Darth Vader: I just finished this great book and I want more. I wonder if there's any other books with a similar premise?
Emperor: NO. ORIGINAL WORKS ONLY.
Darth Vader: Noooooooo!
This.
Honestly, stories that you hate (or hated elements of stories you like) are often much better inspiration because they instantly make you think of a dozen ways you'd do differently and better.
You’d think more of these authors would realize that if they can write “my story’s not original” posts that are so similar to everybody else’s “my story’s not original” posts, then they can also write stories that are similar to everyone else’s stories ;)
i have a page saved where you can put parts of your book into the text box, and it will tell you the genre and books related to the passage you wrote.
[This](https://www.meetmotif.com/about) is the link to the site. I found it through a post on Reddit, but i don't know where that is right now.
Have you used it before? I just tried using it but for some reason it doesn't seem to be working for me. I put my synopsis in there and nothing happens.
it worked last night, but when i tried it earlier today it wasn't doing anything. so i think it's a server problem right now, i don't know how big or small of a team they have working on that.
I'll give an example from photography. You can put 10 photographers in front of a scene, and every single picture will be unique. They'll have shot the same subject, but their perspective and approach will be different.
The execution is what makes them different, not the idea.
Painter: \[Reaches for blue paint\]
Redditor A: I'm sorry, but somebody already used that color. You'll have to choose a different one.
Redditor B: Blue? Really? So cliche.
Redditor C: I HATE BLUE! >:(
Redditor D: But like, what *is* blue, man?
Redditor E: Paint what you know. Are you a smurf? That colour's not for you.
Redditor F: Personally I prefer periwinkle.
Redditor G: Why are you painting anyway? Got computers for that shit brah.
> They'll have shot the same subject, but their perspective and approach will be different.
Related aside: I just watched a YouTube video about a key differences between Eastern and Western cultures: That Western cultures lean towards analytical focus on individual people, objects etc. where Eastern cultures tend to have more diffuse focus and take in things as they relate to each other.
One example was that Eastern photography tend to be more zoomed out and more of a scene than a portrait. So arguably they don't even have to end up shooting the same subject. (Not disagreeing with you though, you just got me thinking).
Do you know how many photos of Mount Rainier I saw growing up in WA? Every other calendar, post card, cups, wall art, textbooks, etc. my parents had a bunch because we saw it from our backyard!
And every single one of them was different, taken a different day at a different distance with different equipment.
Our culture tends to overvalue ideas when what really matters is execution.
I'm not just talking about writing, this is true of almost everything in art and business.
I’m not saying our culture is RIGHT to be this way, but have you not seen countless creative projects trying to make up for bad execution with ideas marketing? They’ll fail, but it keeps being tried!
Easier doesn’t mean better or more successful. It means it’s easy to turn ideas into slogans to blast. It doesn’t make it good, helpful, worthwhile, or successful
Literally. Past few days I’ve been doing some plotting and I keep having facepalm moments because there’s pieces of every media I’ve ever consumed within my story, but that’s… just how life is, I guess.
Like in the span of an hour I realized: my religious themes are similar to Castlevania’s, my blacksmith side-character is similar to Inheritance’s, my MC’s backstory is similar to a Stormlight character, and my BBEG is literally just evil Gilgamesh mixed with Dracula, and these are some of my best ideas. It should be disheartening, and in my weaker moments it is, but in reality it’s just what writing is: the collective regurgitation and remix of old ideas.
Please give anyone whose art is not made of their life’s reflective experiences a gold medal.
See, you look at that as derivative and I see a creative and interesting combination of elements.
I'm also guessing that (for example) when you say "my religious themes are similar to Castlevania’s", they're also different in some ways that specifically appeal to you. Don't undervalue that.
I love the way it sounds honestly, I think that's the point, there's like seven incarnations of dracula I like em all 😂 Marvel has three Spiderman's and Two different actors for Hulk, originality is pretty much dead you take something and spin it
No single idea will be unique, no. That's why stories need layers. Three or four layers in, and you may have something nobody has ever done before. It's the combination that's unique. You also need to be really good, so you can take it places no one else can. New to mid-range writers always say everything's already been done. Great writers just go find it.
> Great writers look at what's been written and goes "that's dope, Imma do it too"
Generally also with healthy-sized handfuls of "Ooh, but wouldn't it be neat if we twisted **this**?"
When I wrote a 19th century allegorical epic detailing the American whaling industry, exploring the epistemological quest and the absurdity of taking revenge on an animal, I too was worried this might have already been done. Alas it was an original idea after all.
I called it 'Moby-Cock'.
Even if, against all odds, someone managed to write something completely original, it would likely not be very good or very popular. We're all human, we expect a certain amount of relatability to what we read. Something that's truly original despite 8 billion people and hundreds of generations will almost certainly not be relatable to the vast majority of people.
