Should one follow or defy trends?

[Generic.Archdemon]

Neither.

 

[georgelee5786]

Write what you want

 

[Voidiris]

If you want money make something that perfectly represent what is trending and make it somehow better or make a version of it that is extremely unique.
If you just want to write, do what you like the most.

 

[MouseDestruction]

The general advice for this is that you should follow the trends until you know what rules you can break.

Once you have a clear idea of what the trend is then you can start playing around with it.

 

[Bartun]

I'm aware my story it's not the type that is trending or popular and that very few people read it but it has been in my head for so long and I regret not starting writing sooner. Still, I'm writing it the way I like it, if people like it too or if it starts a new trend that's a plus.

 

[WinterTimeCrime]

Do what you love.

I know my horror books with tons of traumatic content and gore will never see wide audiences. It did however get the attention of a horror-game studio who I currently work part-time for (only reason I won't go full is because I love coding and analytics).

I don't want to become a full-time writer. I love my full-time day job and write for fun, so I don't need to follow overpowered protagonist, System/LitRPG, and Doting Billionaire CEO trends to gain readership.

But YOU will have to love them if you plan on writing being your "full-time day job" or attempting to create a brand of yourself. A lot of Web Novelists I know personally said they'd write one LitRPG to grow their fanbase and generate some cashflow. However, most of them find the series hard to end or create another because of pressure from their fans and fall into an endless loop.

Sucks if you ask me. But hey, they wipe their tears with tons of cash so maybe it's worth it.

 

[K5Rakitan]

Write what you love. Defy what you don't.

 

[Zagaroth]

Neither in particular.

If a trend inspires an idea for you, use it. If you have an idea that doesn't follow current trends, write what is in your head. Neither is better or worse than the other, so long as it is genuine to what you want to write.

 

[doravg]

I’ve been writing for a while and have always had this question. Those who religiously follow trends tend to have some level of success with their works (even if it’s minimal). While trend setters that defy those rules usually have a good grasp of their own narrative. What they want to do.

I often see new writers confused on what to write because they don’t want their work be thrown into obscurity, and have seen many try a popular gimmick… only to not have passion for it.

Or have that initial passion fade away fast.

Maybe doing whatever is fine, but I wanted to at least bring this up to let you guys answer it for yourselves if you’re a writer. This is definitely a question worth thinking about at least once.

Yes, we were all there. My first original story was a, well... I don't know what it was. There was gender bend, Chinese setting, but no cultivation, BL that ended up as impregnate and a straight threesome for a time (because of the gender bend).

That said, I wasn't trying to follow any trends back then. I was so fresh to web novels in general, that I didn't know anything about trends. It was a passion project, got its fair share of critique, and now it is read only when the stars align. Even though I reworked it a bit, and made the chapters shorter.

The web novel after that was a dungeon core slice of life (with that one I was following trends) that made me warm and fuzzy inside, but I lost the passion for it when the first critique started piling up. You see, I'd like to think that my characters have common sense. At around chapter 130, if I remember correctly, I made it so, that the MC avoided a war.

People wanted to hang me over a pit full of ravenous snakes, crocodiles, and Teletubbies (honestly, that is worse than snakes and crocodiles combined. My grandma made me watch Teletubbies every Sunday, instead of Yu-GI-OH, when I was visiting her.) because of that.

Just write, no one will ever be happy.