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Story Individuality Issues?



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Wed Sep 21, 2016 7:02 pm
AnarchyWolf says...



I've just finished outlining a story and am about to begin writing it, but I'm a little concerned about it being too reminiscent of others in its genre. It's a problem I've noticed quite frequently when I outline concepts and plots, so it'd be good if I could have some more opinions on this?

The very basic outline is as follows: six human teenagers are abducted by aliens and forced to overthrow a tyrannical alien empire by piloting huge sentient robot dragons.

There are explainable and - I hope - believable reasons behind the fact that they're human teenagers, that they're forced into it, and that their warships are big sentient dragon robots, but I'm worried it's too close to others with similar premises?
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Wed Sep 21, 2016 7:12 pm
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Rosendorn says...



Short answer: Everything and nothing is original, so you're fine

Long answer: There are only so many plots that exist, period. There are only so many premises that exist, period. Everything is derivative of something, and if you look hard enough then there are parallels between any two stories ever written, crossing all genre boundaries, time periods, and languages.

But you, your own unique perspective, is original. Nobody else is you. Nobody else can tell that story exactly the way you can. Therefore, the story will be an individual, because an individual wrote it.

Unless you're lifting whole paragraphs and exact arcs from one story to the next (like... in an old draft of one of my stories, I had a magic fever that was going to attack everyone to drain the healers before it struck the core target: protagonist's love interest, and of course protagonist was hiding her magic so as not to draw attention to herself; this is exactly one arc in Song of the Lioness, The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce), you're fine. And even then, it has happened where extraordinarily derivative works are published (50 Shades, anyone?). It's just a very unethical practice to lift whole exact word for word concepts from stuff you've already read. But general premises? That's something nobody can copyright or trademark.

You can have good/evil magic users with a special organization for each side in space without it being Star Wars. You just can't call them Jedi and Sith or have a character named Skywalker, and they can't wield lightsabers nor can there be a Death Star.

Similarity to others in the genre is how you get a foot in the door. Your own unique voice is how you get sold.
A writer is a world trapped in a person— Victor Hugo

Ink is blood. Paper is bandages. The wounded press books to their heart to know they're not alone.
  





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Wed Sep 21, 2016 8:20 pm
AnarchyWolf says...



@Rosendorn thank you for such a quick and comprehensive answer! It really helped. I'm not lifting paragraphs, characters, scenes, or plot arcs from anywhere, so I should be okay. I can't wait to start writing it!
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Sat Sep 24, 2016 12:51 am
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Kale says...



Just be careful that you don't have too many distinguishable parallels between your sources of inspiration and your own work. Tropes and cliches are par for the course, but particular sequences of tropes and cliches strung together, especially when paired with certain configurations of character archetypes, toe the line between genre conventions and rip-offs of the latest and most popular work in said genre.

Not that I think you'll have to worry about that, because characterization goes a very long way in rendering otherwise-obvious parallels less obvious. Character motivations are a great way to justify almost anything, especially since they lead your readers to the same conclusions as the characters in the sense of "yeah, that arc/plot point/moment might be cliche, but with how the characters are, it couldn't have played out any other way".

So, if in doubt, make sure your characters are strong and driving the events/reactions via their motivations.
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Sat Sep 24, 2016 11:08 am
AnarchyWolf says...



@Kyllorac thank you for the advice! I'll be sure to take it into account. The plot is largely driven by characters' actions, so hopefully that'll help.
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Sat Sep 24, 2016 4:49 pm
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Rosendorn says...



To build on that... don't expect the first draft to be free of those issues.

That is one of those things to edit out in later drafts. Your first draft could have carbon copies of characters from other works, and that's okay. You use it as a starting point and figure out who they are later.

Individuality issues is something that is for later. If you start noticing yourself being derivative in a first draft, don't worry! You'll be editing it later. You'll probably be editing it very heavily later. Just make notes of it when you're editing that you need to change stuff that's too close to other works.

In short, it's impossible to judge the originality of ideas, and first drafts are probably going to have elements of other things despite your best intentions because you're still trying to find your voice! So long as you remove those similarities in the editing stage, you're fine.
A writer is a world trapped in a person— Victor Hugo

Ink is blood. Paper is bandages. The wounded press books to their heart to know they're not alone.
  





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Sat Sep 24, 2016 6:24 pm
AnarchyWolf says...



@Rosendorn thank you!
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The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what Fiction means.
— Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest