History FollowTheLeader / Literature

** And then, of course, there's ''TheHungerGames'' itself, which a few bloggers have ripped on for being an apparent ''BattleRoyale'' ripoff. However, ''BattleRoyale'' doesn't have [[LordOfTheFlies too]] [[TheRunningMan original]] [[TheLongWalk a premise]] either, and there are an equal amount of differences as there are similarities. Either way, the two series have got quite a FandomRivalry going on, with a quiet minority liking both. Oddly enough, the debate is almost never "which is better", but rather "is it a ripoff". ''BattleRoyale'' fans tend to disrespect the series even more for having a love triangle and tend to regard ''HungerGames'' fans as being no different from the ''{{Twilight}}'' crowd.

** The series caused a boom in the YA vampire genre. Notable examples include P.C. Cast's ''TheHouseOfNight'' series, Richelle Mead's ''Vampire Academy'' series, and Melissa de la Cruz's ''Blue Bloods'' series, each having [[OurVampiresAreDifferent a wildly different take on the vampire mythos.]] Barnes & Noble now lists a new special category in the teen section: "Teen Paranormal Romance". It's pretty obvious where this comes from.
*** Meet ''HushHush'': ''{{Twilight}}'' with [[OurAngelsAreDifferent angels]].

** Popular romance novel ''{{Literature/Fifty Shades Of Grey}}'' was originally a ''Twilight'' fanfiction.
*** ''{{Literature/Fifty Shades Of Grey}}'' was so successful that it spawned its own followers. Two novels entitled ''Gabriel's Inferno'' and ''Gabriel's Rapture'' have gotten a seven-figure deal. And like ''Fifty Shades'', these novels started off as ''{{Literature/Twilight}}'' fanfics. Read about it [[http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/sylvain-reynard-fan-fiction_b55297 here]].

*** Victor Hugo's famous 1831 novel ''Literature/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'' has many similarities to ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'', including the titled Hunchback and his love interest [[DownerEnding both dying]] at the end.

* ''PrideAndPrejudiceAndZombies'' and ''Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter'' spawned a number of works mashing up public domain stories and characters with pulp conventions. Examples include ''SenseAndSensibilityAndSeaMonsters'', ''MansfieldPark and Mummies'', ''{{Emma}} and the Werewolves'', ''[[AnnaKarenina Android Karenina]]'', ''[[LittleWomen Little Vampire Women]]'', ''Queen Victoria: Demon Slayer'', ''Henry VIII: Wolfman'', ''[[JaneEyre Jane Slayre]],'' ''Romeo and Juliet and Vampires'' and ''Little Vampire Women''. The knock-offs spread to Brazil, with ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mem%C3%B3rias_P%C3%B3stumas_de_Br%C3%A1s_Cubas Undead Memories of Brás Cubas]]'', ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_alienista The Alienist]] Mutant Hunter'', ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dom_Casmurro Dom Casmurro]] and the Flying Saucers'', ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Escrava_Isaura_%28novel%29 Escrava Isaura]] and the Vampire'' and ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senhora_%28novel%29 Senhora]], The Witch''.

* The success of ''Literature/TheHungerGames'' has created a market for many new YoungAdult {{Dystopia}} novels with female leads. To name a few: ''Legend'' by Marie Lu, ''Shatter Me'' by Tahereh Mafi, ''{{Matched}}'' by Ally Condie, ''Wither'' by Lauren [=DeStefano=], ''Enclave'' by Ann Aguirre, ''Under the Never Sky'' by Veronica Rossi, and ''{{Divergent}}'' by Veronica Roth, many of which have covers featuring circular emblems reminiscent of the Mockingjay pin. Of course, writers have no control over what the covers look like, so it may just be publishers' attempt to get the books popular. However, many of these ''do'' hold to ''TheHungerGames'''s structure: 16-year old ActionGirl protagonist, present-tense first-person narration, love interest (though a surprising lack of love triangles), and angst.

* The incredible success of ''HarryPotter'' has led to a glut of children's fantasy and, while it isn't the first school for wizards, it is certainly the inspiration for many. ''HarryPotter's'' success also persuaded authors and publishers to write longer and more complex young-adult literature. This is a very good example that [[TropesAreNotBad this isn't actually a bad thing]] - The success of ''HarryPotter'' told authors and publishers that yes, young-adult literature can be enjoyed by a PeripheryDemographic of adults, and that adolescents ''do'' have enough of an attention span to read a DoorStopper novel if it interests them enough.[[hottip:*: To put it in a bit of perspective, aside from a few examples like ''TheNeverendingStory'', young-adult novels were ''rarely'' above three hundred pages. Some publishers actually thought kids wouldn't have the attention span to read a book if it was over two hundred.]]

