OH! cant believe I forgot this one

Having a main character that is in some form of law enforcement.  Its been done, some of the titans of UF did a good job with it, that doesnt mean I want to keep reading about it all the dang time.

I'm presently doing the research for a story that I just realized pretty much fits all the criteria in my above post, though it may more accurately be called "magical realism" rather than UF. It features a single paranormal element in an otherwise conventional thriller, and the protagonist spends much of the story convinced that what he's experiencing is either a side effect of the medication he's on, or his subconscious trying to tell him something.

Is it a made up world or does the story take place in our world.

Also, I see this often with horror

I enjoy made up creatures, you can make them work in your world as long as you know what they are and are not capable of doing, and have the rules for them worked out.

I think there is a fine line between too much and too little detail and you have to find what works for you and what you can make work.

I suppose this isnt so much a plot theme, but I would enjoy a few more books done in third person in UF.

I don't mind first person at all, but UF is kinda overrun with first person stories and something different is always nice.

Ya, werewolves are quite guilty of it also these days. 

One thing I like, and would like to see more of, is authors making up new monsters and critters for their own universe instead of borrowing old mythos for everyhting.

I dont mind old myths, but its just a plus when I read a book were things are made up or at least when the author populates a story with things he/she created for them self.

Glad to hear it, the first one was a goody cant wait for the next

As far as trending goes, speaking from the standpoint of someone that buys an absurd amount of books, I've never much cared about whats popular as far as picking what to take home from the book store.  After all I have to like it, and it doesnt matter much to me what others like.

I do agree at lot with what Wordmaker said about say vampires -or any other over used product- because I tend to get annoyed by reading the same ole thing again and again.

A good example, the zombie genre, after World War Z and the Walking Dead took off, the selves where flooded with zombie books, but very few offered anything new, and the authors doing their take on World War Z, well I had already read that, and didnt need to read a knock of version.

I will say some authors manage to take concepts that are way overused and put their own spin on it and make it fresh.  A good example would be David Wellignton, I think his vampire novels are nice and different, yes he uses vampires but they are the more 30 Days of Night style vamp, and no one sparkels, so im ok with it.

Also his Monster Island books have a different feel to them than other zombie type books.

Just my two cents, make your stuff have its own feel to it, make it good, and don't worry about whats popular or when it will be published.  People are still buying the WOT, LotR, and Dune books after how many years?

Trends come and go, good books are always good books

I always thought the first classic blunder was getting involved in a land war in Asia =P