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Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Dueling how to write chick lit books

I think I'm going to take Elizabeth Merrick's This Is Not Chick Lit and Lauren Baratz-Logsted's This Is Not Chick Lit with me on the plane to Costa Rica. As if those dueling books weren't enough, I just saw two more, both on how to write chick lit: Sarah Mlynowski and Farrin Jacobs's See Jane Write and Cathy Yardley's Will Write for Shoes. What's interesting to note is that while that See Jane Write is paperback, while Will Write for Shoes is hardcover, and that both Mlynowski and Yardley write for Harlequin's Red Dress Ink imprint, but neither how-to book is publisher by Harlequin - See Jane Write is coming out from Chronicle's Quirk imprint, and Will Write is from Thomas Dunne Books.

I can only speak for the one I've read, See Jane Write, and tell you I learned a LOT from it. I got a copy at BEA and thought it would just be one of those how-to-write books I've let languish around my apartment, but I got sucked in and learned a ton about plot structure, conflict, etc. Fingers crossed as to whether I've put it to good use - hopefully I have. I'm trying to have a new, pro-active attitude, so really, all I care about is whether I learned something and can sell a book. Not really ALL I care about, but it's so so so easy for me to just pooh-pooh my own work in favor of everyone else's, especially as interesting books come in every day, events arise to distract me to the point that I am contemplating hoping on planes any chance I get to get the hell out of here. That's not good - I need to learn how to live in this crazy city and still be the writer I want to be.

Here are the covers and descriptions culled from Amazon/author pages:


See Jane Write: A Girl's Guide to Writing Chick Lit

See Jane Write: A Girl's Guide to Writing Chick Lit

With chick lit novels popping up on every bestseller list, millions of readers are all thinking the same thing: I could write this stuff and never go back to the office again! And here's the guide that will show you how. Bestselling novelist Sarah Mlynowski and veteran chick lit editor Farrin Jacobs cover every stage of developing and selling your novel, with chapters on: • Developing an idea • Deciding on a point of view • Making your characters likable • Learning the basics of plotting, pacing, and conflict • Finding an agent This book also features humorous tips and advice from scores of established writers (including Meg Cabot, Melissa Senate, and Sophie Kinsella). If you've got stories to tell, See Jane Write will take care of the rest!



vs.

Will Write for Shoes : How to Write a Chick Lit Novel

Will Write for Shoes : How to Write a Chick Lit Novel

Based on years of teaching about how to plan, plot, write and market commercial women’s fiction, romance and Chick Lit novels, this non-fiction book is designed to help you get that novel started, keep it going, and sell it once it’s finished. It also includes a list of agents and publishers who publish Chick Lit, as well as online resources.

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