One of the more interesting aspects of reading thousands of queries over the course of the year is seeing the trends. You’d be surprised at how many queries I receive that use the same plots, the same titles, and use the same pitches (the alleged Harry Potter “void” being the most prominent sales pitch). Taking a look at queries in broad strokes gives me a bizarre, fleeting (and possibly misleading) sense of the writerly and cultural mood of the moment.
The trends fall into three categories. The most obvious and prevalent one is the copycat trend — a book is popular and I see a bazillion queries imitating what was popular. You name a popular book, trust me, I’ve seen 50 queries that were more or less exactly like that book only slightly different. Currently in vogue for imitation: Eckhart Tolle and THE SECRET.
The second category is the ripped from the headlines trend — whatever big events have recently occurred, sure enough, I’ll see projects that are trying to capture that lightning in a book, whether it’s a straightforward treatise on the subject or an allegorical tale that plays out our current dramas (often in outer space). First it was terrorism, then came the religion/theocracy projects, then the totalitarian government work, now I’m seeing a lot of Obama-esque stories. Just to be clear, I’m not necessarily knocking pulling stuff from headlines as they are a rich vein of material that we’re all experiencing. It’s all about the execution.
The third category is a bit more inexplicable and tantalizing. And this is the “simultaneous thought” type of query that doesn’t necessarily have a root in a popular book, but nevertheless keeps showing up again and again.
My favorite example of this third category is the glut of vampire queries I began seeing around 2005-2006. Around that time, all of a sudden I got a ton of vampire queries, and there wasn’t quite an explanation for it. Yes, there was “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and Laurell K. Hamilton and Christopher Moore and Anne Rice and all the other successful vampire projects that were already out there, but there wasn’t a particular project that had quite risen to the level of success where it could have prompted so many query imitators. I kept telling my friends that vampires were going to be the next big thing.
Then THE HISTORIAN came along, and I thought, “ah ha!” You see! People love vampires! And, well, then it kept right on going, possibly cresting (or maybe just continuing its crescendo) with the TWILIGHT series. So in this case, I really think the glut of vampire queries was actually a harbinger of a cultural moment.
So what am I seeing double and triple and quadruple of these days? Would you believe Mayans and overweight women?
First, I’ve received at least a dozen queries that somehow involve the fact that the Maya calendar ends in 2012. The particular horrors unleashed by this event vary, but this is the starting point for many an adventure novel. The calendar is ending and boy are those Mayans pissed!
Second, all of a sudden I’ve been receiving a whole lot of women’s fiction with overweight protagonists. “Ugly Betty” maybe? Has there been a successful book that went under my radar? I don’t know!
Just to be clear, I don’t think anyone who has written a book in these molds should necessarily chuck their laptop out the window — you actually might be onto something. I’m also not automatically rejecting a query just because I’ve seen the idea before — like I said, it’s all about the execution.
But I’m honestly not quite sure what to make of these two. While the Mayan calendar is part ripped from headlines, part DA VINCI CODE meshing of current adventure with past history/conspiracy, ultimately it’s somewhat explainable as a trope. Apocalypse, danger, Mayans… what’s not to like??
It’s the overweight chick lit/women’s fiction that really intrigues me, particularly since it runs so counter to the normal chick lit mold where women tend to desire mainstream/elite brands, lifestyles, and self-image. Sometimes these queries do fall into that aspirational category as a makeover story in which the overweight woman creates a new, improved self, but other times they stay proud of who and how they are.
So are these coming cultural moments? I’m not sure, but you can bet I’m going to be looking closely to see what happens.
Nathan,
Do you have any suggestions for anticipating book trends? I read on Aprilynne Pike's website how her agent was trying to sell her book but it wasn't working. And then she read how Barnes & Noble was forecasting faery stories to be the next big thing after the vampire stuff starts to die out so she wrote a faery story and it was much easier to sell to a publisher.
I've been querying a story and have had many requests for partials, but then it seems to die out. So I wonder if the story isn't what agents/publishers are "looking" for. I've been scouring the internet trying to find out what the forecasted trends are in book publishing, but no luck yet. Do you have any suggestions?
Thanks! Love your blog! Very informative and entertaining!
I honestly thought of your – fall over laughing funny, but true – post ‘Harry Potter is not walking through that door,” when I was watching ESPN do a 1 hour (brilliant, mind boggling, skin tingling) special on the 20 Greatest Dunkers of the NBA. Everyone from your ‘favourite’ Kobe Bryant, Vince, his cousin, Dr. J, Magic, Larry Bird, Wilkins…..ahem. Back on track!
I really couldn’t get into Eckhart Tolle. I tried to get into it, but it just wasn’t form me. I really find it hard to believe that you aren’t in charge of your own destiny; rather you must find a pre-set one, or whatever. I prefer THE SECRET. Amazing how so many people can query you thinking that they’ve got a new thing. Something so new that you’re going to fall out of your chair and call immediately. A lot of stuff is re used and recyled. You’ve got to find a way to make it fresh, in order to attract who you want to attract.
Don’t blame the game, blame the people who buy books and go to the movies. If copycat books are bestsellers it means people are buying them over all the books that are published, including the ones that are wholly original. Which means publishers are just giving readers what they want.
This is both a cop-out and defeatist logic. And it’s what TV and music execs have been spouting for years, while critics of those industries decry the declining quality and originality of both TV programs and pop music.
To a certain extent, the public purchase what is made widely available to them. And to a certain extent, The Man provides what the public is buying.
Market research consists essentially of asking the sheep what they would like to eat. “Um, grass is good!”
The Market is notoriously bad at predicting what it might like because on the whole, The Market has no imagination. That is why visionaries must light the way, and visionaries very, very rarely come from the ranks of people who try to anticipate the market. Visionaries try to anticipate what the market can’t yet conceive.
Yet copycats of visionaries almost always succeed for a short time because The Market desires to repeat the feeling they got from the original. And you can fool all of the people some of the time, which is what happens when a sub-par copycat succeeds and flames out.
Beware falling into the “just giving the market what it wants” trap. You’ve got more imagination and wits than that, my friend. But your point about the market being largely to blame is not to be thrown out with the bathwater either.
pjd-
I’m going to blog about this at some point and I think you raise some interesting points, but I feel like people have this sense that publishers determine what becomes a bestseller, when in fact publishers have way less power than people give them credit for.
Yes, to a certain extent, a publisher can decide how resources are allocated, they decide what gets published, etc. etc., and that has some influence. But they don’t decide what becomes popular. Readers do. There are books that crash and burn despite a massive investment on the part of the publisher, and there are books that are wildly successful despite being neglected. The market does ultimately determine what becomes successful.
I think when people are on the outside looking in it seems as if publishers are like King Midas sitting around arbitrarily deciding which books turn to gold. Not the case.
I personally urge authors to avoid copycatting and trend watching because it’s counterproductive. If you happen to hit the timing, good for you. Otherwise I really believe it’s best to write what you love.
And finally, while this is kind of aside from what I was posting, I really dispute that most of what is out there and sells is derivative. The biggest successes are the ones that bring something new to the table. People might try and chase that success, but it never ultimately works that well.
But they don’t decide what becomes popular. Readers do… I think when people are on the outside looking in it seems as if publishers are like King Midas sitting around arbitrarily deciding which books turn to gold. Not the case.
The more I learn about the publishing industry, the more it seems like any other industry where there are a gazillion aspirants, and a few key players that have their hands on the money spigots. Ultimately, you are right–the market will buy what they want to buy regardless of the publishers’ investments. But The Money has a significant influence on what reaches the market in the first place. This is the reason nearly every agent you ask will say, “Self-published does not qualify as a publication credit.” Because it shouldn’t, unless it’s a spectacular, unusual success.
The biggest successes are the ones that bring something new to the table. People might try and chase that success, but it never ultimately works that well.
This is exactly right and what I was trying to say.
The decline in quality and imagination occurs when The Money starts making all their decisions based on past successes and the artists start creating their art based on what The Money is asking for. Eventually The Market will wise up and wander away from the mainstream in search of something better. (Wonder why cable shows are winning all the Emmys?)
What’s interesting is to juxtapose this discussion with last week’s free-for-all on why people write. It’s all part of the same jambalaya of ideas. If people are writing just for the money, they are likely to want to copycat the big successes, and as you point out, copycatting rarely leads to big success.
Then throw in the potential democratization of the industry through e-publishing, and the whole mess becomes very interesting indeed.
It always bothers me when people think the quality of TV is declining but they fail to actually go back and re-watch those shows (and fail to take into account any one of the myriad cognitive biases affecting their memories).
