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Discovering your Story has been done before

Zireael

Troubadour
Go back far enough and everything has been done before, so you shouldn't worry much about it.

So true. My university prof has been saying it for a year in a literature studies course.
 
These days, I try to be preemtive about this, so I make of point of having my stories resemble other stories that I like, deliberatelly. I find that this is a more honest approach that saves me a lot of stress.

Thankfully, I haven't discovered that my story hs been done before, but I weep for you guys that have. Truly, I do.

Don't pity those who fail to achieve absolute originality. Pity those who think they have to strive for it.
 

Penpilot

Staff
Article Team
These days, I try to be preemtive about this, so I make of point of having my stories resemble other stories that I like, deliberatelly. I find that this is a more honest approach that saves me a lot of stress.

You know there's a lot to be said to doing this. My current work, I deliberately set out to write something that I thought wouldn't be too original because I figured it would take some pressure off so I could focus on just telling an interesting story and writing it well.

As it turns out, things turned out more unique than I thought they would. My own spin on standard tropes produced something I really like, and if my writing group is to be believed, fresh and original. Sooo, the way I figure things now, I just write what ever the story IS and let the originality chips fall where they may.
 

Addison

Auror
"It's not what you do, but how you do it." I forget who originally said that. Who ever it was made a great point. From the beginning of publishing there has been stories of murder, romance, princesses locked in towers. But everyone still reads these stories despite them being done a hundred times over. Why? Becaues of the author. They add their own flavor to the story with their own vision, their imagination, voice and style.
Don't worry if you read the back cover of a book and think "It's like my book". Because it's not. Different author, different story.
 
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