The next big thing

It seems like a lot of the #PitMad entries I've seen over the last couple days have involved time travel. I'm not sure if this is a case of everyone hopping on the Outlander bandwagon, or if I just happen to follow people who are really interested in time travel.

It seems like time travel is the new portal fantasy--you get to set your story in an exciting historical setting, but you can still have a contemporary-minded relatable protagonist who needs everything explained to him/her. Plus, there's the whole *star-crossed lover* element when people from two different time periods fall in love.

Personally, this doesn't really sound like my thing. If I wanted to write about a historical setting, I would write straight-up historical fiction.

wampuscat said:

Another interesting deal in PM today:

Kathryn Purdie's AURASEER, a debut fantasy adventure trilogy about a seventeen-year-old girl who is obliged to use her gift for feeling--and absorbing--the emotions of others to protect her nation's emperor from anyone seeking to do him harm, to Maria Barbo at Katherine Tegen Books, in a significant deal, in a three-book deal, for publication in Winter 2016, by Josh Adams at Adams Literary (World).
[email protected]

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Significant deal for a debut author! Sounds like the publisher will put a lot of support behind this book.

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I briefly blog-stalked this author, because her book has some similarities to my WiP. Apparently, she only finished the book at the end of September, which means that this deal must have gone down really quickly. Sounds like people have high expectations for it.

breaking_burgundy said:

It seems like a lot of the #PitMad entries I've seen over the last couple days have involved time travel. I'm not sure if this is a case of everyone hopping on the Outlander bandwagon, or if I just happen to follow people who are really interested in time travel.

It seems like time travel is the new portal fantasy--you get to set your story in an exciting historical setting, but you can still have a contemporary-minded relatable protagonist who needs everything explained to him/her. Plus, there's the whole *star-crossed lover* element when people from two different time periods fall in love.

Personally, this doesn't really sound like my thing. If I wanted to write about a historical setting, I would write straight-up historical fiction.

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Exactly. I actually watched the hashtag for most of the day (I'm interning with a literary agency), and I can say with confidence that time travel is definitely prominent right now.

Sage said:

Time travel may be big with authors, but is it big with agents/editors?

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I don't think time travel is "big," at least not yet. Molly Ker Hawn (pretty sure it was her, even more sure it was one of the Bent Agency ladies) said in a 2013-ish interview that she'd asked for time travel in one of her wishlists and so had all the time travel she wanted. I see time-travel semi-regularly on Goodreads, so it's definitely sellable, but it seems (total conjecture here) easier to sell as a non-debut author, esp. as it can be hard to have a unique hook or not sound just like another movie.

I want to revive my time travel novella... I think it could do well with a small press right now, especially since it's LGBT.

breaking_burgundy said:

I briefly blog-stalked this author, because her book has some similarities to my WiP. Apparently, she only finished the book at the end of September, which means that this deal must have gone down really quickly. Sounds like people have high expectations for it.

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I wonder if she had to go through revisions with her agent? If the deal is being reported now she must have sold it in September/October. That would feel soooo awesome!!!

But anyway, I think Outlander Meets X might become more popular with agents/editors as the series gets popular. There's usually a lag with these things...I first started seeing "It's like GoT for girls! It's GoT meets X!" in 2012 with books like Shadow and Bone and Throne of Glass. Now it's far more common 2.5 years later as more and more Fantasy deals are being reported. So maybe it'll be the same with Outlander?

I still need to watch that show though all my friends are loving it (for totally shallow reasons heehee).

Some big contemp deals on PM today:

Peter Brown Hoffmeister's THIS IS THE PART WHERE YOU LAUGH, depicting one summer in the life of a teenage boy as he navigates friendship, love and basketball, all while struggling to overcome a family history of drug abuse, to Katherine Harrison at Knopf Children's, in a pre-empt, in a two-book deal, by Adriann Ranta at Wolf Literary Services (World).

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Mia Garcia's debut BLOWN AWAY, a whirlwind 24-hour romance in which two teens with questionable pasts fall in love just before a hurricane tears them apart, to Maria Barbo at Katherine Tegen Books, for publication in summer 2016, by Kerry Sparks at Levine Greenberg Rostan (World).

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I wish this came about back when I was still into time travel stories.

