Most writers have written a story (or
at least started on it) just to see a similar plot on a made-for-TV movie or on
the book jacket of some other author’s just released book. It’s frustrating
just thinking that YOUR idea was somehow “stolen”; the truth is that there are
probably other writers, before you, who would think the same thing about you.
There are really only so many stories
or plots and they keep getting re-written with each new writer making it her
own. A good example of this is Romeo and Juliet versus West Side Story; both
stories involve forbidden loves with rival families/gangs and both stories end
tragically with death. Using the setting, time period, secondary characters
(and some spin-off stories) the tales really aren’t the same after all.
Author Christopher Booker listed
seven basic plots in a book of the same name as: 1 Overcoming the Monster; 2 Rags
to Riches; 3 The Quest; 4 Voyage and Return; 5 Comedy; 6 Tragedy; and 7 Rebirth.
Even the bigger mass market romance publishers have described romances as “boy
meets girl, boy loses girl, boy wins girl back.” The romance genre could be
applied to each pf the basic plots the same way other genres such as tragedy,
science-fiction, historical, fantasy, crime, thriller, etc. Using sub-genres can
modify each story even more such as medical, LGBT, suspense and more.
Write your story, create your
characters, make your own scenes — don’t stop just because someone else wrote a
“similar” story. Be careful because there is the possibility you have read a
story that stayed with you even in your subconscious and you don’t want to plagiarize,
but don’t let fear of a similar plot destroy the story that YOU have to tell.
Add a different twist, include a sub-plot within the story, and tell it the way
YOU want to tell it.
Writing
Exercise: Write an alternate ending for
a story, TV show, or movie that you recently read/saw that left you “wanting”.
Writing
Prompt: Make a list of similar stories that you’ve read, include as many as you
can think of (up to 10); next list some of the most obvious differences between
the similar stories.
Writing
Challenge: Choose a genre and a plot that you would like to write a short story
about. NOW, choose two to three main characters who have appeared in other
stories (no more than one character from each story). Write this story of at
least 1,000 words.
