There is a myth a few really believe. It is the Myth of Originality.
Let’s pop a bubble. There are no new stories. I’ve seen a few stabs at a truly new story, of course. Those experiments are often bloody awful and unrelatable adventures amongst amoebas dwelling in the rings of Saturn. Screw amoebas.
Plots round the same bases all the time:
1. Good versus Evil.
2. Boy gets Girl (and variations thereof).
That’s okay. When a reader complains a story is unoriginal, they probably really mean that it is derivative. Unoriginal and derivative are two different things. It’s derivative if it overshoots homage, feels too much like something familiar while falling short of plagiarism. No story fails on unoriginality alone or all movies of the last few years would be failures.
What readers want is originality in execution, a unique voice and an uncommon angle or viewpoint. You’ll either give it to them or you…
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