I'm struggling

yeah... I wrote several books, one of which was a guy descended from dragons who has to help a goddess find all the remaining dragons... and then Skyrim came out. I don't think there are any unique ideas, just an infinite number of ways to re-tell and change old concepts. Or maybe you heard of my WiP? yeah, they made it into a TV series called "Borgias" haha. Wish I'd seen that before I wrote it. Maybe I could have done without the religious leader antag and the assassinations and renaissance Italy. Oh well.

I think if you have a good idea, you run with it and make it your own. If beta readers have concerns, they'll tell you and you'll know it's too much like something out there.

 

I usually find when my ideas seem too close to another writer's it's because I haven't developed them fully. Once I actually sit down and start doing the work, that changes. Characters take shape, form their own lives and back-stories, plots morph into something unrecognizable from the original seed (to anyone but me at least).

Thing is, it's normal to feel what you're feeling. Any artist worth their salt steals ideas all the time. I've heard it said that originality is only undetectable plagiarism. There's truth in there. We steal things, mash them together with others, mince them up into something fresh. That's my process at least.

So, my advice...don't sweat it. Sit down and start actually working the ideas. Let them change and combine under the influence of your vision. That's what creates originality.

 

When you take the basics of any story, it's always going to sound a little or a lot like something else. As mentioned above, the magic is in what you do with that idea. In fact a lot of times that's how we describe a story, how it's like another story but a little different. It's Star Wars with dragons--Eragon. It's Jaws, but in space--Alien.

Speaking of Alien if you take the basic foundation of Alien, Jaws, Friday the 13th, it's pretty much the same basic story. Each has a monster stalking innocent people. Each takes place in a confined or area. Each deals with sin. Etc.

And finally, take Quentin Tarantino. The guy has made a career of stealing from those who came before. Only the term he uses is paying homage.

Just write the story. Worry about originality later.

 

krunchee: If you're finding your writing is becoming too similar to other things you've read in fantasy, I recommend delving into your real life or even history. Your own life is unique from other people's. Have you met anyone weird or who has always stuck with you? He or she could be your main character? Ever had an exciting or interesting experience. Why not make that part of your plot?

I also think if you make your ideas smaller, you may find they're more different than you think. My story about a farm boy fighting a dragon could be different than your story about a farm boy fighting a dragon. Take it one step further. What if it's a farm girl? What if the girl is dying and needs to drink dragon's blood to cure herself? What if dragons are harmless, yet the humans use their blood to cure their ailments? What if the farm girl is actually a robot girl and she needs dragon blood to power her reactor core? This is all stuff I just came up with by riffing. Some of it can be good, some of it bad. Depends on how you approach it.

You can always spin an idea that sounds too familiar with your own experiences or things you've seen in the news. For me, I think inspiration comes best from these (in no particular order):

1. Life
2. Fiction (reading)
3. News
4. History

Sometimes just sitting down and thinking, "What interesting people have I met in my life?" and writing down what you come up with can be better than world-building a whole world or coming up with an epic fantasy plot. Try one brick at a time rather than just plopping a whole house down.

Hope any of that helps.

 

It can't possibly be too similar to something you've already read until you have actually written it. Until then, the similarity is just an idea in your head.

You should try, just once, to go ahead and write it anyway. Maybe the end product will be derivative, even plodding. But you'll still learn something about your own art along the way.

Think about it this way. What if a songwriter came up with this great idea for a song, but then though oh, that's a 12-bar blues progression, that's been done. Or, what if a painter thought, oh landscapes have been done, I couldn't possibly do one of those.

Don't let imagined similarities keep you from real, completed work.