I realized that 2 of my big WIPs have one big similarities: the MCs see dead people. Im upset with myself for going this long without seeing the similarities. One WIP i've finished,and the other im 137 pages in. The plots are different.... The one thats finished: MC is guided by a spirit that helps her make sense of the unknown. The other: MC finds out her imaginary friend is the ghost of her dead mom that may be using her for revenge (going with the idea that once a person dies, they lose their humanity, and their soul is just mass of emotions fueled by memories of their life... The MC's mother is a mass of rage, depression, and sorrow and my MC sees glimpses of how her mom dies and seeks to avenge her) Even though the plots are different, its still "MC sees/communicates with dead people"... Is this bad? Am i a one trick pony?????
I think it depends on how similar the stories are. There's nothing wrong with using similar ideas. Artists often have themes that run through an entire period of their work, and they're exploring the idea in different ways. Many albums have songs with similar or even the same theme, again, explored in different ways. The problem would be if you're writing essentially the same story twice.
Meh. Didn't hurt Neil Gaiman. Aside from I won't read another one of his books because they're all the same. Not that they're bad or anything, but his schtick grows tired quickly.
Why not turn it into a strength? Make these stories take place in a shared universe, where you're looking at different aspects of the ghosts in each story. Throw in a character or two who pops up in both stories, and you're no longer writing two stories but instead building a shared world.
I don't see anything wrong with that at all. The plots don't sound particularly similar, and the MCs don't sound particularly similar. It actually sounds to me like the two stories each explore opposite aspects of a similar phenomenon -- one basically positive, one basically negative.
This reminds me of something... now what was it? Oh yeah! I remember. This guy one time wrote 2 plays about regicide (the killing of a king) and how it led to more murders and insanity. He called one Hamlet and the other MacBeth. I don't recall anybody accusing him of being a one trick pony.
Ok now i can finally respond (been a looooong day): I guess i panicked a little when i opened up my WIP which id put on pause while i finished up my other one, and saw the same theme. The plots ARE different (one is adventure and the other was described as "domestic fantasy" by a beta)... The dead people are different (one dies when he lead his people astray and they killed him, the other kills herself)..... My MCs are different too. I just dont understand why my brain skews that way. @Homer Potvin , The only Gaiman ive read was American Gods.... And ive seen Coraline. @Storysmith different worlds Ones on a different planet, the other is a fantasy version of "Earth" Totally forgot about him. I think i read a paper on some of his reused plots
I don't know if he reused plots or not, but in this case the two plays are totally different. Macbeth is told from the POV of the killer and his wife while Hamlet is from the viewpoint of the son of the murdered king. And the stories are completely different. Literally the only similarity is that they're both about regicide and the way everything falls apart afterwards for everyone involved. I mean, they were both tragedies, so that does sort of fit. But they're handled completely differently.
Ok here—this might seem weird, but hear me out. Nobody would ever mistake one of these songs for the other. But they're about the same thing, and in fact they share a ridiculous amount of similarities. When I tell people that they look at me like I'm insane, until I explain... Everybody knows this song of course. This one you might know, or maybe not. They're both about a man about to be hung in the morning because he killed somebody. In both songs, he's singing it (telling it) to his mother. And they both start off with a quiet acapella (or almost) part and then suddenly kick into hard rock. But as I said, when I first tell people about this they look at me like I'm crazy.
I had to go back and check my notes lol.... I was thinking of As You Like It and Twelfth Night. Women dress up as men and fall in love/pursue their love interest and independence from their controlling fathers" Circumstances are different. I wouldnt say he resused the plot.... But i guess like Macbeth and Hamlet, its very similar in that way
I felt this post for sure In my first published collection, I realized all too late that I had recurring/similar themes in several of the stories: Characters being unwittingly trapped somewhere, wandering around in spooky places alone, being afraid of something in the dark, old buildings/locales, etc. Each story was totally different, but these themes kept occurring. It wasn't intentional at all...but in hindsight, it actually linked the collection in a way, so I can pass it off as intentional now But as others have said, as long as the plots/characters are different, ideas and themes can be repeated. @Storysmith had a good idea about making it a shared universe. If you have 2 WIPs that already fit the mold, you're 2/3 of the way through a trilogy.
I don't think so! I think it all depends on what you do with it. Since the plots are different, and I think the "MC sees dead people" is more of a twist, it totally depends on how you revealed it and what that twist means for the plot/characters/everything ese. Tropes get a bad rap for being "overused" but in the end they're just tools! Besides, certain genres are expected to have certain tropes anyway! So I think you're fine
Going with @Xoic 's musical references, The Black Keys have two different versions of the same song, I think on Attack & Release. Very different takes on the same lyrics and cost me not a thought listening to the album. They were like two distinct songs. I'd not worry about commonality between two works. Each can stand independently.
