Comments on: I hate trends.

By: The Butterfly Syndrome: Do You Have Trouble Committing to a Writing Project? - Anne R. Allen's Blog... with Ruth Harris

Sat, 05 Dec 2015 02:47:31 +0000

[…] but steampunk, and plenty of it. That’s why I was overjoyed to run into agent Jim McCarthy’s “I Hate Trends” piece on the DGLM blog last week. “I think right now we’re stuck between a few […]

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By: this is the way walk in it

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By: VampireFanForever, So What!

VampireFanForever, So What! — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 10:54:48 +0000

I co-sign with JASON (Mar.19th 2011)!

When I read these types of blogs by agents I often find myself wondering “why” they’re complaining about too many YA paranormal stuff, zombies,vampires, wolves, ect. Or they complain about paranormal romance, and now it sounds like YA dystopian is going to be the next complaint. I don’t understand because…why would you be complaining about what is SELLING? I thought you would be happy. I liked Flowers In The Attic, too, but I don’t need to be an agent to know the book came out in a time when incest and stuff was SHOCKING. Not anymore. I think to encourage a writer to tackle something like that now …is silly…and weird, really weird. Why would an agent suggest that, knowing the market these days?

I’ve been reading blogs like these and kinda enjoyed ’em a little, but some of the messages are confusing, like the others said: “We need something that SELLS”/”Write from your HEART”. I guess the trick is to find a balance?

By: Jason

Jason — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 23:12:54 +0000

So stop worrying about trends. Write the books you need to write. Authenticity and enthusiasm are priceless.

This is absurd.

First, one agent’s trendy knockoff is another’s authentic innovation. There is no consistency or objectivity in this area.

Meyer’s vampire books were (in my opinion) directly inspired by season two of Buffy… but that fact is quite lost on her audience, most of which never watched Buffy.

Second, literary agents aren’t literary and they aren’t agents. They are salesmen, and they want what all salesmen want: something that’s easy to sell.

This being the case, forget incest-filled Gothic novels. Instead, give any “literary agent” a whiff of a memoir to be ghostwritten for Sarah Palin six months from now.

I predict it will get snapped up in a blue blur, never mind the fact that not a word of it exists yet and therefore its merit can’t possibly be judged. What matters is the certain, easy, and lucrative sale.

Agents who encourage new writers to “be authentic” or “write the books you need to write” are just wasting everybody’s time.

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By: Annie

Annie — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 23:46:23 +0000

Thank you. That was spot on and exactly what writing should be – authenticity and enthusiasm. I will make sure my book is full of both of these.

By: Randy Russell

Randy Russell — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 16:05:35 +0000

Here’s something I think, from reading “new deals” at publisher’s lunch, might a trend you didn’t mention. Trilogies. I wonder what happend to series in some areas of fiction and why the dew is off that rose. Do publishers not have the patience to do a series any more.. wait three or four years for the pofit, unless they buy three books to begin with? I certainly don’t know. Solely as a reader, it is easier for me to start reading a series than it is to start reading a trilogy and mentally commit to three books by agreeing to reading the first one.

It’s like being asked out for the first time by someone who asks for three dates instead of one. Well, you know, forty dates is on my mind, if it works out. If it doesn’t, that’s what bathroom windows are for.

By: Steampunk Hero

Steampunk Hero — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 15:25:52 +0000

All I hear about on twitter anymore is how the hot new Dystopian is the next Hunger Games, and everybody is excited about that fact.

Kristin Laughtin is right on the money. Not many agents seem excited about bucking the trends, so it’s easy to see why few writers would feel the need to do so, either. I keep hearing “Don’t write to the trend – write a fresh story!” while the undercurrent seems to be, “…but if you could make it a (dystopian or paranormal romance), that would be great.” There’s totally a double standard in writing advice from agents these days.

I also agree with pooks’s sentiment: sometimes, writing what you love means you are writing within a trend.

As long as you’re writing a good book, what should that matter?