* Cory Doctorow's ''LittleBrother'' has one: ''Brain Jack'' by Brian Falkner, and a few other stories about DeadpanSnarker teen hackers resisting a government technological regime.

* The success of ''Literature/TheHungerGames'' has created a market for many new YoungAdult {{Dystopia}} novels. To name a few: ''Legend'' by Marie Lu, ''Shatter Me'' by Tahereh Mafi, ''{{Matched}}'' by Ally Condie, ''Wither'' by Lauren [=DeStefano=], ''Enclave'' by Ann Aguirre, ''Under the Never Sky'' by Veronica Rossi, and ''{{Divergent}}'' by Veronica Roth, many of which have covers featuring circular emblems reminiscent of the Mockingjay pin. Of course, writers have no control over what the covers look like, so it may just be publishers' attempt to get the books popular. However, many of these ''do'' hold to ''TheHungerGames'''s structure: 16-year old ActionGirl protagonist, present-tense first-person narration, love interest (though a surprising lack of love triangles), and angst.

* Philippa Gregory's Tudor-era historical romance novels (starting with ''TheOtherBoleynGirl'') jumpstarted a new wave of imitators set in or around the reign of Henry VIII (a trend exacerbated by the TV series ''TheTudors'').

* After the success of ''{{Literature/Fifty Shades Of Grey}}'', two novels entitled ''Gabriel's Inferno'' and ''Gabriel's Rapture'' have gotten a seven-figure deal. And like ''Fifty Shades'', these novels started off as ''{{Literature/Twilight}}'' fanfics. Read about it [[http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/sylvain-reynard-fan-fiction_b55297 here]].

* The incredible success of ''HarryPotter'' has led to a glut of children's fantasy and, while it isn't the first school for wizards, it is certainly the inspiration for many. ''HarryPotter's'' success also persuaded authors and publishers to write longer and more complex young-adult literature. This is a very good example that [[TropesAreNotBad this isn't actually a bad thing]] - The success of ''HarryPotter'' told authors and publishers that yes, young-adult literature can be enjoyed by a PeripheryDemographic of adults, and that adolescents ''do'' have enough of an attention span to read a DoorStopper novel if it interests them enough.[[hottip:*: To put it in a bit of perspective, aside from a few examples like ''TheNeverendingStory'', young-adult novels were ''rarely'' above three hundred pages. Some publishers actually thought kids wouldn't have the attention span to read a book if it was over two hundred.]]

* When StephenKing published ''TheGreenMile'' in serial format, lesser-known horror writer John Saul attempted the same thing with ''The Blackstone Chronicles''. It didn't work as well.

* At one point in the mid-nineties you couldn't turn around in a British bookshop without tripping over a "[[{{discworld}} comic fantasy]]" with a Josh Kirby style cover. All they proved was there is only one [[Creator/TerryPratchett Sir Terry Pratchett]].

* The incredible success of ''HarryPotter'' has led to a glut of children's fantasy and, while it isn't the first school for wizards, it is certainly the inspiration for many. ''HarryPotter's'' success also persuaded authors and publishers to write longer and more complex young-adult literature.

* After authors such as Ann Radcliffe and [[Literature/TheMonk Matthew Lewis]] popularized {{Gothic fiction}} in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, hundreds of lesser known Gothic novels and condensed re-writes of better known Gothic novels were published in an attempt to cash in. This largely died down by the 1820s, but the large number of forgotten novels published by Minerva press (which also published Radcliffe's classic, ''Literature/TheMysteriesOfUdolpho'') is a testament to the massive popularity of Gothic novels at the turn of the nineteenth century. Indeed, many of these "trade Gothic" works can be bought from [[http://www.zittaw.com/ Zittaw Press]], [[http://www.udolphopress.com/ Udolpho Press]], and [[http://valancourtbooks.com/index2.html Valancourt Books]]. Thus, this trope is OlderThanRadio.
* ''TheDaVinciCode'' remained on best-seller lists for an obscene number of months, resulting in many copycat quest novels.

*** Victor Hugo's famous 1831 novel ''Literature/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'' has many similarities to ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'', including the titled Hunchback and his love interest [[DownerEnding both dying]] at the end.

