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Swashbuckling Inquisitor

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Happens to me A LOT. Most recent example is I've had an idea bouncing around in my head for a few years. Haven't started to write it because I'm bad like that and can never push out more than one character at a time...ANYWAY.

The idea takes place on a giant spacefaring creature that has multiple worlds on it, in biospheres, if you will. And I recently started reading the Discworld series, which titular location is a large, discshaped world on the back of a GIANT SPACEFARING CREATURE. (a turtle, to be exact)

Now, I LOVE the series. I'm almost finished with the second book and have already bought a third. I also came across a neat idea that I'd like to make into a whole story; the "hero" and his party enter a magical shop that teleports all over the universe and is run by an eccentric shop owner. I dunno...that'd be like stealing, wouldn't it? It also kinda sounds like Pet Shop of Horrors. emotion_facepalm

GUH...this is why I haven't written anything other than RPs in three years. I get afraid to start writing thinking I'll be unoriginal, and I know its total bullshit because "SIMPSONS DID IT!"

OpZeroFilms's Kouhai

Eloquent Genius

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It happens to me sometimes. However, my ideas are usually so strange that it has not been done before (I'm a surrealist writer). I had to scrap a few stories before either because they were already done before or because I didn't like the idea anymore. A lot of time travel stories have been written, so it is likely that, when you're working on a story with that in mind, it's probably been done before. That was one of the ideas I had to toss.
I did get mad over this one title that I wanted to use for a short story only to find out that James f***ing Patterson already used that title. I hate that guy. stare I probably wouldn't mind so much if it wasn't so difficult for me to think of titles.

Dedicated Seeker

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Yeah, it can be discouraging, but sometimes it's good to write it out anyhow. That way it's not in your head, for one, and you might actually find that it turns out quite differently than what you thought it was like by the time you finish it.
I read things similar to what I am going to write on purpose. I like to see how other authors approach the story before trying it out myself. For example, the book I am currently working on is influenced by Lynn Flewelling's Luck in the Shadows and Mercedes Lackey's The Last Herald-Mage. Both are fantastic stories, but ultimately come up short somehow. I take notes on these shortcomings, and then bounce my own ideas around to see which ones hold up best in the face of the short comings. I will consult with some friends, and eventually hammer out a plot that, when summarized, is similar to the books I've read but varies enough so that it is my own still.
Every idea has already been done. Work on your writing more and more, rewrite, rewrite and rewrite and then you will see something interesting.

I write to see how the story will be smile . Your story should not look like the first draft when you are done.

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Kaiser Khorosho
Happens to me A LOT. Most recent example is I've had an idea bouncing around in my head for a few years. Haven't started to write it because I'm bad like that and can never push out more than one character at a time...ANYWAY.

The idea takes place on a giant spacefaring creature that has multiple worlds on it, in biospheres, if you will. And I recently started reading the Discworld series, which titular location is a large, discshaped world on the back of a GIANT SPACEFARING CREATURE. (a turtle, to be exact)

Now, I LOVE the series. I'm almost finished with the second book and have already bought a third. I also came across a neat idea that I'd like to make into a whole story; the "hero" and his party enter a magical shop that teleports all over the universe and is run by an eccentric shop owner. I dunno...that'd be like stealing, wouldn't it? It also kinda sounds like Pet Shop of Horrors. emotion_facepalm

GUH...this is why I haven't written anything other than RPs in three years. I get afraid to start writing thinking I'll be unoriginal, and I know its total bullshit because "SIMPSONS DID IT!"



Either drop this notion of originality or give up writing. You'll never have an idea that bears no resemblance to something else.

Even the Discworld example you gave is based off Native American beliefs.

I'd also say sometimes an idea needs to be "ripped off" a few times before someone does it right.

Adorable Fisher

You have to understand that a lot of ideas are similar but its what you personally do with them that is unique. In Avatar: The Last Airbender the world was consisting of towns on the backs of big turtle god creatures. Sound similar to Discworld? Your idea may be similar, but make it different.


Now, for me, I have been writing my book Audrey Hepburn's Pearls for years now. The main plot point is a transgender singer in a NYC drag club in the late 1960's being in love with the owner of the club who is part of the mafia (the mafia owned a lot of gay clubs back then). The characters in it frequent the Stonewall Inn, because also a major plot point. Now imagine my horror when I watched the movie Stonewall and that was the major plot point of the movie. I thought about it, and really it could be a common theme due to how many clubs were owned by the mafia back then. I also reflected on how different the two stories actually are, and am satisfied that though on a plot summary the two may share themes, they're still vastly, vastly different from each other.

Learn from this.

