Trends, Politics and Publishing

I have been thinking about this for the last couple of days. It all started with a post on social media talking about how the creators of Sesame Street had thought of Bert and Ernie when they were created. This discussion of whether or not Bert and Ernie were/are in a relationship beyond simply being room mates got me thinking of what we see a lot of in publishing - Writers attempting to insert the current political hot topic into their stories.

Now, I fully understand that writers claim this is a way to stay relevant, and yes, there is a part of this that is true. However, it seems that too many writers are focusing so much on the hot topic and not so much about the message and the actual story. The goal of any writer should be to write that great story. IF it happens to fall into some areas that are relevant today, then great! If it doesn't that is fine.

I have honestly lost track of how many projects I have seen in the past several months where authors have been focusing too hard on those current political topics: Me Too, LGBTQ issues, Immigration, Election Fraud... the list goes on and on.

Do not get me wrong. I am not saying that these issues are not important. But when a writer is using these topics as the single focus of the story, they are missing the mark. Many will often claim they are writing these stories because there are no stories out there about the issue. Again, not a reason to write the story. The focus needs to be on the story.

Remember, the writing, the plot, the characters, the setting, the theme, and the conflict make the story.

So, before you start that new project because you saw an issue on TV or social media, stop and ask yourself, where is your focus. Is it the topic, or is it the story.