Nathan Bransford - The Forums

it will be the genre of the next big bestseller book that everyone enjoys. And then all the copycat books come out in the same genre, and everyone thinks it's about the genre, but it's about that first book.

Hmm... I don't know about that. Did Harry Potter spur a glut of Magician books? (I'm actually ignorant on this topic, since I was busy working with autistic kids and starting a charity and then moving from the UK to Canada and then being a new mom when the HP books were being written and I wasn't reading much children's lit in those days.)

I can see how the vampire craze kind of happened that way, but I've always kind of had a thing for vampires, so I've been picking up a lot of the vampire literature lately. I've found that I actually don't like many of the new vampire books, and I've been going back to Anne Rice's stuff and other older books. (Although I did really enjoy TWILIGHT - but not so much the rest of the series. Love triangles turn me off when I can't see the competing players as equally deserving/mature/whatever.) So maybe it's really about taking an old idea that is pretty popular anyway, and putting a modern or fresh spin on it?

The funny thing is, the vampire books have always been there. The Sookie Stackhouse books were out long before Twilight and the Vampire Academy books came out a year or two before Twilight was first made into a movie. The only reason there's such a hype now is because once people have finished reading Twilight they're looking for something else to fill the void. Hence, the Vampire craze. (Which I don't think will ever truly leave us)

I agree with that - vampires are here to stay.

I wouldn't be surprised to see pirates make a comeback, especially mixed with fantasy elements. And since steampunk plays a lot with these elements, I wouldn't be surprised to see it gain in popularity either.

Oh, I could totally see pirates. I'd be into it too. But I wouldn't say Twilight exactly MADE vampires the popularity - much of the vampire stuff was already out or in progress, it just brought more attention to them.

Interesting blog post today from Kristin Nelson, literary agent:

I have to say it’s getting a little gruesome in our query letters and sample pages. We’ve received an inordinate amount of queries where the poor main character has to be killed off before the novel can begin.

The Latest Trends in Query Letters and Sample Pages

Oooh, yeah, postmortem MCs are apparently big in YA right now. But of course, "now" means that the trend is already here. There are quite a few books out right now where the MC dies at the beginning and then gets to relive her last day, or fix something, or gets a do over, or has an out-of-body experience while in a deadly coma...

Here's hoping genre for young adults is dead; sex and alienation needs a comeback!

Isn't Stephanie Meyer backing Mermaids?

Oh, please no.

But they could be edgy mermaids, with fish heads and girl legs.

Dystopian mermaids fleeing the Gulf oil mess and running into pirates.

I'm hoping the next big thing is half human teens going to alternate worlds. *crosses fingers*

J. T. SHEA wrote:But they could be edgy mermaids, with fish heads and girl legs.

A vampire is the teen girl's fantasy. We might have just found the guys'.

I'm pretty sure the teen guys' fantasy is beer.