Young Writers Society

So one of my favorite movies is Princess Mononoke (its animated, and several years old, but still better than a lot of what comes out today). So, I was watching it and something occurred to me. The most important theme of the movie is nature vs. the destructiveness of humanity, but also present is simply the nature of humanity. The movie raises an interesting point, and as a very good set up to get it across, but doesn't follow through as much.

I thought it would be cool to use the same set up and deliver on that theme, but I don't want to simply re-write that story. So the dilemma is on how to make the story my own. The basic set up of the story is very cliched at this time (cursed prince seeking redemption) so how do you make an old, overused plot your own?

ZOMG, Princess Mononoke! *spaz*

As for your question, I think a lot of it has to do with characters and setting. Running with your example of Mononoke, some of what makes that movie so amazing are the characters. They are all so multidimensional and memorable. They are real people. We care about them rather than their parts in the classic storylines.

Also, setting. The setting for Mononoke is something most Western audiences haven't seen before, making it original for us. We've seen the story before, but we haven't seen it in this setting, so we are curious.

With sufficiently original characters and treatment used in a story, you can actually forget or not even notice that the story you are following has been done a thousand times before.

My rule of thumb for reusing old tropes is to ask, "Why would a reader choose to read this take on old tropes, instead of the original?"

If you have a compelling answer to that question, you're ready to jump in. If not, you might need to think a little more about the unique aspects of your story.