I've learned to think of writing like building blocks. We get the blocks from the environment around us, but the specific combinations are our own. That's as original as we can get as humans, and that's okay.
Personally, one of my favorite writing projects spawned from watching the Jurassic World movies and thinking, "I can do this better." Then writing my own dinosaur park gone wrong story.
> Everything that could be created, has already been created
Not exactly true. A work doesn't have to be wholly original in order to be still be a new take on something that hasn't been done before.
I think there are potentially good questions/discussions to be had about whether certain premises are too obviously derivative of other well-known works. There is definitely a line between influence (which everything has) and unabashed imitation.
However, that's a conversation to be had when a seasoned writer is working toward publication. Otherwise, non-professional writing can be completely derivative without issue, and if that's what a writer wants to work on, then they should.
Sticky it. This sub is completely disconnected from one another on what "original" actually means to writers, agents, publishers and readers. I don't think anybody actually reads anybody's posts about "original" this, that or the other. It's usually a quick jump to a hundred posts about how nothing's "original," or childishly mockery. My reco is to ignore those posts and let them die in new, but it won't happen because everybody's too excited to say nothing's "original". Suggest anything outside of that, try to add context, or quote their favorite agent saying they're looking for originality and you get downvoted. It's how this sub feels, so make it official. Inb4 "SaY soMetHiNG OriGinAl tHEn."
Yes and no. The concept of "originality" is a 19th century construct that had little to no validity before then. Shakespeare wasn't "original" in the 19th century sense but he was an inventive genius (which is how he thought of his own creativity). While no author can be "completely original" in the 19th century sense, one can be inventive in completely distinct and unique ways. It's interesting to me how *nearly everyone* has bought into this 200 year old construct as though it were a fundamental law of nature.
Looking at cultural history from hindsight shows that societies have always had original developments that resulted in cultural transformation, they just didn’t have the cultural belief in long-term progress to process that it was happening.
And also, the Library of Babel exists, so literally anything I write already exists. [In fact, it's right here](https://libraryofbabel.info/bookmark.cgi?text:11).
It's never the what that matters, it's the how. A million ideas can come and go but if you don't have the discipline and craft none of it will make any difference.
There are only so many kinds of plots, character types, conflicts, and twists, and they have been combined in pretty much every possible way; humans have been telling stories for a very, very long time. Originality is found in the details like the style of prose, snappy dialogue, unusual settings and descriptions, or murdering a main character at an unexpected time, just when people are starting to get attached.
Want to read something original? Read James Joyce and his drunken rambling story. ... fuck, forgot the name. Still, google it and then try to read that trash.
Maybe I wasn't intelligent enough to see the 'greatness', all I saw was a word salad.
I meant his works in general. I do not recall if the letters to his wife were included, probably not.
Michigan State University, English Literature was her major.
One thing I like to do is write about this phenomenon. The character is an inventor and wants to create something never created before. They create a spaceship that can travel to different universes! ... only to find out there are infinite versions of them that have done this. Not only that, but there are versions that are completely better than them in every way possible
The story is resolved by them realizing that it doesn't matter if what they create already exists, it just matters if they enjoy what they're doing
Oh, that's annoying as well. "I didn't shake the foundations of society with my words, now I am 10 and have known how to write for two entire months. Is it too late for me?"
I had an idea, then realized it was just steampunk Terminator meets My Little Pony set in prehistoric Norway. Should I claim it's satire or just an homage?
I think one big problem is internet 'critics' constantly churning out 'character does a thing cliches' that 9 million people absorb without question. It really is almost impossible to do anything without people going 'oh, I've seen something vaguely like this one moment before, this entire book/movie/show is a rip-off'.
Ngl this got more specific than I expected.
I've been downvoted to hell with the comment and I stick by it: No artist is "original". They are all an amalgamation of their influences, ideas they've consumed in media, mixed in a ratio with other ideas.
Thing is: Not everyone has read **everything**. For all I know, Alastair Reynolds' House of Suns and other favorites of mine are as unoriginal as they come. Maybe the story is as old as time. I just read it first by Reynolds.
Pretty much all the Bond movies are the same. Big bad, couple of plot twists. The old ones all had the mid-movie "death of the woman" as a motivational tool. Same story, over and over again. Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms are both as a book worlds based on the roleplaying game, and the story progression in all the books is in essence a TTRPG campaign, with loot and level ups at the end of a book.
And you know what? That doesn't make them any less enjoyable. Are they literary masterpieces? Hah! Are they fun? Yup.
Original ideas aren't, so don't worry about those. Just write a story you want and let the reader worry about if they want to read it.
One thing that has dawned on me is it seems less about 'everything has been done', which it has. But what I have also noticed is that for all the cries of nothing sounding original, people insist on writing the same five things as everyone else when there's hundreds of other ideas that are barely touched by comparison and nobody wants to realize this.