Most often people compare low quality shows of today (The Hills?) to the best shows from the past. Which is a total ‘apples to oranges’ comparison.
Frankly if you went back and watched an episode of Hill Street Blues (a supposed groundbreaking timeless masterpiece), you’ll find it has a glacial pace and a plot that lacks the intricacy you’re used to today. There are more plot lines, characters and active brain work involved in ANY episode of The Wire, Sopranos or Lost than Hill Street. Not a single show from the past can hold a candle to any of those three as far as plot complexity.
Reminiscing about old shows and remembering how much you LIKED them isn’t the same thing as comparing them side-by-side. Tell me again, how many of the shows on either of these lists (1970s and 1980s) stands against the three I just mentioned?
Also… I’m with you on the guesswork of the publishing industry Nathan. You guys are playing guesswork with successful books as much as the banking industry plays guesswork with loans (it’s just an inverted business model between the two). I actually wrote a highly-researched, graduate term paper about it… and posted a condensed, jargon-free version here. I know it’s shameless to pimp one’s own blog, but it IS relevant and I’ll bet you (and your readers) find it interesting.
Cool post! Great info.
LOL at Human Snacrafice! and Eminem is ‘under black’!! Too funny.
Oh, Darn! My MS doesn’t fit any of these!
I really grow extremely tired of being told by writers that I am not NORMAL or not a “real woman” because I’m a size 6, and not very curvy.
I am not Reubensque. Even when I was thirty pounds heavier than I am not I was not Reubenesque (I gain weight in my stomach). I am a B cup.
I do not have round hips; I’m fairly straight up-and-down. My butt has always been rather small.
So even heavy, I was not a curvy, “real woman”. And I’m tired of being made to feel inadequate because I’m not a size 12. Like there’s this exclusive Real Woman Club I’m not allowed to join. (Believe me, life is hard enough for us small-busted ladies, without this rampant “Real women have bounteous bosoms and are very soft and curvy” crap from other women too.)
Be proud of your bodies, at any size, by all means. But quit telling me there’s something wrong with ME, please.
So an overweight Mayan Vampire story would be hot now then?
Mark Alders
Hmmmm, how about a thin, attractive heroine who is neither anorexic, shallow, nor evil; possessing a healthy sense of self-esteem and a healthy mindset when it comes to relationships, facing troubles that go beyond men, sex, or shoes?
I'm not writing it, but maybe someone should. Or point me in the direction of this mythical character.
I'm heartily sick of overly neurotic women with neurotic mothers, or Sex and The City clones, where the biggest problems faced are getting some loser in bed, or being able to afford a hideous pair of D&G shoes.
anon 1:52-
But size 6 ISN’T the norm. Size 14 is. And for yrs, in books, movies, tv only size 6’s (or less) were portrayed, considered beautiful, etc…look how people here are picking on the concept of overweight people as MC’s still…
But I totally agree with you- I think for years women have been told they aren’t good enough because they aren’t size 2’s or have big boobs or a certain body type. Shouldn’t we be happy books are starting to depict women in all shapes and sizes to better reflect reality?
Maybe, just maybe, this is a reflection not of authors chasing publishing trends, but a backlash against these stereotypes. And readers are BUYING them. Which says something important.
-Judi
Have you thought, Nathan, that by declaring vampires to be the next big thing, you may actually have created that trend? The time-lag certainly fits. There is an easy way to check this: declare something really outlandish to be the next big trend and see how quickly you start receiving queries for it. I tried this at work a few years ago: I created a false rumour (some trivial speculation) and within 24 hours it had come back to me from the other end of the country as fact. Even better, wait until you have my manuscript then declare that to be the next big thing and we can ride the crest of the wave together.
Nick
NickTravers.com
Judi, whether size 6 is the norm or size 14 or size 23, the point is, nobody should tell anyone else they’re not a REAL woman because they don’t have a particular body shape or weight issue.
Just because the average size is 14 doesn’t make me abnormal.
It’s not the sentiment or the idea that women can be beautiful in all shapes and sizes. It’s the implication that because I’m careful about what I eat, I somehow fail as a woman.
I know you’re not specifically saying that. I’m just pressing my point. Nobody tells those size 23s they’re not real women. They may tell them they’re unattractive, or invisible, or whatever. But at least nobody implies that they’re hiding something funny in their pants, or something.
