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Writers can't help but look at trends in fiction, even though we're often cautioned not to chase trends as we write. The types of trends we usually mean are those of genre and structure: Is dystopian rising? Is YA paranormal about over? Can I hope to sell a historical in this market? Does my YA have to be in first person? Can I use present tense in MG? These might be called macro trends. But I've been noticing small, micro, trends too. Have you ever read a number of books in a row and, different though they may be, they all do an obvious something? Two related examples I've found recently:
First, the "heavily dependent on another book/author" trend, found in When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead (A Wrinkle in Time), Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine (To Kill a Mockingbird),Also Known as Harper by Ann Haywood Leal (Harper Lee, Hemingway, Flannery O'Connor), and Bruiser by Neal Shusterman (Tennyson and at least one Bronte). I know some ideas seem to "float out there in the spirit" and more than one writer can "catch" them, but I wonder -- is this an attempt to shore up a type of literacy we're afraid kids are losing? I don't know that it's deliberate didacticism, but authors make their choices for a reason. I'm curious about that reason. And I'm not sure how I feel about this trend. I like all the books I've named above, but, particularly when it's another novel that's featured (or a poorly educated mom who just happens to love major American authors), there's something about the dependence that subtracts. Any thoughts?
Second, a recent penchant for vocabulary building.Reference again Mockingbird, whose MC, ten-year-old Caitlin, is going through bereavement, has Asperger's, and her best friend is the dictionary; Bruiser, in which the parents, both literature professors, have alternated giving one vocabulary-building word a day to their kids all their lives; and also Love Puppies and Corner Kicks, by RW Krech, in which soccer-playing Andrea often has her nose in her favorite book (hmm, not unlike trend #1): Word Power: Enhancing and Extending Your Vocabulary. Using vocabulary words and pronunciations/meanings as chapter titles is a fairly common, though not universal, feature of these books.
Any ideas about what's going on? Have you noticed any other micro-trends in recent books you've read? Have you found any you'd like to continue? :)
9 comments:
Marcia, I'm afraid I've not noticed trends, but then again, I read all over the board, particularly a huge amount of NF, that these things are not necessarily jumping out at me.
None of these have been distracting for me, and in fact, have been a bit delicious. If it works for the book, I say we go for it. Just like with the math-oriented books (My Life as a Rhombus or Secrets, Lies and Algebra), a book based on literature will a thread on books or authors.
Vijaya, I think spotting the trends has a lot to do with chancing to read certain books back to back, too. Come to think of it, I could maybe have pointed to the math-oriented books -- interesting that this idea happens to have shown up just lately. I'm all for it. :)
That's an interesting point about micro-trends. This is just a fuzzy memory, but I started to read "Summer of My German Soldier" when I was much younger, probably a pre-teen, and I remember that the mc tried to learn a new word every day. So, it's not a new idea certainly, but as a mother, I rather like the idea of introducing kids to new words, as long as it's not heavy-handed.
If I did notice any trends, I'd bend over backwards not to incorporate them myself. I've never been able to follow trends, so I've stopped trying to do it. And while I don't mind books that are dependent on others, I don't want to write one myself (and I'm pretty sure I couldn't).
Having said that, I love the trend of retelling fairy tales. Ella Enchanted is one of my all-time favorite MG books: I loved the idea of a protagonist who literally cannot lie.
Mary, I agree that I'd steer away from small trends I picked up on -- maybe even more than large trends because small ones seem even more like you lifted an idea somewhere, if that makes sense. I see retold fairy tales as quite different than allusions to a famous book/author in a realistic novel.
I think the vocab building and the dependency on other novels help to sell books. I've taught middle and high school English, and it's like the "West Side Story" / "Romeo and Juliet" angle - read both books and write a comp/contrast essay. It makes publishers interested in them since teachers buy books numbering in the hundreds. Ditto vocab buiding -- worksheet time.
Interesting, Anne. This would have limited use, though, I'd imagine -- I mean, we can't ALL start injecting novels and vocab into our stories in that fashion. To the extent it feels like a tool, it's didacticism in a new form. I like it, but it's crossed a line into conscious. Am I making any sense? It's a writing day -- time to go back to work. :)
I can see that. Maybe it's still tied into Twilight. Bella loved a certain (forget which one) and later Meyers uses Romeo and Juliet. All things Twilight. ;)
Huh. I'm Twilight illiterate, so I never would have picked up on that.
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