Now as I try to get back in my creative writing curve, I'm trying to decide what should and should not be written about. For example: The whole Vampire vs Werewolf thing is so overdone, yet all we see right now are vampire and werewolf books, movies, and TV shows. Does that mean it's alright to write another werewolf story?(I have an idea for a werewolf horror right now, no high school love triangles in it or anything) Or are there fields of horror that have gone unappreciated for too long and need some new material? You tell me!
Somebody on here's just gonna advise you to write the story and ask questions like this later, so....go ahead and write the werewolf story!
If a werewolf story is inspiring you to write, and nothing else right now is inspiring you to write, write the werewolf story. I believe that it's always possible to find a valuable new take on an old subject. If your head is full of ideas and any of them would work just fine for you, and you're hoping for publication, then it might be better to choose something that hasn't been highly popular lately. Any craze that's popular now is likely to have faded long before a work is done and you seek publication, and even more faded between the theoretical time of acceptance by a publisher and actually being printed.
I agree with the advice given so far - if you have a burning desire to write a book on vampires then just write it. Subjects come in and out of fashion in a cyclical manner so your vampire book may sit unpublished for 15 years if you finish it at the end of the 'vampire' cycle but have no fear, it will have its moment in the sun (pun intended). Let me give you a few UK based examples. Peter Cushing was in lots of films about vampires thirty years ago then vampire movies bit the dust and so did his career. Look at Doctor Who, huge in the seventies, died in the eighties and revived late nineties.
Honestly, I don't think werewolve stories are that overdone. At the moment, what appears to be most overdone is post-apocolypse material. I can't tell you how many books I see in horror sections that are either about the zombie apocolypse or some virus that has swept the world.
I have to agree with you here. It seems to me like a lot of post-apocalyptic books are the same- sad, melancholy, doomed from the very beggining, and basically just goes through all the characters dying one by one. Whereas with vampires/werewolves, granted it's over done, but there is a lot to write about- are they evil monsters? Sentient beings? Do they have "human" characteristics? Are they secret or public knowledge? Does your story involve romantic elements? It's all of these things that a lot of the post-apocalyptic things seem to lack, although granted, some of them are quite original and emotive.
I agree that the zombie/virus thing is overdone (although I do love "The Walking Dead" and etc.), but not post-apocalyptic stuff as a whole. Zombies are only one small fraction of apocalyptic ideas. There's lots of other stuff to do in a dystopian setting, stuff that hasn't been done yet even. To me, that's like saying that fantasy as a whole is overdone because there's a lot of crappy unoriginal lotr-ripoffs out there. Not all fantasy takes place in a medieval setting with elves and orcs. Fantasy SHOULD be the broadest and most varied genre of all, because the whole point is that you make up your own ideas and create previously non-existent things without having to stay within reality's limitations. That includes werewolves/vampires too, in the sense that there's lots of unoriginal cliches, but you don't have to follow them. Make them your own.
I've also asked myself the question about what to write about, wondering if my idea would be marketable during an attempt to publish. I was doing some research for a literary agent and came upon one who said, "please don't send me anything about vampires!" It takes time to write a book, sometimes several years. What might be popular right now won't be when you finish the book (this is what I tell myself). But sometimes you still have write it. I have an idea for a post-apocalyptic novel, and I to think it has been a bit overdone, but the idea is always eating at me. I've made notes and written sporadic scenes, but I haven't dove into it because of this.
I agree with most and say that an idea can be repeated and still be different , dependant on skills of course. But i think there can be a danger of people going "Oh another werewolf.....zombie etc." I know we shouldn't judge a book by its proverbial cover, but we do at the end of the day.
Re:Mallory Do people still think fantasy is nothing but Elves and Orcs? That seems a bit sterotypical. Fantasy is my favourite genre, and I can honestly say that there are few fantasy books that have anything to do with elves. Certainly, I haven't read many that talk about Orcs. Even Eragon doesn't have orcs- Chris decided to invent something called "Urgaliar" As for cliches, I think stories that use cliches for, say, vampires, always end up with plot difficulties. Sure, some vamps could only go out at night (or they might sparkle in the day...), but how do you pretend to be human when you don't have a reflection, or you can't enter a Church/other-place-of-worship? I think all of these things make writing with the cliche vampire of medieval mythodology extremely difficult. Besides, I like giving plausible Scientific explanations to explain my vampires (I might decide to include vampires in my book actually).
I believe writing is a calling and you should write what you feel inspired to write. If its not the right market when it's time for publishing, you can save it and write the next thing your inspired about. Eventually you will have the right thing for the right market at the right time, just keep sending them out.
+1 million If the work is good, there's always going to be room for it. There is no saturation point with any genre or theme; the cream will rise.
To me, it all depends on the characters. Give me any situation with interesting characters and I'll read it.