* Jasper Fforde pokes fun at this phenomenon in ''The Well of Lost Plots: A ThursdayNext Novel.'' While Thursday is exploring the Well of Lost Plots, where books and characters are created from scratch, a MrExposition explains to her that, when one character is written with a particularly forceful or distinctive personality, characters-to-be are affected by that and take on those traits. A side-effect of Daphne Du Maurier's ''Rebecca,'' for example, is that hundreds of impressionable characters imitated the creepy and possibly [[PsychoLesbian psychotic lesbian]] housekeeper of the story, which results in, for Jurisfiction, an army of Mrs. Danvers clones. At the end, he offers Thursday, "Can I interest you in a [[TheObiWan wise]] [[OldMaster old]] [[EccentricMentor mentor]] figure?"

* Somewhat to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's chagrin, ''SherlockHolmes'' arguably opened the floodgates for modern mystery and detective fiction, as detectives like Hercule Poirot, NeroWolfe, and Inspector Morse all followed in his footsteps in one way or another. Holmes even provided a key inspiration for {{Batman}}'s status as the {{DC Universe}}'s greatest detective.

* The success of ''{{Literature/The Hunger Games}}'' has created a market for many new YoungAdult {{Dystopia}} novels. To name a few: ''Legend'' by Marie Lu, ''Shatter Me'' by Tahereh Mafi, ''{{Matched}}'' by Ally Condie, ''Wither'' by Lauren [=DeStefano=], ''Enclave'' by Ann Aguirre, ''Under the Never Sky'' by Veronica Rossi, and ''{{Divergent}}'' by Veronica Roth, many of which have covers featuring circular emblems reminiscent of the Mockingjay pin. Of course, writers have no control over what the covers look like, so it may just be publishers' attempt to get the books popular. However, many of these ''do'' hold to ''TheHungerGames'''s structure: 16-year old ActionGirl protagonist, present-tense first-person narration, love interest (though a surprising lack of love triangles), and angst.

*** Meet ''Hush, Hush'': ''{{Twilight}}'' with [[OurAngelsAreDifferent angels]].

* The success of ''{{Literature/The Hunger Games}}'' has created a market for many new YoungAdult {{Dystopia}} novels. To name a few: ''Legend'' by Marie Lu, ''Shatter Me'' by Tahereh Mafi, ''Matched'' by Ally Condie, ''Wither'' by Lauren [=DeStefano=], ''Enclave'' by Ann Aguirre, ''Under the Never Sky'' by Veronica Rossi, and ''{{Divergent}}'' by Veronica Roth, many of which have covers featuring circular emblems reminiscent of the Mockingjay pin. Of course, writers have no control over what the covers look like, so it may just be publishers' attempt to get the books popular. However, many of these ''do'' hold to ''TheHungerGames'''s structure: 16-year old ActionGirl protagonist, present-tense first-person narration, love interest (though a surprising lack of love triangles), and angst.

* The success of ''{{Literature/The Hunger Games}}'' has created a market for many new YoungAdult {{Dystopia}} novels. To name a few: ''Legend'' by Marie Lu, ''Shatter Me'' by Tahereh Mafi, ''Matched'' by Ally Condie, ''Wither'' by Lauren DeStefano, ''Enclave'' by Ann Aguirre, and ''{{Divergent}}'' by Veronica Roth, many of which have covers featuring circular emblems reminiscent of the Mockingjay pin. Of course, writers have no control over what the covers look like, so it may just be publishers' attempt to get the books popular. However, many of these ''do'' hold to ''TheHungerGames'''s structure: 16-year old ActionGirl protagonist, present-tense first-person narration, love interest (though a surprising lack of love triangles), and angst.

* The success of ''{{Literature/The Hunger Games}}'' has created a market for many new YoungAdult {{Dystopia}} novels. Some include ''Legend'' by Marie Lu and ''Divergent'' by Veronica Roth, both of which have covers featuring circular emblems reminiscent of the Mockingjay pin.

* The success of ''{{Literature/The Hunger Games}}'' has created a market for many new YoungAdult {{Dystopia}} novels. Some include ''Legend'' by Marie Lu and ''Divergent'' by Veronica Roth, both of which are distinguished by circular emblems reminiscent of the Mockingjay pin.

* The incredible success of ''HarryPotter'' has led to a glut of children's fantasy and, while it isn't the first school for wizards, it is certainly the inspiration for many.
** On a positive note, ''HarryPotter's'' success also persuaded authors and publishers to write longer and more complex young-adult literature.

* Just about every HighFantasy setting has its roots in J.R.R. Tolkien's ''Literature/LordOfTheRings''. Sometimes they're knock-offs of works that are ''themselves'' knock-offs of ''Lord of the Rings''.

