Friday, August 6, 2010

Writing to Trend

So after watching Jackson Pearce's video about Writer's Blok, I headed over to her website to check it out and came across this great quote:

When I see other authors trying to write to trends because they think they’ll make more money, or get more respect, or get a better agent if they write x/y/z instead of the genre they know and love, I can’t help but be frustrated.

Why am I sharing this quote? Because there are writers out there that need to read it. Yes, I'm looking at you. No, not you, (if you're reading this blog, it's not you).

I'm looking at you, Writing This Genre Because It's Hot Right Now. (Hint, if you hate all the other books in your genre, you're writing in the wrong genre. If you call your genre "icky", you're writing in the wrong genre. If the only thing you like about this genre is that "it's where the money is", guess what? Not only are you writing in the wrong genre, but you're still not going to be making money at it, because readers can feel your contempt. You think they'll never know, but you're wrong. They know.)

Just sayin'.

3 comments:

  1. THANK YOU!
    I read a blog somewhere, not long ago, that talked about how it's okay to write to trends, and don't be afraid to throw yourself outside of the genre you love for one you don't like so much. It just felt a little crazy to me.

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  2. So true Suzi. The thing about trends is they burn themselves out and then they start to become the object of ridicule, until they go out of fashion and finally they can become "new" again. So If you're writing to a trend, as slow as publishing works, you'll wind up in the ridicule or out of fashion stage before it ever gets published.

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Thank you for posting a comment! I know that sounds a little needy, and maybe it is. I mean, I don't need comment validation to know that I exist, right? But I like to know that someone else (maybe you?) has read what I wrote and felt moved enough to reply. So, thank you.