What's the next literary trend?

[Queen Michael]

Remember when Twilight-style paranormal romance was the big thing?

And remember when YA-dystopias were big? (Oh wait, they still are.)

And in some European countries, Swedish crime novels got really big. I saw a shelf in a Dutch bookstore that was dedicated to Scandinavian crime novels.

Well, what do you think will be the next big trend on the literary market?

 

[Vault101]

And remember when YA-dystopias were big? (Oh wait, they still are.)

aparently though agents publishers are getting sick of them and are no longer "buying"

honestly? I don't know, markets are hard to predict, I wonder mabye if Gone girl will kick off a "trend" but gone girl seems kind of like a standard mystery in terms of genre and mystery/crime/thriller is already a mainstay

 

[Shamanic Rhythm]

In terms of popular fiction, all that happens is one of the more maligned and ignored genres suddenly becomes the flavour of the month, everyone scrambles to jump on the bandwagon, then after about a year or two the hubub moves onto the next genre.

 

[Something Amyss]

I'm hoping it's novels featuring black people so the rage and butthurt that people were paying attention to teenage girls to continue in a glorious frenzy. The tears were delicious, don't stop.

But seriously, people go broke trying to predict these trends. I have no idea what'll be popular next, but I'd like it to be some quality niche genre. Hopefully something new to me, so I can discover something good and new. Okay, this probably won't happen, but I can hope.

 

[CatsPajamas]

I think the next one will be Fantasy Dystopia Dystopias where their dystopia has had a 2nd war and natural disaster at the same time that caused another dystopia and the people in it are just trying to survive in their magic vampire hunger schools...oh and some detective elements thrown in where they find out the bad guy is the amusement park owner in a rubber mask.

 

[Vault101]

I think the next one will be Fantasy Dystopia Dystopias where their dystopia has had a 2nd war and natural disaster at the same time that caused another dystopia and the people in it are just trying to survive in their magic vampire hunger schools...oh and some detective elements thrown in where they find out the bad guy is the amusement park owner in a rubber mask.

hmmmmm

dark fantasy?

I mean it is by no means a new genre (not by a long shot) but with the success of game of thrones...

I'm hoping it's novels featuring black people so the rage and butthurt that people were paying attention to teenage girls to continue in a glorious frenzy. The tears were delicious, don't stop.

you forgot about the "mum" porn....because it is pretty hilarious...older women having sexual desires...HA...now excuse me while I go watch my mainstream porn....

ok to be fair twilight and 50 shades were bad....

 

[Something Amyss]

you forgot about the "mum" porn....because it is pretty hilarious...older women having sexual desires...HA...now excuse me while I go watch my mainstream porn....

ok to be fair twilight and 50 shades were bad....

50 Shades didn't spawn a trend though, did it? I thought it was just the one series.

Anyway, I only watch hipster porn. you probably haven't heard of it.

 

[Shamanic Rhythm]

you forgot about the "mum" porn....because it is pretty hilarious...older women having sexual desires...HA...now excuse me while I go watch my mainstream porn....

ok to be fair twilight and 50 shades were bad....

50 Shades didn't spawn a trend though, did it? I thought it was just the one series.

Anyway, I only watch hipster porn. you probably haven't heard of it.

50 Shades did spawn a trend of really shitty fanfic being published as 'erotic' literature. Arguably the most successful was a series about a girl who loses her virginity to Totally-Not-Harry-Styles.

 

[Ratty]

My guess is we'll see more "straightforward" romance, slice of life and erotica. As the female audience that grew up reading Harry Potter as kids, had crushes on Twilight hunks as teens and had their first for-realz erotica with 50 Shades continue to mature, moving into adulthood and mid-life. According to lots of anecdotes I've heard over the years and this (admittedly old) article men account for only about 20% of the fiction market for books, at least in America http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14175229 so just like with Twilight I think we'll continue to see the interests of millennial women and girls shape the market.

Will they stick with the fantasy themes they were raised on? How much will they venture outside the nest of YA fiction? Heck if I know. But I think we will see at least some split off into the market as women seek out scenarios that are closer to their lived experiences. Even if it is in the wish-fulfillment of the romance and erotica genres.

you forgot about the "mum" porn....because it is pretty hilarious...older women having sexual desires...HA...now excuse me while I go watch my mainstream porn....

ok to be fair twilight and 50 shades were bad....

50 Shades didn't spawn a trend though, did it? I thought it was just the one series.

Anyway, I only watch hipster porn. you probably haven't heard of it.

Well 50 Shades started out as a Twilight porn fanfic so...

 

[Vault101]

50 Shades didn't spawn a trend though, did it? I thought it was just the one series.
.

if you mean a lot of women going "wait....theres SEX?...in BOOKS?" then yeah sort of

My guess is we'll see more "straightforward" romance, slice of life and erotica. As the female audience that grew up reading Harry Potter as kids, had crushes on Twilight hunks as teens and had their first for-realz erotica with 50 Shades continue to mature, moving into adulthood and mid-life. According to lots of anecdotes I've heard over the years and this (admittedly old) article men account for only about 20% of the fiction market for books, at least in America http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14175229 so just like with Twilight I think we'll continue to see the interests of millennial women and girls shape the market.

