Swifting: What Taylor Swift Taught Writers

I recently sat in a fiction writing class and had somewhat of an epiphany. This might sound a little strange at first, but stick with me, I promise there’s something to it. Hear me out, Taylor Swift taught writers a valuable lesson.

Let me explain. Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you’ve probably heard of Taylor Swift in some capacity. She’s constantly the topic of media conversation, and is one of the world’s most famous musical artists, but let’s take a look back to her beginnings. She used to primarily perform country music, but something changed. She took to a new genre, and somehow boosted her fame.

Many fans loved the change, but some were deeply disappointed. They liked Taylor Swift’s country sound, and became upset that they didn’t get more of the music they love. The root of the issue is that she created a fan base for a specific type of music, then left them behind by switching.

That concept has led me to start using a new term I’ve created. I call it “swifting” or “pulling a swiftie.” It’s a simple concept, and I’m sure it has many other names, but the basic idea is that when you set expectations you should meet them. Readers don’t like to be set up for one direction just to be flipped around and taken a different one.

I’m not arguing that what Taylor swift did was bad, only that it’s something writer’s need to be conscious about. Good writers don’t pull swifties. They carefully craft expectations in the readers mind, then they stick to it.

That doesn’t mean writer’s don’t surprise their readers. It means you surprise them with intention. Some of my favorite flip moments in books are the ones that held the hidden exception throughout the story. The ones that suddenly pop out at you the next time you read the book. Those surprises are not swifting, their works of art, ones that readers typically come to respect and admire.

Of course, many Taylor Swift fan’s were pleasantly surprised by her genre shift. Perhaps the case could be made that sometimes ‘swifting’ is a good thing. In any case, it’s the job of the author to be intentional.