A Victoria Holt-style elf story might be something different! Focus on standing out from the crowd. And don’t take what I say too seriously. I’m just another reader, when it comes right down to it. And honestly, I still like elf stories, especially when they’re mixed with a healthy dose of wonder, as J. R. R. Tolkien managed.

I also agree with you — unfortunately — about the persistent rising tide with angels and demons. They can be done in such a way that it doesn’t trample all over Christian beliefs, but the trend seems to be to do exactly that in order to be edgy.

You know a rising tide by its endurance. Back in the 80s, if I had finished a publishable elf story in a reasonable amount of time, I might have been able to ride that tide. But I didn’t.

Oops? I don’t know, I think the more I read and heard and thought myself that nothing new could be done with vampires and that they were tapped dry, the more I wanted to whittle them down to some core concept and then take that and run with it. What I ended up with is probably too different to be called a vampire, but it does beg the comparison and I’m sure I won’t be the only one drawing it.

I agree with everything you’ve said. There’s a trick to discerning if a trend is meaty enough to become a rising tide, if there’s enough room for twists and variations, but I’m sure I don’t know what it is. I also think angels and demons, and their various permutations, are a persistent rising trend in urban fantasy/paranormal romance.

In my observation, if an author can come up with a character that I love, It doesn’t matter what the genre is.