Will they stick with the fantasy themes they were raised on? How much will they venture outside the nest of YA fiction? Heck if I know. But I think we will see at least some split off into the market as women seek out scenarios that are closer to their lived experiences. Even if it is in the wish-fulfillment of the romance and erotica genres.

an interesting observation

urban fantasy seems to have a strong female presence (like say stuff by seanan McGuire and the October daye series)and its not nessicaryly YA either (YA is kind of a broad genre turned marketing buzzword anyway) even if I personally can't "play the game" (you'll never convince me a secret society of supernatural beings/happenings in our cities is anything but really stupid)

though I would love to see books with more female leads and I think female readers shaping the market isn't a bad thing


even if I am fairly....adverse to a lot of chick lit staples...that does mean I don't like books that have heavy "women" themes (on the contrary all my favourite books are like that) I'm just...not big on romance/whatever in my "fun" books like "you got chick lit in my pew pew space!" <-Fortunes Pawn

personal taste and all that

 

[Illesdan]

Whatever the next big thing is, it will likely be ripped off from comic books. Look at 'The Walking Dead', 'Arrow', Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.' and so on. The true of the matter is, is the better stories are in comics.

 

[Vault101]

Whatever the next big thing is, it will likely be ripped off from comic books. Look at 'The Walking Dead', 'Arrow', Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.' and so on. The true of the matter is, is the better stories are in comics.

1. mediums don't have ownership of genres (no...not even superheros)

2.you must not read very good books, I would disagree with you (which a kind of do) moreso if we didn't have more than just Marvel and DC...which thankfully we do (thank god for image)

3. I can't say which is better, books do things comics can't and comics do things books can't (for example I don't you could really capture the sheer lunacy of Saga in book format)

 

[Mezahmay]

The future of literary formatting: 3-D ultra high definition pages, paper and digital. Optional 4-D odor emitter sold separately.

Dumb comments aside, the current trends (in American literature anyway) appears to still be wrapped up in thrillers and mysteries with a few period pieces here and there according to the New York Times Bestsellers list. Where that's heading next, not a damn clue. Hopefully there will be some backlash against the supersaturation of YA dystopia pieces with more lighthearted stories that are more thought provoking or actually mature stories whose conflict evolves past white teenagers rebelling against a hostile environment and each other. If that happens, I may actually buy a physical book that isn't required for a class.

 

[GabeZhul]

If I had to venture I guess, I would say there are two possibilities I can base on the recent ridiculous popularity of the Game of Thrones series:

-A copycat wave of low-magic political fantasy novels, probably getting into full-swing either after the last book comes out (or if Martin dies before that) to fill out the void and to look for the next big hit.

-A reactionary wave of lighter, more action-oriented fantasy novels that target the part of the audience that didn't like GoT while also trying to rope in those who liked it but want to try something lighter for a change.

However I think the next big fad is already simmering in the background, we just haven't noticed it yet. It was the same with all of the previous fads. Supernatural romances, YA dystopias and even zombies have been around for a good while, but then one work featuring them got popular and it started an entire avalanche that flooded the entire market with them. If you ask me what the next such "simmering in the background" thing would be, I would either say cyberpunk (especially since we are very slowly getting VR, prosthetics and other technologies predicted by the early works in real life, possibly raising interest) or a new flavor of romance novels (for which I won't even try to make predictions, since the the possibilities there were already proven endless by frickin sparkling vampires.)

 

[carnex]

Whatever it ends up being it will be even more dumb and simplistic that's for sure. When I remember when I read Karl May and thought his writing was simple and flowy at age of 15-16.

But given the world events it will return to a lone hero in search of setting the world right, only now with informations, internet, anonymity etc instead of pals and fists. Same intrigue as always but with different means. Imagine internet version of "Thinker Tailor Soldier Spy" but lacking any depth what so ever and drowned in meaningless jargon. Like Metal Gear Solid for example but even simpler.

 

[Something Amyss]

[
50 Shades did spawn a trend of really shitty fanfic being published as 'erotic' literature. Arguably the most successful was a series about a girl who loses her virginity to Totally-Not-Harry-Styles.

Huh. Never heard of any of it.

Well 50 Shades started out as a Twilight porn fanfic so...

Knowing that, and hearing it described as "mummy" porn, I wasn't sure whether they meant the maternal parent of long dead Egyptian royalty.

 

[Hero in a half shell]

I think Animorphs are gonna get big again, like - super big. So big America will go to war with Russia because Obama likes the Californian teen that turns into a dolphin but Putin said she's a punk on live TV and that he preferred the cute sporty blonde that can morph into BOTH a fox and a falcon.

Then they launch nukes at each other that were painted to depict each soldiers favourite tween characters mid-morph, and the world ends in a dazzling blaze of nuclear Armageddon as the atmosphere catches fire and everything terrestrial burns until only bare rock and magma are left.

You may think it's far fetched, but ask yourself what really happened to Mars?

Spoiler: spoilered - Is this not worth dying for?