What To Do If Your Writing Doesn’t Feel Unique

Striving to write something truly unique is one of the most significant challenges a writer can face. After all, as the saying goes, 'every story has already been written.' if you believe this, it can be a pretty bleak prospect for a writer trying to make their mark.

However, while there is some truth in this, writers shouldn't feel too discouraged. While it might be true that every sort of human experience has already been written about, it is your unique perspective, your journey, and the viewpoint from which you observe and experience the world that will ensure that your story is unique. 

Pablo Picasso famously said, "Great artists steal." Writers, rather than striving desperately to avoid copying another, should instead do the opposite. Excellent writing cannot be achieved without inspiration from others. Without reading stories and allowing oneself to be influenced by both current writers and those who have paved the way before us, we cannot hope to measure up.

Of course, outright plagiarism is foolish and wrong, as is lazy writing and purposefully copying a plot, a character, an idea, and so on. However, being influenced and inspired is not. There are thousands of stories about love and loss, about epic adventures, secrets, love affairs, murders, mythical creatures, crimes, births, deaths, marriages, and so on. You can't write a story that does not involve such things because doing so would leave your book utterly devoid of anything relatable. 

But writers really can go further than this. They can use the stories that inspire them to write their own in a purposeful, systematic way. For example, reading the most popular books in your genre can help. Still, by deconstructing them chapter by chapter, scene by scene, character by character, you can rebuild them into a novel of your own. You might feel that this doesn't make your novel unique, but it's the way you will truly understand what pieces are necessary to create a successful story. To be clear, you don't copy the words; you don't reproduce the same structure. Instead, you take what you have learned, and you play with it, build upon it, and reshape it into something that is truly your own. 

Most books within a genre will have similar traits. For example, in a thriller book, you might find that many of them use the idea of government secrets or coverups or a secret government agency working to protect the nation. They might have assassins (both good and bad), contemporary science elements, and not yet developed technology or scientific discovery; they will be fast-paced, full of action, and likely to have a high body count. 

However, people don't just read one book from that genre and not bother with the rest - because the stories and the characters are still unique and different enough that it's still entertaining for their reader who is a fan of that genre to work through them all.

Of course, some genres are perhaps based on a more formulaic book structure than others. But you are likely to find repetitive patterns in books of a similar ilk in every genre you come across. Does that make them not unique? Of course, it doesn't.

So next time you are concerned that your writing doesn't feel unique, embrace it. Take what has already been done and keep reading in the genres you enjoy and hope to write in. Some of these elements will already be in your writing. Naturally, others should inspire you to take your book in a different direction.

As Salvador Dali wisely said, "those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing." Remember that next time you are working on your story, and feel confident that no one will ever write quite like you. 

Bethany Cadman - bethanycadmancreates.com

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