What's new?

[Eilidh]

So alot of people are thinking, in a story what to people actually want to read about? What's new, original and will easily grasp the attention of the reader? Of course this is a hard questsion since nearly every idea has been written and repeated. Do you think there is anything that has not been written yet, and should?

[Iridescence]

The best ideas are the ones you make up yourself. Okay, I know that was almost completely useless, but it's true. I don't know if there's really any way you can tell what the "people" want to read about, because the public's tastes change all the time. Readers can tell when a writer is passionate about their story--and in turn, the reader will feel passionate about it, too. The key is to make your writing come from the heart, regardless of what you're writing about. Writing for the market makes your story seem flat and cliche--which is something I learned from another thread. :)
I could sit here forever and try to think up a new idea, but really, it takes a powerful burst of inspiration to come up with something completely new. My suggestion? Read lots of books in your genre, go for walks, whatever. Imagine yourself as a character in a crazy situation--how will you get out of it? How did you get into the predicament in the first place? Anyhow, these ideas work for me. Maybe they'd work for someone else, hopefully.

[Bowie20049]

Make a story for yourself. Don't care about the audience.

[Mercy]

Make a story for yourself. Don't care about the audience.
You should at least consider the audience. :D

[Bowie20049]

Consider them, but don't center around them

[Iridescence]

Hehe, my advice is the best so far...:P

[Bowie20049]

almost completely useless

Yes, Iri. Yes it was.

[Koszczuk]

So alot of people are thinking, in a story what to people actually want to read about? What's new, original and will easily grasp the attention of the reader? Of course this is a hard questsion since nearly every idea has been written and repeated. Do you think there is anything that has not been written yet, and should?

Well, what do you think? Of course some feel everything's been said and everything's been done. But that's not why a writer writes, a writer doesn't write to say something new, a writer doesn't write to make money. I think, what you're asking is, why does a writer write?

Well, that depends on the writer. Is the writer an artist? If so, he likely isn't making money, likely hasn't said anything new, but surely is wondering why the heck he writes.

[Iridescence]

Yes, Iri. Yes it was.

You're just mad because my advice was coolier. :P And I explained that first part, anyway.

[Mercy]

Iri's right though. Really, just write what you want to tell. If you have a theme, sound structure and good characterization, that should, in itself, make your story good and likable. And a good percentage of the time, it won't be cliche.

[sXe_Jinxeh]

I am totally stealing my advice from another source. D: The band Our Lady Peace (I don't know if you've heard of them...I don't know how big they are outside of Canada) always say when they're writing songs they write strictly what they'd like, under the theory that somebody else would have to like it too.

[Eilidh]

Theres always the worry that what you want to write, what you want your characters to be like has already been done lots of times before. Therefore people wont really be that interesting in reading/buying it.

[Iridescence]

Theres always the worry that what you want to write, what you want your characters to be like has already been done lots of times before. Therefore people wont really be that interesting in reading/buying it.

The key to having people pick up your book is: one, an attractive cover; two, an exciting book jacket synopsis/back cover synopsis; three, a first sentence that will hook your reader. Not a long, rambling paragraph like: "I hadn't given much thought to how I would die, etc., etc...., or something melodramatic like that--make it unique, something shocking that will make a potential buyer go, "Wait--what?" and look at your book again. However, this is just for a buyer, not a reader (you also need promotion of your book and such, but leave that to your publisher).

Again, what you write in your story is completely up to you. There is NO WAY (repeat after me--no way--to keep track of the public's interests. It's your job to make the story interesting--if you'd like, share it with friends (like YWO) or share it with family, if you'd rather be private. That way you have guinea pigs to test it on before you start looking for a publisher.

Then again, this is all my unprofessional opinion, so correct me if I'm wrong. ;)

[johnroyal]

You should at least consider the audience. :D
Not necessarily. I think, write what you like. Write something you would enjoy reading. The audience finds itself, usually. Not a great example, but cult classics are such because the audience is small, or smaller than mainstream things.

I never take into account whose going to read what I write, because ultimately it doesn't matter to me.

On the question of new ideas: theres no list of things people haven't thought of yet because, well, that would be insanely ironic.

Just write what you write, and maybe surprise yourself somewhere in it, and things will change drastically. Like, instead of writing, "I love you," change it to "Tell the truth." I stole that from some book on writing I once flipped through.

My ma always says: nothing is original anymore. Everything is recycled. Everything is done before. Everything has been done before, and its been done better than anything you can come up with. The trick is, writing anyway.

None of this helped.

[Mercy]

Ah, well, all my teachers allude to that. Although, they mostly talk about essay writing. I'm not saying that you should make the audience your prime priority, but to keep them in mind.