And finally, while this is kind of aside from what I was posting, I really dispute that most of what is out there and sells is derivative. The biggest successes are the ones that bring something new to the table. People might try and chase that success, but it never ultimately works that well.
We did drift a bit, but your post about what people are copying was a bit too thorough to leave us much to add! Besides, what should aspiring writers query? That’s what’s on our minds.
Thanks for this statement. I don’t entirely believe you, but it gives me hope. 🙂
My original question was, “What percentage of your queries are quite new and aren’t part of the trends – and how many of those original ideas really seem to work for you?”
Let me put it this way: Accepting that what’s new is ultimately better, assuming it catches on, how well is that recognized among publishers and, back at the production level, writers?
But these trends are fascinating. I can’t help but wonder how much of it you have to wade through for every new idea that really strikes you as gold.
I suspect as a culture we are trending toward a backlash against the unattainable ideals we see in television and advertising.
Dove soap and Playtex bras, over the last year, have made a point of featuring women of different shapes, sizes, heights, and hues in their ads.
When you can create an ideal figure in a computer animation that looks almost true-to-life, reality becomes the novelty.
I stopped reading much chick-lit because all the skinny heroines annoyed me.
Jennifer Crusie had an excellent book that featured a not-fat but not-thin heroine who thought she was fat (compared to her size four relatives). The hero liked her just as she was and convinced her to quit trying to change. I loved it.
There’s something to be said about acceping yourself as you are, and about books being available that have heroes and heroines you can relate to, who have the same struggles and insecurities you do.
I hope this is a trend that continues…
Size 6 is not “normal” in North America.
For centuries a fleshy and abundant (I like those words) form was the ideal femenine beauty; in some cultures, it still is. Over the past century, that ideal has changed, as society has. And as a slender woman, I’m all for it.
The pendelum will swing back the other way eventually — after the apocolypse when food scources are again, scarce. Maybe after the world is destroyed for the 5th (or 6th) time in 2012.
But regardless there will always be an “ideal.”
And I think mentioning the Dove marketing campaign is funny, because it’s a marketing campaign and not some new revolution. The same style of marketing that sells those unnatainable bodies. I don’t think big business will be the one who brings about a shift in our thinking. If they do, there’s a larger social problem lurking here.
In 2006 I noticed a similar trend, but it was in short fiction. I’ve written a bunch of short stories and I usually have 30 or so in slush piles somewhere or other. During one week in August 2006, I sold three stories. Two were about the end of the world, and one was about after the end of the world.
These three stories were the only end of the world stories I had out, and all three of them snapped up in less than 7 days. It made me wonder if some kind of psychic harmonic weren’t taking place.
Then Cormac McCarthy’s The Road came out and it all made sense.
Last week I sold two stories, but they have no connection other than both are slightly silly.
I wonder how many copycats really are copycats and how many just happen to be in the right place at the right time.
When the DaVinci Code came out I had been toying with a similar idea for about ten years. If at some point in those ten years I had actually written the damn thing, I would have been perfectly positioned to take advantage of Teh Market’s interest in All Things Templar and Leonardo. Alas, it was not to be.
So if Publisher A gets this new book from Dan Brown about bloodsucking Mayans and says we think this will be bigger than DaVinci Code, then all those agents out there getting Mayan vampire queries will snap them up and by the time Teh Blood of teh Mayan Calendar Code is published, they have eight more Mayan vampire novels already in typesetting.
Nope size 6 isn’t the norm and yes it good to hear that in some books the heroines aren’t variations of a ‘celebrity’.
I have never heard the idea of someone who is size 6 not being a ‘real woman’. If this has been said, it is a obvious backlash of heavier woman getting sick of being look down upon (which is the case when the media insists on not portraying larger women at all)…. Is this backlash right? NO.
Within my group of friends the woman range from 0 to size 14… and we all have our little issues with our bodies…
The point is: If even one of these books can help a ‘girl’ or ‘boy’ feel more confident in themselves because they can relate to a character who is ‘overweight (fat) (or whatever you want to call it)…then good. Because let’s face it, the media does shape our view of beauty, etc…and why should our children grow up hating themselves because they aren’t the body shape of some celebrity.
I’m sorry, y’all, but size 6 is indeed “normal.” You all are confusing the mathematical meaning of “normal” with the biological meaning of “normal.”
It is perfectly normal to be a size 6 or a size 16! Just because something isn’t dead average means it’s not normal? Come on! Does that mean you’re “not normal” if your IQ is 130 instead of 100?
