Young Writers Society

I'm thinking about a story where a person gets the power to look at himself as a third person.

While he is working, his reflection can see what he is doing and it records his actions which he views when he is alone. It's is basically a comedy-drama which deals with themes like unemployment, low self esteem and business ethics as the story is set in business world.

Before starting any characterisation, I wanted to just get a general opinion about the theme. Do you think it is unique?

Why do you care about unique?

A good story is not "unique" in any semblance of the matter. This is especially true for themes, because there are only so many themes that exist on the planet, and humanity has been crafting stories for as long as we've had the brainpower to do so. Every theme on the planet has been written about a thousand times.

Unique is not any measure of quality. It doesn't tell me how creative the writer is, how well the theme is executed, how logical the story is, how interesting and/or relatable the characters are, or any metric I look at to determine if the story is any good. In fact, I'm more likely to find a writer good if they can take a very well used theme and execute it well.

Unique is arbitrary and subjective. What is unique to one person is the single most overused cliche to another. Everybody measures it differently. Some people define it as "true uniqueness" as in something that has literally never appeared before (at least in recent history), and some people define it as "what clever twist did this person put on an old theme".

Unique is the holy grail of writers who do not want to write but instead want to be famous. They think that if the story is unique, or epic, or "literary" enough, then they will rocket to the top of the "classics" list and be immortalized.

Classics are not written by people trying to write classics. Classics are written by people who write books. If you interview the so called great authors of our time, you'll find none of them actually set out to write something that was held up in esteem. You'll find, time and again, they were writing to pay the bills. They were writing because they wanted to.

They were written by people who forgot all about the whole concept of "unique" or "epic" or "classic" and just wrote what they wanted to read.

Why join the ranks of forgotten authors who tried too hard, made works that couldn't sell, and are forgotten to history? Because their ranks are dominated by those who were obsessed over those who went after unique.

I'm sorry, but you're insulting me.

Unique is the holy grail of writers who do not want to write but instead want to be famous.

You're imposing your views, rather forcing them down my throat.If you think uniqueness doesn't matter, it's your opinion, but here you go around bashing my viewpoint.

I don't see how Rosey is insulting you up there. Nor did they at any point "force" their views down your throat—it's simple, honest feedback.

Tell me, have you ever read a book by an author whose sole goal was to be unique and "new"? Because I can tell you, I've read a few, and they've sucked. Bad. All they care about is the "uniqueness" of the theme and presentation, and they gave no thought to what makes a classic or even just a good book: Readability and timelessness.

Why should I care about the themes you've presented in your first post? I've seen them everywhere—unemployment? I'm actually writing a speculative fiction novel about the terrors of being a disabled worker facing unemployment in a harsh economy. Low self-esteem? What author HASN'T covered that? Business ethics? I don't know, you could probably find at least a shelf of those at your local bookstore.

The point is, the themes don't have to be "unique". The presentation style doesn't have to be "new and different". Your search for uniqueness clouds the thing about writing: In order for people to like it, it has to be good.

Whether good means "interesting", "well-written", "puts a nice twist on things", that's up for you to figure out based on your target audience.

In the meantime, let me tell you about an author named Terry Goodkind. If you've heard of the TV show Legend of the Seeker, that was based off his book series The Sword of Truth.

Now, the Sword of Truth is based in a world full of magic, wizards, epic quests, legendary heroes destined to either destroy the world or save it—a world nothing like our own, except like Europe set in a vaguely medieval time period, sounding like a fantasy series yet?

If you just answered yes to that, Terry Goodkind personally hates you. Because he spent years insisting that his series was not fantasy, that his series was "unique", that his series was something "the world has never seen before". He believed that fantasy was dead, bogged down by silly things like worldbuilding, and that his series was going to revolutionize the face of the industry.

It went over like a lead balloon. It sucks. The writing is horrible for the sake of being "artistic", the main characters are horrible people (without it ever being acknowledged, at all) for the sake of being "unique", and the author is the most pretentious piece of garbage I've ever had the misfortune to read an interview by.

And literally no one cares that it's "not fantasy". Because it's fantasy.

No one cares that it's "unique". Because nothing's really unique. They've seen it before, and they'll see it again.

Let that be your warning.

You asked for feedback. I gave you feedback. All of what I said is my own experience with writers obsessed about uniqueness, built from dozens of writers who never write two words because it's "not unique enough" and they're trying to find the single most unique thing ever. When you're so hung up on something you refuse to write, then there's something off in this picture.

I called it the holy grail for a reason— it's unattainable to have a story be at its core, at its premise unique, for a bunch of factors I've already listed. It's also something held up by popular works; basically every famous novel I've ever seen promoted is called "unique", which is why it's so tempting to go for that as a metric to guide your writing. I was simply saying that, in my experience, it harms your writing more than it helps. Because the building blocks of writing are never unique.

