Following the Trend

The literary world is very much like school. You have to do your proper research, and sometimes you're competing for the perfect A(gent). But most importantly, everyone wants to fit in. You want to be popular. If the most popular girl in school is wearing a Coach purse, you want to wear one too.

Trends. They're everywhere. In school. In the stock markets. In stores.

In the literary world trends are easy to spot. Ever since Twilight hit the stands, more and more vamp books have been published. Now there's starting to be an abundance of Angel books out there as well.

I don't want to go on and on about the trends that are out there because I don't care about all of that. What I care about is, how you, as a writer, handle these trends?

For example, you may have been writing a vampire book way before Twilight came out. It's probably perfect and you probably love it to pieces. But you don't know if you should query it. Or maybe you are querying it but you only seem to be getting rejection after rejection.

One day you might sit down and say "I need to write something else because this is not getting me anywhere."

Or maybe you're just starting out. Maybe you want to write a story about elves, but you know that fairies are in right now. What do you do? Follow the trend or say "To hell with it, I'm writing my elf novel."

If you are in the first predicament, here is my advice to you. Screw the trend. If you're writing a vampire book and you think it's great, then just keep working on your query. There is nothing wrong with writing what you enjoy writing about. Just because Stephenie Meyer wrote a series that has skyrocketed doesn't mean she owns the creatures. Vampires have been around for years and if you feel passionate about your vamp novel then keep trying.

That goes for anybody who is writing a tale about a creature or an idea that has become victim to the millions of trends out there. Just keep trying.

As for me, I used be in the second predicament. I didn't know what to write because I was scared of the trends. I went from trying to write a fairy story to trying to write a vamp story until I realized that it wasn't for me. I don't want to be a follower. I want to be a leader. I will write what I want to write about and if it doesn't get me an agent then so be it.

Write because you love it not because you see that readers are eating it up. Or because you want to snag an agent quick. Believe me, I've been wanting to be published ever since I was a little kid. But I won't subject myself to trends just to get one.

If you follow the trend, it will be obvious. When people read books they can tell if the author is passionate about what they wrote, and if you're not passionate about what you write then your novel will suck.

Just as trends can be started, they can very well be ended. All you have to do is put your pen to the paper or your fingers to the keys and write what you want to write.

Those out there who are querying keep trying. There is always a way, even when the forecast is looking a bit cloudy.

Those out there who have agents and or on the road to publication, how did you deal with the trends? Did you care about them? Did you use them to your advantage somehow?

I hope everyone had a great day!

Love,

~ Raven