Why can’t we all just accept each other, fat or thin?
I agree with annon 1:52 and I was working up the stuff to say it. Good on her. All of these stats and labels are nothing but tools to organize society into neat little boxes so those stuffy folks up high in office can remember it all. God forbid that something isn’t easily explained or understood. Put the fear of whatever you believe in the basin. Size 6 is normal, size 10 is normal, size whatever you are is what you’ve got. It is quite an insult to people who aren’t fitting the category. And FYI: The average size of folks has been steadily increasing due to change of lifeystyle. ‘Normal’ is constantly changing in society in absolutely every area. That’s why it seems futile – in my opinion – for people to constantly trying to say “THIS” is normal, and “THIS” isn’t.
I’m Anon 8:02:
I use the word “norm”, but I apologize. It wasn’t the ‘right’ word to use… I was only trying to say that the average size of a woman isn’t size 6.
Again the point is that we are seeing variations in publication…and that shows a change in ‘ideas’ in both the writer and perhaps the reader who buys the book.
At the same time, as a reader I’m not going to buy a book because of the ‘size’ or ‘look’ of the heroine, I’m going to buy it because the stories captivates me. But I can’t speak for the many variables that causes a ‘reader’ to buy a book.
I don’t want to wade into this discussion of normalcy and weight, but getting back to books, one thing that’s interesting to me about these novels, or at least the idea of them, is that the chick lit genre is basically a wish fulfillment genre. Hence the expensive brands, the makeovers, the boyfriends, etc. etc. They’re usually about average characters getting closer to an ideal.
And most of the chick lit genres featuring overweight women still fit this mold — they get a makeover, they lose weight, etc. etc. It’s still a conformist, wish-fulfillment genre in which the ideal is rich, thin, beautiful, betrothed, etc. etc. That’s the basic formula.
My question is (and put on your agent’s cap): do you think people will buy a book in an escapist genre with an unapologetically overweight character? Let’s assume it’s totally well written, the protagonist “owns” her overweightness — do you think a book like that would sell?
As for the Mayans, don’t forget that the new Indiana Jones movie takes place in Peru. (Inca, not Maya, but in many minds they’re probably the same). Funny, I’ve started doing a little research into Aztec and Mayan culture myself for a fuzzy book idea I have.
There was a nice History Channel special a few months ago about the fall of the Aztecs, complete with beautiful computer generated renderings of what Tenochitlan looked like (where modern day Mexico City sits), and there was a Adventures in the Underworld (or whatever the name is with the archaeologist who likes to dive in headfirst into dark holes) special on Mayans.
Mexico is very accessible to writers in America, and there is a huge Hispanic population in the US (clearly, even more in the world as a whole). Writing about them taps into a potentially huge ethnic and global market.
It sounds like I ought to start writing, if I hope to catch that cultural wave and get myself published….
I’m very sad to see that nobody’s blaming Indiana Jones (at least partially) for a new burst of Mayan. Am I the only fan…or did I miss it?
Anyhow, thanks for this post! Every conference I attend or newsletter I read seems to encourage writers to pitch with the “Just like [insert current bestseller here], except [insert fresh twist here]”. Then I see over and over that agents and editors are tired of seeing just that.
Anon 8:02 here again:
“My question is (and put on your agent’s cap): do you think people will buy a book in an escapist genre with an unapologetically overweight character? Let’s assume it’s totally well written, the protagonist “owns” her overweightness — do you think a book like that would sell?”
A book sells ideas. You are very right about that. I think the plot, the charactization (personality, actions of the characters, etc), and good writing sells books as well. To answer the question will these kind of books sell in a escapist genre? Maybe not… but in genres where the focus is not on ‘body image’, being thin, rich and dating a ‘hottie’, yes they would sell.
Nathan, for me it would depend on how overweight she was, frankly. I loved the part in Bridget Jones where she lost twelve pounds (or however much it was) and everyone told her she looked sickly and too thin. A heroine who is twenty or even thirty pounds overweight and figures, well, whatever, I look fine and I love my french fries and desserts so screw you all if you don’t like it, would appeal to me quite a bit. A heroine who is over sixty pounds overweight–the point where it becomes a real health issue–probably not, especially if she was strident about it. “Real women look like ME! Skinny girls are disgusting!”, that sort of thing–I’ve had that said to me more than once in real life and (obviously) it bugs me.
But again, assuming the writing is great and the story great, yeah. The heroine’s weight wouldn’t keep me from buying the story, necessarily.
And thanks to those who understood what I was saying. The fact that the average size in the US is 14 doesn’t make me abnormal for being a size 6. It doesn’t make me less of a woman because my hip-to-waist ratio is less than ten, or because I barely fill a B-cup. Size 6 is perfectly normal. I am 5 feet 3 and weigh 115 pounds–right where the health charts tell me I should be.
What gets me is, the women telling me I’m abnormal, in some cases (not saying anyone here is doing this specifically) are the same ones who get angry for being judged for their own weight.
–Anon 1:52 (also 5:48a)
“My question is (and put on your agent’s cap): do you think people will buy a book in an escapist genre with an unapologetically overweight character? Let’s assume it’s totally well written, the protagonist “owns” her overweightness — do you think a book like that would sell?”
If the book is about her weight and unapologetic obesity – No. God no. That sounds horrifying. Not interested. I have no interest in angry-yet-witty writers pushing their “self-esteem” teachings at me.
If the character happens to be obese and it’s not dwelled upon, and there are no preachy saccharine messages about “acceptance” or “loving yourself,” then sure.
And “normal” or healthy sizes and people aside — unhealthy lifestyles should neither be accepted nor glamourized; much in the same way that smokers are being Hitlerized currently.
I have a short story out with an e-publisher who does erotic romance, and the main character is a full figured, pear-shaped woman in her thirties who is seduced by a thin, attractive young man in his twenties. He loves the dimples on her knees; his tongue wags when he sees her thick, white ankels.
She is his boss, she is bright, strong and has all the power, and the story is selling quite well. All I wanted to do was write a story about a strong woman who does not fit into the “mold”, but is just as sensual (if not more) than what we typically see.
And I’m a man.
Nathan wrote: “do you think people will buy a book in an escapist genre with an unapologetically overweight character?”
I think the wish fulfillment here is, I can be ME and still be the ideal. I don’t have to be THEM. So, yes, I think it works.
“And FYI: The average size of folks has been steadily increasing due to change of lifeystyle.”
Change of lifestyle:
increase in commute distance + high-fructose corn syrup (more eating out, bigger restaurant meals, indulgence-encouraging advertising for food, etc) = viola! increased average size
A great book: The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan
***
Note: Men are gaining weight too – do guys want a wish-fulfilling fat guy superhero (parallel to wish-fulfilling fat gal super(model, shopper, girlfriend, fill in the blank).
***
I hate “plus-size” terminology – why aren’t the supersmall sizes called “minus-size.” I think I will institute this terminology immediately. Maybe I’ll think of some way of working this into my novel. Yes, a bride, and she describes herself as having a “minus-size bridal gown” because she is so petite (self-deprecating humor in the face of her plus-size bridesmaids, who hate the poufy-sleeved dresses she picked out: “well they looked good when I ordered them off the Internet…”).
the chick lit genre is basically a wish fulfillment genre.
That is so true. It’s got that prototype of women going after SOMETHING (whether a person, career change, weight loss, etc or whatever), that’s going to make their lives better. Self-empowerment, and geting things going.
My question is (and put on your agent’s cap): do you think people will buy a book in an escapist genre with an unapologetically overweight character? Let’s assume it’s totally well written, the protagonist “owns” her overweightness — do you think a book like that would sell?
I think they will if there is something that everyone can get out of it. The big picture. There is always something that you can latch onto outside of the face value stuff. Size 2, size 6, size 12 is all face value. The main thing that folks get out of reading books of the chick-lit genre (with the main thread that you pointed out as being ‘fulfilment’), is a women going after what SHE wants. A woman who is working actively to change her life for the better, no matter who might be in her way. Look at Bridget Jone’s Diary. You had her kind of insecure and stiffled (the common women’s anthem theme supposedly), and then she kind of breaks free. She listens to CHAKA KHAN and other empowering female artists. I think it will sell because there is something that all women can grab from it. If it was just about her struggles of being overweight (morbidly or by 20 or so pounds), then it could go – in my opinion – one of both ways: 1. Women who are (naturally or work like hell at the gym)thin might be facinated and give it a go. 2. Only women who are as big, or bigger then the protagonist in the story would find a ‘kindred spirit’ in the story and hold onto it like a bible of sortts. But then again, I could be wrong. The book might shoot it out of the park and become the next big thing.
