Should you follow trends when choosing a novel topic?Following trends makes it easier to gain traffic in the short term, but Utsudo believes that to write a moving work you must first move yourself. And by the time a work is finished, submitted and published, a year or two may have passed and the popular topic may have cooled off. She suggests digging for unique topics from what you see and care about — rather than following trends, create them.

Translated from Utsudo’s original Chinese column.

Is it good to follow trends with popular topics?

　　I once discussed the topic of “subject matter” with a friend.

　　Some people think that to be seen more easily, you should write about currently popular topics — like what happened on all the major rankings and in bookstores a while back:the “isekai craze” and the “CEO romance craze”— look around and the shelves were full of works on similar themes.

　　Of course a theme becomes popular because it has a certain appeal, but when a huge number appear in a short time, it can backfire. But I won’t get into that today.

　　Back to themes: for example, when posting stories online, posting ones that cater to popular tastes or use trending keywords makes it easier to get traffic.

　　Simply put, it’s “riding the trend” — not only in fiction, but in many creative forms like illustration, memes, blogs and videos.

　　On social media too: since a topic is still hot, or even on Google’s trending keywords, more people are interested in searching it, which naturally increases clicks. If you want attention in the short term, this strategy does give you a better shot.

Balancing the market and yourself

　　In the fiction world, following trends means“the market” > “the individual”. Whether that’s good or bad is a matter of opinion. Personally, I still prefer “writing what I want to write,” unless the “market topic” happens to resonate with me too. Otherwise, writing about something I don’t feel much for could turn writing into long torture.

　　Personally, I believe that to write a moving work you must first move yourself, so a purely market-driven approach is actually a waste of energy for me.

　　That said, commercial works basically all have a certain “standard.” Balancing that “standard” with “myself” is what I strive for. Once that “standard” naturally blends into “myself,” of course the chances of being picked by investors go up.

　　So personally I lean toward writing themes that resonate with me rather than chasing market trends. After all, who knows — after you’ve spent a year or two finishing the work, waiting to submit and for a publishing slot, will that trending theme still be riding the wave when the work is finally released?

　　Of course, my thinking is rooted in the mindset of “wanting to write for the long term.” I run myself as an IP, focusing only on the completeness of my own works, and don’t care much whether they get accepted.

　　

　　Because not being accepted now doesn’t mean it won’t be later — it could even be self-published or adapted in the future. So keep working hard to create the works you want to write XD

How newcomers should choose a novel topic

　　But of course, my personal view may not suit today’s newcomers, since more and more things are competing for attention.In this era, if newcomers want to increase their chances of being seen, besides honing their prose and storytelling to a certain level, what matters even more is “choosing a topic.”

　　However, a topic doesn’t mean writing whatever’s hot on the market right now. It means writing about what you see and care about, or things that are especially distinctive or valuable — taking these materials, digging out a unique “topic” in that area, pouring your emotions and perspective into it, and finishing it.

　　By blending the “topic” with “yourself,” you may have a chance to create a work that’s both buzzworthy and distinctly yours.

　　Niche works don’t mean they can’t become trends. Rather than following trends, create them.

　　What do you think?

By the way, my work contracted withbeanfun!last time has been released~~

I’ll promote it in more detail later XD

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Further reading (in Chinese)

• Previous: #84 (in Chinese)
• Next: #86 (in Chinese)
• Start from the beginning: #01 — Utsudo’s debut
• Column introduction
• Utsudo’s books

About the author

Utsudo is a Taiwanese light novelist and novelist VTuber with more than ten years in the industry and 40 commercially published print books. Her novel 《遺失的情書》 received a 2022 Ministry of Culture youth creative award. The 《嘿！聽說妳在鬼島當作家》 series records her experiences as a novelist in Taiwan.

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