Writing Blog Number 2

20240922 Trends In Writing

Trends In Writing

This is NOT a list of current writing trends because in six months it will be out of date. This looking at trends in general, writing to them, and selling them.
         First, a trend in writing is when people write the same sort of book. Think the rash of teenagers in a future dystopia trying to escape from/ overcome/ undermine the new overlords YA books that came out in the wake of The Hunger Games. We see them all the time, and they are not new. The slew of "lost world” styled novels that came out in the wake of Doyle’s The Lost World (1912) was lamented even back then.
         To show how good trends are, very few of the follow-ups remain in the public zeitgeist. Those that do = like Meyer’s Twilight, Riordan’s Percy Jackson series, etc. – often add a twist that does mark them out as different. Meyer took Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse series and added teenaged angst, which can also be said to have taken Rice’s contemporary vampires and made them more overtly sexual; Riordan took Rowling’s Harry Potter series and focused on Greek mythology. Following a trend but making it their own.
         Next is: how long does a trend last? Answer: how long are the books selling? The vampire lover trend is still going, for example; the kid leading a space army trend died in only a few years.
         Should a writer join a trend? If you’re looking for a quick sale, maybe. But there are two things to realize: First, you will probably need to write and edit fast, because a trend may not be around long. This does explain why so many trend-chasing books are nowhere near as good as the originals – they were churned out quickly and with not enough care. And two, it does give a published author a reputation as just a hack – trend-chasing is seen as piggy-backing and not being original. This, by the way, is more the case for novels. While some see it as capitalizing (and I am in that boat) on what is popular, too many writers and especially publishers do not. A reputation as a chaser is hard to shake, apparently.
         When it comes to short stories, there will often be anthologies that will follow these trends. This is a means of getting better curated stories out there without the rush of a full-length novel. And often these anthologies will subvert the underlying trend. I appeared in an anthology in 2010 where the open call was, “Make vampires scary again. They don’t sparkle, they kill!” But it was advertised to appeal to the Twilight audience. Subversion can be fun!
         There is a publishing problem, however, that does make many writers feel they should follow a trend. I think at least half of the publishers I have submitted novels to in the past 15 years have asked a question along the lines of, “Name two other books your book is like.” Often they will have the word “recent” in there as well. So publishers don’t want to know, “What is your book like?” they want to know “What book is your book like?” Some have even asked, “What book or movie or TV series is your book like?” Now, I get that you need to have a built-in audience, but this does feel like it is pushing creative to be unoriginal.
         So, trends are there, always have been there, always will be there. As I mentioned, I have no problem in people following them, but on one condition: The writer is still writing what they want to write, and enjoy their own writing. While I have no doubt I could write a Twilight trend-chaser, I would not enjoy the process, and would only be doing it as a means of hopefully getting a publication. But I see writing as an art, and don’t like compromising myself.
         Others might feel different, and that is their right. I just don’t see it. It turns writing into a commodity – content creation – and not an art.
         In. My. Opinion.