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How do you handle story resemblances?



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Thu Aug 09, 2018 3:49 am
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Hattable says...



If you write stories, you're bound to find yourself caught in that rut where you realize, "Oh my god, this sounds just like [insert other media]". We've all been there, so my question was this: What similarities does your story share with other published stories? (i.e. Not someone else's WIP, but a book, movie, TV show, comic, podcast, etc.)

And, of course, how are you handling it?

--

I'm personally struggling with my main character's backstory/origin having inadvertently mirrored Star Lord's (from Marvel) in some ways, and am trying to keep the climax of his character arc from following suit.

There are other similarities throughout my WIPs, of course, but that's the one I'm mostly concerned with at the mo'.

Now tell me about yours!
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Thu Aug 09, 2018 4:06 am
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Shady says...



I fear that my MC is too similar to Kristin Cashore's "Graceling" because she also has a female assassin with a similar personality to Jerica.

Wikipedia about Graceling: "The book tells the story of Katsa, a young woman with a "Grace", or power, which enhances her fighting skills and makes her a highly efficient killer. It takes place in a world where Gracelings, or people with special powers, are identified as children by their eye colors and put in the service of the king. Katsa has been in the service of her uncle, King Randa, since she was a child, tasked with executing or torturing those who oppose or displease him. "

Meanwhile my story is about Jerica, a young woman with a special power gained through experimental injections, which enhances her fighting skills and makes her a highly efficient killer. Jerica has been in the service of her uncle, King Levin, since she was a child, tasked with executing or torturing those who oppose or displease him.

*cough*

The way I'm attempting to make it unique is by having a vastly different plot. Yes, very similar premise as far as characterization goes -- but I'm creating new problems for her to work through with supporting characters with very different personalities than the ones in Graceling. It is hard, though, not to be paranoid that you're completely ripping off someone else's idea...

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Thu Aug 09, 2018 4:18 am
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Lauren2010 says...



Similar premises aren't always a bad thing! In the publishing business, having a few strong comparison titles/stories (often just called comp titles) is a good way to give an agent or publisher an idea of what your story is like (almost as important as what it's about).

Obviously it's important to have differences, so things like setting or characters or changing up plot elements can differentiate the story enough so that you aren't copying, just writing in the same space. On the business side, it's important to know where your stories fit so you know where your readers are.

My main WIP is an apocalypse/end of the world story so I tried to be thoughtful about what elements from other similar stories I liked and wanted to use (or was inadvertently using already) and what from those stories I wanted to do better or differently in my own.
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Thu Aug 09, 2018 4:51 am
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Rosendorn says...



I... don't handle it.

Because I'm under the impression you don't need to.

By some accounts, there are only 7 basic plots in the world. Some people peg it at 20 plots. Your number of character archetypes is somewhere between 50 and 100.

Everything has been done before. In the history of stories, every story has been written. So pulling similar elements, similar arcs, etc— it's a natural progression of building a story.

The thing is, as you write it, the story becomes less and less like its outline/ structure and more and more like your story. Because as you write and edit, you come into your voice, you come into figuring out what's the exact story you want to tell.

So go ahead and borrow as many concepts as you want. That's how you figure out the shape of the story. You're only going to have so many things you can take, concepts you can have.

Then write it.

And rewrite it.

Somewhere along the way, you're just going to find that you made something pretty different. The similarities are topical, but the actual meat is wildly different.
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Thu Aug 09, 2018 7:27 am
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Lightsong says...



Dancer of the Fire Blade has been compared with Harry Potter and Avatar: The Last Airbender simply because of how significant number four is in it. -_-'

Here are the major similarities:

Students' dorms are sorted into four houses (Harry Potter)
Students' magic are based on four elements (Avatar)
Ilami comes from a powerful family (Harry Potter)

To be honest, I don't really mind. :D When you read more of my novel, you'd know the similarities are only on the surface. For example, Harry's parents are dead; Ilami's aren't. He loves them; Ilami... not so much. James and Lily are prominent students in Hogwarts; Venaria and her husband basically own the Quasar Magica Academy.

