Catégorie : Writing Tips

Writing a novel: Romance vs Chick-Lit

I was toying with the idea of writing a love story, but I wasn’t sure what genre to write in: romance? chick-lit? romance subgenres?
If you are facing the same writing problem I faced, this might help.

Disclaimer: No affiliate links down there!

I was toying with the idea of writing a love story, but I wasn’t sure what genre to write in: romance? chick-lit? romance subgenres?

The project was promptly shelved (I can’t write for full-on grown-ups yet), but I thought I could share the little bit of research I did on both genre.

If you are facing the same writing problem I faced, this might help.

Romance of the past

Back when I was working in a bookstore, the romance novels and the chick-lit novels never shared a bookshelf.

In fact, those two genres never even shared the same bookshelves space.
Chick-lit novels (patriarchal much, I hate the term) were mingling with literary fiction while Romance novels were all by themselves, hiding between the Historical fiction section and the Fantasy section.

As time went by, Chick-Lit remained pretty stagnant while Romance novels got their own sub-categories such as paranormal romance, dark fantasy romance, historical, so on and so forth.

Although they seem to share some similarities, they are two very distinctive literary genres.

Chick-Lit novels

The term has been used since the mid ’90s, according to my research (links below).

To earn the Chick-Lit label, a novel has to be written by a woman for women focus readership. Also, the story needs to be light-hearted, fun, heavy on the self-mockery. A love story of some kind is also present, although not always necessarily the main thing happening.
A Chick-Lit novel is centered around a witty, funny, often a fashion aficionado woman having to deal with social expectations.

A Chick-Lit novel is funny, light and leads the main character to a happy end… until the sequel.

Romance novels

At its chore, a Romance novel is a love story with a happy, optimistic end. Masterclass does have a more precise definition for it, but you get the general idea.

Romance novels were once considered as poorly written novels, then as poorly written soft-erotic novels. They were mainly destined to be consumed by bored house-wives and curious unmarried women.

Now, and even more since the event of ebooks, Romance novels are taking on the world in a wide variety of subgenres.

Still aiming towards female readers, Romance novels are expending constantly to a variety of readers. Hooray!

Thanks for reading this post. Feel free to show your support by buying a ko-fi to this crazy full-time Writer on a Quest, it is always very much appreciated.

Until next time!

Sources:

According to Wikipédia (in French)

Very good overview of Romance novels

Tested Writing Tips: 3 fun way to outline your novel – for pantsers and plotters!

But, I had to girl-up about it for new writing project reasons. Took me a while to find outlining methods that felt right… sort of. I share those with you.
Spoiler alert: the « Save the cat! » method is not included down below.

Outlining can be tricky. It always has been for me anyway. I am more on the pantser side of the spectrum.

But, I had to girl-up about it for new writing project reasons. Took me a while to find outlining methods that felt right… sort of. I share those with you. Spoiler alert: the « Save the cat! » method is not included down below.

Outlining is for…

For some literary genres, outlining can help a big big lot.

For other literary genres, it does not help so much but it can still be super useful.

Outlining a novel will help tremendously with:

  • Mysteries
  • Thrillers
  • Roman noir
  • Crime/Detective stories (we say romans policiers ou polar around here)
  • High fantasy series
  • If I’m forgetting one, please let me know and I’ll update the list.

No beat sheets available here

Beat sheets, not for me. Don’t like the feeling of singing the same tune everybody’s singing, you know. I hate the feeling of writing the same book everybody’s writing, following the same guidelines, having the characters be miserable at exactly 45% of the book or whatever.

Here’s the 3 outlining I feel gives room to create while making sure a story has every beat it needs to captivate readers.

  1. Katytastic
    This outlining method is my method of choice. Her outlining structure does not leave any fundamentals beats behind.
  2. Hannah Truelove
    Her method is simple, giving a pantser like me lots of room to play around. Simple, yet, not too simplistic. Every important story beats is there to grab.
  3. The NovelSmithy – Lewis
    It’s the best of both world: a clear map of what an outline should look like, where the story beats should it + details on the why the story beats should fall there and not there. (Yes, I did fell for the « How to outline without sacrificing your creativity » headline.)

Thanks for reading this post, gals and guys. I hope it helps.
Please, feel free to buy a ko-fi to this crazy full-time Writer on a Quest. Always much appreciated.

Until next time!

Writing Tip: Surprise vs Suspense

When it comes to writing, I find that going back to the basics once in a while keeps writers on their toes and prevent them from falling into an « I’m too good for this » kinda mind trap.

I do not like free stuff.
Never did.
I feel like I owe something, a favor of some kind.
Back when I had the energy to have a social life, it took me years to accept a drink from a friend, and even then, I would always buy the next round.

Nevertheless, curiosity and Books with Chloe led me to a two months free trial on SKILLSHARE (nope, no affiliated link here, just me being enthusiastic, for free).
Under the creative writing tab, I stumbled upon a great video about Alfred Hitchcock, his method and how it can be applied to writing, by Morgan Lindsay Nelson, a graphic novelist.

I love those kind of videos, with exercises and examples. It really help to get out of your writing zone and try something different, even if its seems basics.

When it comes to writing, I find that going back to the basics once in a while keeps writers on their toes and prevent them from falling into an « I’m too good for this » kinda mind trap.

Surprise vs Suspense

Surprise is you turning on the light and seeing either a dead body or a room full of your friends yelling « Happy Birthday » (my personal nightmare).

Surprise!

Suspense is the killer struggling with its victim in the house while you are on way there or your partner being delayed and running late to your surprise birthday party while, again, you’re on your way.

Will the killer hide and wait? Will he flee? Will you get there in time to save the victim?
Will your partner get rid of the boss? Be able to beat the traffic? Catch the hot-air balloon to get to the party before you?

Suspense!

The very basics of Suspense

Emotion is an essential ingredient of success, said Hitchock.

  • The reader must know or have an idea of what may happen
  • One the character involve must be kept in the dark
  • Have a ticking clock doing its job
  • Play with fears, hopes, the kind of emotions every human can relate too

Thanks for reading this post. Feel free to show your support by buying a ko-fi to this crazy full-time Writer on a Quest, it is always very very much appreciated.

Until next time!