Showing posts with label chick-lit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chick-lit. Show all posts

Saturday 9 February 2013

Some Research is Bonkers...

The research a writer does is never bonkers. It's often quite inspirational, in fact it can be downright distracting.

No, the research I'm talking about is the rubbish I read about today Chick-lit 'lowers women's self-esteem' in the Telegraph online - and in the Women's section too.

"The study, published by Virginia Tech (Virginia’s Polytechnic Institute and State University), found that chick-lit books, in which the main character worries about her weight, made female readers more uneasy about their own body image." (Telegraph)

Well when you read on and discover how the test was carried out- they used two books where the central characters were healthy body weights but had low self-esteem (don't we all at some time, especially in winter?) and passages "were selected and nine different versions of the respective texts were produced in which the protagonists’ perception of their body was distorted."

In other words they mucked around with the written words to prove their theories. I won't go on, you can read about it at the above link, but we all get the idea...

I think the researchers should be more worried about the effect of highly paid female celebrities and singers in gaudy barely there clinging outfits in music videos and at high profile events, rather than a book of fiction- the last word does give it away...

And I'm very glad to say that there is a insightful and amusing response from Katy Brand, who echoes the odd thought or two I'd agree with-except the badly written bit... :-)

"The idea that any ‘scholar’ or ‘health official’ should trouble themselves for more than a nanosecond about what some woman thinks about the size of her bottom as a result of reading some badly written piece of fiction they got free with a magazine is a joke. Read and let read, that’s what I say – no book can truly make you feel bad about yourself, and if it does, stop reading it." (Katy Brand )

Of course there are women and young girls who have issues with their bodies, there always have been; I had a school friend who developed anorexia and had to be hospitalised- that was nearly forty years ago- and there was no chick-lit around then.

So researchers, don't claim chick-lit, or women's fiction supports your theories, it doesn't...








Saturday 28 April 2012

News Round-Up - April

Just a few items you might want to follow-up... :-)

Novelicious Undiscovered - The Top 20

The twenty names and the titles of their entries are now posted on the Novelicious website, and starting on the 1st May, one story will feature every day, allowing readers to comment, but not vote-yet. That begins on the 5th of June.

It's reassuring to see that it's not going to be done by popularity vote, in a way that would enable multiple votes from those who have a lot of friends...You can only vote once and there will be a form to fill in.

Sympathies if you entered and didn't get into the shortlist- but with over 200 entries, choosing 20 must have been a tough task.


Grazia and Orange’s ‘First Chapter’ Competition

Seems the terms and conditions that were posted originally have since been expanded on.

They have also added the words "Entries in the incorrect format will not be considered." But there doesn't seem to be anything defining what their correct format is...

This addition is sure to mean inexperienced entrants being excluded. Adding details like this when a competition is underway is not right.


Flash Fiction Competitions

Details of more competitions have been added to the competition page of the National Flash Fiction Day website.
Just scroll down the page to read the latest competitions with closing dates in May or beyond.

And finally

Workshop

The Writing Romantic Fiction Workshop with Kate Walker at Nottingham Writers' Club on Saturday 19th May 10am to 4pm.

There are a handful of places left, so if you're interested click on the Workshop link above. The price for the day is a great deal less than many one day workshops charge, so take a look.







Wednesday 15 February 2012

A Chick-Lit Novel Competition...

Thanks to Bertieb a member of the Writers News Talkback forum for highlighting this great competition.

"Novelicious has teamed up with Avon (HarperCollins) and Books and the City (Simon & Schuster UK) to bring you the chick lit event of the year!"

Novelicious Undiscovered 2012 is running this competition for UK residents, and offering some great prizes-a manuscript critique and a Kindle among the goodies for one of the winners.

All you need is the first 3,000 words of your chick-lit novel and you can send it by e-mail, so there's no postage to pay, or entry fee.

If you're outside the UK, already under contract to a publisher, or signed to an agent at the time of entry, you aren't eligible- sorry...

Closing date of the first stage is 3rd of April 2012- so get your first 3,000 words shining and ready to go. You retain the rights to your work too, so this is a good one to go for.

There are various stages, but you can read the details on their main page to see how it will work.

Now as with any competition there are rules and it's always a good idea to read the terms and conditions and understand them completely, so you don't disqualify yourself by making a simple mistake.

Rule 7 is very important. Especially for bloggers/website owners.

The winners are due to be announced on the 26th June, so it's not too long. But like any competition if there's a lot of entries then planned dates can go a little astray.

And if you enter- good luck. :-)