True, true. There's the understandable disappointment from someone who came up with coal based Aztec people fighting against eldritch gods, and then there's John Original who's sad because his five book long series about the specialest little boy of the long line of special little boys, isn't groundbreaking
Is writing a story where the enite world is quite literally just an unending wooden box and everyone inhabits it an original concept or has someone done that before in which case please tell me.
To be honest, these types of posts are almost just as common. This subreddit isn't a linear conversation. People are coming into it at different points in their life and different points in their writing journey. It can be annoying to see the same type of post over and over again, but I don't think a pinned thread would change much.
I agree
I was pretty disappointed when I found out someone in the 1930's pretty much wrote my exact story idea. But I didn't let that stop me. Where's the fun in that?
On the off-chance this isn't already in here somewhere: Have a life.
When you write the next great fantasy series about a child who discovers they're a wizard and goes off to Wizarding school, what will make yours different is your personal experience.
Maybe you're in construction and your Wizarding school is about training young wizards to complete huge magical projects. Maybe you're a counsellor and your Wizarding school is about making sure the living weapons of the future grow up to be well-adjusted. Maybe you like flying and your Wizarding school is in the clouds. Or whatever.
Your interests outside of reading and writing will add that novel and authentic element to your writing.
Honestly it's a worn old chestnut. My two cents is it's either insecurity or the actual form is derivative. We all reach into the same shared creative well, and ideas cross pollinate and can create lovely little blooms that are obviously flowers, but also something new.
The voice is the most important thing, no matter the medium.
I am multidisciplinary, and I can see my influences in my paintings, I play the sort of music I enjoy, because I grew up with music and learned what I like, when I'm actually "writing" I have some clear touchstones for what authors I enjoy, but I also know my voice is unique, in that there are all sorts of different layers, nuances and flourishes that inform my creative choices.
I always tell people, if asked, to focus on process, whether it's art, or housework, or cheffing, because everyone gets so frittered out about the result they forget to be present in their actual process. My work in progress is weird. I've made deliberate choices with language, and syntax, I've incorporated my native tongue in places, without translations, I'm subverting certain cultural restrictions which may make some people mad, and the ending was locked in decades ago, which for some might be a major downer. But it's my voice, my process, and it seems to be working.
I spent an awful long time worrying about the reception, people not liking what I do, trying to moldy work after other more famous people, and it was derivative, and not really that interesting and people would look at a painting and go, yeah it's nice, but...
Now, after putting a lot of work in, I just trust my instincts, roll with it, because I've focused on honing in on what works.
I shot a dog last chapter. I murdered a crackhead revenant with the physical manifestation of a primordial spiritual entity that my ancestors used to scare children. My MC and his estranged wife are about to go through a very painful series of steps walking forward into the past to retrieve the stillborn yet recurring immortal demigod they accidentally sired, while his uncles break down the barriers of intergenerational colonial diaspora in am attempt to stop a spiritual contagion that has begun to literally leak from the seams of the world. It's fuckin weird. I love it.
Coca-Cola had pretty much 100% of the market share for cola back in the day.
Do any of you realize how dumb and unoriginal and ill-conceived starting Pepsi would have seemed? Coca-Cola is the household name, why would you start another cola company?
Seemed to work out for them.
Here's the advice: shut the fuck up and write what you want and what you believe in. **You do not need approval from strangers on Reddit to write.**
It's bizarre that even needs to be said.
i think this would really be helped if people took the time to learn about artistic influence- what’s your favorite book? what/who were that author’s influences? who were their influences influences? once you start doing that you’ll realize that originality in art isn’t spontaneous, it’s evolution. whether it’s writing, music, painting, etc.
If originality is important to you, think about how combinations quickly become unique enough to escape it being likely anyone else has produced work with them.
Dwarves? 100,000 competitors. Dwarves with guns? 1000 competitors. Dwarves with guns and skiis for the snowy mountains? 10 competitors. Skiing gun dwarves with desire to conquer the world? 1.
True, and the correlate is: read more GD books! They'd know this was so, that everything has been done before, if they read.
No one who doesn't read novels is ever going to make it as a pro writer. It does not happen.
RIGHT????? God, it fucking pisses me off when people come in like "I've never read a book before, here's my original idea that's gonna sell 50 million units"
I’ve had the opposite process. I used to feel that way, but the more classic novels I familiarize myself with the more I see unfilled possibilities for premises, spaces that haven’t been fully excavated because fewer authors seek them out.
Because we have a constant influx of 13 year olds who just had these amazing epiphanies that no one else has realized before and they have to share it with us so the other 13 year olds will give them a hug box and tell them how clever they are to have realized this totally new fact.
Kind of like when millenials thought they had invented 'best friends' and 'hiking'.
Okay. You're right, but this is a writing subreddit. Could you at least put in the bare minimum amount of effort into spelling, grammar, and actually finishing the post before posting it?