Re: “the chick lit genre is basically a wish fulfillment genre.”
This Chick’s Wish Fulfillment List:
1) Murder rate of 0 in Detroit! Woo-hoo! Number 1 on my list of wishes.
2) Federal funding for massive undertaking – creating infrastructure (i.e., “a station on every corner”) to support clean (0 emissions, woo-hoo!) fuel for transportation. More mass transportation (SE Michigan birthplace of Model T – nope, no regional cooperation and no mass transit (just barely) to speak of. Racism big part of problem.
3) Peace in the Middle East – translation: Democracy, jobs and less SEXISM.
4) Oh yeah, bring good-paying manufacturing jobs back to US in “green” industries.
5) Independent trade unions (free of government intervention) in SE Asia.
Etc.
When I think of “escapist” women’s fiction, I prefer something like “The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard,” about an “ordinary” woman who becomes prime minister of UK. Loved it!!!!
Moral of the story: There are millions of women who “don’t give a shit about chick lit.” Don’t find it escapist at all. Makes them feel like a pinch of tobacco being tamped down into some guy’s pipe, so he can have a good smoke and mull things over in a manly way. (I get this pipe metaphor from a poem by Sylvia Plath I believe.)
***
Re: “The main thing that folks get out of reading books of the chick-lit genre (with the main thread that you pointed out as being ‘fulfilment’), is a women going after what SHE wants. A woman who is working actively to change her life for the better, no matter who might be in her way.”
For many women, it’s not “working actively to change HER life for the better,” it’s “working actively to change THE WORLD for the better.”
Ambition: It’s a beautiful word.
Having said all of the above, the main character in my novel is an architect turned wedding cake designer. I thought it would be fun (in a stealthy feminist kind of way) to create a faux chick lit type character, who’s kind of Bella Azbug (obscure 70s feminist reference), Martha Stewart and Yoko Ono (for a concert she once threw dried peas out of a bag, and the sound of the peas hitting the floor was the “music”), all rolled into one.
At least I am amused. Is my character the feminist version of a Mary Sue? Only time (and a pile of rejections) will tell.
Back to the manuscript…
“My question is (and put on your agent’s cap): do you think people will buy a book in an escapist genre with an unapologetically overweight character? Let’s assume it’s totally well written, the protagonist “owns” her overweightness — do you think a book like that would sell?”
Echoing your earlier post, Nathan: this is all premise. What’s the plot?
I believe a book with convincing, engaging characters and a great plot would sell whether the protagonist were big, small or vampiric.
Of course, writing those characters and that plot is always the hard part…
My question is (and put on your agent’s cap): do you think people will buy a book in an escapist genre with an unapologetically overweight character? Let’s assume it’s totally well written, the protagonist “owns” her overweightness — do you think a book like that would sell?
They already do sell. Meg Cabot is cleaning up with the Heather Wells mysteries (Size 12 Isn’t Fat, Size 14 Isn’t Fat Either, and whatever the new one is).
Jennifer Weiner’s heroines range from “curvy” to “plump”, and she’s all over the best-seller lists.
Laura Lippman’s Tess Monaghan is a best-selling detective who wears size 12. Nobody’s ever called Tess “overweight,” though, until her latest adventure with murder on a TV set–Tess is an avid rower and quite tall, so I imagine her as kind of Venus Williams-shaped.
I am a 6′ tall proud Mayan Princess warrior
and so what if you think I look down at you? I do.
I do take exception over being lined up as a vampire and have you ever seen a 6′ Mayan warrior who weighed a mere 120 pounds?
You need muscles to survive in this jungle!
Chick Lit and Romance are basically forms of Comedy, and they have to adhere to the fairly rigid constraints of comedy. That’s where the whole “wish fulfillment” part comes in. Something has to be gained at the end.
Bridget Jones’ Diary had to play off of Austen to get some humor out of the tight constraints, for example. It’s not easy to expand the formula without getting away from what has to be done.
Having said that, winning over the cute guy or finally being comfortable with being independent are among the possible outcomes with an overweight protagonist. Just remember to make use of the outsider status, as in Jones’, as a big part of the plot advancement.
In fact, I’d say that any good comedies with a geek girl in them would be acceptable starting points.
