Hi! I am working on a story with the primary characters are magical, sort of like witches or faeries. I want to base them as either Irish or Celtic and I am running into issues with the two being so closely related that I can't seperate the lore. At the same time, I don't want to steal anything from another story, which is equally as hard since everything has been written before. I have my plot, my villians, and heros. I know what is going to happen, I am just getting hung up with the names and the background. Any ideas where to find research material? (There is just so much that I get bogged down.) Is it wrong to write them as faeries or witches since they have been used so often? Or should I create some being similar to the two and just rename them? Any advice or guidance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much for your time! -Danijay
You said it yourself: it's all been done before. Just write the story you have envisioned. No one will blame you if it has witches and faeries in it, as long as the story itself isn't exactly like some other story with witches and faeries in it. And call them witches and faeries; there's no reason not to.
It so easy to fall into the pool of research. Give yourself a finite period of research time and then put it all down to write. Everything else was covered nicely by Real.
As Phantasmal Reality and Nike said: Just Do It. There really is no such thing as an original story idea. Even if you pull it from research, you're borrowing ideas. Write your story, and make it entertaining. Place your own focus on the tale, whether it be humor, horror, or whimsical wonder. Make your characters sparkle - not literally, unless that's your thing, but make them vivid and interesting.