The only original story was the first story ever told, and even that story was born of people's lived experiences. The whole point of writing a story is to engage in the millennia-long practice of storytelling, adding your link to the chain, building on every story that's come before you and adding your own personal touch to it that makes it your own. Nothing is created in a void and that's what makes stories so beautiful.
What's the point of adopting a weird esoteric definition of original that has nothing to do what what people mean when they apply the term to a creative work?
I enjoy acknowledging the fact that all the stories we have, we have only because someone else made it and hundreds if not thousands of other people found it worth preserving and some were even so inspired as to create something of their own. Idk it's a beautiful cycle bro you should try appreciating the wonder of the world sometimes
Poetic exaggeration isn't likely to be interpreted correctly when you're saying something that many on the subreddit say with full literal earnestness.
I was told there is some smallish number of possible plots. Every story since the Bible (and probably before then) has used them all. Character, setting, prose style, have all been thought of and written. Do not waste time worrying about being original. Worry about enjoying your story. Amazingly, everyone’s prose style is unique and original. It’s called your “voice.” That’s where the originality lay. Again, don’t worry about it. Keep writing! Your voice will appear on its own. You won’t even realize it at the time!
I am rather partial to what filmmaker Jim Jarmusch has to say on this subject:
"Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery - celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: 'It’s not where you take things from - it’s where you take them to.'"
The foreword to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button says that he had the idea and learned someone else had recently written a story based on the same premise. But that other writer had a different story
I just gotta say that I found a book that's completely original. It doesn't use any of the tropes you'd come to expect in a book. It doesn't rely on any of the tried and true formulas. I admit, the plot is a bit chaotic and you never know what's coming next, but it's been a consistent seller for a reason.
You can find more about this work [here](https://www.amazon.com/Million-Random-Digits-Normal-Deviates/dp/0833030477?tag=namespacebran369-20).
Hi, I’m Vetted AI Bot! I researched the **American Book Publishers A Million Random Digits** and I thought you might find the following analysis helpful.
**Users liked:**
* Book praised for its randomness (backed by 5 comments)
* Readers suggest audiobook version for accessibility (backed by 3 comments)
* Commenters find humor in absurdity of concept (backed by 3 comments)
**Users disliked:**
* The book lacks cohesiveness and is overlong (backed by 1 comment)
* The book is predictable (backed by 1 comment)
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"I just realized my story/world building/characters are similar to another story." Nice, now it's easier to market and advertise!
Built-in fan base.
darn straight!
Darth Vader: I just finished this great book and I want more. I wonder if there's any other books with a similar premise? Emperor: NO. ORIGINAL WORKS ONLY. Darth Vader: Noooooooo!
Excellent original submission.
And now you've got a convenient reference point to see what did and didn't work in that story. Helpful!
This. Honestly, stories that you hate (or hated elements of stories you like) are often much better inspiration because they instantly make you think of a dozen ways you'd do differently and better.
You’d think more of these authors would realize that if they can write “my story’s not original” posts that are so similar to everybody else’s “my story’s not original” posts, then they can also write stories that are similar to everyone else’s stories ;)
But my posts are totally original!!! /S
mine are super original!
yep, just proves there's a market for your book. in pub queries, it is the industry standard to send 'comps' (comparisons)
i have a page saved where you can put parts of your book into the text box, and it will tell you the genre and books related to the passage you wrote. [This](https://www.meetmotif.com/about) is the link to the site. I found it through a post on Reddit, but i don't know where that is right now.
Have you used it before? I just tried using it but for some reason it doesn't seem to be working for me. I put my synopsis in there and nothing happens.
it worked last night, but when i tried it earlier today it wasn't doing anything. so i think it's a server problem right now, i don't know how big or small of a team they have working on that.
Ah okay, cool! I'll have to check it out later then. Thanks!
And technically even then it won’t be completely the same because it’s *your* spin on things, your world view. Unless you are deliberately copying.
That’s a great way to look at it that I haven’t considered.
I'll give an example from photography. You can put 10 photographers in front of a scene, and every single picture will be unique. They'll have shot the same subject, but their perspective and approach will be different. The execution is what makes them different, not the idea.
Painter: \[Reaches for blue paint\] Redditor A: I'm sorry, but somebody already used that color. You'll have to choose a different one. Redditor B: Blue? Really? So cliche. Redditor C: I HATE BLUE! >:(
Redditors S, N, O, and B.
Redditor D: But like, what *is* blue, man? Redditor E: Paint what you know. Are you a smurf? That colour's not for you. Redditor F: Personally I prefer periwinkle. Redditor G: Why are you painting anyway? Got computers for that shit brah.
> They'll have shot the same subject, but their perspective and approach will be different. Related aside: I just watched a YouTube video about a key differences between Eastern and Western cultures: That Western cultures lean towards analytical focus on individual people, objects etc. where Eastern cultures tend to have more diffuse focus and take in things as they relate to each other. One example was that Eastern photography tend to be more zoomed out and more of a scene than a portrait. So arguably they don't even have to end up shooting the same subject. (Not disagreeing with you though, you just got me thinking).
