Continuing their lengthy series on what not to do, the editors at Writer’s Digest have some advice we agree with wholeheartedly: Don’t try to follow trends.
“When we bend our own writing goals to follow what seems the most successful, we’re foregoing what we truly want along the way as writers,” writes editor Micheal Woodson. Every big book inspires its imitators, from the raft of magical kids, schools, and chosen ones that came after Harry Potter and the dystopian YA series that followed The Hunger Games.
“Reader interest waned,” Woodson notes. “But not only that, many books became indiscernible from each other, and some teetering a bit too close to what came before it.”
Don’t be tempted to become a follower, he says. Trends come and go, usually faster than you can write. Instead, stick to what inspires you. “If you’re writing off the trend, that isn’t a sign that you’re heading in the wrong direction. It just means you’re writing the story that’s calling to you most,” Woodson writes.
