Dating and the single woman is de rigueur again thanks to the movie, "Sex and the City," and a new novel by ex-"SATC" writer, Liz Tuccillo.
"'Sex and the City' was a groundbreaking series. It broke the mold and opened up a whole new area of conversation," says Tuccillo, a New Yorker who catapulted to fame with the 2004 bestseller, "He's Just Not That Into You."
A global self-help sensation, the modern "tough love" manual Tuccillo co-authored with Greg Behrendt spent 50 weeks on the bestseller list. The pop culture phenom also spawned 30 foreign language editions and a fall 2008 movie starring Drew Barrymore, Scarlett Johansson, Jennifer Aniston and Jennifer Connelly.
Riding that fame wave, Tuccillo has launched "How to Be Single," her debut novel.
In it, single, 38-year-old book publicist Julie Jenson goes on a whirlwind tour to discover why women stay single. From Rio to Reykjavik she pursues her hot anthropological study, getting her heart broken along the way. Back home in New York City, her posse of girlfriends cope with bad blind dates, loveless engagements, custody battles and single motherhood.
"Julie is a mouthpiece for a lot of my own musings. But unlike her I did not have sex with a prostitute in Brazil," says Tuccillo.
Talking to fans around the world for "He's Just Not That Into You" inspired Tuccillo to write this juicy, "girl power" novel.
Dating drama with a modern twist
"Women responded to 'He's Just Not That Into You' in such a big way," says Tuccillo. "My conversations with them made me curious about dating around the world."
One telephone interview with a woman from India cemented Tuccillo's interest.
The woman talked about her boyfriend dumping her after she bought him a sweater. Tuccillo asked, "How does an arranged marriage seem to you now?" The woman replied, "They're looking better and better."
"That was a light-bulb moment for me," says Tuccillo. "In that instant I realized the dating world today is so upside down."
Duplicating another non-fiction hit, however, was not in the cards. "I'm not Margaret Mead. I'm not going to go to all these countries and study the dating habits of people for six months," says Tuccillo. "I tried to do this as nonfiction and fill it with funny stories. I bored myself to sleep."
Equally hard for Tuccillo is discussing the "you've got to love yourself" revelation that her heroine ultimately voices.
"I almost hate talking about that because it makes me think I have to take a bubble bath or light some candles," says Tuccillo. "It's a comment that is easily ignored as a clich�. But like most things your mother tells you it is true. Men come and go but being good to yourself is what it's all about."
Whether "How to Be Single" surpasses Tuccillo's earlier mega-hit has yet to be seen. "I'll be honest with you. Writing fiction is the toughest career experience I've had," says Tuccillo.
Hoping for another winner that resonates deeply with female readers, Tuccillo says, "Women are fed up trying to find Mr. Right. The fact they have the freedom to date and are choosing, in some cases, to go back to arranged marriages says volumes about the dating craziness out there."