Do you know how many photos of Mount Rainier I saw growing up in WA? Every other calendar, post card, cups, wall art, textbooks, etc. my parents had a bunch because we saw it from our backyard! And every single one of them was different, taken a different day at a different distance with different equipment.
Our culture tends to overvalue ideas when what really matters is execution. I'm not just talking about writing, this is true of almost everything in art and business.
You’re right, and it’s because ideas are easier to market
They are not. Everyone has ideas. They are worthless. It's the execution that matters. If you can't execute, there's nothing to market.
I’m not saying our culture is RIGHT to be this way, but have you not seen countless creative projects trying to make up for bad execution with ideas marketing? They’ll fail, but it keeps being tried!
They sure do try. The fact that they fail just proves it is not, in fact, easier. Nobody actually cares about ideas except the person having one.
Easier doesn’t mean better or more successful. It means it’s easy to turn ideas into slogans to blast. It doesn’t make it good, helpful, worthwhile, or successful
Insert anecdote about Jim Butcher writing Codex Alera to prove this
Literally. Past few days I’ve been doing some plotting and I keep having facepalm moments because there’s pieces of every media I’ve ever consumed within my story, but that’s… just how life is, I guess. Like in the span of an hour I realized: my religious themes are similar to Castlevania’s, my blacksmith side-character is similar to Inheritance’s, my MC’s backstory is similar to a Stormlight character, and my BBEG is literally just evil Gilgamesh mixed with Dracula, and these are some of my best ideas. It should be disheartening, and in my weaker moments it is, but in reality it’s just what writing is: the collective regurgitation and remix of old ideas. Please give anyone whose art is not made of their life’s reflective experiences a gold medal.
You had me at Gilgamesh mixed with Dracula lol
Funnily enough, I also had an idea for a story in which Gilgamesh is an ancient vampire, which I suppose proves OP's point
Same here color me hooked lol
See, you look at that as derivative and I see a creative and interesting combination of elements. I'm also guessing that (for example) when you say "my religious themes are similar to Castlevania’s", they're also different in some ways that specifically appeal to you. Don't undervalue that.
I love the way it sounds honestly, I think that's the point, there's like seven incarnations of dracula I like em all 😂 Marvel has three Spiderman's and Two different actors for Hulk, originality is pretty much dead you take something and spin it
Damn I’d actually read that that sounds interesting af. I mean Gilgamesh mixed with Dracula? PLEASE tell me more
No single idea will be unique, no. That's why stories need layers. Three or four layers in, and you may have something nobody has ever done before. It's the combination that's unique. You also need to be really good, so you can take it places no one else can. New to mid-range writers always say everything's already been done. Great writers just go find it.
Great writers look at what's been written and goes "that's dope, Imma do it too"
Great writers will have read so much that they're merging ideas, layering them. You can't forget the layers. It's a theme in all the best advice.
like a croissant
> Great writers look at what's been written and goes "that's dope, Imma do it too" Generally also with healthy-sized handfuls of "Ooh, but wouldn't it be neat if we twisted **this**?"
Indiana Jones and Star Wars were Spielberg and Lucas literally saying, "I love James Bond and old space adventure stories, I'm going to make one."
When I wrote a 19th century allegorical epic detailing the American whaling industry, exploring the epistemological quest and the absurdity of taking revenge on an animal, I too was worried this might have already been done. Alas it was an original idea after all. I called it 'Moby-Cock'.
Waaaait a minute .... I think that was a Futurama episode. Plagiarism!
Even if, against all odds, someone managed to write something completely original, it would likely not be very good or very popular. We're all human, we expect a certain amount of relatability to what we read. Something that's truly original despite 8 billion people and hundreds of generations will almost certainly not be relatable to the vast majority of people. I've learned to think of writing like building blocks. We get the blocks from the environment around us, but the specific combinations are our own. That's as original as we can get as humans, and that's okay.
Personally, one of my favorite writing projects spawned from watching the Jurassic World movies and thinking, "I can do this better." Then writing my own dinosaur park gone wrong story.
> Everything that could be created, has already been created Not exactly true. A work doesn't have to be wholly original in order to be still be a new take on something that hasn't been done before.
I think there are potentially good questions/discussions to be had about whether certain premises are too obviously derivative of other well-known works. There is definitely a line between influence (which everything has) and unabashed imitation. However, that's a conversation to be had when a seasoned writer is working toward publication. Otherwise, non-professional writing can be completely derivative without issue, and if that's what a writer wants to work on, then they should.
Two cakes!!!!!!
Sticky it. This sub is completely disconnected from one another on what "original" actually means to writers, agents, publishers and readers. I don't think anybody actually reads anybody's posts about "original" this, that or the other. It's usually a quick jump to a hundred posts about how nothing's "original," or childishly mockery. My reco is to ignore those posts and let them die in new, but it won't happen because everybody's too excited to say nothing's "original". Suggest anything outside of that, try to add context, or quote their favorite agent saying they're looking for originality and you get downvoted. It's how this sub feels, so make it official. Inb4 "SaY soMetHiNG OriGinAl tHEn."
