I understand that all writers want to create something completely original. I have some good news and some bad news on that front. The bad news is that it's impossible to think up a story that is completely original, so if that's your goal I'm sorry to say that you'll never achieve it. The good news is that it's impossible to think up a story that is completely original, which means that you can finally let go of that enormous pressure you've felt to write something that's impossible to write.
The truth of the matter is that so many stories have been written over so many years that there isn't a completely original idea for anyone to come up with. It has in fact all been said before. At first that can be a bitter pill for a writer to swallow. It can make you wonder what the point is and why you should even bother taking the time to put pen to paper. But eventually that knowledge can have an enormously liberating effect. Instead of struggling to come up with something completely original, only to time and again discover that some other writer already had the idea, you're suddenly free to blatantly steal ideas from other writers, as long as you can find a new or unique way of presenting them.
At first glance you might think that Gene Roddenberry had a completely new and original concept when he wrote the Star Trek pilot. But the reality is that people have been telling the story of brave individuals risking their safety on a journey to explore the frontier for ages, such as the book Big House in the Little Woods or the TV series Wagon Train. What Gene did was to ingeniously find a new slant for this long established tale. The story of adventurers exploring new territory is old, but this was the first time anyone thought to write about adventurers exploring new territory in outer space.
Once you accept that there's a difference between plagiarizing another author's work and telling another author's story from a new perspective, it opens up innumerable possibilities. Think about the story contained in your favorite novel then try and come up with a way to tell that story that's fresh or unique. How would a story set in the 18th Century be told if it took place today? How would a story set in the 20th Century be told if it took place two hundred years from now? How would your favorite story be told if it was written from the antagonist's perspective instead of the protagonist's? How would the story change if the main character was a different sex or different race?
The same holds true for novels that you don't like. If you've ever read a novel that had an interesting idea or two but the author simply didn't explore them very well, why not write an improved version? If you can figure out what another writer did wrong when writing their book it gives you the opportunity to create your own and do it right.
It can feel wrong at first to steal another writer's ideas and make them your own, but the key here is to remember that you are making enough changes to make them uniquely your own. It also helps to remember that regardless of who the author is, all of the ideas that you're stealing from them the author stole from others. Writing is a continual process of taking old ideas and recycling them into something slightly different and new.
The truth of the matter is that so many stories have been written over so many years that there isn't a completely original idea for anyone to come up with. It has in fact all been said before. At first that can be a bitter pill for a writer to swallow. It can make you wonder what the point is and why you should even bother taking the time to put pen to paper. But eventually that knowledge can have an enormously liberating effect. Instead of struggling to come up with something completely original, only to time and again discover that some other writer already had the idea, you're suddenly free to blatantly steal ideas from other writers, as long as you can find a new or unique way of presenting them.
At first glance you might think that Gene Roddenberry had a completely new and original concept when he wrote the Star Trek pilot. But the reality is that people have been telling the story of brave individuals risking their safety on a journey to explore the frontier for ages, such as the book Big House in the Little Woods or the TV series Wagon Train. What Gene did was to ingeniously find a new slant for this long established tale. The story of adventurers exploring new territory is old, but this was the first time anyone thought to write about adventurers exploring new territory in outer space.
Once you accept that there's a difference between plagiarizing another author's work and telling another author's story from a new perspective, it opens up innumerable possibilities. Think about the story contained in your favorite novel then try and come up with a way to tell that story that's fresh or unique. How would a story set in the 18th Century be told if it took place today? How would a story set in the 20th Century be told if it took place two hundred years from now? How would your favorite story be told if it was written from the antagonist's perspective instead of the protagonist's? How would the story change if the main character was a different sex or different race?
The same holds true for novels that you don't like. If you've ever read a novel that had an interesting idea or two but the author simply didn't explore them very well, why not write an improved version? If you can figure out what another writer did wrong when writing their book it gives you the opportunity to create your own and do it right.
It can feel wrong at first to steal another writer's ideas and make them your own, but the key here is to remember that you are making enough changes to make them uniquely your own. It also helps to remember that regardless of who the author is, all of the ideas that you're stealing from them the author stole from others. Writing is a continual process of taking old ideas and recycling them into something slightly different and new.