I'm really interested in BLOWN AWAY. I love the premise, although honestly the title combined with the premise feels a bit cheesy/too light-hearted. Probably a knee-jerk reaction on my point.

THIS IS THE PART WHERE YOU LAUGH, however, is a great title.

I just had a mind flash that a gay guy becomes heavy weight boxing champion of the world. A lot of room for conflict in that one but I'm not sure that such a book has been written. I'm straight, so I might have a little trouble expressing the emotional aspect/turmoil in such a book.

Another one involved a female investigator that goes undercover posing as an exotic robotic doll, and she has to get information\evidence from a huge corporate tycoon that puts him away for life. It has a future setting and the dolls are actually high-end replicants similar to the Blade Runner models. I can't decide on the POV or tense on this one. The title might be Exotica Robotica, or something like that. It might be the female investigator in first person. Don't know how this would actually work.

tri

BreeC said:

I hung out at #PitMad as well, and I definitely noticed recurring genre themes: apocalypse, time travel, and zombies/monsters cropped up a lot.

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My current WIP is apocalypse-related. *fist pump* I've also got some quasi-time travel. It's time to start dusting off my backburnered stuff.

IdrisG said:

My current WIP is apocalypse-related. *fist pump* I've also got some quasi-time travel. It's time to start dusting off my backburnered stuff.

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If for nothing else, going back to some older projects can get the creative juices flowing again.

BreeC said:

If for nothing else, going back to some older projects can get the creative juices flowing again.

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Very true. Letting old works sit is a great way to get perspective on them.

I find reading my old stuff teaches me a lot general mistakes
and good to great prose. You will be astonished at what you find and let it spark you for new ideas or a continuation.

tri

IdrisG said:

Very true. Letting old works sit is a great way to get perspective on them.

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So true! The old "take a breather" is so important for novel writing, I think. You come back with a fresh perspective.

Ironically I was approved a week too late to yammer on about time travel which is a device I lurve.

I write contemporary fiction with romantic elements. And occasionally slight paranormal elements. I feel lost with all the fantasy-ish type novels. I LOVE THEM...as a reader. I just don't write the genres that seem most popular. I devour the books, though. (-: I try to be more like Stephanie Perkins, et al. I adore her books.

I think contemporary is still popular. Also, I caved and got a PM membership (I swore I'd cancel after two months though. Christmas present to myself )

Today there was a YA contemp THE TAMING OF THE DREW which involves gender reversal & Shakespeare. Yesterday there was a pre-empt for another YA contemp (IF I WAS YOUR GIRL), this time about a transgender teen. They both sound really interesting (and diverse! yay!)

Lol!

And I NEED to get that book Taming of the Drew! (-:

So it's science fiction on the way out? I know one lady that does videos on the industry says trends are cyclical anyway.

I think it would be better just to write what I'm wanting to, and if I'm wanting to do YA, then toss it into the linguistics basketball net hurricane of publishing trends.

I don't think Sci Fi will be out for a while. It's too big of a genre and in a world that is becoming more technologically-based every day I don't see how it could lose interest.

I don't think contemporary is over with, either. and I've heard the same from some industry folk. It's too much of a staple.

Sci-fi seems really up and down, but people are for sure still interested in the good, hook-y concepts, and that's one thing sci-fi excels at. It's so broad and brimming with possibilities.

Very curious what 2015 will bring in terms of big hits, though. (Which is why I always like lurking on this thread--such interesting observations!)

"Serial" is hugely popular right now with agent-and-editor types. HUGE. (My agent has been tweeting about it, and so do a lot of other folks on my feed.)

Granted, it's over now, pending a new case/season. And I don't know if actual teens listen to it. But could that indicate an appetite for complicated, twisty mysteries, I wonder? Psychological mysteries without all-knowing detectives or pat solutions? Mysteries where CSI tech is less important than interviewing people and guessing at what they're hiding -- something a teen without a badge could actually do, especially if the crime happened in a high school?

I'll just be over here trying to figure out how to mash up Night Vale and Serial.

ETA: Oh, and the deal announcement for Aprilynne Pike's new novel calls it a mashup of Breaking Bad and Marie Antoinette. So a) "YA Breaking Bad" is apparently still a possible/nascent mini-trend, and b) I want to read that book NOW.