You stole my post!...
You're forbidden to make another, about anything, ever, forever
Yes and no. The concept of "originality" is a 19th century construct that had little to no validity before then. Shakespeare wasn't "original" in the 19th century sense but he was an inventive genius (which is how he thought of his own creativity). While no author can be "completely original" in the 19th century sense, one can be inventive in completely distinct and unique ways. It's interesting to me how *nearly everyone* has bought into this 200 year old construct as though it were a fundamental law of nature.
Looking at cultural history from hindsight shows that societies have always had original developments that resulted in cultural transformation, they just didn’t have the cultural belief in long-term progress to process that it was happening.
And also, the Library of Babel exists, so literally anything I write already exists. [In fact, it's right here](https://libraryofbabel.info/bookmark.cgi?text:11).
It's never the what that matters, it's the how. A million ideas can come and go but if you don't have the discipline and craft none of it will make any difference.
There are only so many kinds of plots, character types, conflicts, and twists, and they have been combined in pretty much every possible way; humans have been telling stories for a very, very long time. Originality is found in the details like the style of prose, snappy dialogue, unusual settings and descriptions, or murdering a main character at an unexpected time, just when people are starting to get attached.
Want to read something original? Read James Joyce and his drunken rambling story. ... fuck, forgot the name. Still, google it and then try to read that trash. Maybe I wasn't intelligent enough to see the 'greatness', all I saw was a word salad.
[удалено]
My girlfriend in college had to read his stuff for class. None of it appealed to me.
[удалено]
I meant his works in general. I do not recall if the letters to his wife were included, probably not. Michigan State University, English Literature was her major.
> fuck, forgot the name Finnegan's Wake
Yup, that was it.
As a great philosopher once observed: "Everything has been said, just not by everyone." Be the one to say it best.
My Lou Bega fan fiction would like a word!
Honestly, if I read one more Lou Bega novel where he cures space measles with his shoe making giraffes, I'll go crazy.
[удалено]
One, two. Three four five. Everybody in the car. So c'mon. Let's ride.
I wrote something completely original. Stole its parts myself!
Lucky for me I have a terrible memory, so my idea is completely original.
Can't break the law if you forgot what the law says, it's in the law
I don't know man, have you read Jeff Vandermeer? This guy writes some pretty out-there stuff I haven't seen anywhere else.
One thing I like to do is write about this phenomenon. The character is an inventor and wants to create something never created before. They create a spaceship that can travel to different universes! ... only to find out there are infinite versions of them that have done this. Not only that, but there are versions that are completely better than them in every way possible The story is resolved by them realizing that it doesn't matter if what they create already exists, it just matters if they enjoy what they're doing
"Starting to worry I'll never be more notable than Shakespeare. Is 17 too late to add to the literature canon?"
Oh, that's annoying as well. "I didn't shake the foundations of society with my words, now I am 10 and have known how to write for two entire months. Is it too late for me?"
I had an idea, then realized it was just steampunk Terminator meets My Little Pony set in prehistoric Norway. Should I claim it's satire or just an homage?
You should claim it as dope
Shit man I'd read it. You using the fandom yakutian ponies for the cold climate or nah?
There are three, THREE, primary colors (Red, Yellow and Blue) yet from their combination we get over 10 million colors.
I think one big problem is internet 'critics' constantly churning out 'character does a thing cliches' that 9 million people absorb without question. It really is almost impossible to do anything without people going 'oh, I've seen something vaguely like this one moment before, this entire book/movie/show is a rip-off'. Ngl this got more specific than I expected.
I've been downvoted to hell with the comment and I stick by it: No artist is "original". They are all an amalgamation of their influences, ideas they've consumed in media, mixed in a ratio with other ideas. Thing is: Not everyone has read **everything**. For all I know, Alastair Reynolds' House of Suns and other favorites of mine are as unoriginal as they come. Maybe the story is as old as time. I just read it first by Reynolds. Pretty much all the Bond movies are the same. Big bad, couple of plot twists. The old ones all had the mid-movie "death of the woman" as a motivational tool. Same story, over and over again. Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms are both as a book worlds based on the roleplaying game, and the story progression in all the books is in essence a TTRPG campaign, with loot and level ups at the end of a book. And you know what? That doesn't make them any less enjoyable. Are they literary masterpieces? Hah! Are they fun? Yup. Original ideas aren't, so don't worry about those. Just write a story you want and let the reader worry about if they want to read it.
Not to mention if you did write something THAT original, there's no way in hell it's getting published lol.
