I'm wondering what the next Vampire is... as in what's the next big trend. There's a lot of dystopia going on... some steampunk... realistic fiction.
I think it's silly to follow trends when writing, because by the time your manuscript is written, polished, and ready to go...(most likely) the trend is dying.
The scary thing to me is what if you write a book and start seeing similar books being published.
This happened to me the other day. I've been working on a project for over two years. TWO YEARS. That's ridiculous. But I can't seem to get it right. And then I had my query critiqued by someone who was like, whoa have you read...such and such book.
Nope. I hadn't. I got the book from the library and almost felt sick to my stomach reading the premise because I was like: WHAT THE HECK THIS IS MY IDEA!
But then I started reading. And yes there were some things that were creepily similar and details that bugged me. BUT...I realized it was nothing like my book. Similar themes coming from a completely different voice, different style, different perspective.
My book is unique because I am.
It made me think back to a writing class I took. We'd write from prompts. The SAME prompts. But everyone had something different to say even if it was the same theme.
So I guess the moral of the story is... write what you want to write. Write the story that needs to be told and don't worry about being part of the next big thing. Chances are there will be a book out there with similarities but every story is different just like every person.
I've had those sick-to-my-stomach moments, too. But it's true, the little quirks and the voice set each one apart. Still, it's disconcerting seeing your BRILLIANT ideas from someone else's brain.
ReplyDeleteThe first chapter of Graceling was almost identical to the first chapter of my first attempted novel. I cried.
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