* An example of a cross-medium FollowTheLeader is the ''Mageworlds'' series. They're sci-fi novels which feature [[TheForce a mystical power that binds everything in the universe]], and can give those who wield it telepathy, telekinesis, psychic predictions, etc. The power has good and evil users (Adepts and Mages, respectively) who [[ElegantWeaponForAMoreCivilizedAge use melee weapons in a galaxy full of blasters]]--and frequently, the [[GoodColorsEvilColors Adepts' energy manifests as blue or green, with the Mages' being red.]] The main characters include a [[RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething princess/queen]], a [[LovableRogue free-trader/smuggler/space pirate]], and [[TheObiWan a very old, very wise mentor who is also secretly a user of the mystical power]]. [[SarcasmMode It just might]] remind people of a very popular [[StarWars film series]]. It does manage to avoid sucking, though, and there are enough plot differences that it doesn't read like a SerialNumbersFiledOff kind of thing.

* After authors such as Ann Radcliffe and Matthew Lewis popularized Gothic fiction in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, hundreds of lesser known Gothic novels and condensed re-writes of better known Gothic novels were published in an attempt to cash in. This largely died down by the 1820s, but the large number of forgotten novels published by Minerva press (which also published Radcliffe's classic, ''The Mysteries of Udolpho'') is a testament to the massive popularity of Gothic novels at the turn of the nineteenth century. Indeed, many of these "trade Gothic" works can be bought from [[http://www.zittaw.com/ Zittaw Press]], [[http://www.udolphopress.com/ Udolpho Press]], and [[http://valancourtbooks.com/index2.html Valancourt Books]]. Thus, this trope is OlderThanRadio.

** Publisher's of books written ''before'' the ''Twilight'' series have attempted to make them ''look'' like spin-offs and tie-ins, including ''Literature/WutheringHeights'', ''PrideAndPrejudice'' and ''RomeoAndJuliet''.
*** Victor Hugo's famous 1831 novel ''Literature/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'' has many similarities to ''RomeoAndJuliet'', including the titled Hunchback and his love interest [[DownerEnding both dying]] at the end.
* Just about every HighFantasy setting has its roots in J.R.R. Tolkien's ''{{Lord of the Rings}}''. Often they're knock-offs of works that are ''themselves'' knock-offs of ''LordOfTheRings''

* Somewhat to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's chagrin, SherlockHolmes arguably opened the floodgates for modern mystery and detective fiction, as detectives like Hercule Poirot, NeroWolfe, and Inspector Morse all followed in his footsteps in one way or another. Holmes even provided a key inspiration for {{Batman}}'s status as the {{DC Universe}}'s greatest detective.

** Publisher's of books written ''before'' the ''Twilight'' series have attempted to make them ''look'' like spin-offs and tie-ins, including ''Literature/WutheringHeights'', ''PrideAndPrejudice'' and ''RomeoAndJuliet''.

* At one point in the mid-nineties you couldn't turn around in a British bookshop without tripping over a "[[{{discworld}} comic fantasy]]" with a Josh Kirby style cover. All they proved was there is only one SirTerryPratchett.

** Publisher's of books written ''before'' the ''Twilight'' series have attempted to make them ''look'' like spin-offs and tie-ins, including ''WutheringHeights'', ''PrideAndPrejudice'' and ''RomeoAndJuliet''.

* After the success of ''GossipGirl'' and the subsequent TV series, many more novels about rich white teenage girls (with a TokenMinority or two) in private schools have been made.

** ''PrideAndPrejudiceAndZombies'' and ''Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter'' spawned a number of works mashing up public domain stories and characters with pulp conventions. Examples include ''SenseAndSensibilityAndSeaMonsters'', ''MansfieldPark and Mummies'', ''{{Emma}} and the Werewolves'', ''[[AnnaKarenina Android Karenina]]'', ''[[LittleWomen Little Vampire Women]]'', ''Queen Victoria: Demon Slayer'', ''Henry VIII: Wolfman'', ''[[JaneEyre Jane Slayre]],'' ''Romeo and Juliet and Vampires'' and ''Little Vampire Women''. The knock-offs spread to Brazil, with ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mem%C3%B3rias_P%C3%B3stumas_de_Br%C3%A1s_Cubas Undead Memories of Brás Cubas]]'', ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_alienista The Alienist]] Mutant Hunter'', ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dom_Casmurro Dom Casmurro]] and the Flying Saucers'', ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Escrava_Isaura_%28novel%29 Escrava Isaura]] and the Vampire'' and ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senhora_%28novel%29 Senhora]], The Witch''.

* The success of William Gibson spawned the entire CyberPunk genre (although it wasn't the first one - that would be JohnBrunner's ''TheShockwaveRider''), which really only died after Neal Stephenson's AffectionateParody ''SnowCrash'' pointed out just how silly it was (thus beginning the transition to various flavors of PunkPunk.)