One thing that has dawned on me is it seems less about 'everything has been done', which it has. But what I have also noticed is that for all the cries of nothing sounding original, people insist on writing the same five things as everyone else when there's hundreds of other ideas that are barely touched by comparison and nobody wants to realize this.
True, true. There's the understandable disappointment from someone who came up with coal based Aztec people fighting against eldritch gods, and then there's John Original who's sad because his five book long series about the specialest little boy of the long line of special little boys, isn't groundbreaking
Honestly, I'm ok with this, and another sticky that says "YES ITS OK TO BREAK THAT RULE AS LONG AS YOU DO IT WELL"
Beginner writers don't know the rules. Intermediate writers know the rules. Advanced writers know the rules and how to break them.
God damnit, yes so much. Some people come in here talking like you're trying to do some physics equation or some shit
Original thoughts don’t exist
Is writing a story where the enite world is quite literally just an unending wooden box and everyone inhabits it an original concept or has someone done that before in which case please tell me.
Did you read the title of the post?
Do you want to be condescending?
To be honest, these types of posts are almost just as common. This subreddit isn't a linear conversation. People are coming into it at different points in their life and different points in their writing journey. It can be annoying to see the same type of post over and over again, but I don't think a pinned thread would change much.
No man is an island
I agree I was pretty disappointed when I found out someone in the 1930's pretty much wrote my exact story idea. But I didn't let that stop me. Where's the fun in that?
1930??? Might as well not even exist
On the off-chance this isn't already in here somewhere: Have a life. When you write the next great fantasy series about a child who discovers they're a wizard and goes off to Wizarding school, what will make yours different is your personal experience. Maybe you're in construction and your Wizarding school is about training young wizards to complete huge magical projects. Maybe you're a counsellor and your Wizarding school is about making sure the living weapons of the future grow up to be well-adjusted. Maybe you like flying and your Wizarding school is in the clouds. Or whatever. Your interests outside of reading and writing will add that novel and authentic element to your writing.
Honestly it's a worn old chestnut. My two cents is it's either insecurity or the actual form is derivative. We all reach into the same shared creative well, and ideas cross pollinate and can create lovely little blooms that are obviously flowers, but also something new. The voice is the most important thing, no matter the medium. I am multidisciplinary, and I can see my influences in my paintings, I play the sort of music I enjoy, because I grew up with music and learned what I like, when I'm actually "writing" I have some clear touchstones for what authors I enjoy, but I also know my voice is unique, in that there are all sorts of different layers, nuances and flourishes that inform my creative choices. I always tell people, if asked, to focus on process, whether it's art, or housework, or cheffing, because everyone gets so frittered out about the result they forget to be present in their actual process. My work in progress is weird. I've made deliberate choices with language, and syntax, I've incorporated my native tongue in places, without translations, I'm subverting certain cultural restrictions which may make some people mad, and the ending was locked in decades ago, which for some might be a major downer. But it's my voice, my process, and it seems to be working. I spent an awful long time worrying about the reception, people not liking what I do, trying to moldy work after other more famous people, and it was derivative, and not really that interesting and people would look at a painting and go, yeah it's nice, but... Now, after putting a lot of work in, I just trust my instincts, roll with it, because I've focused on honing in on what works. I shot a dog last chapter. I murdered a crackhead revenant with the physical manifestation of a primordial spiritual entity that my ancestors used to scare children. My MC and his estranged wife are about to go through a very painful series of steps walking forward into the past to retrieve the stillborn yet recurring immortal demigod they accidentally sired, while his uncles break down the barriers of intergenerational colonial diaspora in am attempt to stop a spiritual contagion that has begun to literally leak from the seams of the world. It's fuckin weird. I love it.
Coca-Cola had pretty much 100% of the market share for cola back in the day. Do any of you realize how dumb and unoriginal and ill-conceived starting Pepsi would have seemed? Coca-Cola is the household name, why would you start another cola company? Seemed to work out for them. Here's the advice: shut the fuck up and write what you want and what you believe in. **You do not need approval from strangers on Reddit to write.** It's bizarre that even needs to be said.
i think this would really be helped if people took the time to learn about artistic influence- what’s your favorite book? what/who were that author’s influences? who were their influences influences? once you start doing that you’ll realize that originality in art isn’t spontaneous, it’s evolution. whether it’s writing, music, painting, etc.
If originality is important to you, think about how combinations quickly become unique enough to escape it being likely anyone else has produced work with them. Dwarves? 100,000 competitors. Dwarves with guns? 1000 competitors. Dwarves with guns and skiis for the snowy mountains? 10 competitors. Skiing gun dwarves with desire to conquer the world? 1.
Grid snarg warnig gnorj xungle. There you go, completely original writing. Complete originality can be rather overrated. :)
It's so depressing.
True, and the correlate is: read more GD books! They'd know this was so, that everything has been done before, if they read. No one who doesn't read novels is ever going to make it as a pro writer. It does not happen.
