One of my favorite book series is an old book series called twitches which was made into a Disney channel original movie that is very loosely based on the series. Since around my senior year of high school I have been inspired to write a similar story about twins with magical powers separated for their protection only to meet again and have to face some bad guy. However I have been told that this idea has been used too many times and come to think about it, it has. So I'm kind of wondering if this idea is overdone and should I start obsessing over one of my other ideas instead.
Many ideas have been "used too many times". Doesn't stop people writing Gothic horror, teenage angst, bad boy makes good, ooh - I seem to have been transported to another dimension or the end of the world is nigh stories. So you are going to have to work out how to come at it from a different angle.
You're right many ideas have been used too many times and I could always throw in my other ideas into the story somehow to make it even more unique.
There is no formula for different angles. A very good example is the Worst Witch stories and the Harry Potter ones. Both follow the progress of a child through a school of wizardry, and they could not be more different.
I wasn't thinking that they would be separated by social services especially since my plan is for the twins to be separated for protection against some evil person, but maybe that's too much like the twitches series. But then again I want there to be some fantasy action so there has got to be an antagonist somehow.
Perhaps you really need to try and get the twitches out of your head otherwise you are going to just create an imitation that will not be the like the original, and that will invariably be disappointing. The other option is to try and write some fan fiction based on it. Take a point in the story and create a new situation with the main characters. Alternatively take the point of view of a subsidiary character observing an event. Remember that for the other character, they have their own life and are not obsessed with minutely observing your main characters. They lives merely cross at a certain point. They may not even like your main characters. Doing this gets you started in that area, but you are not automatically starting at the same place so you are not comparing yourself to the original author. Just an idea.
Try reading lots of other stuff even if it's completely unlike your idea so you change your focus.Then if you change and adapt your original idea it will come to seem less like an imitation.
Yeah my idea is probably way too much like the twitches series. I guess for now I should take a break on it and work on one of my other ideas as well as read more. It might even help to watch more TV as TV shows can be a source of inspiration too.
I think I have started writing more because there is nothing of interest on the television. As a source of inspiration I would rank it very low. Television went down hill after "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" finished.
virtually every idea has been done or even overdone, since humans first started telling stories... the trick to succeeding is to do it with a new twist/fresh characters/in different settings...
Couldn't have said it better myself! As far as your story idea, and keeping it seperate and original, something I try to do when I realize my idea is too much like another, is to take just the key elements (in your case two magigal siblings seperated for protection). And then take another idea for a story, and write them in as the main charcters, changing the story little by little to fit with the new main characters. It may not work for everyone, but in one of my short stories I am writing I did that. When my main character and original idea seemed too much like Resident Evil (the movie). I took the character and the evil corporation and tossed them both into a whole other idea I had for a story. It's been working well so far, nearly 3/4 finished at this point and it's still creepy.
There's no such thing as an overused idea. There are only poorly executed variations. If all you envision is a retread of the stories you remember, then perhaps you should leave it alone. But if there is an angle on it that you wished was there but was not, then maybe you have something worth exploring.
Reading the description of your premise gave me an idea: what if the twins were separated for the protection of others or themselves? Meaning, what if... when you put them together, either something would happen (like the magical equivalent of two substances that explode when they touch... although they don't have to explode, but something bad or destructive might happen, harming either the twins, those around them, or everyone within a certain distance... or it could be some less tangible "magical" harm) or they would react to each other somehow and change, maybe turn evil or some such. This would mean that no matter how badly they'd want to be together, they never could. Or they couldn't touch one another, which could be used as a plot device (something happens or someone does something that causes them to accidentally touch each other = bad stuff happens). Or maybe this dangerous thing would happen after a certain age (like when they reach puberty), so their guardians chose to separate them at birth so they wouldn't have to be torn apart when they're still a tad too young to understand the repercussions of what would happen if they stayed together. Just an idea born from me misunderstanding the premise (of them having been separated to protect them). Feel free to use, if you don't, I just might (some day in the distant future when the 1000th draft of my and Kat's current WIP is finally finished).
I read your post with Star Wars VI playing in the background, so... Anyway, it's used often because it's a good idea. As long as you make it your own and write it well, I honestly don't think anyone would care. They'd be too busy enjoying the story
If it makes you feel any better Twitches essentially seems to even be a copy of Star Wars. E.G. Obi Wan Kenobi takes Luke and Leia (both Jedi) and separates them by hiding them on different planets all so their father, Darth Vader, an evil Sith Lord, can't find them.
