5 Tips to Stay Original While Writing Your Story

In some of my previous posts, I’ve mentioned the concept of “original” story ideas and how it seems like ALL ideas have been done before. I then went on to say that, “You’re right!” They all have been done before. Common themes like individual vs. society, good vs. evil, and love vs. hate have all been done to death in multiple genres by multiple authors. So how did those authors stay original? How did they not fall prey to repeating ideas and storylines that have already been told? That’s what we’re going to talk about today. Here are 5 ways for you to stay original while writing your story. If you'd rather watch the video on this topic, feel free to click play below. Otherwise, read on!

1.       Take the time to truly understand your genre/topic·         Ever heard of the saying, “Before you can break the rules, you must understand the rules”? Writing an original story is kind of like that. It’s difficult to embark on a story you find new and exciting and original without first understanding what’s already out there in your genre. If you’re writing fantasy, it’s probably a good idea to read at least five to ten fantasy books. Get some recommendations, look at the bestseller list, and dive in. Most likely, your understanding on the genre will change completely. You’ll see what elements have already been overdone, but more importantly, you’ll see the blanks in between that are still waiting to be filled in. This will help you create new creatures and ideas that probably wouldn’t have crossed your mind otherwise. Subsequently, if you’re writing about Pearl Harbor or your main character is a pilot or your main setting takes place in a jazz club, you must understand that world inside and out. Understand your genre. Understand your topic, and the originality will just flow.
2.       Determine the elements your story actually needs·         Originality is not sticking every cool new idea you can think of just for the sake of being trendy and cool. Take a minute to sit down and ask yourself: What does my story truly need? If you have vampires, werewolves, celebrities, sorcerers, witches, kings, and pirates in your book, you may want to take a step back and reflect on why you want these things in your story. If they all connect in some way that makes your story truly meaningful, then it might be okay. But if you have all of these elements in your story just because they’re cool or trending, you might want to rethink your strategy. ·         If you’re still having trouble with this, try writing down the following things: your protagonist’s strengths and weaknesses, your antagonist’s strengths and weaknesses, and the origin on those strengths and weaknesses i.e. where did they come from? Then ask yourself the following: how can you take advantage of each of these things in a unique way? What original aspects are hidden in these strengths and weaknesses that haven’t been used to death in other stories? Not all the ideas you’re going to come up with will be great, but some of them will be. It forces you to think outside of the box.
3.       Layers are your friend·         Most of the time, our ideas start out pretty one-dimensional. And by this I mean that if you were to take that idea and just run with it, you’d either be plagiarizing the story you got the idea from in the first place, or you’d be writing fanfiction. In order to come up with an original story, that one-dimensional idea must collide with several other layers of inspiration and ideas. This is difficult for many writers to grasp because we’re impatient and IT TAKES TIME. You cannot rush this. As great as brainstorming is, sometimes it just takes time for other ideas to come to you. Once you have three or four other ideas, you can combine them with your one-dimensional idea to make not only a story, but an ORIGINAL PREMISE for a story. Don’t settle for the flat, one-dimensional idea that first comes to mind. Give yourself a little time to come at it from interesting angles and add unexpected complementary pieces to create something exciting, innovative, and original.
4.       When in doubt, put your characters through hell·         Many times, story ideas can fall flat because they are too predictable. Characters can seem unrealistic or too “perfect”. Do you have a typical cheerleader/jock type character in your story? Give them a strange quirk or a dark secret to make them more well-rounded and realistic. Think about certain situations and how you would react if you were put in them . . . and then make your characters react the opposite way. If some of your scenes seem to be boring where not much is happening, think about the worst possible thing that could happen to that character in that scene and throw it at them. This will not only make your story and characters more interesting, it will also breathe originality into scenes and characters that have been written hundreds of times before.
5.       Dare To Challenge Your Own Expectations·         There’s a reason why so many stories contain car chases and romantic subplots. Because they’re easy. They’re comfortable. We know how to write them. Don’t throw these basic scenes into your story just because that’s what ever other story is doing. The protagonist only does good things and he/she is a good person. The bad guy does only bad things, and he’s not such a good person. These things are expected. We, as readers and writers, expect them. So go for the unexpected. Think about battle scenes. Characters that win battle scenes by sheer physical force is dull . . . and expected. Your characters need to be clever and they need to use that trait, that cleverness, to overcome the bad guys and win. Or maybe they don’t win. Maybe they lose and learn something really valuable that in turn, gives your story a deeper meaning. The “how” here is critical - make sure how things happen is different than what we’ve read before. Do that and the question of originality won’t even be on your mind.
So there you have it, 5 surefire ways to stay original when writing your story. If you guys have other methods you use to help you stay original when writing and coming up with ideas, I’d love to see them in the comments field below.
In case you missed some of my announcements, I will be attending some events this summer. I will have an author event at Katy Budget Books on June 25th from 2-4PM where I will be signing copies of The Alpha Drive and talking with readers, so if you are in the greater Houston area, I’d love to meet you. I will also be attending Leviosa Con near Las Vegas from July 8th to 9th and will be selling and signing copies of The Alpha Drive. Again, if you’re in the area, it would be so great to meet you.
Thanks for reading, and I'll see you guys in the next post!


Until next time,