I see the posts on Facebook and I used to read them. Authors asking what literary trends readers are tired of. The most recent list was filled with comments like, insta-love, love triangles, billionaires, dominatrix’s, and alpha males that are really just a**holes and not alpha at all.
I try to avoid reading these lists. Why? Because whether I like it or not, people influence my writing. I try not to let it happen, but invariably it does. I read that people don’t want to read about billionaires, so then I want to make sure I never write about a billionaire, no matter how much I want to write the story or how awesome I think the character in my head is. My knee jerk reaction is to delete it.
But then I read that people WANT to read about billionaires and I’m torn. Which crowd to I cater to? Do I write about billionaires or not? At this point I’m running in circles…NOT writing anything for fear of writing the wrong thing.
I stopped reading lists of what readers want and don’t want. I’m going to write my books the way I want to write my books. I’ll create the stories that are inside me and morph them into something hopefully totally awesome. Something I hope people will read and enjoy. That’s it. That’s all any of us can do. We can only write the stories that are inside of us. We can’t reach around into everyone’s head and write the stories they all want to read.
We can’t please everyone, so I’ll start with pleasing myself and hopefully the world will follow.