Women’s fiction is a term that refers to stories where the female protagonist deals with situations and relationships that challenge her and affect her emotional growth.
The subjects and themes of these books can cover a wide range of issues that women face. Relationships with other people are important, and are an integral part of the story. Though there is often a love interest, it isn’t the central focus.
What’s most important is the woman’s emotional development as she pursues her dreams, fights her fears, or overcomes obstacles life throws her way. These stories touch the emotions, and don’t necessarily have a happy ending. Like any book, though, women’s fiction does need an ending that satisfies readers.
Women’s fiction tends to be more commercial than literary, but doesn’t fit the narrower restrictions of genre fiction. It appeals to a wide, mainstream audience and generally will be shelved with general fiction in a bookstore.
Examples of books considered women’s fiction (per Barnes & Noble) are:
Picture Perfect, by Jodi Picoult
Fly Away Home, by Jennifer Weiner (this one is also listed under Literary on Amazon, and Commercial Fiction on Free Book Friday)
Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen
.
What other books can you think of that would be considered women’s fiction? What, if anything, appeals to you about this type of book?
I’m not really into women’s fiction Carol so can’t say very much on the subject.
BUT, let me tell you the reason for my visit 🙂
You have a nice little gift waiting to be picked-up
over on my blog.
Thanks for the award, Elizabeth. I’ll have to give it some thought before posting here. 🙂
I read Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier and I guess it could be considered as women’s fiction? But I’m not sure- I’m never that good at categorizing the books 🙂 But I do enjoy reading stories where the female protagonist deals with situations and relationships that challenge her and affect her emotional growth.
Those are the kind of books I enjoy, too, Lua.
I have trouble categorizing some books, too, but after seeing the way the same books are labeled differently by different booksellers, I don’t think we’re the only ones! There are only general guidelines to follow as each book contains different elements that could fit into more than one category.
Almost anything by Susan Isaacs, Jennifer Weiner and Lauren Weisberger would be considered Women’s fiction. Of those three, I think Weiner is the best. Her style and voice make for good reading.
Hi, Stephen. Thanks for the suggestions. My to-read list just keeps getting longer!
I’m not surprised Jodi Picoult is on the list. I’ve read her stuff and enjoyed it. Talk about not necessarily having a happy ending.
Now that I’ve read this, I’d have to say one of the flash pieces I wrote today is women’s fiction. Like you and Lua, I’m not good at categorizing non-genre fiction. Literary, women’s, commercial, general–it’s all the same to me. If it’s a good story, I’ll read it.
~jon
Even when it’s a good story, I’m always disappointed if there isn’t a happy ending. I used to read the last few pages of books first to make sure I would be happy with the ending, but it kind of spoils the suspense so I don’t usually do that anymore.
Carol
By the way, are you a member of the Red Hat Society?
~jon
How did you guess? 😉
Since my entire English Lit. degree seemed to be about gender I got really tired of classifying everything as ‘women’s’ or ‘mens’ or ‘gender struggle’ even though I understand perfectly what is meant by this and why it’s important.
I prefer to read a story because of the human struggle and find the universal messages in it. Sometimes this is related to gender specific issues and sometimes it isn’t. I let it go at that.
Jai
Jai, I agree. The most enjoyable stories for me have a message that doesn’t necessarily depend on the main character’s gender. Still, there are some books I think are better suited to male or female readers.
I lead a book club for the women’s association in my neighborhood and it’s been very interesting to see which books are voted in every year. Our group tends to shy away from overtly “women’s fiction” like Jodi Picoult (although we joined with another bookclub to read a Barbara Delinsky novel so she could “chat” with us on speaker phone…and it was amazing to have the author participate in our discussion). We do a book swap every Christmas, and “Jarhead” was the one everyone wanted last year. We are looking forward to reading “The Help” (when it comes out in paper in January) which might qualify…since all the voices are female.
In a former writing discussion group, I heard women’s writing described as “character-driven” and men’s as “journalistic and plot focused,” but I didn’t find that generalization held true. I would say some writers have a tendency towards one or the other…but Wally Lamb and Nicholas Sparks certainly write character/relationship-driven books. So men or women could write “women’s fiction.”
Sarah, I think you’re right. It isn’t so much who’s writing the book as it is who’s interested in reading it. For the most part, I think certain types of books appeal to one gender more than the other, but some books have fans of both genders. I guess that’s why “women’s fiction” is also considered mainstream.
Sounds like your bookclub has a wonderful time. I’d love to hear some of the authors I’ve read discuss their books.
Carol
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Carol,
Thank you for leading me to this explanation. It’s HUGE, because my second novel has a female protagonist that goes through some serious life horrors and must overcome them in order to survive a horrendous battle. The theme of that book is “face your fears” and she must do just that if she’s to save her ship from an attack.
I had been agonizing about this because I touch on several women’s issues with my character. I always thought that it wasn’t just a military thriller, but one that addressed a woman’s role in war. Many people believe that women aren’t qualified for battle, front-line responsibilities and battlefield decisions in “a man’s world.”
But my heroine changes so much of that as she faces her fears in a situation that NO ONE wants to be in. I’ve always felt this book was written for women, and that the “female side of me” or the “female in my past life” was writing the story.
Thank you, Carol. Now I have the confidence to query this book with Women’s Fiction as well as Military thriller.
Joaquin