...when people say there are no new ideas or stories. Every day is a new story with new opportunities. To say all ideas have been written and that it is up to the author to tell it in a new way is, for a lack of a better word, ignorant, unless you reduce that statement to 'a protagonist traverses a plot line'. History cannot be repeated; to write a story about today would be a new idea. It's utter bullshiat to say there are no new ideas. Make your story grow from its own seed. It might just be the new next thing. If everything has already been done, you would not know the names of daVinci, Tesla, Gary Larson, etc.
If the same story seems to be told over and over again using different characters, it can seem like there's no new ideas anymore. There's always a zombie to kill, a vampire to kiss, a legendary prophecy to fulfill, etc. But you're right, anyone can take an old idea and turn it fresh and new again.
I think the OP's point was that it's stupid to think that there are no new ideas. Sure everything's been done before, but there's always a fresh interpretation of that old plot element.
Yeah, I get that...But apropos what? It just seemed odd to me that he would announce that, so boldly, where there was no apparent context.
I am not willing to say that there are NO new ideas. However, I certainly do recognise that most stories are simply retellings of certain tropes. But I do not think that there is anything necessarily wrong with that.
I think unlike this. There are a lot of new Ideas that can be turned into amazing stories; but what is problem actually? I think there are not enough supporters for a writer to do that. Also writing market is not promising.
It doesn't matter if people say this or believe this. Good literature isn't defined by ideas themselves; it's defined by the execution of ideas. How many writers have written a love story between a male and a female? How many of those works are as good as Lolita?
I agree. I've heard this said before many times ...there are only 9 different plots, 20 different plots, 3 different plots, etc. It's almost like you feel you're stuck in a rut before you even start. There is a lot to learn from how-to books as to HOW to tell a story—what can make your reader lose interest, ways to show character, and so forth—but I sure hate when they try to tell you what kind of story you should write. Or tell you to fit your story into a category and you'll be laughing all the way to the bank. And that's what we're supposed to do when we approach an agent, isn't it? Categorise and summarise our story, then tell the agents we came to THEM because they represented somebody else who wrote a story similar to ours. I find that so depressing. They don't want a new, groundbreaking writer, they want somebody who wrote something just like the last thing they sold. Nor can they be bothered to sample our writing, without all this accompanying palaver. Pathetic. Most 'categories' got started by a groundbreaking writer. The problem comes when everybody tries to copy that writer. I've read so many books lately that leave me dissatisfied. Not because they haven't ticked all the boxes, but because they HAVE ticked all the boxes. Nothing new. Nothing to remember. Nothing that's really going to stick. I hunger for the kind of writing that makes me remember the characters, the scenes, what happens ...something. Anything. Something unique and soul-satisfying. Something that the author seems to love as much as I do. Something written from the heart, and infused with real experience and insight. Something I want to read many times over. I come across these books very occasionally, but not very often. I really like what you said, @Garball : make your story grow from its own seed.
Isn't there a saying that there is only 12 types of stories that will sell according to Almighty Hollywood? And this sort of issue isn't only in writing, you see it in your TV shows and movies as well. Indie films are ridiculed to be boring or too gimmicky to be any good even though that's only true for some while the rest is basically great. You never see them appear in movies because it's too risky or un-mainstream to take a risk on it. Cop shows are beyond popular right now and very few actually do anything different or try to stand out without falling into the cop or comedy routine. Did anyone watch the Beauty and the Beast cop show travesty? That show is a complete joke even before the pilot ends. It's just goes to show that anything fresh, original, or just plain new rarely makes it to mainstream and once it does you see it getting raving reviews on Ellen, Oprah, all the other talk shows and all your clueless friends suddenly chirp about like they even understand why it's so good and you just smile and think: "I told you about this last month and you said it wasn't your thing..." Anyone notice all the medieval, pirates, ancient history, or whatever shows making strong headways lately? People are now apparently into period stories and romanticism. Suddenly superheroes are everywhere and people who don't know the first thing about them all of a sudden are into it because its simply everywhere...
This type of statement (no original ideas) seems to come up mainly when new writers get tense about someone stealing their "unique" idea. But I think it's basically an over-generalization of ideas. If you take every idea ever thought of, and keep breaking them down and breaking them down, eventually you'll find that there are X number of original ideas - and then every idea generated can trace it's basics back to one of those "original" ideas. So, in that sense, there are no original ideas, only original takes on those ideas. But it's really just an esoteric discussion.
My thoughts exactly! This is utter nonsense; the people saying there are no "new" ideas aren't trying. REALLY PEOPLE.
I mean, I don't wanna be all "look-at-me," but I'd like to think some of my ideas are pretty original... So I agree that new ideas are always possible. Inspiration can come from anywhere.
I think my idea is original. It has a lot of elements one would have seen before, but other than that, it's original.
I get the point of the post, as it could have something to do with a private conversation we had. Now there is no new conflicts that can take place in a story, but plots are a different ball game.