Commercial Fiction Continuing Trends

I'm still thinking about trends so I thought I'd give you my list of trends in popular fiction that started about 10 years ago and are still present. I didn't even have to consult the muse about it though she stands ready should I require her assistance.

Sexy Books

This isn't just romance novels. All books seem to have sexed-up. This is good if the author is good at writing sexy copy, and the resulting writing is organic. If the author, with a grimace of distaste, is doing it because his/her editor/agent said to up the sexuality, it's bad, and the writing suffers. Some authors increase the sexuality by having secondary characters doing "it" or by having sexually explicit details about a crime or a character.

If a woman is your main character, you want her comfortable with her sexuality. Sure, many women aren't, but your heroine needs to be, and that doesn't mean she has to be a slut. It just means that she's aware of all the ramifications of sex and makes smart decisions. Unless her emotional conflict makes her choose a dumb move, and you darn well better have it believable when a smart woman does a dumb thing. And that brings me to....

Capable Heroines

Your heroine learns from her mistakes and moves on. No matter what genre, readers are looking for real women - someone competent and confident - not a nervous Nelly. When a woman is the main character, you want her to be strong, smart, and responsible for herself and her choices. She's somebody who makes things happen; she doesn't have things happen to her.

Pace

You must write a book that moves. A novel is characterized by forward motion, and, in this century, that motion is fast-paced. You want the reader turning pages, following the story and the characters.

Action

Like I said, a novel is motion. Motion demands action. Active verbs, not passive. Active characters doing things not just sitting around contemplating their navels and thinking about what needs to be done. They do it. They act.

Unintrusive Backstory

If you could eliminate only one thing from your writing world view, it be the idea that you have to lay out all the background before you can get a story moving. The story begins at the moment of change.

Once I read a contest entry that took 9 pages to tell the reader that the heroine had just got divorced and had a car accident that changed everything. You only need a few sentences to set that scene. Here's a rough example: Molly, feeling incredibly free now that the judge had signed her divorce decree, flew down the courthouse steps. From behind her, she heard her lawyer call her name. Without stopping, she looked over her shoulder. Next thing she knew, she was tumbling head over heels down the marble steps until she slammed into an unsuspecting man at the bottom.

That's about 60 words. Sure, I didn't tell about her miserable childhood and how she married the first jerk who looked her way just so she could escape. I didn't detail how he hadn't been able to keep it zipped nor his descent into the bottle. I didn't go into her long lonely struggle to get an education and a decent job while she had to support her alcoholic husband.

All that stuff is something you reveal as you go along. Sprinkle it in like chopped red peppers in spicy dishes - a little here, a little there. You don't just dump it all in at once.

Takeaway Truth

Every era has its own literature. You must be a part of the time in which you live.

Time to Part-tay!

I don't know who'll be competing in the Super Bowl this year. I don't even have a favorite team because, frankly, I'm not much of a football fan. (My son Michael thinks this is ridiculous, but he loves me anyway.)

Cooking Rep To Maintain

So when Super Bowl time rolls around, I'm not sending prayers heavenward for my team. I am, however, scouring my cookbooks and my favorite recipe websites in search of something new and distinctive to serve my football fanatic family.

Rather than relying on supermarket dips, cold cuts, and other standards, I search far and wide for unique super bowl party food ideas. I've already selected three new recipes at Celebrations.com that I can't wait to try: Guilt-free Cheesy Dog for my daughter who's health conscious; Butternut Fries for me because they sound good; Fired Up Breadsticks, Truffle-scented White Bean Dip, and Mojito Mayo Dip.

Distinctive Dishes

Everything on the website sounds delicious but these tickled my fancy. I make Sweet Potato Fries so I'm thinking the Butternut Fries will have that same dimension of flavor. And breadsticks just can't be beat, but Fired Up with cayenne and crisp bacon, they sound like real winners. As to the dips, well, the two I picked sound tons better than the standard french onion dip.

If you're hosting a party this year, check out Celebrations.com. They'll give you some great ideas to make your party a success.

Takeaway Truth

Whether you like football or not, celebrate in style because what you're really celebrating is life and friendship.

