Trends...

Trends happen in just about anything. Clothes, music and even books but we do have them on fanfiction too. The trends that we have on the site come from very popular stories inspiring people to write along the same topic. I tend to notice when I search on ff.net that these trends are beginning to happen. So, I have been keeping a list.

1. Horse trainer stories.

I will admit I have never read one. These cropped up a lot at the beginning of August after the success of a story called Love Ridden by LouLa, which gained 1268 reviews. It was written in February of this year and is complete now. The summary reads Edward Cullen, a big-time horse trainer in Gillette, Wyoming, hires a shy, quiet girl as a stable hand and trainee. He never expected to fall in love again, but Bella Swan is a dream come true. AU, AH. Rated M for Mmm, Lemons eventually! Lots of Fluff! I have lost count of the amount of times that I have been told to read this story. It has even now reached the point where my friend leaves it on my computer!

Following it's success, Two Stepping by Jewels64 was written. This story however was more popular and has acquired 1740 reviews at the moment but it is not yet complete. This was written in April and although has the same general theme as Love Ridden, I am told that they are very different.

Another story that has been written in the horse training genre is A Stable Romance by Iadorepugs. It has not gotten as many reviews as the other two, with only 850, but it is slowly climbing the review ladder.

2. Sub/Dom relationships

I know that I have spoken about these before but they show so easily what I am trying to tell you. The first one in the genre was Creature of Habit, which began in January. It has 10794 reviews, which is an awful lot. It is very very very good and in some respects, what first brought sub/dom relationships to the mainstream part of the fandom.

The other two stories in this category that are obvious choice were both begun in February of this year. The first one is The Submissive by tara sue me which has generated 11730 reviews and is probably one of the most popular stories at the moment. It has more reviews than COH but it has become more of a franchise.

The other one is The Training School by TheSpolitOne. It is far less read than the other two, with only 2993 reviews, but is also a multi part story. This is another trend that these two stories have begun. More than two points of view of the same thing, all written as different stories.

So my point is, although these are all in similar genres, none of the stories are the same. Yes you can compare them but they are different. None of the authors have ripped each other off. Each has it's own plot line and character development. It is very different to have a story that is similar and the same. Remember if you like something, write something similar. Don't steal from other authors!