* Thanks to AnneRice making [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampires]] fashionable and AnitaBlake making supernatural female detectives popular, there's recently been [[strike:a crop]] a massive glut of supernatural mysteries with [[VampireDetectiveSeries supernatural PI characters]], UrbanFantasy stories, and ParanormalRomance novels that shows no signs of stopping.
* The popularity of ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' caused a boom in the YA vampire genre. Notable examples include P.C. Cast's ''TheHouseOfNight'' series, Richelle Mead's ''Vampire Academy'' series, and Melissa de la Cruz's ''Blue Bloods'' series, each having [[OurVampiresAreDifferent a wildly different take on the vampire mythos.]] The quality of both ''Twilight'' and its successors is highly disputed. Contrary to popular belief, ''Vampire Kisses'' by Ellen Schreiber does not fit this trope seeing as it was written before Twilight and its vampires are, for the most part, ripped straight from {{Dracula}}.
** That's not all: someone is publishing ''WutheringHeights'' with a Twilight-ified cover and a sticker that notes it's "Edward and Bella's favorite book!"
** Doesn't apply to just Wuthering Heights: Numerous attempts to mooch off the popularity of Twilight have also led to an increase in similar book covers (I.E: A usually plot-insignificant object placed on a black background with the author's name and title in white text), even for reprints of ''RomeoAndJuliet''!
*** In case ''RomeoAndJuliet'' need the publicity. As well, ''PrideAndPrejudice'' has gotten this treatment, complete with a blurb that [[CompletelyMissingThePoint describes its plot as it parallels]] ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' - which is not much.
** As if Bella herself wasn't enough of an [[AuthorAvatar insert]] [[AudienceSurrogate yourself here]], there is [[http://www.bookbyyou.com/teen/firstbite/default.asp First Bite]], a teen vampire romance novel where you fill out a questionnaire and the company tweaks details of the characters so that the main female is actually ''you'' (or whoever else you want it to be). Gives a whole new meaning to MadLibFantasyTitle...
** Barnes & Noble now lists a new special category in the teen section: "Teen Paranormal Romance". It's pretty obvious where this comes from.
** Also, this results in vampire books written before ''Twilight'' to either have a boost in popularity or be accused of ripping of ''Twilight''.
* Every HighFantasy setting that ever watched over a humble adventurer on an epic quest to save the world owes large chunks of themselves to J.R.R. Tolkien's ''{{Lord of the Rings}}''.
** Ironically, another influence of ''Lord of the Rings'' is the use of releasing stories as trilogies, especially fantasy stories. This is despite the fact that Tolkien did not intend for the book to be split up the way it was.
** The amount of stuff that copied DungeonsAndDragons, under TabletopGames, is gargantuan on its own, but since that itself had much of it inspired from LordOfTheRings, LordOfTheRings' enormous inspiration is ''even larger''.

* ''PrideAndPrejudiceAndZombies'' has at least two imitators (but with [[Literature/{{Twilight}} vampires]] instead of zombies) in addition to its prequel, ''Dawn of the Dreadfuls'' and the SpiritualSuccessor, ''SenseAndSensibilityAndSeaMonsters'' (bonus: ''S&S&SM'''s cover features a guy who looks suspiciously like [[PiratesOfTheCaribbean Davy Jones]]).
** One might argue that this was kickstarted by ''The Zombie Survival Guide'' and its companion ''WorldWarZ''.
** Now there are the non-Quirk Books ''MansfieldPark and Mummies'' and ''{{Emma}} and the Werewolves''. 4 JaneAusten books down, 2 to go...
** What about ''[[AnnaKarenina Android Karenina]]'' and ''[[LittleWomen Little Vampire Women]]''?
** And a book about ''Queen Victoria: Demon Slayer''.
** Just out: ''Henry VIII: Wolfman''
** And of course ''[[JaneEyre Jane Slayre]].''
** From the author of ''P&P&Z'', ''AbrahamLincolnVampireHunter''.
** It's even gotten to Brazil. Their Jane Austen is Machado de Assis, who received the [[EverythingsDeaderWithZombies WITH ZOMBIES]] ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mem%C3%B3rias_P%C3%B3stumas_de_Br%C3%A1s_Cubas Undead Memories of Brás Cubas]]'', and also ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_alienista The Alienist]] Mutant Hunter'' and ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dom_Casmurro Dom Casmurro]] and the Flying Saucers''. From other ones, ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Escrava_Isaura_%28novel%29 Escrava Isaura]] and the Vampire'' and ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senhora_%28novel%29 Senhora]], The Witch''.
** Two more are Romeo and Juliet and Vampires and Little Vampire Women.