Looking for Writing Trends

I'm having a nice cup of tea with lemon and thinking about what I want to write this year in the area of fiction. I remembered an article by Debbie Macomber, one of my favorite romance authors.

I just finished reviewing Debbie's article again. Do yourself a favor and go read it. I'm just going to summarize some of what she said and give my own commentary.

Debbie says you can identify trends by identifying and using pop culture to write and sell your novel. I completely agree with her which is why I blog a lot on my other blog where the writing biz meets pop culture about television and movies.

What's happening across the big pond?

Think of how many TV shows here first started on the BBC. I have friends who watch BBC television to see what's coming down the pike. That's something you can try since BBC is on many satellite TV systems.

TV

Yep, we used to call it the boob tube (before boob was in common parlance as a body part). Now it's a reflector of our culture. Look at the shows - all those reality shows so many of us hate as well as the sitcoms, dramas, game shows, and action series.

Movies: Cinema or Other Release

Have you seen the movies that garner the most buzz, awards, or ticket sales? If not, you're missing an eye into pop culture.

Catalogs

Read what Debbie says. I never realized it, but she's right. I get an avalanche of catalogs every year. I never saw them as a peek into millions of people's buying habits, but that's what they are. What people buy translates into what interests them.

Periodicals

I still read magazines and newspapers. I've blogged before about why people should do this. I know Dick Wolfe of the Law and Order franchise has built a substantial career from "ripped from the headlines."

Internet

All of you probably guessed that's one of the ways to spot trends whether it's the Brittany-obsessed, sobbing teen to the yammering dog made even more famous on Talk Soup.

Takeaway Truth

Writers need to look for trends, but they should try to write a trendy story. There's a big difference in the two.

A = Adorable & B = Baby

If A is for Adorable, and B is for Baby, then C must be for Clothing because the three words go together so well. Adorable Baby Clothing is something moms just love to look at which is a good thing because most of us seem to know several women who are expecting bundles of joy this spring. In our circle of extended family and friends, we've got an arrival in March, one in May, and one in late summer which is really too far off to shop for. Yet.

I'm goofing off this afternoon, well, as much as I allow myself to, and shopping online for baby gifts because baby showers are coming soon.

We know the March baby is a little girl who's going to be as special as her delightful mommy. It's easy to believe that this little girl will be made of sugar and spice and everything nice. I've been checking out Baby Girl Clothes because I want something really special and pretty. I think the Candy Babies Newborn Baby Girl Personalized Teddy & Blanket Gift Set will be perfect.

The May arrival is still to be determined. The new baby's sister wants, of course, a girl. While the new baby's brother wants, you guessed it! A boy. Mom and Dad aren't taking sides. I've looked at Baby Boy Clothes and found a cute Guitar Hero Rock N Roll Baby Onesie.

Of course, I may just hedge my bets and go with the Funky Sock Monkey Baby Blanket I posted above. It's funny and cute, and it's Gender Neutral.

Takeaway Truth

Babies are fun from the very beginning, and shopping for babies is a delight.

Hot Japanese Trend Surfaces Here

I'm sure you heard about books on cell phones being the hottest thing on the publishing scene this past year in Japan. Well, Roger Lichfield, founder of eBookApp.com billed as: your one stop publication house for Mobiles & iPhone, is bringing it to an iPhone near you.

Roger emailed me about his company several weeks ago. I told him I'd look into it. When I first checked it, the links he'd sent didn't work so I marked my calendar to check again. After all, this is a new enterprise.

Today, I followed up and found everything working very nicely. So listen up. This might be an opportunity you want to pursue.

What They Offer

Roger's company offers Authors and Publishers the ability to publish their eBooks through their proprietary eReader application which converts existing eBooks into Apple iPhone Applications that can be downloaded from AppStore.

Why do this? The immediate reason is the possibility of exposing your book to a potential market of a million users. That's how many iPhone users there now are.

Of course, this is one of those: you have to spend money to make money programs though they do offer a free membership but with a reduced royalty.

You Judge

However, judge for yourself whether this is something you want to dive into. Here are the links you need to research because you need to know all the details in order to make an informed decision.

Royalty Structure: http://ebookapp.com/pricing – basically, the royalty is broken down after the wholesale price or paid out of 70% of book list price.

