When I was in junior high, a number of the kids in my class went out and purchased the same Tommy Hilfiger jacket, all in different colors. With billions of fashion items available for sale in the market, their statement had obviously been a planned one, and one thing was clear. A trend had been born, one that others would take notice of and ultimately, emulate. It’s hard to say what makes something catch on with people and something else not but when my parents bought me that same jacket in yet another color I felt as though I had conformed somehow. The popular kids in my school might believe I’d gotten the memo somehow, but there was nothing unique about my style. I’d lost my originality, become a follower, if you will.
Much like athletic attire marketed to adolescents, romance novels too, go through waves of trend. We’ve seen billionaire romances reign as the “it” thing, as well as stories about vampires. I hear cowboy romances have made something of a comeback, too (Which is great to hear! Though I do believe many of these stories being published today are contemporaries. I love a great, Historical Western!). As was the case with my classmates though, it isn’t always clear where these trends begin–with movies, perhaps, or a bestselling novel by a well-known author? Once a trend is born however, many of us are surely tempted to follow it. As authors, we are hardly an exception to this temptation. We know there’s a built-in audience for a particular niche or sub-genre, so we, or our publisher, encourages us to write this type of story. There isn’t anything wrong with conforming a bit. Brilliant works can be born this way. As long as they are the stories of your heart, that is.
“Write the story that’s in your heart.” I’ve heard this advice given many times and though I believe the good-hearted authors who give it are as well-meaning as anyone, I also feel that at times it is said tongue-in-cheek, as, let’s face it, we’re all trying to make a name for ourselves in this business. And though few of us may be able to afford to write full time, the rest of us are probably striving to get there. Can we really afford to look a gift horse in the mouth, particularly in a world where said gifts are few and far between?
I’ve been a published author for 7 years. I consider myself to be at the early stages of my career and though I’ve never been personally tempted to write to a trend, I have been told on a couple of occasions by caring fellow authors that stories about dancers, like the characters in my Rabourn Theater Series, are not the hot item right now. I considered that advice a bit. But the truth is that I fell in love with this series before I started writing it! Two powerful families battling for control of the artistic world they’ve dreamed into life–it isn’t all that unlike the world we live in, when you think about it. Except at Rabourn Theater, characters often act on the passion many of us hold inside. And though battle hard, fighting powerful adversaries and facing plenty of danger along the way, all those good-intentioned heroes and heroines will find love AND achieve their happily ever after!
There is hardly shame in writing a story based around a popular romantic trope–we are strengthened as writers when we perform outside our comfort zone, and as readers, when we sample a sub-genre we weren’t planning to, and a new love is born. But if you’ve got a story inside you that must be told, be bold enough to take the risk to write it, even if the odds of success are stacked against you. The only “bad” story is the one that is never written at all!
