"I don't pretend to have all the answers, but I do know this: In order to be a writer you have to write what's in your heart. The moment you try to write about a topic that's currently hot or what you think others believe you ought to do, you're sunk." Eric Van Lustbader
The newest "Twilight" movie has just been released and people are seeing Vampires everywhere. I heard on the news a story of a woman who crashed her car into a canal because she saw a Vampire in the middle of the road and she swerved to miss it. She added that the Vampire let her go and did not suck her blood. Sigh.
If you browse through Barnes and Noble - you will see books about Vampires everywhere. It is the hot topic - just like wizards were hot when Harry Potter was all the rage. That doesn't mean that all writers should now start writing about vampires. The people who are riding the wave now, were writing about Vampires when it WASN'T popular. And - like all things - this, too, will pass.
I think you have to write the story that is in you - the story that keeps you interested enough to write it out and see were it goes. Of course, publication is every writer's ultimate goal - but it cannot become the focus of your work. In Anne Lamott's, Bird by Bird, a must-read book for writers, she says that when she teaches a writing seminar every student wants to know about agents and publishing. But she stresses that you have to concentrate on the writing - make that the main thing - before anything else can enter the picture.
This also speaks to the "worrisome critic" in your own mind. The one that worries about writing something that will offend your Aunt Edna. Let it go and just write what is inside you. Lose yourself in telling the story and resist the siren's call to follow the latest publication trend. Who wants to be a poor reflection of someone elses image when you can be a unique and shining example of yourself. Trust your own voice. It is the only one you can hear clearly anyway.
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