RIGHT????? God, it fucking pisses me off when people come in like "I've never read a book before, here's my original idea that's gonna sell 50 million units"
"And at the end, they're actually Adam and Eve!" "It was all a dream!" ;)
I’ve had the opposite process. I used to feel that way, but the more classic novels I familiarize myself with the more I see unfilled possibilities for premises, spaces that haven’t been fully excavated because fewer authors seek them out.
yes, or pre-novel writing. Gilgamesh and the other Sumerian myths, the Eddas, all that really old stuff is fascinating to read.
*Then explain how the f//k my story is original.*
Because we have a constant influx of 13 year olds who just had these amazing epiphanies that no one else has realized before and they have to share it with us so the other 13 year olds will give them a hug box and tell them how clever they are to have realized this totally new fact. Kind of like when millenials thought they had invented 'best friends' and 'hiking'.
Okay. You're right, but this is a writing subreddit. Could you at least put in the bare minimum amount of effort into spelling, grammar, and actually finishing the post before posting it?
The only original story was the first story ever told, and even that story was born of people's lived experiences. The whole point of writing a story is to engage in the millennia-long practice of storytelling, adding your link to the chain, building on every story that's come before you and adding your own personal touch to it that makes it your own. Nothing is created in a void and that's what makes stories so beautiful.
What's the point of adopting a weird esoteric definition of original that has nothing to do what what people mean when they apply the term to a creative work?
I enjoy acknowledging the fact that all the stories we have, we have only because someone else made it and hundreds if not thousands of other people found it worth preserving and some were even so inspired as to create something of their own. Idk it's a beautiful cycle bro you should try appreciating the wonder of the world sometimes
It's beautiful. None of that makes it sensible to say that only one story in all of human history has ever been original.
My brother in Christ we're on the writing subreddit. I am not immune to being poetic
Poetic exaggeration isn't likely to be interpreted correctly when you're saying something that many on the subreddit say with full literal earnestness.
Thank you so much for contributing to the problem you're complaining about 🙏
I don't follow. Every post I've made here is entirely literal.
Inshallah you're cured of the autism brother
There's no need to be mean when you can tell me what you're talking about instead.
This makes me feel much better about a WIP that's been a sticking point for me since the idea came about.
I was told there is some smallish number of possible plots. Every story since the Bible (and probably before then) has used them all. Character, setting, prose style, have all been thought of and written. Do not waste time worrying about being original. Worry about enjoying your story. Amazingly, everyone’s prose style is unique and original. It’s called your “voice.” That’s where the originality lay. Again, don’t worry about it. Keep writing! Your voice will appear on its own. You won’t even realize it at the time!
Just post a link to this book. I still have my copy from college. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hero_with_a_Thousand_Faces
Tgis sub never seizes to amouse.
> seizes to amouse I... uh... was that on purpose?
The spelling?
This sub never ceases to amuse, written by an imbecile.
I will ;)
It's true.
Had similar issue. Now reworking from a different angle and different aspect in an already saturated theme. Actually having more fun with it.
I am rather partial to what filmmaker Jim Jarmusch has to say on this subject: "Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery - celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: 'It’s not where you take things from - it’s where you take them to.'"
Kinda ironic.
I feel like this sub (and r/artistlounge) has gone downhill because of stupid stuff like this. Bruh why do I stay here
The foreword to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button says that he had the idea and learned someone else had recently written a story based on the same premise. But that other writer had a different story
Alternatively, we could just say, "Even this post isn't original" whenever it's asked.
I feel kinda good about the fact that I still haven't seen anyone write something similar to what I'm writing. But I'm probably just delusional.
I'll bite, what are you writing about
I just gotta say that I found a book that's completely original. It doesn't use any of the tropes you'd come to expect in a book. It doesn't rely on any of the tried and true formulas. I admit, the plot is a bit chaotic and you never know what's coming next, but it's been a consistent seller for a reason. You can find more about this work [here](https://www.amazon.com/Million-Random-Digits-Normal-Deviates/dp/0833030477?tag=namespacebran369-20).
Hi, I’m Vetted AI Bot! I researched the **American Book Publishers A Million Random Digits** and I thought you might find the following analysis helpful. **Users liked:** * Book praised for its randomness (backed by 5 comments) * Readers suggest audiobook version for accessibility (backed by 3 comments) * Commenters find humor in absurdity of concept (backed by 3 comments) **Users disliked:** * The book lacks cohesiveness and is overlong (backed by 1 comment) * The book is predictable (backed by 1 comment) * The book contains personal information (backed by 1 comment) If you'd like to **summon me to ask about a product**, just make a post with its link and tag me, [like in this example.](https://www.reddit.com/r/tablets/comments/1444zdn/comment/joqd89c/) This message was generated by a (very smart) bot. If you found it helpful, let us know with an upvote and a “good bot!” reply and please feel free to provide feedback on how it can be improved. *Powered by* [*vetted.ai*](http://vetted.ai/reddit)