How to Write Stories Readers Will Love by Knowing the Zeitgeist

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As Yoda says, “Difficult to see the future is.” But difficult is not impossible. Causes have effects, and the more you have a sense of the rhythms of the past, the better you can sense the future.
If it takes you two years to write a book, you owe it to yourself to ask, “What kinds of books will be popular in two years?” Reader preferences change over time, but sometimes they change rapidly. If you don’t keep up, you may get stuck writing a book people no longer want to read.
So, how can you determine what will be popular in a few years?
In this week’s episode, I speak with Alexander Macris about how history’s cyclical patterns can give us clues about what types of literature will resonate in the future. You’ll learn

• Why certain themes and plots are failing miserably in our current moment
• Where to find past ideas that are likely to resonate in the future
• Why certain themes resonate at different times in history

Listen in or read the blog version of this episode to get a head start on writing a book with themes that will resonate with readers in the future.

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Chapters

1. How to Write Stories Readers Will Love by Knowing the Zeitgeist  (00:00:00)

2. Flopbusters (00:02:22)

3. Cultural Turnings Theory (00:04:38)

4. Society and Crisis (00:06:55)

5. Storytelling Shifts (00:09:04)

6. Protagonist Evolution (00:11:14)

7. Dystopian Predictions (00:15:37)

8. Escapism in Fiction (00:32:20)

9. Opportunities for Authors (00:45:29)