Have Dress, Will Date
Four Red Dress Authors Define a New Women's Fiction Genre
By Deanna Carlyle 2002        

You've heard the buzz words. Sometimes they're hissed,  sometimes proudly rolled off the tongue: "Chick Lit," "Girl in the City," "The Next Bridget Jones." Now Harlequin has debuted a new line of smart, urban fiction for the female young professional. But what is Red Dress Ink exactly? And is it for you?

To get a clearer picture of chick lit and its readers, I asked four Red Dress Ink authors for their views, for as they readily admit, they are the target audience.

1. How did you find yourself drawn to the Chick Lit genre?

Sarah Mlynowski: I am a devoted chick lit reader. I've been a fan since its Brit incarnation (Fielding, Green, Jewell...) and I was thrilled when American writers began adapting the genre. I decided to write what I love to read.

Melissa Senate: I spotted Bridget Jones's Diary in B&N, gobbled it up right there in the cafe over a few cappuccinos, and have been hooked on Chick Lit since. In Chick Lit, I find my questions and concerns about being a single thirty-something reflected in humorous, poignant and realistic ways.

Wendy Corsi Staub (writing for RDI as Wendy Markham): My heroine has been begging me to tell her tale for quite some time now, but she refused to be confined within the boundaries of women's genre fiction. There was no place for her until RDI came along and allowed me to break all the "rules" I had followed in previous novels, romance and otherwise.

Cathy Yardley: Rather by accident... I'd just moved from L.A. and was thinking my adventures there could be a funny book, but was really focusing on my romance fiction career, so I figured, "Well, maybe down the line." Then the Red Dress line was announced. Very serendipitous.

2. Tell us what's different about your latest novel--different from other romances you may have written.

SM: Milkrun is my first novel.

MS: See Jane Date is my first novel.

WCS: Everything is different--in fact, I don't consider this a romance at all! I feel entirely comfortable calling Slightly Single the anti-romance novel.

CY: It's not really a romance--if you're reading for the development of a relationship, there isn't really one in there. It's more structurally complex than anything I've ever written... a major growth arc and two mirroring/contradicting subplots, all interwoven. It was the most tremendous learning experience for my writing! I'd gotten to the point where romance was like writing with a net. This - freefall. Scary as hell, but in the end very, very worth it. And I think it will impact my romance writing positively.

3. Do you think any interested author who is successful writing romance could also be successful writing for RDI? Why or why not--what does it take, do you think?

SM: Maybe--I think a gifted writer can work in any genre. But I also think an intuitive reader can see through an author who doesn't believe in her genre. If she enjoys the style then she can probably succeed.

MS: Absolutely. The key word is interested!

WCS: Sure. But it takes an author who is NOT wed to the notion that a happy ending must equal "true love conquers all." A RDI heroine might very well sail off into the sunset solo--and the reader, and author, should feel good about that.

CY: God, I hope so! I'm still writing for Blaze at the very least, and hopefully going back to Duets and possibly Temptation.

4. How has your personal age influenced your ability to craft a book about an urban 20-something or 30-something heroine?

SM: I wrote Milkrun when I was twenty-three and living in Toronto--my protagonist is twenty-four and living in Boston. My friends are in their mid-twenties, I date guys in their mid-twenties, my financial and relationship concerns are those of someone in her mid-twenties... I drew from these experiences to add a feeling of authenticity to my book.

MS: I don't think age has anything to do with it. I'm in my thirties and wrote about an urban twenty-something because that was the story in my heart, bursting to get out.

WCS: I'm in my mid-thirties, and I have lived here in the New York City area for most of the past decade and a half. So I've certainly experienced all aspects of the single, urban lifestyle--though at this point, settled in suburbia with a mortgage, happily-married-with-children, I'm writing what I knew, rather than what I know!

CY: I'm twenty-something and I've lived in urban areas since I went to college, and I'm still single. I hope that that lends a certain emotional truth to the experience

5. What's the single biggest difference between your RDI book and a traditional romance?

SM: Milkrun is about Jackie Norris' frenzied search for Mr. Right. It is not about her relationship with Mr. Right; she doesn't even find Mr. Right. She finds a Don't - Ever - Call - Me - Again - You - Creep and a Maybe - One - Day - When - We're - Grown - Ups - If - We - Haven't - Both - Met - Anyone - Else. But no Aha! - We've - Found - Each - Other - And - We're - In - Love. No soul mate.

On the other hand, she has sex with Mr. Wrong. Good sex. She has bad sex too, but that's with another Mr. Wrong. (In traditional romance she'd be considered a bit of a slut.)

MS: A traditional romance is about the developing relationship between a hero and a heroine. See Jane Date is about the developing relationship between the heroine and confidence.

WCS: Again, romance is at most a minor element in Slightly Single. My heroine must learn to live with, accept, and love herself--not a potential spouse, as a romance heroine does.

CY: The fact that it emphasizes that relationships aren't necessarily the answer. In my case, the book is all about finding what "the answer" is, and love is just one possibility. I loved writing about her search, and in a traditional romance I would have done the hero a grave disservice, if there was a hero.

6. Does your RDI heroine fall in love? How, or how not?

SM: Numerous times. With numerous men. And she falls out of love. Numerous times. With numerous men.

MS: Jane doesn't fall in love; she falls in infatuation with one of her blind dates. In my own life, it took me a looong time to figure out the difference--something I wanted to explore in the book. At the end of See Jane Date, she discovers that being her own worst enemy was her problem.

WCS: Fall in love? Nope--she does the opposite! Slightly Single is about learning to let go, not learning to hold on.

