For the Love of God, Stop Capitalizing on What’s Trending!

I know you won’t but I will rant regardless.

I’m not naive. Everyone has to make a living. Writing about a hot topic dramatically increases your chances of getting more clicks, reads, and cash in the bank.

I get it, I really do.

But, frankly, I’m sick of it.

There are 8 billion people on the planet. 8 billion vessels housing the most complex objects in the known universe. 8 billion unique human stories; trials overcome, suffering endured, tastes, memories, dreams, relationships. There are over two million species of animals subsisting across innumerable ecosystems. And when it comes to the subject matter we’re truly spoilt for choice: ecology, geology, science, history, theology, psychology, philosophy, art—the list goes on.

My convoluted point is that there’s a lot of variety out there — plenty of potentially creative endeavors for the plucky few.

So why, for the love of all that’s holy, do I have to scroll past dozens of articles on the Amber Heard and Johnny Depp trial?

Well, I know why, but let me rant.

Look, I have a lot of experience with mental health. I have compassion for both parties, and it’s interesting how it intersects with the culture of celebrity, #metoo, the media, and blah, blah, blah. But seriously, enough is enough. Push the boat out. Tell me a story I don’t know, something about your life; regale me with a lesser-known tale or fact.

Surprise me, and do it with aplomb.

Will Smith slapping Chris Rock? I thought it was pretty shocking initially but were there not more interesting things happening on this big ol’ planet of ours? Did we need thousands of takes on Hollywood being out of touch? On class privilege? It may be a paradox but even pointed criticism, by virtue of its superfluity, ends up propping up centers of cultural power.

Tell me, what’s going on in Taiwan, Chad, or Madeira? What’s new in your life? Did you have a strange encounter? I’m genuinely interested.

Also, didn’t you find it slightly distasteful when everyone weighed in on the Ukraine war because it was trending? Setting themselves up as moral authorities behind a paywall, having never written about the dozens of other ongoing conflicts around the world.

And don’t get me started on How to Make Money on Medium articles. There are so many How to Make Money on Medium articles that a whole Meta Medium industry relies on them to exist.

Guys, I know you want cash, but seriously, try harder.

Ask yourself the question: why do I write?

For money? Then I don’t consider you a writer.

Money comes second. Money is a bonus.

The fact is it won’t make you happy writing for money. It just won’t. It might at first, but you’ll end up writing yourself into a corner and dreading the next Hollywood scandal scoop. Unless you're a hollow sociopath, of course.

It’s simply untrue that capitalizing on what’s trending is the only way to make money. There are plenty of successful Medium writers who have kept their creative integrity. Just do a little digging and you’ll find them.

Good, consistent writing is rewarded. It might be a longer game, but it will lead to a more sustainably fulfilling existence.

This is a clarion call.

We’re writers, goddammit! Explorers who stretch their skills and imagination to the limits. We don’t write so a third-grader can understand unless we’re writing for children. We don’t write to become vapid millionaires pumping out 10 insipid tweets a day.

We write because writing is in our soul.

We write because we have no other choice.

It’s our life.

We hail from a long tradition of pioneers: Homer, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, the Brontës, Melville, Poe, Dostoevsky, Joyce, Woolf, Baldwin, Kerouac, Le Guin, and many more. Did they all plumb the depths of the human; push the boundaries of style and form, word by word, inch by inch, so we could add to the steaming pile that is the Amber Heard and Johnny Depp Trial?

Look, this isn’t directed at everyone who’s written about trending topics. After all, somebody’s got to write about them. I just don’t think we should overdo it. Whatever our style or whichever subject we write about, we should aim to challenge ourselves and others.

So when that bandwagon rolls by, hold your head high and say, “Not today, Amber Heard and Johnny Depp trial, not today.”

Take a chance.

Write something unique and do it with style.

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