Contract: http://ebookapp.com/contract – Authors/Publishers retain all the rights to their works, they can also modify the list6 price as well as cancel with us at anytime.

Takeaway Truth

In the ever-changing world writers now inhabit, we need to explore every opportunity.

Format For Web Writing

If you're writing for the Internet, then learn how to format it so people will actually read it. But, you sputter, of course they'll read my erudite blog post that contains the secret of getting published or the secret of cold fusion or whatever.

Wrong! They won't if you format it as you would an article for a print periodical. Why they won't stick to your site and read is because of what I call...

Glazed Eye Syndrome

You know what that refers to. You see something and the eye just doesn't know what to do with the massive sensory bombardment so they glaze over. In real life when you experience sensory overload, you back away. On the Internet, you do the same by hitting the back button or closing the tab and moving on to something that's easier on the eyes and thus easier to assimilate.

The human eye gets easily tired by reading from a computer. It's only human nature to scan content, looking for the sought information. What's the bottom line? What are you looking for? Where are the facts?

Causes of Glazed Eye Syndrome

1. Too much information. An embarrassment of riches.

2. Poorly presented information. Content is presented in a way that the eye can not easily take in.

I'll give you some quick examples without naming names. I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings.

Too Much Info

Internet sites where the text is like a college thesis written in a 12 point font that looks like Pica print on a typewriter. Plus the lines of text run from the far left of your monitor screen to the far right. And there are hundreds of line of text with nothing to break it up. All you wanted to know was the definition of folksonomy, but you end up backing away without ever finding that fact.

Poorly Presented Info

Have you seen those Internet sites or blogs that open and the text is in a myriad of fonts, usually also in vivid colors shrieking for attention? You have big bold headlines, italicized text, bright colors. Where does your eye look first? It skitters all over the displayed page. Chances are your visitor backs away.

Mile-Long Posts

Blogs that have posts that should have been broken into 2-5 shorter posts. Maybe, you wanted to see all the posts for a certain week, but you find yourself scrolling and scrolling and scrolling the never-ending blog post, trying to reach the next ones. Then you find they're just as long.

The Cure

1. Focus your article or blog post so you convey succinct information.

2. Don't try to write every fracking detail about a subject.

3. Use the same font with variation only for title or headline and sub-heading. Bold text makes distinctive titles and sub-heading. Use Italics sparingly. It takes the human eye 30% longer to read italicized text. So it slows the reading.

4. Don't go crazy with text color. Less is more.

5. Avoid those long blocks of unbroken text. Use Sub-headings to break them up as I do in my blog posts, or use numbered lists or bullet points because this helps readers spot hard facts.

6. If you absolutely must write extremely long posts, consider using Expandable Post Summary as Peter explained in his blog. That way a short piece of your post is displayed with a link that says, "Read more."

7. Use pictures. Hey, we're all visual. Pictures attract. You want to draw attention to your words.

Takeaway Truth

You write to be read so avoid shooting yourself in the metaphorical foot, or you'll risk losing readers.

To Sleep, Perchance to Dream

Every writer has an image of his or her readers. Since Ulverscroft in the UK recently began publishing part of my romantic comedy back list, I have this image of readers in the UK having a copy of one of those editions - maybe the one shown here - on their bedside table.

I hope, to match my enchanting prose, that they have a super comfortable and stylish bed like the
divan beds offered by Time4Sleep.According to my chiropractor, a good, quality bed is essential for good, quality sleep. Most people keep their mattresses far beyond their usefulness.

If you're not sleeping well at night, maybe you need to evaluate your mattress. Does it still support your body the way it did when new? Perhaps, it's time you shopped for a new bed. If so, you can't beat the selection offered by Time4Sleep. They've got antique beds to wooden beds, divan beds to upholstered beds, and everything between.

I'm like most women. It's simply not enough to have a quality bed. It has to look good also. I quite fancy the divan beds shown on the website. They look like something you'd see in a luxury hotel. Did you know that a divan bed is a patented design? I didn't. I'm re-doing our guest room this year. I think one of the sleek divan beds would be stunning in there. The only problem is that I might have a hard time getting rid of my guests if I do that.

Takeaway Truth

A good bed is an investment in your good health.