Ok… There’s a saying… Something like everything old is new again. So I have been told on a few occasions that my ideas for stories were already done.
My response is always yes but it was not done by me. Original content doesn’t always have to be new ideas, some times it is a new look at an old idea.
Now, be aware, I am by no means suggesting plagurism… Write the story in your own words. Your voice is what will make it original.
The banana in the picture above is original… It’s different. But it is still a banana. Serena rewrote the story of Peter Pan. She put a horror twist on the story… Her novella The Death of Neverland is nothing like the original Peter Pan. It is a dark exploration of the worst of humanity. Did it start with an old idea? Yes, it certainly did. We pull from the fount of our experience… We create from what we know. The stories from our childhood reflect in the stories we tell. No two humans have the exact same well to draw from.
Fan fiction is an often disputed art form. The first idea was put into the world as accepted cannon… But then a fan saw the way to take it in a new direction. I personally have read some amazing stories on fan fiction boards. Does that invalidate the story? No, far from it. It merely means that the author found inspiration in something that someone else wrote.
Don’t let the ones who are contrary about your inspiration dissuade you from writing. The story you want to write is original… After all, you have not written it yet.
Pattimouse 