Mainstream/Contemporary Women's Fiction?

[Qwerty Harry]

I'm curious to know how many people here write mainstream-contemporary Women's Fiction. Is it just me or does it seem like this particular genre is the Tito Jackson/Jan Brady of literary genres nowadays? It seems so marginalized.

Particularly disheartening is the fact that agents who represent this genre tend to say, in response to being asked what's on their Wish lists of projects they'd like to see, that they're looking for YA paranormal or historical fiction or steampunk. I almost never see "I'm looking for mainstream women's fiction!"

Being someone who has written 4 novels (all rejected)--the latest one written last year--in this genre I'm very nervous and borderline discouraged about the future of mainstream/contermporary women's fiction.

It seems like most of the Women's Fiction debuts listed on publishersmarketplace in the last 2 years have been Romances or Paranormal Romances. I have this nagging suspicion/growing fear that the publishing industry is only interested in women's fiction that features a woman falling in love with a man or falling in love with a werewolf or falling in love with a vampire. What about those of us who write women's fiction that doesn't have those components?, that focuses instead on female friendships or mother-daughter bonds or self-improvement? Are we sh*t out of luck?

Granted, maybe my particular bad track record points more to the possibility that my storylines just plain suck than to any marginalization of women's fiction in general. But I'm still curious to hear from other writers who write in this genre: how are your projects faring? Are you optimistic about this genre's prospects?

 

[LaceWing]

Barbara Kingsolver, Stef Penny, Tea Olbreht, Nicole Krauss, Ann Beattie, Ann Patchett, Annie Proulz, Ann Tyler, Emma Donoghue, Margaret Atwood, Sheri Tepper, Ursula Le Guin, Susan Sontag, A. S. Byatt, Elizabeth Strout, Marianne Wiggins, Marilynne Robinson, Kate Atkinson, Annie Dillard, Zadie Smith, Claire Messud, Ursula Hegi, Jayne Ann Phillips, Nicole Mones, Morag Joss, Louise Erdrich, Gil Adamson, Amy Greene, Marisha Pessl, Helen DeWitt, Joanne Harris, Sarah Gruen, Jennifer Egan -- they all have something to say about relationships to the wider world.

Look into who their agents are.

 

[LaceWing]

If you like Perrota, you might also like Chris Bohjalian. Some other guys who write for women (as much as for men) are Michael Cummingham, James Morrow and David Mitchell. Check out these guys' agents as well.

PS. Qwerty Harry is a clever and very punny user name. Hello and nice to meet you.

 

[gothicangel]

Particularly disheartening is the fact that agents who represent this genre tend to say, in response to being asked what's on their Wish lists of projects they'd like to see, that they're looking for YA paranormal or historical fiction or steampunk. I almost never see "I'm looking for mainstream women's fiction!"

At the moment historical and YA Paranormal are in a boom period. It's swings and roundabouts, next year it could be a resurgence in serial killer fiction. I would say that plenty agents are sick of YA Paranormal!

Romance and crime fiction are the two biggest genres, so why fight against what you can't change? Look at what you can change. Okay, you have 4 trunked novels. Why were they rejected? Have you had critiques? What was the rejection: partial; full requests? Does the problem lie in the synopsis or query? If you don't address these problems, you'll continue going round in circles.

 

[CAgirlforever]

I have also noticed that women's fiction is not as popular at the moment as some other genres, namely sci-fi and horror. Some authors who write great books about the female journey (friendship, motherhood, mother/daughter, etc.) that I enjoy reading are Kristin Hannah, Robin Jones Gunn (Christian women's fiction), Melody Carlson, and Meg Cabot.

I write women's fiction as well (not chick lit or romance, just mainstream women's fiction) and have an eBook collection, the Willow Ryan series, available through B&N and Amazon. Here is the blurb for the first novel, Secrets.

It is the summer of 1986, and recent high school graduate Willow Ryan is going to have a baby, something she never imagined would happen to her. Unable to disclose her secret and unwilling to give up her baby, Willow leaves her Midwestern home for a new life in charming Santa Elena, California, where she lands a job working for a quirky Southern belle named Peggy, who has a knack for finding trouble in the most unlikely places. Willow's new neighbor, a friendly surfer dude named Denny, quickly becomes someone she can count on for anything, but could there be more to their relationship than Willow sees?

"Secrets" will take you on a journey with this independent, determined young woman as she grows up quickly, becomes a mother, and deals with a catastrophic event that makes all of her secrets come to light.

I have also had a hard time getting an agent and publishing the traditional way, but I'm not giving up and neither should you. I wish you the best of luck and whatever you do, never stop writing!

Shannon Higgins

http://willowwriter.blogspot.com

P.S. - I loved your Tito Jackson/Jan Brady comment. Hilarious!

 

[Qwerty Harry]

LaceWing: Thank you for the compliment (about my user name); and it's nice to meet you too!! Most of the writers you listed in your reply are relatively established writers of women's fiction. I was referring more to debut women's fiction. It seems like debut women's fiction has been marginalized in the last couple of years. Most of the recent debut fiction I've seen on publishersmarketplace seems to be in the areas of YA, Fantasy/Paranormal, and Romance (or some hybrid of all three). And also the agents who represent Women's Fiction seem to be more interested in seeing debut projects that fall into other categories (based on interviews and blog entries I've read).

GothicAngel: My first novel landed me an agent but none of the publishing houses wanted it; the recurring reason was that the novel didn't stand out enough. My second novel didn't get as far as the publishing houses because my agent didn't like it. She liked my third novel, which she sent to 5 publishing houses: while they thought the writing was strong they all rejected it because they felt it wasn't marketable enough (this surprised me because the novel dealt with female friendship, which I thought was a very relatable, non-esoteric theme). That third novel never went through a second round of submissions because my agent left the agency and its owner dropped me (nice, huh?) I couldn't find a new agent for the third novel so I wrote a fourth one, which I started submitting last fall. Out of 120 agents, only 3 have requested to see more (partials, no fulls), and those 3 ended up rejecting it.

Again, I'm the first to admit the possibility that my work is being rejected because it's just not up to par, but there's another part of me that just can't help wondering whether my work would generate more positive responses if it was the kind of women's fiction that focused purely on romance or featured vampires and/or werewolves.

 

[Qwerty Harry]

CAgirlforever: thank you for the encouraging response; I wish you the best of luck. And of course--keep writing!

 

[Connie Briscoe]

I write women's fiction and although other sub-genres are certainly more popular now, general women's fiction will always be in demand. Not to mention that you have to write from the heart and not force it. If you try to write in a genre that doesn't really captivate you, it won't be your best work and it will show.

Great stories and writing in any genre will always have a better chance of getting published and selling well.