Writing Trends?

Your premise is true. BUT, reviewing Agent websites, it appears that what they're most interested in is Non-fiction.
They say they'll accept fiction from new authors but they readilly admit that non-fiction is far easier to sell.

I think it is pointless to chase trends. I think it is important to understand your genre and audience, but trends, well, like you said, it takes over a year for a work to get published and that's when it's already been sold. That doesn't include the whole, you know, writing the book in the first place. Write what you want. How many times have we seen "Such and such is dead" only to suddenly find the bestseller on the list is exactly "Such and such"?

I wrote a blog entry on the subject in case anyone is interested: Chasing Trends

Toothpaste said:

How many times have we seen "Such and such is dead" only to suddenly find the bestseller on the list is exactly "Such and such"?

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A Big Name literary agent told me in 1998 that vampire novels were over for good.



On the other hand, there was a real slump in vampires between then and 2003, so he wasn't totally wrong.

alchemyst said:

Or, did Buffy the Vampire Slayer come before the Ghost Whisperer? (never watched ANY of that one).

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Buffy came first and is a far better example, in my opinion.

Regardless of whether agents are sick of seeing paranormal, it's selling and isn't showing signs of losing steam. It's the quality of the writing and what you have to say that will catch attention.

alchemyst said:

(I heard that 'House' is returning for its 8th season this year - EIGHT years of 'House'? Wow - time DOES fly).

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As a rabid House fan, I can say that it's returning for its FIFTH season, not it's 8th, but yes...time flies.

And I agree with Namatu -- I think if it's quality writing, you've got a shot. Seems like a lot of agents are still requesting and repping Urban Fantasy, and it's definitely still selling.

In my opinion, I don't think you should really concern yourself with trends. Write the book you want to write, and if it's good enough to make it out there, then it will speak for itself. Besides, trends have to get their start somewhere, right?

Trends last just long enough for you to finish your trend-book, send it in, and have it rejected because the trend is dead, Jim.

Never write to a trend. Write what turns you on.

That's how you start a trend.

I was writing paranormal when the agents now grabbing up paranormal were in diapers, and I'll still be writing it when those same agents are in Depends. Ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

Just a bunch of writers trying to recreate the sheer paranormal awesomeness that was The X-Files, and consistently failing, because it's just impossible.

Write what you want. Don't worry about trends.

If your worrying more about trends than your story whether it is paranormal or not will suffer.

That being said my finished wip is a werewolf story I first created back in 1986 as a graphic novel I drew. I did not create it to follow a trend. I wrote it because the story kept squeezing my brain until I did.

Look, I'm currently querying a police/crime story with werewolves in it, and it's definitely an urban fantasy.

The DAY I finished the last round of rewrites (that is, the last round that I can conceivably do myself, with the help of my critique group, without further input from an agent or editor) I ran across a newsletter from Michael Stackpole, dated the year before, stating that the urban fantasy/paranormal trend was over and dead. Talk about bad timing.

I wanted to CRY. Here I'd spent years working on the damn thing, only to finish it and find that the "trend" was over. I hadn't been writing to the trend. It was a type of book I enjoyed, and the story had been knocking around in my head for two years before I wrote it, then took a year and a half to write and edit.

About that time I went to a conference, where the keynote speaker was an agent. Upon questioning by the audience as to what editors were buying, and what trends she was seeing, she responded immediately with "werewolves and humor." Half the conference turned around and looked at me.

Not too long after THAT, I went to another conference and asked a paranormal romance writer about that exact issue. She seemed shocked, like it hadn't even entered her head that it was possible, and she provided me with the name of an editor who had said she was specifically looking for urban fantasy/paranormal romance. This was just a couple of months ago.

I guess no one really knows what's going to happen in this market. I can confidently say that I would have written this book no matter what. It's on submission, the full manuscript has been requested, and I'm awaiting the decision. I've moved on to other projects while I'm waiting, and I'm happy to have written it; I'm proud of it. I don't regret writing it even if it doesn't sell. If it doesn't, then the next book will. And if that doesn't, the one AFTER it will. And etc.

If you worry about the trend, you'll distract yourself from making the STORY what IT needs to be, instead of what the market might or might not want.

Trendy today? In tomorrow's remainder piles.