If you want more feedback, I'll give it to you: your premise sounds somewhat interesting, but I have no way of knowing how you'll execute it, therefore "interesting" is simply a tentative approval that it might end up good.

If that sounds like an insult, I'll break down a few more premises.

- Child sees his parents murdered, deals with the trauma by attempting to stamp out crime in his city in a bat costume because he believes it'll make him scarier to criminals, themes of how to recover and what is kindness (Batman)

- Different-sex clone from a mutant is trained to be the perfect killer and discovers the organization who raised her is evil, themes of found family and rebuilding your life after abuse (X-23, a popular enough character to get her own run of books)

- Boy discovers he has magic and is forced to adapt to a brand new world that he's supposed to fit in but doesn't, really, especially after being abused, themes of loyalty and honour (Harry Potter)

- Two brothers make a mistake that costs them dearly, are now on a quest to fix their mistake, themes of dealing with the aftermath of war, imperialism, and trauma (Fullmetal Alchemist, wildly considered to be one of the best mangas/animes of all time)

- Boy grows up isolated and bullied by his peers in a forest, only to be called on by the protector of the forest that he's the chosen hero and must go on a quest to stop evil, themes of fixing your mistakes and not having a true home, only scraps of friendship in a few key places (Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, wildly considered to be one of the best video games of all time)

Here are the three things in common with those premises:

- They're all from wildly popular series
- They're all using super common themes
- They're all, at their core, generic as all get out

But they resonate with people in ways that other works don't, not because they have some special "never seen before" unique feature. They use all the same stuff as every other story out there. But they have magic to them because the writer focused on making a well thought out story, with strong characters, a relatable situation, with themes that fit in with the narrative.

I would go so far as to say the reason these stories are so popular is because they are so generic at their core. People know what these situations feel like. They might not've been traumatized the same way as Batman, but they understand people hurting the ones you love and wanting to make sure it never happens again. They might never have been on a quest to save the world, but they understand wanting to protect a handful of people in it.

Readers understand things like atonement, or revenge, or recovery from rough times, or self esteem issues. These are part of daily life for most of us, and seeing them in stories validates our own experiences. They give us a channel to relate to the characters, to have compassion, to really feel like the world is real.

So is your story unique? No. This is an incredibly good thing. This means people will relate to the themes presented and will have an easier time connecting with it. If the themes were genuinely unique, then nobody would know what to make of them.

Embrace having your story be generic, and stop chasing after something that has no weight. Your story will be "unique" because you wrote it and nobody else could write it the way you did. That's the only place unique actually exists.

But you don't get there by forcing yourself. You get there by writing your story the way you want to write it, forgetting about what readers think. All writers held up as "unique" so try to do is tell a story that they like, in the hopes other people will.

And they end up doing it brilliantly, in their own unique way. Without ever having to ask the question "is it unique enough?"

Hello , I didn't actually read your theme but I just wanted to say I agree with Rosey ... And have learned a lot about how I write from what was said . I've never written a story because I wanted to be the next J.K. Rowling ... But I think I'll try now , just because I want to .

Sorry was on my phone . I think your story will be fascinating and you really could do a lot with it ! Unique is determined by what YOU do with a simple topic . As a writer , you're an artist ... You take words and you make them do things that no other person on the planet can do quite like you . Your hair never falls in quite the same way , no one will ever make a perfect replica of the Mona Lisa , no one will ever write just like you . A cool thing for character development I read on "writing gooder" was to make a play list for your character 10-12 songs , what they'd buy , their favorite food , and just think about them outside your story before putting them in your story . Don't just write about someone who exists only in the words you write but someone you've created a whole life for ! Sounds pretty fun and if you spend a lot of time writing , developing , editing , and getting opinions ... You can only improve ~

Good luck

At the end of the day, you have to write what you want to write. If you get caught up in what you think others want to read or what's trending now, you're going to have a harder time. If you don't like your work, then who else is going to like your work?

If you're passionate about this idea and this story, then write it. The others are right, the themes you mentioned are not unique, but this is not necessarily a bad thing. I've never read a story where "a person gets the power to look at himself as a third person", and where "his reflection can see what he is doing and it records his actions which he views when he is alone." That sounds cool! It sort of reminds me of It's a Wonderful Life, but it's different.

The way I read your original post, you want to feel out this idea before you waste any time working on it if it turns out to not be "good enough". To me, there is no wasted time with writing. Let's say you write this novel, you let it sit for a while, read it over and decide you don't like the idea anymore. (That's happened to me sooo many times, and I'm sure the same can be said for many). So are all of those hours you spent thinking about the world and the characters and plot and writing this story wasted? Absolutely not. Even if you change your mind and decide you don't like the story or it's not going anywhere, that time you spent working on it is valuable practice for the next cool idea you get. The more your write and the more you practice, the better you get.

