Young Writers Society

It's been really annoying for me, writing a story and then finding something quite similar along the shelves of "Chapters"(a very nice bookstore.) Working for many, many MANY hours on something and then showing it to someone and having them say that I "copied it off a site" or "just took it out of a book"

My newest creation is called "post-it " and is written entirely in post-it notes. (only not literally, which is slightly confusing)
A girl going into eighth grade faces the troubles of moving,crushes, boyfriends, annoying siblings, and divorced parents all in one summer.
She decides to use post-it notes instead of "leaking out her feelings in a diary"
The girl (Elizabeth,) writes daily explaining the trials that happened that day in only a short post-it note.
What I want to know
1. Is this story original?Have you seen something similar to it before?
2. Wanna read it..?
3. Have you ever faced the same troubles?

1. It's not entirely original, because all writing feeds off other writing. It sounds rather teen lit-ish, so I'm afraid not. But that's not a problem, it can still be great writing if you make it.
2. You must show it to us first. And I'm not sure this is the right section to ask these questions.
3. I think we all have at some point in our lives.

Hope this helps!
--Medusa.

And in the future, make sure you post topics in the correct forum. This section is for actual pieces of writing. It's not where you ask questions. I'm no moderator. but I would put this in Writer's Corner.

Hello

This does sound like a big trap for repetition/old story, mostly because it revolves around ideas that have already been overdone pretty much everywhere. (Moving, tension with family, hormones...)

However, much of the originality of a piece is in the actual writing. So my suggestion is to write this story anyways and then consciously try to approach the age-old problems represented in credibly new ways.

I'm not sure how post-its are considered less 'leaky'.

Thank you for the read,
CainWalker

*Moved to Writing Tips*

I like the idea of writing it on post-it note, but I probably wouldn't read it, just because that sort of plot doesn't interest me much.

But if you want to write it, just writ i. All great writing borrows stuff from others, the trick is making it your own.

The girl's troubles aren't exactly original (I'm not sure how you could make them) but I suppose the way she expresses them is. I doubt I would read it though because a) I don't like writing styles that are too fancy; plain and simple will do for me and b) although I am a teen myself I don't like that many 'teen' books so I would probably avoid this.

I can safely say that there won't be very many writers out there who haven't been through the same problems. Just ignore them and write.

It's ALWAYS possible to make an original story, so long as YOU come up with it. If I locked someone in a room at birth, and they wrote--on their own--a story about two hobbits finding a ring of power, is the story original? Of course it is.

I'm not suggesting you lock yourself in a room, but I'm suggesting you WRITE. If it happens that this so-and-so sounds like someone else's so-and-so, who cares? YOU know it's original.

It's not wildly groundbreaking, but you have a good concept with a lot of potential to develop from. The Post-it note idea sounds like it could be interesting. I also like the title.

Ha.

Original ideas. I laugh at the very word.

Imagination, a.k.a: creativity, actually implies taking images or ideas you already know and mixing them up. So in a way, it is impossible to have an original idea. On the other hand, it isn't.

I think after man has been writing for as long as he has, most ideas have been 'covered'. However, how you present an idea is rarely ever going to be exactly the same as another person. What we really see when we find our ideas aren't original is that they sound similar to something else we see.

It happens, all the time.

Your idea sound original to me. However, the post-it notes in themselves aren't necissarily going to save your story from being cliche. Lots of people write stories about people and their issues, and amazingly they above all others tend to be very, very similar, yet very, very unique. Mainly because the characters are shown to us in more detail than other types of fiction, so each and every one is different. So the way to keep your idea original is really more to keep your character original. =P

However, I have heard this post-it note idea before. Have you ever shared it with YWS before?

"Originality" is something that all writers struggle with. If its yours, and you make it your style and your story, there's no reason it can't be original. But it has to be YOURS. I'm working on a piece that is pretty YA lit-ish, but I'm trying my best to make it mine. I like the concept. You ought to look at House of Leaves and see if that fits your thinking. Its very very weird, but scattered in the way your piece seems like it will become. Hope that helps!

May I just mentioned the book 'Feeling Sorry for Celia' by Jaclyn Moriarty? It's about a girl called Elizabeth and includes post-it notes, as well as letters, notes etc.

This idea sounds a little similar to that, including character name

1. Is this story original?Have you seen something similar to it before?

First, do me a favor and think about how many book were ever written.

Now tell me how many of those you've read.

No one can ever be sure if they're story's original anyway. The goal is to keep it interesting to the reader and to keep it unique to your writing. You can make cliche look good if you write it well enough that the reader doesn't pay much attention to that side of the story.

In my opinion, your idea is original. In others' opinions, maybe not. Just keep it interesting enough so that the readers don't have a deja vu attack. ^_^

2. Wanna read it..?

Maybe! ^^

3. Have you ever faced the same troubles?

Some of them, yes. Who hasn't?

Jabber, the One and Only!

It can be very difficult to come up with something original in a way, in that many plot lines and themes have already been covered several times over, but in another way, your writing is always original in that it's your style and take on something that gives it that extra something.

I was half way through starting my last novel when my mum was reading 'We Need to Talk about Kevin', which is about a teenager in jail for murder and how he got there, and then I discovered 'Boy A' which is about a young man just getting out of prison for a murder he committed when he was younger. They both shared major ideas with my novel, but after briefly agonizing over it, I decided to look at the differences, and there were far more different and unique things about it than similarities.

However, the idea suggested is very much like 'Feeling Sorry for Ceilia' which is written entirely in post-its and notes her mum has stuck to the fridge, and the main character is called Elizabeth. However, change the character name and so long as the way the post-it note form is different, of course you could make it unique. Although there has to be something more than teenage angst and boyfriend problems; that must have been done to death a hundred times.

As long as you don't make the whole Post-It Note idea an artificial conceit that detracts from the writing, this can have potential. In fact, anything is possible in the realms of fiction, but it must be done BELIEVABLY. Make sure there is an inner logic to your ideas that readers can easily follow.

If you don't believe that your story is realistic, neither will the audience.