Saturday, January 03, 2009

Market No-Nos

When I first joined Chicago-North RWA at least 13 years ago , one of the things I learned was if I wanted to get published, I needed to study the market.

The fiction market at the time frowned on singers, sports heroes, older people, or people with infirmities as main characters in books.

Since then, it appears the market's attitude has loosened, but I wonder how much. I've noticed that Boomer authors are getting older and some of their characters are aging along with them. Other Boomer authors are still writing about people younger than themselves. So far, my published novels are about younger characters, although I am a Boomer. My work in progress does contain middle-aged characters, but they don't stay that way for the entire book. You'll see what I mean when it's published. (G)

Anyway, I have noticed more novels which include blind characters, cancer survivers, and people with other disabilities, but not many yet about singers or sports heroes.

What do you think? Have you noticed a change in the market? Do you write about characters who were once considered no-nos?

Please share.

9 comments:

  1. My YA series contains a couple main characters who become professional athletes. Guess I never realized that was taboo! Then again, I think the current YA is grittier, more salacious and knows no boundaries than in the past.
    And as a Generation X'er, I definitely prefer to write about people younger than I!

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  2. My YA series contains a couple main characters who become professional athletes. Guess I never realized that was taboo! Then again, I think the current YA is grittier, more salacious and knows no boundaries than in the past.
    And as a Generation X'er, I definitely prefer to write about people younger than I!

    ReplyDelete
  3. My YA series contains a couple main characters who become professional athletes. Guess I never realized that was taboo! Then again, I think the current YA is grittier, more salacious and knows no boundaries than in the past.
    And as a Generation X'er, I definitely prefer to write about people younger than I!

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  4. I liked Joe Hill's aging rock star character in Heart Shaped Box. Thinking about it though, you don't see many of the groups you mentioned in fiction. I'd like to see more fictional rock stars, jazz pianists and cricket players in genre fiction, especially urban fantasy.

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  5. I'm a boomer too and my characters tend to be younger than me - maybe it's because I don't feel as old as I am! Also, Morgan, I wanted to let you know you are the recipient of the Premio Dardos Award. See my blog for details.

    Jane Kennedy Sutton
    http://janekennedysutton.blogspot.com/

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  6. Trends definitely change, but one wonders about the topics. I can understand that anything "green" is increasing in popularity, but why are ghosts so hot?

    Dani
    http://blogbooktours.blogspot.com

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  7. Interesting...my last WIP all had boomers, but I got busy and you know the rest of that story but I've always wondered if maybe at least one of the characters should have been younger to attract some of the younger market.

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  8. I know that in years past, sports figures were taboo, but I know in the mystery world at least, that is no longer the case... Tori Carrington has a book set in the world of baseball. And I know there are others...seems like for every "no" there is a "yes"

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  9. My first novel, Stroke of Luck, is a romance featuring a disabled heroine. One editor at a conference told me to my face as I sat in front of her in my wheelchair what I'd heard in various forms over and over again: No one wants to read about a cripple!

    I gave up on getting that book published until a friend told me about an electronic publisher seeking books with handicapped characters. Lots of people are disabled and like to read about people like them who find "happy ever after."

    I think New York publishers may have softened their attitudes a little toward disabled, older, and other taboo characters now. However, small press and electronic publishers are certainly more willing to publish books with these kinds of characters.

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