Personally I'm really hoping for an upswing in adventure stories. I looooove adventure stories.
But I'll settle for zombie pirate were-puppies, I guess.
I'm hoping for SF as well!
I don't know what'll be the next big thing, but I know it will be different. Nathan Bransford said back in early 2008 that the next big thing would be nothing like Harry Potter, and then along came Twilight. The Hunger Games is probably the next big thing, and that's nothing like Twilight, so the next big thing will be nothing like The Hunger Games.
But isn't there always going to be a "next big thing" regardless what it is today?
I've never really been into the whole trend things as a reader. I've always rolled my eyes when I see a massive push of a particular genre until everyone just grows tired of it.
I get it though. Teenagers love book trends. Teenagers create book trends. All it takes is one book to sell like hot cakes and that is about 2-3 years of annoyance on my part as a shopper because all I ever see is replicates of the Big Book. Every once and a while, I'll find a book or two that are actually in the trend, but really stand out and shine to me.
Sadly, most of the books that I actually like that are within a trend aren't very popular. It's rather sad.
But if I had to take a gander, I'd probably say sci-fi, which is my favorite genre of all time. I just hope whatever Big Book comes out next will give YA sci-fi a good name and not turn it into some kind of Gossip Girl storyline set on an ultra vague sci-fi background.
*cough*ShatterMe,Eve,Divergent*cough, hack*
I HATE it when books do that. If I have to see one more "I'm going to pretend this book is a dystopian/scifi/fantasy novel, but that's only the backdrop for when MYSTERIOUS BOY SHE'S VERY ATTRACTED TO comes into play", I'm going to flip.
Not that I'm disagreeing with you, but at what point do you draw the distinction between using common human themes (girls are ALWAYS going to be attracted to mysterious boys) versus putting lipstick on a pig and trotting it out on stage as a beauty contestant?
Just asking...
wampuscat said:I think that regardless of genre or subgenre, any NEXT BIG THING is going to have to be mainstream enough in some regard in order to garner that large of a following.
The one thing HP, Twilight, and HG have in common is that they aren't "confusing" to casual readers. They are all very straightforward. Boy goes to magic school, girl falls in love with vamp, girl takes part in a dystopian death match. At the same time, though, they have more complicated lore when you dig beneath the surface, so to speak.
Basically, they're simple enough for a child to read and understand, emotional enough for a teen to relate to, and complex enough for anyone older to appreciate.