposed to, or because we feel intellectual and scholarly to have read weighty tomes with grey/black covers and bold, sans serif, fonts on the cover. For me, being a writer is about connecting with the reader. My ultimate reward is getting an email from someone who cried while reading my depiction of domestic abuse, or someone who experienced the same kind of Post Natal Depression as Grace in ‘Rainy Days and Tuesdays’.

It is about surprising the reader that beneath my brightly coloured covers; with their gorgeous swirly writing and funky illustrations lie raw, real and passionate words about life, love, longing and loss. For me, writing is about embracing the fact I am a woman and as such have experiences unique to being a woman. I don’t find the term Chick Lit pejorative - in fact I could be so bold as to say I find it empowering. To think of it as anything but empowering is to consider being a woman, and writing for women, as second rate. In that instance we would doing ourselves and our readers a great disservice. Oh, and for the record, I love my covers. Especially the pink one.

Claire Allan is a 33-year-old journalist and columnist living and working in Derry, Northern Ireland. She has a Masters Degree in Newspaper Journalism from the University of Ulster. Her first novel ‘Rainy Days and Tuesdays’ was published by Poolbeg Press in 2007. Following the book’s success, Claire was asked to act as a spokesperson for Aware Defeat Depression on the issue of Post Natal Depression. Her second novel, ‘Feels Like Maybe’ followed to critical acclaim in 2008. Jumping In Puddles, released in September, is Claire's latest novel. Claire is married to Neil and they have two children, Joseph and Cara.
Visit Claire's websites - www.diaryofamadmammy.blogspot.com and www.claireallan.com.