Chick Lit: Act Your Age

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The women’s fiction novel I’m working on has the protagonist planning her wedding.

Here’s an excerpt from it:

Marco then pulls the green velvet box from his back pocket and kneels on one knee before me. Does he have to be so dramatic? Looking around the room, I see anticipation on people’s faces. Bridget meets my gaze and smiles, her eyes glistening in the light. The idea of having her as a mother-in-law thrills me. Even more, I realize, than being married to Marco. What is wrong with me?

I love doing research and reading how other writers deal with the subject I’m writing about. In this case I fell upon Meg Cabot’s The Royal Wedding. The XI installment of her Princess Diaries.

Royal Wedding by Meg Cabot

As I was reading it I felt a bit guilty enjoying it so much. After all, I’m way past her twenty something target audience. Shouldn’t I be reading something more age appropriate?

Am I that immature?

Yet, I love reading novels that are light and fun.

So maybe I still have the twenty something inside the sixty something me. 🙂

There’s a quote I once heard in a movie ages ago: I may be old but at least I’m immature.

Anybody know what movie that was from?

 

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42 thoughts on “Chick Lit: Act Your Age”

  1. I honestly don’t know which film has that quote, Carol, but I like it! And I don’t see why age should have anything to do with what you want to read. If it’s a story you like, why not savour it?

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    • I love that quote as well. Funny how the quote stuck with me all these years and yet I can’t remember the movie or the actors in it! Goes to show the power of good writing! 🙂 Thanks for stopping by, Margot.

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  2. Carol, I really like the excerpt and a nice twist on the old formula. Blimey, I never thought about there being age appropriate reading material – whatever you enjoy I say. I like mixing light novels with weighted ‘tomes’ and thereby finding an equilibrium that suits me.

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  3. I’m impressed and inspired that you have written /writing over three books in the last couple of years. I too am a fan of certain books (and movies) written for younger audience. I think for me part of it is cuz the authors strike at some universal truths and also the writing can be so darn good.

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    • I agree, Diahann that the writing can be “so darn good.” I think we all are young at heart and these stories meant for younger audiences strike a chord to all regardless of age.
      Thanks so much for being here.:)

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  4. I don’t know what movie that’s from, but it sounds like something Betty White would say. Or Dianne Keaton or Dolly Parton.

    There is nothing wrong with reading light and fun. Sometimes that’s exactly what I crave. A nice balance of genres adds to the pleasure of reading.

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  5. The saying I heard once was “You´re only young once but you can be immature forever” It may have been from a Woody Allen movie but I can´t remember which one. I think it is great that people of all ages read children and YA books. When an adult tells me they read my middle grade books and loved them I am so pleased.

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  7. I love the quote, the excerpt and the fact that you’re so young at heart. You can read whatever you please Carol, there is no age limit to our preferences. When we were young we were guarded by PG 13, we’re old enough to do what we please. I wish I knew what movie that quote was from but why does it feel like something that would have been said by Shirley MacLaine? 🙂

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  8. Nice excerpt, Carol. “The idea of having her as a mother-in-law thrills me. Even more, I realize, than being married to Marco.” is my favourite part, it gives it a great sense of realism and honesty.
    As for age appropriate literature… I’ve always believed we should read what we feel the need of reading at a particular moment, not what is trendy or considered to be adequate for a certain time in one’s life. If anything, I would go with mood, not age, appropriate reading. 🙂
    I have heard something very similar to that quote before, so I will ask if by any chance the person remembers from what movie it is. I’ll let you know if I find out.

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    • Thanks for your lovely comment, Ana. I greatly appreciate it!:)
      I like what you said about going with mood.Sometimes we just want to read something light and fun like Dr. Seuss or watch a Walt Disney animated movie.
      Do let me know if you find the name of the movie.

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      • It appears be one of those quotes that just stick with you for a long time, even if you forget when or in what context you heard them. Unfortunately, my friend cannot remember what the source is either 😦

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  10. I don’t think age has anything to do with reading and enjoying any book – any genre. I’m waaaaayyy past young, and I enjoy well-written chick lit books. In fact, I’m working on one now (writing it) but the characters are in their 50s, not 20s!!) FUN.

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  11. I discovered “young adult” novels through some of my blog buddies who write in that genre, and I really enjoy them. For me, a good story is a good story, and maybe the best stories that stand the test of time are those that appeal to a wide variety of ages. 🙂

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  13. Hi Carol, so happy to have you posting again! As for the quote, doesn’t it sound like something Cary Grant would say to Audrey Hepburn or Katherine Hepburn with that dry wit he had? Like in the movie Charade or The Philadelphia Story? What’d ya think?

    As for age – it’s an attitude and in that way you’ll never be old (sigh, so few of us left, 🙂 )

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    • That’s quite possible but my fuzzy memory tells me that the movie was a more recent one. Like maybe ten years old…but then again time passes so quickly and a year can seem like a day.
      Age is indeed an attitude. 🙂
      Thanks for being here, Ellie.

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  16. I lived the movie, “It’s Complicated,” Carol. Maybe Alec Baldwin said this? In the movie Meryl Streep gets high with Steve Martin. It has a lot of great and funny lines. 🙂
    I really liked “The Other Woman,” with Cameron Diaz, Kate Upton and Leslie Mann. L. M. Is hysterical to me, but my Mom and brother made me stop the movie and I had to see it by myself. 😦 Maybe I could relate to the histrionics of finding out my husband had been unfaithful. I like romance novels and there was one written by a woman talking about her old friends. When a younger character tends to do something familiar, adistant teen aged memory, it is hard not to enjoy the book. 🙂

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    • Good choices, Robin. I remember seeing the movie in a theater and I had rented It’s Complicated so that rules that one out. Nor did I see The other Woman.
      Oh my this is turning into a wild goose chase!
      It is fun to go back to our teenage years, especially looking at them with a less critical eye. 🙂
      Thanks for your input. It’s greatly appreciated.

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  19. I love that quote. I’ve felt immature most of my life (except when I was very small and felt quite grown-up). Sorry, I don’t know where it comes from. I am stuck, for my light reading, in another era (Georgette Heyer) and find I cannot get on with modern chick lit. Perhaps I will get to enjoy it one day.

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