CY: Yes, and then no, and then sort of. How? The hard way. She does everything the hard way. (That smacks of a certain emotional truth for me, as well!)

7. What are the packaging and distribution like for the Red Dress Ink books?

SM: All four of our books manage to look different, trendy, clever and fun. Hopefully the books will be distributed everywhere.

MS: Exceptionally effective! The packaging and format is "Chick Lit." As a lover of Chick Lit, I can't wait to buy every Red Dress Ink book. The covers and back cover copy of the RDIs I've seen so far are irresistible to me. As far as distribution, I figure I'll find RDI books where I find my other Chick Lit books.

WCS: Each of the covers I've seen is unique, but I'm convinced all will appeal to the hip, young target audience. A huge plus: the titles all manage to be clever and fun without coming across as too gimmicky or "cute."

CY: I don't know what the distribution is going to be like, but they're sending out bound galleys, they've got a substantive media campaign, and I love my own cover--it's unusual, a collage artist from Canada created it. I have a lot of faith in the effectiveness of the push, but it's too early to say, especially since it will not have brand identity like Harlequin behind it.

8. Do you personally believe that the line's target audience--young professional women--will be hooked by the Red Dress Ink books, and that they, specifically, will enjoy them more than regular romances, or will give them a try before they would a regular romance?

SM: Yes, I think they will be hooked by RDI. I'm hooked and I'm a young professional woman! But more than romances? Do women enjoy Bridget Jones's Diary more than You've Got Mail? I don't think it's an either/or situation. Sometimes readers will want a romantic escape and a guarantee that by the last page the hero and heroine will beat the odds and end up together. And sometimes they'll want a book that mirrors their own dating struggles, or their own identity crisis. Sometimes they'll want a romantic ideal to strive for and sometimes they'll want to commiserate.

Some young women (specifically some of my unnamed friends) have preconceived notions that romance novels are outdated and/or silly. The TV shows they like are hip, clever and edgy. They want a consistent reading experience. Red Dress Ink books are being promoted as hip, clever and edgy. So I think that yes, these unnamed friends will be more likely to give RDI a try.

MS: I'm the target audience of RDI (well, okay, one year out of the demographic), and I'm already hooked by the concept and packaging of RDI. I'm also a lover of romance novels and can't wait for the next Dixie Browning or Cait London or Maggie Shayne novel. Red Dress Ink is a line of women's fiction in the "Chick Lit" genre. Young, professional woman (and not-so-young, non-professional women) can enjoy Red Dress Ink and romance novels alike. One doesn't exclude the other. Both are about the female experience.

WCS: The question implies that these books fall into the romance genre. They don't. Women who enjoy romance novels seek tales about heroines and heroes who inevitably wind up at the altar. In RDI books, nothing is inevitable. Wedding bells are optional--as are heroes! Thus, it all depends on a romance reader's willingness to alter her expectations--and to trade the fairy tale for an irreverent dose of reality.

CY: I definitely think that young professional women will read a RDI before they'll read a romance if they aren't reading romance already, because the targeted generation has a certain... cynicism, a tougher quality that doesn't lend itself to the often sheer optimism of romance. They like their love "realistic"--including the pitfalls and false starts. And I think that they want to read about women who are in the trenches with them--enduring dating hell, career chaos, and the like. Actually, I think that these stories will be attractive across several demographics... Bridget Jones being the prime example of this.

9. Do you think the Red Dress Ink books are characterized more by their contemporary and clever voice, or by a heroine who may encounter multiple 'heroes' without necessarily finding a marriage-minded happy ending? That is, if we were to boil down what this line was about, would it be "romances that are smart and urban," or "romances that deal with Mr. Right Now"?

SM: The RDI tagline sums it up best: "Life's Little Curves." While romance may be a happy diversion, or a painful pothole, the route is about the heroine's journey.

MS: I think Red Dress Ink books are characterized by the heroine's development into a strong woman, via an engaging storyline that depicts what it's like to be a young singleton in the city. To me, the heroine's ultimate ability to distinguish between Mr. Right, Mr. Right Now, and Mr. So Wrong has a lot to do with the happy ending of RDI books.

WCS: Not to sound prickly, but again, it doesn't boil down to "romances" at all. This line is about women who are smart and urban, and women who deal not just with dating, but with jobs, roommates, friends, cash-flow issues, appearance, family, and, yes, fun stuff like shopping, fashion, and happy hour!

CY: The boiled-down essence of RDI: novels about women's struggle to get it right without a manual... or a man, as the case may be. At least that's my take on it.

10. Where do you see the Chick Lit genre heading in the next few years?

SM: Maybe we'll start to see the tone of Chick Lit books applied to older heroines, women having children, women dealing with children, women going through a divorce, women dating again post-divorce. Angst is angst. This genre is about women finding themselves--and we can find ourselves at any age, can't we?

MS: I'm one of the millions of women who loved Bridget Jones's Diary. (And now that I can imagine Colin Firth as Mark Darcy, I love the book even more.) As long as there are "Chick Lit" books on the market, I'm going to buy them. And because Red Dress Ink is here, I'm going to write them too! As Bridget would say, "Hurrah!"

WCS: It's hard to say. Given this fall's chilling tragedies, young American women might find themselves hungrier than ever for wry, witty fiction that presents characters with whom they can identify; characters who face problems and issues that might not be neatly resolved by the last page, but are comfortably familiar--and not life or death.

CY: Honestly? I think it will meld with Women's Fiction, especially in light of the recent tragedy. Women's stories of friendship, support and personal growth are timeless. The urban scene just changed radically. It will take time to really gauge the full results.

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