# Following the Trends - What is happening in Literature today.



## David Gordon Burke (Jan 21, 2014)

While I am the last person that would ever jump on the bandwagon of writing 'the current popular genre' - example YAPR or whatever other thing is selling to teenage girls (Zombies, apocalyptic aftermaths, contemporary realistic, fallen angels, etc.) I am still interested in knowing what is relevant.  

What or how do you think of current trends?  Where do you read about the current trends in literature?  (meaning anything other than Genre Fiction)

Take books like 'The Life of Pi'  - Or 'The Kite Runner'  Or 'The Art of Racing in the Rain' Or 'Cold Mountain' - These would most probably fall into the Literary Fiction category simply because they are not the typical genre fiction.  They are literary works that cover a wide range of themes and story-lines and appeal to almost everyone.  

A great (possibly the greatest) feat would be to make a genre fiction book SO damned appealling that it got accepted by the Literary Fiction reader.  Robert B. Parker did it with his Spenser series.  The typical Detective fiction structure with just enough quirk and originallity that it became accepted by the literati.  Didn't hurt that he had Dashel Hammet's shoulders to stand on.  

My ambition is to write something bigger than...something enduring.  I'm a firm believer in Genre fiction and learning about the formula (for want of a better word) - However, I feel that the difference between an acceptable finished manuscript and a GREAT manuscript is in the Human element that is found between the lines in Themes and premise and topics that relate to the human condition.  Things we can all relate to.  

Where we find these concepts is a mystery to me.  

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/...-new-trends-in-ya-the-agents-perspective.html

David Gordon Burke


----------



## Morkonan (Jan 21, 2014)

David Gordon Burke said:


> ...My ambition is to write something bigger than...something enduring.  I'm a firm believer in Genre fiction and learning about the formula (for want of a better word) - However, I feel that the difference between an acceptable finished manuscript and a GREAT manuscript is in the Human element that is found between the lines in Themes and premise and topics that relate to the human condition.  Things we can all relate to.
> 
> Where we find these concepts is a mystery to me.
> 
> ...



Gack! YA! /hides

But, I do get where you're coming from with the whole "Literary" thing. 

I'm no great student of literature. I do love good literature, but I'm not a big fan of what some define as Modern Lit. Some of it gives me the creeps. I like my Lit aged, time-tested, rumpled with a bit of soot on it... None of this "Life of Racing Kite Runners on Book Thief Mountain" for me.

Of course the "Human Element" adds a great amount of appeal. But, I think adding the Reader as part of the entire experience is something that might need to be examined (Or, at least explained by the idiot who just mentioned it..)

You know when you've thrown a harpoon into the heart of a Reader. There's going to be "killer moments" in any well-written story and you're going to recognize them. Using those to manipulate the experience of the Reader is what I think great literature is about. It's not just the story. It's not just the characters. It's manipulating all those moments to take the character through an experience that they would have not otherwise been able to experience. If you know when those emotional beats are, you can use them. You can drag out the ones that need to be savored and hurl the ones that have to assault the senses. Charlotte can die, Timmy can triumph over evil, Henry can fight his battle and Charlie can become omniscient, but it's not going to be a story that _evokes an experience_ from the Reader unless it's crafted to do so.

Sure, you can accidentally write a masterpiece. But, you could accidentally win the Lottery, too. I don't think many masterpieces were accidental works, even if their authors don't acknowledge any particular technique. Sometimes, you can have an intimate understanding of what needs to be done, who needs to be placed where and what needs more emphasis or better attention paid to timing. But, I think that intimate understanding that people like to call "Talent" can be understood by mere mortals... and used.


----------



## Deleted member 49710 (Jan 21, 2014)

Trends change so quickly; seems like by the time you finished a novel and tried to hop on, the bandwagon would be long gone. Two years ago it was zombie this, zombie that; now we're oversaturated and who wants to read about more zombies? So I don't really see the point in following trends. I'd rather write about the things that interest me, in the way that comes naturally to me. Think the results will probably be better that way, too.


----------



## Gavrushka (Jan 21, 2014)

I think I enjoy writing too much to try and mould it into something that isn't organic for me... I confess ignorance to the current trends and fads, and just continue to push out words in my style, in my preferred area. I think it's so hard to produce anything of real enduring value that to compromise what we do best with market-chasing would make it all but impossible.

DGB, you write well and will only get better. - I'd not wish you to compromise by wearing a hat that doesn't suit.


----------



## David Gordon Burke (Jan 21, 2014)

Gavrushka said:


> DGB, you write well and will only get better. - I'd not wish you to compromise by wearing a hat that doesn't suit.



I appreciate the comment.  The idea here which I have probably expressed badly is more along the lines of 'Market Research.'  If one were able to understand why a book like the Kite Runner was a hit, then without copying one iota of the book (the way so much zombievampirewerewolflovetriangeYAPRCRAPR did) one could possibly know which themes to touch on for greater sucess.

David Gordon Burke


----------



## Gavrushka (Jan 21, 2014)

I know I should probably do more, but the only thing I really do is write. - For me, I guess I'm at a point where my words are gathering together in such a fashion that I should take a look at what comes next... But then there's the next story, and the next.

Is it possible to understand what makes a book successful? I don't think it is. - Hindsight is the only guide an author has (in book sales), and unless you or I are a clone of that author, I don't think it is possible to learn much from it, and almost impossible to emulate whatever their formula was. - You see, I feel the biggest part of writing success has to be down to the talent of the person writing. - And that's me sunk! LOL.


----------



## David Gordon Burke (Jan 21, 2014)

Gavrushka said:


> DGB, you write well and will only get better. - I'd not wish you to compromise by wearing a hat that doesn't suit.



I appreciate the comment.  The idea here which I have probably expressed badly is more along the lines of 'Market Research.'  If one were able to understand why a book like the Kite Runner was a hit, then without copying one iota of the book (the way so much zombievampirewerewolflovetriangeYAPRCRAPR did) one could possibly know which themes to touch on for greater sucess.

David Gordon Burke


----------



## Terry D (Jan 21, 2014)

My first book was a labor of love, a vampire novel in the vein of _'Salem's Lot_, or _They Thirst_, definitely not something which conformed in any way to the prevailing trends in the horror genre at the time I published it, and nothing which could be considered 'literary' in any way, so there's no chance it will ever transcend its genre origins. I intentionally planned my second book with an eye toward telling a more marketable story. It's still, I suppose, a genre novel (I describe it as a thriller), but I hoped to reach a broader audience by picking a more 'popular' genre. The book is still something I would buy and I easily immersed myself in its production. I didn't worry about any conventions of the genre and ended up with a book of which I am proud. Readers often have a visceral reaction to _Chase_, but they keep on reading. That's the connection I am looking for.


----------

