I received an interesting e-mail the other day, asking if I’d like to review a book that was classified as “flit-lit”. It has been at the tip of my fingers for the last several Genres 101 posts to write about, well, let’s start off by referring to it by my main title of “women’s fiction”, but I kept hesitating, thinking there really couldn’t be all that much to talk about. Of course, the e-mail I mention just proves me wrong; offering another subgenre to what is probably a pretty huge list of them. But how different can, say, Chick-lit (the term we’re probably all most familiar with) be from Hen lit? Well, let’s delve in and see…

First to mention is the Romance Novel. This novel has some illustrious roots, with Jane Austen, then Georgette Heyer writing some of the earlier stories that led the way to the many wide ranging types in more recent years. The Wiki article cites a staggering stat: almost 55% of all paperback books sold in 2004″ fell within this genre; that’s huge! The big thing that differentiates the Romance Novel from other forms of Women’s Fic is that the story is about a romantic relationship, all other elements of the story must work towards this end; in Women’s Fic, other familial relationships can be just as important as any romance in a story. This seems like a tricky distinction, from what I can tell. Other authors attributed as Romance writers are Catherine Cookson, Kathleen Woodiwiss, and Nora Roberts.

Within that all too familiar label of Chick Lit, there seems to be quite a list different subdivisions. Really? I’m going to answer my own question here with: Really! Chick Lit itself is defined as a type of fiction “which addresses issues of modern womanhood, often humorously and lightheartedly”. Its off-shoots include Bride Lit, Brit/Singleton Lit, Christian Chick Lit, Ethnic Chick Lit, Hen Lit, Mommy Lit, Widow Lit, Workplace Tell-alls, Teen Chick Lit, and Mystery Chick Lit….holy smokes! Oh, and even though Wiki doesn’t list it, we’ll put Flit Lit in here too. So, what is the difference between Chick Lit and Hen Lit? Hen Lit is the more “mature” version, focusing on women slightly older than the 20 or 30 somethings in other types.

Examples here include Nora Roberts (again) that has a whole series of bride focused novels. Brit Lit includes writers such as Jill Mansell, Helen Fielding, and Marian Keyes. I’ve recently read a great example of Teen Chick Lit in Tish Cohen’s Switch, which has already released in Canada but will be available later in the summer in other countries. Within Ethnic Lit, Terry McMillan’s Waiting to Exhale and How Stella Got Her Groove Back fit the bill.

And the mysterious Flit Lit? Well, with books such as Under the Tuscan Sun, Eat Pray Love and the more recently release Tout Sweet, we can see that these books feature a woman that appears to have lost everything she loves. To cope, these heroines pick up and move to a completely different country, in an attempt to make a better, happier life for themselves. Ah, if only…

My big question here: why are there so many slight variations within this genre, especially the Chick Lit category? Well, Ian McEwan is quoted as saying, “When women stop reading, the novel will be dead.” That’s a pretty big statement! But to understand how he came to this conclusion, you have to read more about his experiment and also the rebuttal of his method in this NPR article.

About Jackie

Jackie is a quirky mom, living in Ontario, Canada. She's a bookkeeper by day and a book lover by night. She also blogs at The Novel Nation and writes occasionally for Heroes and Heartbreakers.

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