“There are no original ideas.” You’ve almost certainly heard it before. And it can be hard to know what to do with that! As writers, we spend so much time working on these stories. The ideas might come to us in flashes of inspiration, or they might be the result of intense workshopping. The writing of those ideas is a difficult, time-consuming process though. And to go through all of that effort, only to be told that your idea isn’t original? That can be annoying! But there’s an element of truth to it which is important to accept, I think.
Your story isn’t original – and that’s okay
The first thing is to look at why people say there are no original ideas. In essence: all ideas are basically remixes or reorganisations of existing ideas. And that’s okay! To use an obvious analogy, you can make incredibly different things from the exact same Lego blocks. You can rearrange existing ideas into something brand new.
You don’t even have to aim for something that’s never been seen before. Look at the popularity of retellings! We did a podcast episode focusing on retellings, and we had so many books to choose from. People will happily read the same thing over and over again. You can think of that as a negative – it’s hard to sell people on something new, which is exactly what you want to do, right? Or you can look on the bright side. There will be threads of other stories running through your work. And people want to read those stories!
The hero’s journey, and other common plot constructions
Almost all stories fit into one of a small number of archetypal stories. You’ll have heard of things like the hero’s journey, three-act structure, seven-act structure. These are all ways of breaking down the same basic ideas.
Once you start breaking stories down into their basic shapes, you can see the commonalities across them all. It’s because people respond to these stories. People connect with them! So there’s nothing wrong with writing a story that uses these same building blocks.
The challenge, then, is doing something special and unique with those building blocks.
How to create an original story if original ideas don’t exist
It’s about your particular take and experience. Not sure how to think of an original story idea? Start by asking yourself what perspective you can bring to a story that nobody else can.
You can also look at doing something new with something old. This is where great books like Our Violent Delights come from, looking at a well-worn idea from a new angle.
So, what makes an idea original? The individuality of the person bringing the idea to life! You bring your own perspective to whatever you’re writing, and nobody else has the exact same perspective as you do. Whatever your story is, you’re the only person who can write it. Even if somebody else was given the exact same plot, they wouldn’t write it in the same way.
There are no original ideas? Sure. But there are an infinite number of original takes on those unoriginal ideas! And the world is waiting for yours.
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