Btw, Pet Shop of Horrors is part of a whole genre of similar sorts of stories. Join the genre? There's even American stories like it, where there's a mystical shop that sells you a dangerous pet.

Dedicated Seeker

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RyugaHayabusa
I read things similar to what I am going to write on purpose. I like to see how other authors approach the story before trying it out myself. For example, the book I am currently working on is influenced by Lynn Flewelling's Luck in the Shadows and Mercedes Lackey's The Last Herald-Mage. Both are fantastic stories, but ultimately come up short somehow. I take notes on these shortcomings, and then bounce my own ideas around to see which ones hold up best in the face of the short comings. I will consult with some friends, and eventually hammer out a plot that, when summarized, is similar to the books I've read but varies enough so that it is my own still.


I think less about shortcomings and more about where my guesses diverge from the actual plot. Because sometimes it's not really a flaw in the story or writing that catches my attention, but sometimes I think something is more significant than it is, and my mind starts trying to follow that detail, and I end up daydreaming something quite different than the actual story. Often I'll go back and revisit that moment in time and if the impression is still strong I'll use it to spring board a story of my own.

Devoted Bookworm

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Every big idea has been done before. It's not about coming up with something that no one has ever thought of before, it's about making the smaller things original and personal to you.

Questionable Prophet

Everything has been done before
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To scrape an idea because it bares resemblance to something else out there is going to get you nowhere fast.

They say there are really only seven basic plots out there and that everything is just a variation of those seven. (Well there's actually a few books on this, one that claims there are 20, another that claims there are 36)

So, nothing is completely original.

Eternal Sex Symbol

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Eh, once in a while. A story isn't just an idea, it's how you do it. I rarely get discouraged by stories with similar ideas because there are still other things I'm doing different. You can give the same premise to 10 different writers and end up with 10 very different stories. I usually write when there's a story I want but I can't find it.

Before I learned about The Hunger Games, I was writing a story that was very similar. It wasn't just the death match, it also had a lot of similar themes: poverty, oppression, inequality, and hell, it even had the same parallels to fame and reality TV. After I read THG, I lost interest in writing the story because the story I wanted had already been written.

Really, no matter what you write, there's gonna be some other story that shares similarities, so try not to get too hung up on it. When I stopped writing my dystopian death match, it wasn't out of concern that people would accuse me of ripping off THG, it's that I didn't feel a desire to write the story now that someone else has done it. I wasn't just writing about a dystopian death match. If my story was a bit more different than THG, I probably would've gone on with it. You can easily write a story about a planet-creature without being too similar to Discworld. (hell, the idea of a world being on the back of a creature appears in lots of myths)

Blessed Genius

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Ehhhh, not really. I mean, it's impossible to create a completely new idea, right? And what really matters is the execution--that's what makes your idea stands out and, hopefully, worth reading.
I try not to read other's witings because I don't want to feel like I'm copying off of them or see someone do what I had in mind and they've done it better. I can't read other people's stuff lol

Obsessive Shapeshifter

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Any plot can be broken down to the point where you could be talking about any number of books movies, television shows, video games, and so on. Male protagonist with dark hair and green eyes finds out he has special powers and goes on adventures with his best friend and a very intelligent girl. What do you think I'm talking about? Because two book series are sitting on my shelf that are both correct answers.

The point is whether or not its been done before comes down to the details. Just because your premise is similar doesn't your book will be. The Two series that fit that description I gave have similarities but I would never suggest that they are similar.

I wouldn't worry too much about "its been done before" and worry more about "How can I make this idea my own?" "How do I take this and make it different and new"

The last book I worked on was about Vampires. Which lets face it are super over done and have been done and done again since the 18th century. But rather than give up on an idea I had almost four years ago and had been sitting in the back of my mind maturing, I decided to do so much research on vampire mythology, and how vampires have affect real world culture that I would be able to make my vampires interesting, different, not ridiculous and still consistent with some form of mythology.( actually they are consistent with all forms but that's a complicated explanation for another time)

Never throw out ideas even if you won't use them now because you don't think you can make it your own or don't think you could make it work at all, in ten years maybe you'll see or hear something and think "If I do that with this it will be something amazing and mine". And that's worth it.

Illuminated Vampire

Serena-Of-Limonium
Any plot can be broken down to the point where you could be talking about any number of books movies, television shows, video games, and so on. Male protagonist with dark hair and green eyes finds out he has special powers and goes on adventures with his best friend and a very intelligent girl. What do you think I'm talking about? Because two book series are sitting on my shelf that are both correct answers.


Now I'm curious which two books are on your shelf that qualify for that description. wink

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