Book genres - becoming very samey

Bridget Jones Diary was itself inspired by P&P.

Bridget Jones Diary is still being rewritten by other authors specialising in chick lit 30 years on.
"Ditsy young woman with horrible boyfriend gets entangled with a new man who turns out to be The One".

I write novels (women's fiction) and much of the fashion is set by publishers. We were being told a couple of years ago that, as Anne Rice's 'Interview with a Vampire' was being remade for TV, paranormal and vampires were going to be 'big'. The publishers very much go out looking for books that are 'more of the same' as what is currently selling, as they know it will sell.

Also, the more unstable the world becomes, the more readers hunt for predictability in their reading material. So books that take you on a journey without any big surprises become very popular.

I agree. Publishers jump on the bandwagon of a successful book and commission new ones in the same genre, including similar covers, so that readers associate the new book with the successful one.

It's the same with tv and streaming dramas. Netflix or whatever. There are just so many being churned out. They all have similar titles and similar plot summaries that you forget which is which. I just don't bother with most of them.

I presume it's because there's so much competition and all of them are trying to get TikTok traction or whatever social media plugs are current.

Then of course the samey books with samey plots and samey titles and samey covers and typefaces get made into the samey tv adaptations. With the same actors cropping up in them.

Usually the only thing that differs is trying to come up with a new location setting to differentiate.

Yes. Ruth Rendell used the name Barbara Vine for some of her books and didn't hide that it was her. She used different names for different series and different styles of writing.

Aren’t Ruth Randall and Barbara Vine the same person?

Not to mention the group of friends on holiday/at 59th birthday party/wedding/on private island someone gets killed, so it must be someone at the party who did it…

I agree. He's enjoyable and very clever. I loved the Magpie Murders and its sequels, the Hawthorne series and the 2 Sherlock Holmes books.

This has always happened. I remember going into Waterstones a year or so after Twilight first came out and there was a whole section of teen vampire stuff.

and dont get me started on this…..

I know, but she's very popular at the moment....

@Dappy777

Would you mind recommending an Iris Murdoch to get me started? I read a few quotes from her in an article recently and thought she was very interesting.

Personally, I'm getting back into reading recently, and much prefer a more modern, easy & quick read. When I am sometimes only finding 10-15 mins in a day I need something not too heavy that can be easily picked back up.

Anthony Horowitz is pretty good if you like a murder mystery.

A genre that has been too exploited is everything related to the 2nd ww. I can't stand a book that has anything to do with that period.

Scandinavian noir is utterly boring as well. Social realism but so formated. The prose is lacking as well.

Can not stand romance at all. Colleen Hoover and the other pastel girlie covers books. Even as a teen I would have cringed. And when I see an adult read them.. I judge. But then I'm way way too cynical to appreciate the romance genre.

Cosy fiction; I liked Richard Osman's murder serie. Mostly because it was elderly people which is rare and it was more comedy than mystery.

I would love to find another author who writes like Ruth Rendell. Her books are so seemingly effortlessly brillant. Barbara Vine and PD James are good as well. Tana French, Liz Nugent, Karin Slaughter, Belinda Bauer are other "safe cards" eg books I can safely purchase without being disappointed.

Agree.

i think an author is a good go to.
I know a Stephen King will be inventive ideas, well thought though but spoilt by the lazy US narrative. I’ll read all his stuff love it and but also pained by it.
But…who else does what he does it better?

Agree.

i think an author is a good go to.
I know a Stephen King will be inventive ideas, well thought though but spoilt by the lazy US narrative. I’ll read all his stuff love it and but also pained by it.
But…who else does what he does it better?

Yes but there is always something different coming out of you keep an eye on the lists of new releases away from the bestsellers. I like to read older books that i missed when they came out too. Love libraries for the variety rather than bookshops.

Yep.

"The Quirky Occupation's Female Relative" / "The Quirky Occupation of Exotic Location"
"The Whimsical Occupation of Aushwitz"
"Female Character is No Longer There"
"Greek Myth - But now with Girls!"
"The Cosy Schmaltzy Cafe/Bookshop"
"The XYZ Murders"
"Blood And Eagles" / "Fire and Castles" / "Swords and GoT Passing-Off"

Yes, familiar with all these 'samey' genres, for want of a better word.
Like a pp I read a mixture but revisit
Barbara pym
Iris Murdoch
PD James
Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine
Stephen King
Susan Hill
Want to read George Orwell again, after 30 years!
Recently read and enjoyed The Stepford Wives, The Triffids, Rosemary's Baby, i like Thrillers as you can tell

Fantasy (well 'romantasy') is absolutely huge now too! But agree not a lot of spy stories. Maybe we will see geopolitical thrillers and spies come back given world events?

I'm sure it's extremely hard to predict. I remember The Hare with Amber Eyes. Great book and massive bestseller but it's a true family history told through a collection of netsuke, by someone best known as a ceramicist. Unpredictable!

I think I read Ariadne which was a let down. I've got a feeling that Medusa was the same writer.

Hmm yes I found the one about Medusa disappointing, can't remember who that was by. The trend overall is interesting.