As I read more literature and watch more movies, one thing I realize about critically acclaimed films and books -- most of them base their stories from religion, history, etc.. Almost like an allegory... -- I was wondering if I could ever successfully write my work without incorporating history or any serious event from the real world However, I also wanted to know -- could anybody think of movies or books that were entirely made up? And still were considered successful? I mean, even the Wizard Of OZ was some sort of political allegory. Thanks.
I don't see how something like that could be written. Any situation that is written has probably happened to someone before, or could be interpreted as an allegory. You'll always have parallels, even if you don't write them consciously.
I find that the greatest work I`ve ever read is always inspired by something larger than itself. That`s what makes it so rich in theme, story, and scope.
@Danvok Yeah, I totally agree..I figured that it seems as though the better writers have parallels throughout their stories when they're least aware of it..
Every story has already been written on one form or another. But that doesn't mean every story is consciously based on another story. Our minds work on associative links, and those links include every story we've ever seen or heard or read. That is the only way we learn, by integrating our observations and perceptions with our database of previous knowledge.
The Seven Basic Plots by Christopher Booker. According to the author, there are only seven plots which all fiction is based upon. These being: Comedy tragedy re-birth overcoming the monster rags to riches the quest voyage and return I don't think these are to be taken too literally. For instance The Quest, rather than an India Jones type of scenario, could be the struggle for a working family to fight poverty. Voyage and return could be the story of an drug addict's battle to become drug free. The writer's job is to create original settings, characters and stories around these seven themes. I did read the book (most of it - it's a lengthy book) and I'd recommend it if you want to understand the anatomy of story-telling.
there are only 3 basic plot bases: man vs man man vs god man vs self these were all first 'written' on their authors' cave walls and all fiction writen since is only 'creative plagiarism'...