I guess as long as I know my novel is unique in its own way while also can be related to others, I don't mind the comparison people make for it. Maybe it'll help to spread the story around. :^)
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Thu Aug 09, 2018 12:01 pm
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Vervain says...



This has been alternately driving me crazy and making me love my work even more.

The Autumn Door is an Arthurian legend story. But most of the elements I'm borrowing aren't actually from Arthur retellings - though those are easily in my top 10 categories of books - but other books in my favorite genres. I'm borrowing from YA urban fantasy in particular, especially with the newfound/revived concepts of American Gothic, and a bit from high fantasy with my worldbuilding.

So the way I handle it is to remind myself that... hey, they're published, right? So someone obviously likes representing these novels, these novels sell, and I have a comparison point with an actually published work.

Another way to handle it is to outright acknowledge the borrowing. "I'm borrowing this from Hitchhikers, this from H.G. Wells, this from Mary Shelley" and all of a sudden you have a story that only you could have put together.
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Thu Aug 09, 2018 4:52 pm
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TheSilverFox says...



Haha I can't begin to list the number of things I've accidentally borrowed from/imitated.

Katerina? Where have I ever seen that name before?

The main trio? That's totally original.

That well-defended city nestled up against mountains? Obvs not done before.

What happens to that well-defended city? *shrug*

A group of countries organized in a loose confederacy, each with a huge hatred for its neighbors and all ruled by a weak central state that has claims to both political and religious authority? Better open those history books, kids.

An international, violent conflict born out of hatred and faith, which rapidly spirals out of control and radically changes a continent's politics/kills way too many people? Duh.

Aaand there's probably a million other things that I'm not going to realize until hindsight comes across and smacks me upside the head. But hey, I'm not concerned. This story started out as fanfiction a loooooong time ago (of this), and I know that some aspects of the source material are still lurking around in the background. At least I'm not doing it on purpose anymore, which I find comforting. xD

In any case, I've spent the last couple years writing/radically changing that story until I figured out what story I wanted to write, and it doesn't resemble any of the source material anymore. And that boiled down to patience, experimentation, and reading a whole lot. The last one is especially important - you're going to end up borrowing from what you read, sure, but it gives you a bigger basis to write your own story. The more plotlines and characters you know, the more you can blend them together and produce something unique. And, well, the better you can write.
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Thu Aug 09, 2018 9:50 pm
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ChieTheWriter says...



*looks at my medieval fantasy story*

Maybe it's just because I'm a nerd but I keep seeing elements from The Lord of the Rings in there. Again it's probably just me but still. the whole "group of people need to defeat dark lord" kinda thing...it's stereotypical of a fantasy story like that. How I deal with that is just make the characters interesting, make the plot itself as original as possible and as interesting as possible. As long as he's a well-written story and it's interesting and people love it, it doesn't matter if it's a little cliche. Idk.
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Mon Oct 01, 2018 1:01 pm
ewolf20 says...



someone had compared a story i pitched to the dragonriders of pern at some point, mainly the point out the similarities despite a few differences here and there. really it doesn't matter so long as you make it your own.
  





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Mon Oct 01, 2018 5:19 pm
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Tenyo says...



I decide that great minds think alike, the early bird gets the worm but the second mouse gets the cheese. Take time to appreciate the work that's similar to mine, imitate the things I particularly like about it and write a better version of the things I don't.

I used to have this awful 'scrap everything and start again' response to my work being compared to others, but then I decided that I am similar to my friends because we have shared interests, however we both serve different purposes within our community because we both have different temperaments and ways of doing things.

I may end up with a plot that is almost identical to someone else's, but somewhere out there is a person who would much rather read my hyperbolised, sensory based, so-dark-it's-almost-creepy version of it.
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