A lot of writers (my past self included) fall into a common trap when forming an idea for a new piece. Even before they are done brainstorming, they throw their idea away because "It's been done! I want to be original! If I can't think of something brand new, how can I be a good writer?" This is a myth I want to debunk for other young writers who feel they must invent a genre or change writing forever to be a good writer. Your writing does not have to be entirely original. I'm not telling you to plagiarize. But you do not have to come up with a never-before-seen concept completely on your own. I find it much easier, more realistic, and more fun to use existing genres, tropes, and structures in your piece and put your own unique spin on them.
A lack of "true originality" can be a huge source of imposter syndrome for a lot of writers. There's an idea that if your writing is not revolutionizing writing or inventing the most incredible lore or characters or imagery of all time, then it's not worth writing. But guess what? Most of your favorite writers and your contemporaries are not entirely original - and they don't have to be! You don't have to start from scratch when there is inspiration all around you! So let's break down some thoughts on originality, making ideas your own, and combatting imposter syndrome.
Been There, Done That: Nothing is Original.
Consider the moon. The moon has been floating around and mystifying people for hundreds of thousands of years. It has been the subject of stories and poems a hundred times over. If you google "poems about the moon" you're going to get countless results from all across time. But I still love to write about the moon! The moon is magical! It gives me inspiration and just gets my creative juices flowing! It's just so cool that I keep writing about it. There's a running joke about poets just being in love with the moon - writing about it is a poet stereotype. But does the collective poet love of the moon completely invalidate the poems about the moon that I've written? Absolutely not! Every single person who has looked up at the moon for millennia has seen it with different eyes, been reminded of different memories, conjured up different thoughts while gazing at it. Even the same person will have different thoughts and feelings about the moon depending on the phase of the moon, that person's mood, the time of year. No two moon-thoughts are exactly alike! This is not only true for the moon, but for just almost every idea you can think about. Aliens? Done before, but doable again. Vikings? Done before, but doable again. Cheeky enemies-to-lovers romance? Done before, but doable again.
Every story written in the last couple hundred years or so is based on something else. Everyone is borrowing from the ideas of others and standing on the shoulders of great writers who came before them. How many poets and songwriters and authors have written about a new romance, the death of a loved one, or having a great day with friends? But that doesn't mean that the things people write are devoid of anything new or meaningful. Take Greek mythology. It's thousands of years old. It's been done a million times. But people are still writing about it in new and exciting ways that engage readers and surprise them! Madeline Miller's The Song of Achilles is a beautiful and emotional retelling of Homer's The Iliad from Patroclus's perspective, and it's one of my favorite books. Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians series even takes mythological figures and plops them into modern-day New York to have modern demigods battle it out for the fate of the world. Michael G. Munz has Zeus murdered and forces the Gods into the world of the living in the hilarious Zeus Is Dead: A Monstrously Inconvenient Adventure. Though based on a similar premise, these three authors create wildly different works! The reason that these works still come off as unique is because the authors all agreed on the premise, but injected their own style, their experiences, their tones, and their very different directions onto their works. You can do this for almost every genre out there! Lots of different people have told stories about vampires: but I think we can all agree that the Twilight series, Dracula, Buffy, and Abraham Lincoln Vampire Slayer are not the same. The writers behind each of these stories made the premise all their own! And all writers should strive to do the same!
How Do I Make an Idea My Own?
So you have your idea and you're at peace with the fact that it's been done. Say that you're like me and you're writing about ghosts (because ghosts are so cool). How do you switch it up? How do you mix it up?
1. Ask yourself about what tropes already exist around your idea.
There are tons of tropes in every genre. In romance, there are angsty lovers, childhood-friends-to-lovers, enemies-to-lovers, roommates-to-lovers, whatever you can think of. People have fallen in love all kinds of ways. Same goes for horror: cabins in the woods, abandoned psych wards, haunted mansions, creepy kids singing, serial killers. People have been scared in all kinds of ways. There's plenty of material to work with no matter what your premise is.
For ghosts, we've got little Victorian boys, widows weeping, chains rattling, seances happening, etc. Lots of stuff to work with and certainly a lot of aspects that have been overdone. You can use any of these tropes that you like or try to keep the number to a minimum. But this decision should not be made based on originality alone, but what fits your story the best. Your story is the most important consideration.
2. Subvert some tropes in a way that will accentuate your skills and passions. But keep some tropes too!
So you have your fun list of tropes and your general story idea. Let's have some fun and brainstorm. Since ghosts are from the Victorian or Gothic period in a vast number of books and movies, maybe you want to shake up the time of your ghost's demise. So let's shake it up! We've got a ghost from the early 2000s that blares punk music and browses Myspace instead of rattling chains. Doesn't make living in a haunted house any less of a problem for your protagonist, but will definitely throw them and your readers for a loop. Or, in a twist - is your protagonist the ghost?
On the contrary, if you love the 1800s, can write old-timey dialogue, and want to subvert the whole "they're vengeful spirits with unfinished, murder-related business" idea, maybe this is a ghost from the 1800s that's too eager to see how society is unfolding, how their descendants are doing - they can't bear to go! The world is so crazy and cool! What would they miss? There's a new problem to be solved all of a sudden!
Of course, you don't have to subvert all the tropes you like! Sentimental 1800s ghost can rattle chain and 2000s ghost can participate in seances. Tropes are fun to write and give readers a formula they understand! The important thing here is that you use the ideas that interest you and write what fits you. You don't have to trash, subvert, or use every single trope. Do what supports your writing!
3. Focus on these subversions, on your characters, and on how your idea innovates on past ideas. But most of all, focus on what you bring to the book and why this is your story, not someone else's.
I'm gonna use myself as an example because developing your story, your characters, and getting deeper into your own style and particularities is complicated stuff. In my current draft of Whispers From the Shroud, I've combined a whole bunch of tropes from a lot of different places to make things interesting and try to subvert some expectations while using others to my advantage. So here's the fun little mix I came up with!
Turns out ghosts are real and only a few special people can see them, particularly one gifted and troubled boy, Hugo. (Sounds like The Sixth Sense!) The ghosts live in a kind of parallel universe that mirrors the world of the living and threatens to seep into our own if abused by the wrong people. (Is that the upside-down from Stranger Things?). There's gonna be a twist villain (classic) and Hugo has to deal with lots of mental health and self-esteem issues at the same time because high school isn't easy and paranormal powers don't make it any easier. (Every coming-of-age story ever and maybe Teen Wolf or Vampire Diaries or something? Supernatural teens are all around us.)
Sounds original enough right? But it's got roots in so mancy existing ideas! In my draft, I have made my book character driven and flushed out the world of the dead and its relationship with our own - to the extent where I stopped going "Oh, this is that trope from ___" and started seeing its immense potential and how me I have made my work. My passion for mental health comes in as my main characters struggle with their own unique challenges with anxiety, sensory overload, and depression. My love for literature comes in through Hugo's own interests and his geekiness about Neil Gaiman. My own relationships with my family seep into Hugo's struggles with his own. I'm all over this book! And however you choose to do so, you should put pieces of yourself in your book too. Your story is far more interesting with you in it.
4. Have fun with it!
This is crucial - do not obsess about your originality the whole way through! Do not make that the only important thing about your piece of writing. If you're writing a poem, don't pick words just because they're rare if you never use them or if they don't fit. If it's a book, don't write to break every single norm and on purpose - you absolutely can, but is it fueling your story? Is it making you happy? Imposter's syndrome can be a lot, I know. But getting lost in your story and your passion for telling it is the easiest way to feel a sense of belonging, a sense of being a "real" writer.
Oh, and in case you were wondering: yes, you are a real writer. Are you having a massive writer's block right now? Still a writer. Do you feel bad about your writing? Still a writer. If you have stories to tell and words to get out on the page - you are a writer. No gatekeeping. No excuses. Yes, you are. I have a lot of feelings about this, can you tell? But really, don't worry about what makes you a writer or what it means to be a "good" writer vs. a "bad" writer. You will hone your craft, find your voice, and bloom into the writer you're meant to be. Especially with lots of practice and time.
TLDR:
Your story matters. The way that you tell it is uniquely you. Nobody else will tell a story in the exact same way you will. Are there things you can do to avoid being overly cliché? For sure! But do you have to have a breakdown over whether or not you can use the overdone ideas like love at first sight, teenage superheroes, stranded astronauts, or rivals uniting against a greater evil? No! Nobody will be mad at you for not revolutionizing literature or creating a new form of poetry. In fact, most people don't do that! Nobody expects that of writers! Don't be afraid that your idea is not 100% new. Nobody's idea is! If pop stars can write songs about how hard it is to think of new songs - I'm lookin' at you, Selena Gomez's 2011 hit "Love You Like a Love Song" - then you can definitely write about an idea you've seen somewhere else.
I hope you enjoyed and found some advice that will help you to be more sure of your writing! Let me know if you have any thoughts on these ideas or other bits of advise. Wishing you happy writing!
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