I've been doing some catch up on reading and have noticed a few trends. So I thought, why not make a game of it? Can you predict the fads the editors are all going after?
1) Lesbians -- I'm guessing this is part of the "increasing narrative experiences" or some nonsense like that. However, no hint of gay males. Bonus points if the males (if any are actually present in the story), are viewed as all rapists! (Joking here, but I have read more than a few stories that take on this viewpoint, which I find very troubling.)
2) East Asian settings -- This fad started toward the end of last year, but has been going strong. Not always directly Asian, though the fantasy world may have a heavy flavoring of Chinese, Thai, Korean, and so on. There have also been quite a few translated stories from Asian cultures. Not so much India (although you do see some veiled references to Kali popping up), but I'm sure as writers delve more into all the different cultures of the East Asia continent, we may be seeing more.
3) Fairy Tale Retellings -- This has been a big one. Many, many anthologies carrying this theme, and even a few magazines that are nothing but this theme. I blame the popularity of shows such as Once Upon A Time and Grimm.
So if you've got a fairy tale retelling with an East Asian background involving lesbians, best get that thing to an editor--quick!
Any other fads you've noticed? Name them here!
Post post-apocalyptic - we went through the whole zombie, end of the world thing, and I've seen a few stories lately that are, say another 50-100 years after that. Maybe that's more of an alternate history kind of thing, which also seems more prevalent.
ReplyDeleteI admit, I'm writing a lesbian story (my first), which involves 4 girls going to a haunted house / corn maze in the country, and I wanted to stay away from the teenage boy/girl stereotypical horror story, so I made them lesbians - so far, I'm liking how that's playing out, and maybe a disappointment to some, but there won't be any sex scenes since it's not needed for the story.
I'm ready to move on from fairy tales, hell, I'll take urban legends back.