May 13, 2016 
Erin 
I was at Yallwest a couple of weeks ago, and something I heard at one of the panels won’t leave me. “Write what you want.” Of course, this seems very self-explanatory, and I’d heard it about 100 times before while working toward my MFA, but something about hearing it now, knowing more about publishing, made that statement more powerful.
While trying to get published, it’s easy to get lost in the idea of what will sell and what won’t. I see a lot of queries with, “My book will appeal to ages X through Y and people interested in…” Well that sentence alone tells me that the writer was thinking about the marketing of his or her book. Which, in a way can be good, but at what point does thinking about marketing diminish your ideas?
I then thought about how knowing about market trends has influenced my writing. I’ve seen a certain pattern in my idea brainstorming. I’ll have a new book idea only to get excited about it, and then immediately shy away from it because I know it doesn’t follow the current trends. I also know as a writer, that an idea can shape into something wholly different once it becomes a story. What I thought was a poor idea could have shaped into something incredible given my passion for the subject. I could have made something unlike the publishing world has ever seen, and my fear that this would be unaccepted, has squandered that potential.
So, that’s why I believe writers should focus more on writing what they want, rather than what they think others want, because if you’re trying to follow a trend, you will never be unique. Originality dies that way. My advice now will always be to write what you want, don’t follow another writer or what you think you should be writing. It may get you published, but that brilliant idea you squashed in order to follow the trend could have been the next break out novel.
What do you think about this topic? Do you follow the trends or write what you want?
Very interesting.
I remember when my first novel was being proofread by a group of close friends. They were ruthless in their criticism (being the very best kind of friends!). It took me a while to realize that a reader’s not liking something did not necessarily mean that I was obligated to change it. “Why is the hero only five foot four?” one gal pal complained. Well, because he’s my hero and that’s how I chose to make him…and perhaps it determines who he is, how he thinks, and what he does. It turned out, of course, that she simply finds tall men attractive and short men repellant. So be it.
I consider myself a writer, yet have great difficulty concocting resumes or biographical pieces on myself. I think this is due to having to write “for an audience” or “for a market”.
I think, to answer your query, that much depends on WHY one writes. Do you have a message to impart, a point of view to express, an ax to grind? Or are you good with words and not in love with your work? Perhaps people who tend towards the second viewpoint are more marketable.