The pubescent-vampire soap–it’s many clones and suddenly popular predecessors included–currently sweeping through the general female audience with no prejudice for age causes myself laughable slights.
It seems like what was once a literature taboo for women is now popular. Especially with this latest installment featuring aliens of the body snatchers type.
How did this happen?
I don’t even bother with concern about the Mayan deadline for life.
But the theme in BJ was that she won over the good guy – the one she over looked before – being who she was before (overweight, overworked etc and so on) – and that when she had the choice (having finally ‘worked over’ the ‘goodlooking Daniel, she went for the ‘right’ guy anyways. There is that (to some) pesky self-fulfilment thing again. What looks good on paper, and what works in real life. That point you make about Austen in BJ, I can see a bit. That line about ‘one person having all the goodness and the other all the appearance of it,’ which Lizzie makes about Wickham and Darcy (and ironically Colin Firth plays Darcy in Bridget Jones and in BBC’s Pride and Prejudice). The whole thing leaps to mind. And the good guy character is named after the good guy Austen character. Then you’ve got the Daniel Cleaver who mirrors Jane Austen’s Wickam who (as Mr. Bennet says) “smiles, and makes love to us all.” Lots of bouncing off of previous sucess and hopefully putting your own spin on it. Last thing we all want is a broken record.
A fine discussion, Everyone. (Love the Human Snacrifice concept!)
For what it’s worth, the trouble with trends is that they can so easily become cliches.
I won’t read anything hyped as something “like” or “in the style of.”
I frown on somebody writing somebody else’s coattails to success–or, in this case, “suckcess.”
an escapist genre with an unapologetically overweight character
Sounds like a niche. I imagine it could be done if the story didn’t focus on weight, if the wish fulfillment were something else and the character happened to be overweight with other priorities than weight loss. Unapologetically overweight sounds too militant.
Also, for heaven’s sake, people, BRIDGET JONES WASN’T “PLUS-SIZED”!!! She was heavier than she wanted to be, but unless she was 5’1″ or shorter, the highest weight she records in her diary isn’t even in the “overweight” range.
ironically Colin Firth plays Darcy in Bridget Jones and in BBC’s Pride and Prejudice
It’s not “ironic” at all–that was Fielding’s intention all along (and made the second Bridget Jones movie a little complicated, since Bridge interviews Colin Firth about what it’s like to be confused with Mr. Darcy).
@Julia – OK, it wasn’t ironic. And did you agree or disagree with the rest of my post out of healthy curiousity?
The next big trend: the vampire diet. Simply drink 8-12 ounces of blood before every meal. Lose pounds and inches and your reflection.
“…nobody ever thought of looking there…”
Re: “The next big trend: the vampire diet. Simply drink 8-12 ounces of blood before every meal. Lose pounds and inches and your reflection.”
The next next big trend – women can not only make thousands selling their eggs – now they can sell their menstrual fluid as a diet supplement. Move over Ensure, here comes Mblood!
Hey, there’s a company offering to freeze the red stuff for stem cells (for a fee, of course):
https://news.bbc.co.uk
/2/hi/health/7086548.stm
and
https://www.nytimes.com/
2008/01/29/health/29bloo.html
Hilarious quote from health care professional:
So the prospect that “the curse” might be a source of stem cells to sustain life was a surprise to some experts.
“All the years I’ve been working in cell therapy, nobody ever thought of looking there,”
Yeah, I bet 🙂
Will it sell?
I think your answer is yes. Start with She’s Come Undone, proceed to Bridget Jones, Good in Bed, and In Her Shoes (although the movie version didn’t emphasize it, as I recall the heroine liked shoes because they were the only wardrobe element she thought looked good on her), and follow with Jemima J, Size 12 is Not Fat (and the rest of that series) and The Next Big Thing. All of these are off the top of my head, happen to be on my own bookshelves, and are written by well known chick-lit/women’s fiction authors. They have all been on the front tables in my local Borders (whether or not that makes them big hits, I don’t know). I think this is not a trend that is “coming”; it is a trend that is here.
The wish fulfillment element probably comes from the aspect that we wish it didn’t matter – that women can have glamor, excitement, boyfriends, and the rest regardless of weight.
@ adaoraOK, it wasn’t ironic.
Sorry, Alanis Morrissette has left me oversensitive to this. 🙂
And did you agree or disagree with the rest of my post
I think that the obsessing about her weight and lusting after the office cad were part of the same problem, yes.