Women's Fiction, Contemporary Women's Fiction, Women's Literary Fiction, Commercial and Upmarket Women's Fiction, Paranormal Women's Fiction, and Chick Lit. Discover everything you need to know about the genre in one helpful blog post. Read on!
Book Genres
Let's start at the start.
A 'genre' is used to categorise a book.
Firstly, a book is either fiction or non-fiction.
In fiction, books then fall into a literary subgenre e.g. romance, science fiction, fantasy, women's fiction, etc.
Each of these literary subgenres has its own expectations, for example, did you know that a book has to have a happy ending for it to be considered a romance? While fantasy books need to contain either magic or the supernatural.
There are so many genres that things can get confusing! So, let's look at some of the main Women's Fiction genres and hopefully clear some things up. First things first:
What is Women's Fiction?
Women's fiction is the umbrella term for books that focus on the lives and experiences of women. These books are marketed to women and often include journeys of self-discovery/personal growth during which you get to see a snapshot of what is going on inside a woman's mind.
What is Chick lit? (aka. Beach Fiction)
'Chick' is a slang word for 'young woman', and 'lit' is short for 'literature'. Thus, Chick lit is literature aimed at younger women. It is often:
lighthearted
funny
easy to read
urban
20-or-early-30-something-year-old female protagonist
Fun and young, but not dumb. It often centers around real issues for this demographic at their stage of life: friendships, romantic relationships, and careers.
What is Commercial Women's Fiction?
Commercial Women's Fiction is much like Chick lit but not specifically aimed at younger 20-to-30-year-old women. Therefore, it tackles some deeper and more wide-ranging real-world issues, and may be a bit less light and humorous, while still remaining broadly accessible and easy to understand.
What is Contemporary Women's Fiction
Contemporary Fiction books are set in a present or modern-day setting.
Therefore, Contemporary Women's Fiction is just Women's Fiction set in the present or modern-day.
What is Women's Literary Fiction?
Literary Fiction is a bit more serious. It generally has a purpose and a message and aims to get readers to think about important and complex themes, such as social or environmental issues, which are just as important to the story as the plot.
The plot tends to be character-driven, which means that it is just as focused on what is happening inside a person as what is happening outside, and the plot moves forward because of the person and the choices/actions that they make.
Literary Fiction uses words in a more complex, creative, and innovative way.
So, Women's Literary Fiction is a mixture of Women's Fiction + Literary Fiction.
What is Upmarket Women's Fiction? (aka. Book Club Fiction)
Upmarket Women's Fiction fits between Commercial Women's Fiction and Literary Fiction. It is generally fairly easy to understand and broadly accessible, like Commercial Women's Fiction, but often less predictable, slower paced, and more innovative with language, like Literary Fiction. Check out the following 2 links for more information:
Lidija Hilje's blog post: Genre Guide: Women's Fiction, Upmarket, Romance, Literary...?
Carly Watters': Infographic: Do You Know The Difference Between Literary, Upmarket, and Commercial Fiction?
What is Paranormal Women's Fiction?
Paranormal Women's Fiction is a new genre
(created in 2020) that is aimed at women in mid-life (40+). It deals with real-life issues for this demographic (e.g. menopause, empty nest, widowhood, divorce, etc.) and combines them with a protagonist's new or developing magical powers.
Cross-Genre
Most fiction books are cross-genre, which means that they mix genres together. For example, my latest book, The Silver Sheep, is a Contemporary Women's Literary Fiction novel. It:
Has a modern-day setting (contemporary fiction)
Is a young women's coming-of-age story that spans the teen years to early twenties (women's fiction)
Is a journey of self-discovery and personal growth (women's fiction)
Follows her journey from a rough and poor only child of a single, alcoholic mother, to a free-thinking and spiritual, commune-dwelling young mother herself (women's fiction)
Tackles issues such as: Substance abuse, abandonment, teen pregnancy, dysfunctional family, being a child caregiver, and moral dilemmas (women's fiction)
Has social and political themes eg. social inequality; prejudice, intolerance, discrimination, hive mentality; political influence, and corruption (literary fiction)
It also has a strong earthing theme and aims to encourage free thinking about the themes explored and the very real benefits of connecting with our planet (literary fiction)
Hopefully this helps to shed some light on Women's Fiction for you. Have you tried reading in each of the genres listed? Maybe you can find your next favourite book in a genre you have yet to explore!
Much love - Marley x
P.S. The Silver Sheep is available as an ebook or paperback, and can be downloaded for free by Kindle Unlimited subscribers. CLICK HERE to find out more.
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