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How To Write a Book and Follow a Trend

Hey, there is nothing new under the sun. According to some experts, there are seven story archetypes, and according to others, there are only three: Revenge, Love, and Quest. I agree more with the latter. So how are cool, inventive new stories being written all the time? It's all in the nuance.

True, you may be writing one of those three types of stories and it may have a similar era and setting to many other stories, but it's up to you to offer a fresh story and surprise your reader. 

I happen to love Gosford Park and got my husband to watch it with me decades ago. Now, whenever I invite him to watch something he identifies as "the same" he declares, "I saw Gosford Park. They're all the same." But Downton Abbey is not Gosford Park is not Remains of the Day is not Atonement. You get what I’m saying. Sure, they have a lot in common and if you loved Gosford Park for its grand estate, period dressing, and upstairs/downstairs intrigues, then you may enjoy the other three shows. May.

The above four stories are not the same story even though they’re the same milieu. Downton is primarily focused on how life is lived in the great house. Gosford is a devilishly witty murder mystery with a wet washcloth to the face of child rape at the core. Remains binds us tightly with heart-rending loyalty in the face of Nazi sympathies and Atonement is young lovers torn apart by a lie. 

If you want to jump on a trend and write, like back in 2014 when everyone churned out Gone Girl-type stories, there were some good 'clever deception books' that came out in a rush. There were some stinkers, too.  But, they'd have been stinkers whatever the trend. So write whatever you like. Popular books tend to inspire similar books as readers search for 'more of that.' Just don't be cookie cutter. You can keep the aspects of a trend that you personally like (I'm a sucker for the secluded location filled with suspicious characters a la Ten Little Indians), but I'll be disappointed if the author used Agatha Christie's shoulders to stand on and then didn't find a way to give me an unexpected and satisfying resolution. If you're going to rip off TLI, I want a plausible MacGuffin that gets the plot up and running, actual clues to solve the mystery sprinkled throughout, and a clever red herring, please. Lazy writers that dump explanations at the end set my teeth on edge. Surely during final edits, they could have gone back through and snuggled some gems here and there so that during the last pages we can recall them with "ah-has!"

So, trends aren't bad, but leave the cookie cutters in the kitchen drawer.


-- Anna Erikssön Bendewald 





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