Writing is a tough gig- there are deadlines to keep, plotlines to hash out, continuity to maintain, characters to develop, worlds to build, a wife to murder and Guilder to blame for it, and often a day job to boot!

 And then I had to go and get pregnant.

Pregnancy is a life-changing event not to be undertaken lightly. My parents took seven years of trying to conceive me and my mother admonished to get a move on just in case things worked that way for me too. So on the second try, of course, we succeed. Read the rest of this entry »

In fashion, trend is hugely important. In fact, there is an entire industry known as trend forecasting that tells designers and stores what colors, textures, trims, and clothing styles are going to be popular in an upcoming season.

Trends are similarly important in publishing. Or are they?

What have we got right now?

*Vampires
*Zombies
*Re-writing literary classics into speculative fiction
*Steampunk

I have heard faeries are the next big thing, selkies in particular. And shape-shifters. (Selkies fall into both categories!) So, what does this mean to you?

You could chase trends–constantly riding the coattails of the authors who came before, constantly coming late to the party, constantly not writing the things you want to write because you are worried about trend.

See, in fashion, trend chasers are looked down on a bit. The wanna-be fashionista touting the latest look out of *last month’s* Vogue is not the same as the unique vision of a designer balancing the world of trend she sees around her with her personal insights and inspiration. What she creates defies fads and transcends trends, it fits into its world yet stands on its own. And most importantly, it is focused squarely on the target market, that is,

the customer destined to buy the garment.

In writing, it really is not so different. You’ve got vampires and zombies and Steampunk and if you started writing now, by the time you’d finished your novel, it’s all selkies and you’re out in the cold. Ok, says you, I’ll just write the selkies now! But what if it turns out selkies aren’t the “it” thing next year, what if it actually turns out to be something else?

But you just said…!

I know I did. Bear with me. If you, either writer or designer, spend your time trying to play catch-up to current fads or attempt to predict the path of future trends you will suffer in frustration! Maybe you’ll get lucky, maybe you’ll catch a trend on the upswing and you can pat yourself on the back that you did it, you cashed in on the trend! Are you happy now?

You might not be. Remember the truly great designer knows how to balance what she has in her heart while working with current trend. The same must be true for writers. You must write from the heart because if you don’t feel the love for your story, your characters, neither will your reader. And if you have failed to connect to your reader on an emotional level, they probably won’t be back to your books.

But if you write something that comes from the heart, that really has a lot of strength behind it, your readers will know. Spend less time chasing trends, spend more time writing the things you really want to talk about, your writing will be better for it.

And who knows, you might be the next author who everyone is racing to catch!

---

Sara M. Harvey threw out her trend-mill years ago and writes from the heart in Nashville, TN. She is the author of genre-bending, trend-smooshing The Convent of the Pure and the forthcoming sequel The Labyrinth of the Dead from the Apex Book Company. Find out more about Sara at her website www.saramharvey.com. All the usual suspects of social media (her LiveJournal, Twitter, Facebook) are all linked there for your convenience. Who knows, following Sara might be the next big thing!