Harry Potter set the trend for books about magical lands with witches and wizards for characters. Twilight made vampires interesting, with young women falling in love with them. If you are a writer and you are faced with a suggestion to write something that’s trending, here are several reasons why a writer should not chase literary trends.

Trends are always changing: Imagine how many months it takes to finish a manuscript. Next, determine how many months it will take to edit that manuscript. Lastly, how many months will it take to publish your book? Whether you like it or not, it may take more than a year. If you are thinking of writing a novel based on what’s popular, think it over. It may not be trending a few months from now when your book comes out.

A second author on a bandwagon doesn’t always match with the first: When Twilight came out, Vampire Diaries became a hit series and so did many other vampire novels. However, not one of them exceeded Twilight’s popularity. The Twilight craze created groups of fans from tweens to moms. A second author on the bandwagon doesn’t always match the first one. You also need to consider the fact that when Twilight came out, people were not into vampire novels. They were pictured as scary blood-suckers that preyed on women at night. Twilight offered a new approach to vampires which made it a hit. They were kind, attractive, and can walk around during daylight.

You’re not a fan of what’s trending: The most difficult thing a writer must do is write a manuscript on a subject that doesn’t interest him/her. Imagine if you are not a fan of today’s trending novels. You are not into magic, dragons, science fiction, and vampires. It would be hard for you to begin writing a story, especially provide a whole new universe for them. Before you can even brainstorm on your story, you need to research. But, even with all the studying, the passion for the subject is absent. You can’t fully provide the details nor the emotions needed in the story.

You can’t be an original: There are more reasons why not to chase literary trends. One of these is that you will lose your originality when you write based on trends. Fan fiction may be more popular. A compromise between trends and originality is exemplified in E.L. James’s 50 Shades of Grey. James’s work is based on Twilight characters but she created a whole new world for Edward Cullen and Bella Swan and changed her characters’ names before publishing it. It is best to write on what interests you. Ask yourself what you crave as a reader and that’s exactly what you can write about. You know exactly how to capture your target audience’s interest since you’re one of them.

Writing literature should not depend on what’s selling. If someone approaches you and asks why you haven’t tried writing something related to what’s trending, don’t entertain it. Aim to be an original instead of becoming another writer riding along on what’s selling.