Monday's Meanderings ala Janet Lane Walters

On one of the online groups I belong to and often comment, someone asked this question or close to this. With the advent of so much self-publishing does the author need to follow the markets when choosing what to write? We've all seen books that leap from nowhere to become best sellers and then we see all the clones of these stories follow, some good and some bad. As a writer how closely do I follow the copycat movement? I'm not sure I do. Now I've written some erotic romances but that's not because I'm following a trend. I have this curious bump in my writing self and I wonder "Can I do that?" Then I go on to do my own take on whatever type of story has captured my interest. That's what a writer must do, rather than make their story a carbon copy of what seems to be popular they must find a twist.

Of course, there is this sort of question and that's why do you write? For me it's because there are these ideas, these people yelling ot have their story told and they rather creep up and hit me. So my heros and heroines have their own take on the world and sometimes not of the world where we exist here. So I look at the trends. I may or may not read the latest flash in the literary world but if I do, I want to make this twist my own and not follow the herd. Will I ever become a best-selling author, doubtful? Will I become an author who is proud of the stories she's crafted, absolutely?

What about you? Why do you write?

Last week I nearly finished the 4th draft of Lines of Fire. That means only 3 to go and these are not so much re-writing but beating into shape the language and fully realizing the characters. This is where the fun begins but then for me every draft of a story is an adventure. There are some interesting elements developing in this story and will be followed through in the 2 sequels to the story, each with different elements of these lines that may or may not be my take on the vampire story. Don't ask where this thought came from since vampires aren't generally my favorite characters. But there are vampires who aren't going for blood but for something else.