Bottom line: if you like your idea and you think your idea has promise, then keep working on it and see what happens.

A quick addendum to what @Carlito said: Even if you write it and don't like it, you can reuse bits and pieces of that story in your other works. I know of several published authors who use their early novels that aren't good enough to be published as an idea ground, and amazing stories have led from that.

So yeah, I'd say go for it. Just have some fun.

Look, @DrFeelGood, @Rosendorn has a good point here. Uniqueness is not the sole quality of a good idea; it's just one of many aspects that makes the story have appeal. Still, I can't help but agree with the good doctor that the response could have been put in a less patronizing tone. It's not intentionally mean, but it is at least a little disrespectful if it's taken the wrong way.

And actually, I really doubt that the original question was even meant to be taken like that. To me, at least, it sounds less like a begging for opinions and more of an actual question. I mean, I've gotten halfway through a novel only to find that there is a TV show with the exact same plot . -_- Yay. Yeah, that idea went down the drain.

So everybody please just be nice to each other. I love all the peoples of YWS, so don't get into a huge argument. :3 Thanks!

@CuriosityCat, for starters, nothing is above criticism -- especially when it's a question posted openly like this.

We're criticizing the quest for uniqueness because it is a MUCH larger problem than the ideas presented in the first post. Why care about uniqueness? Write the ideas your own way, no matter how "generic" they are, if you really love them.

The quest for uniqueness can and will negatively affect writing skill and enjoyment of ideas, which is why the response was the way it was. Why should we criticize the ideas when it's the underlying mindset that's the problem?

@Arkhaion, I have to reply because that entire thing was patently missing the point. How exactly was that a "quest for uniqueness"? I understand that the ridiculous idea of every idea being unique is a problem, but not one of you has answered the original question. The original post was not "I want every single thing I write to be utterly unique so please tell me if that is a good thing". It was @DrFeelGood wondering if his new idea is unique, asking for feedback. All he got was rude retorts and disrespect.

And since no one else is going to say this because they are to busy arguing over the P's and Q's of storytelling, I will: Yes, doctor. Yes, your idea is unique, and I think you should definitely write it out and make a great story from it. Just make sure it is not only unique. Make sure you put in all of your evidently overflowing creativity and writing skills into it. THAT is the reply that should have been posted. THAT is one of the answers. Yes or no. Simple as that.

@CuriosityCat, I think you're missing the point in my reply.

My point was, uniqueness is absolutely irrelevant.

Nothing is unique while at the same time everything is unique, and there is no measure at all that will give an answer to the question. You think the idea is unique, Ark and I do not— so who's right? None of us are. Once the story's written, it could end up sounding like everything else that deals with those themes, or it could end up having this absolutely perfect storm of qualities that make me say "wow, this is really clever". But there is no way of knowing that at the idea stage.

Simply by asking if the idea was unique, as some sort of measure for whether or not the story is worth writing, as something you do before the story is written, that in and of itself is a quest for uniqueness. It wastes the writer's time because by the nature of storytelling the answer is both "yes" and "no." Yes, the story will be unique, because it was written by a unique person. No, it will not be unique, because everybody's working with the same tropes, themes, and concepts in their writing.

Part of giving advice is addressing the larger context of the question. It might mean you don't get a direct answer, but the best advice I've ever gotten is "why are you even asking this?" because it forces me to examine my motives. I realize I'd gotten hung up on something that has no bearing on the work, and it was taking up so much mental energy I couldn't write. It might not be advice I wanted to hear, but it was most certainly advice I needed to hear.

I pointed out there is absolutely no value in uniqueness as a concept and asked people to question their motives for worrying about uniqueness, with my own experience in dealing with writers who even bother asking the question "is it unique". Popular writers don't ask that question. They're a tad too busy actually writing the thing and worrying over whether or not people will like it.

So again. Why do you care if the work is unique?

Well... As I was saying...

Looks fairly unique! Haven't really heard of anything like that personally, and sounds interesting. Sorry that most of the replies here aren't too encouraging .-.

Why care about uniqueness? Write the ideas your own way

This is ironic. The latter point contradicts the first one in the case if writing ideas my own way included wanting to be original. Uniqueness can be easily approximated when a large crowd is asked. Which is what this writer is asking for, and to which there seems to have only been one direct answer so far.

I have not read anything like this idea, @DrFeelGood, so that's a yes from me. However, I must question its use: is writing from a third person perspective really any different than writing a mirror's reflection point of view? Is there a deeper point to it?