Undesirable trends?

Chosen Ones, greek mythology of any kind, western/medieval settings for fantasy, euro-centric science fiction, dystopia...

American settings and hyperactive teenagers

I'm surprised it's still being flooded by vampires and boy wizards!

Hruummmm...I remember seeing something sometime ago about YA agents being sick of mermaids, post-apocalypse, and love triangles.

Also seconding the dystopia thing. My first book was a YA Fantasy with dystopian elements. It was subbed ...5 years ago (holy shit, where has the time gone??) and rejected by everyone because "not buying dystopian". Welp, my current agent recently subbed it (to different editors) and again, rejected because "still not buying dystopian". Might try subbing it again in 2022.

Putputt said:

...rejected because "still not buying dystopian". Might try subbing it again in 2022.

Click to expand...

The way things are going, dystopian fiction might be back in vogue by Thursday.

Helix said:

The way things are going, dystopian fiction might be back in vogue by Thursday.

Click to expand...

There's a good chance that by Thursday, it'll no longer be fiction.

Putputt said:

I'm surprised it's still being flooded by vampires and boy wizards!

Click to expand...

Yeah, the info in the first post feels a wee bit out-of-date to me. It specifically names trends that were worn-out about three years ago (angels & demons) and longer (boy wizards!).

In my experience, whatever you write will have flooded the market by the time you're querying it. Don't let it stop you! Better to be subbing something than nothing.

We listed a fair few.

I think that trying *not* to write to trend may be as risky as writing to trend. What we see on the shelves is pretty much always two years behind the curve of what is being subbed now. And the next big thing is already in production. Unless you have an in with a really large group of agents/editors, guessing at what is oversaturated right now is always going to be a shot in the dark.

And, even if something is a current trend, a good book will always get attention. (It may not get a contract right away, but putting a well-written piece of fiction in front of editors is never a bad idea.) I really encourage folks to write what they want to write and not worry about where the market will be when they're ready to sub.

(I mean, if you have multiple projects and one is clearly in an oversaturated subgenre, maybe put that one on the shelf for now. But if you're just starting to work on a new book, there's no way to predict if even the most esoteric idea will still be new and fresh by the time you get it written and polished and out on submission.)

To get an idea of what is wanted right now, you might try checking out manuscript wish lists, such as:

http://mswishlist.com/mswl/ya

There's a huge Twitter pitch contest, #PitMad, happening tomorrow. If you're not familiar, people pitch their books on that hashtag and agents can "like" or request pages from their tweets. It's a great way to see what the trends are for what's currently being queried.

People seem to feel young adult fantasy/dystopian is on its way out. I think young adult will still be relevant for a while, since it's the genre all ages seem to be up for reading. I don't know about the dystopian thing. I think it may be quiet at the moment, as so many of the novel series and subsequent movies on them have ended, but I don't know that everyone got sick of them and another popular one won't pop up.

AielloJ1 said:

People seem to feel young adult fantasy/dystopian is on its way out. I think young adult will still be relevant for a while, since it's the genre all ages seem to be up for reading. I don't know about the dystopian thing. I think it may be quiet at the moment, as so many of the novel series and subsequent movies on them have ended, but I don't know that everyone got sick of them and another popular one won't pop up.

Click to expand...

Isn't it just the all special girl/guy variant in dystopian that seems to have reached its end? I would think something unique or at least a new pov would go well. I'm not an agent or anything though.

Magical three-toed sloths. Swords that play polka tunes when stroked in just the right way. Zucchinis that, when eaten, transport the consumer into new dimensions. Five-legged alligators that glow in the dark.

caw

See, I'd read those.

AielloJ1 said:

People seem to feel young adult fantasy/dystopian is on its way out. I think young adult will still be relevant for a while, since it's the genre all ages seem to be up for reading. I don't know about the dystopian thing. I think it may be quiet at the moment, as so many of the novel series and subsequent movies on them have ended, but I don't know that everyone got sick of them and another popular one won't pop up.

Click to expand...

YA is not a genre. It's a category.

AielloJ1 said:

People seem to feel young adult fantasy/dystopian is on its way out. I think young adult will still be relevant for a while, since it's the genre all ages seem to be up for reading. I don't know about the dystopian thing. I think it may be quiet at the moment, as so many of the novel series and subsequent movies on them have ended, but I don't know that everyone got sick of them and another popular one won't pop up.

Click to expand...

That's a heck of a big genre to disappear.

1. YA isn't going anywhere as long as teens like to read about other teens, and people who used to be teens like to read about teens. The entire 14-19 age range isn't going to disappear (unless you're writing a particular YA sci/fi dystopia). In fact, the "coming of age" story, which deals with that basic age group, has been around for a really long time (Romeo and Juliet, anyone?)

2. Fantasy isn't disappearing. Again, with its twin sci-fi, it leaves authors with a great way to combine action/adventure with comments on today's world.

3. Dystopia may be a trope, but it does the basic job a genre does - it gives the protagonist a problem to deal with. If life is all sunshine and strawberry lip gloss, what will the hero or heroine have to do? In the face of today's current economic, political and ecological turmoil, stories that ask "If we took this trend to an extreme, what would life look like?" will still find a place, assuming they're well-written.

Now, such stories won't have the glossy newness factor they once did by putting all of these things together. But I'll wager there are a lot of unique takes on the genre still out there.

Fantasy is becoming cutting edge, at least in the adult quadrant.

Every fairy tale character together in one shared setting. Also, currently LGTBQ stories are popular, but I have a hard time being annoyed about that.

I thought long and hard about linking to this, because I was honestly kind of relieved when posting in it calmed down some (it was stressful slash anxiety-inducing to read, but also sort of addictive), but if you have the time you could read through The Next Big Thing thread over in the Young Adult section. It's a good way to retroactively track trends that have come and gone/times when the YA market was flooded with a certain thing. Warning: since even paranormal doesn't seem to have bounced back yet, you will probably come away wondering what's even left.

Mostly though, I agree with Aggy. So. What Aggy said. :3

Nonicks said:

I read the #PitMad tweets and it was depressing. Agents liked none of the tweets that I liked, but favored those that seemed boring to me.

Click to expand...

#PitMad is so flooded right now that it's a solid mix of pitch-writing skill and lucky timing. It's not a good way to judge trends.

You'd be better off subbing to Publisher's Marketplace if you really want to trend-track, or more casually, keep an eye on deal announcements here and on Twitter.

It's my dream to get an agent who doesn't use Twitter. Or at least, doesn't use Twitter very much. Hate that platform >.> It's so dizzying to read and use.