Originality? What’s That?

If you’ve been in the writing world for any period of time, you’d know by now that there really is no such thing as original writing anymore. Just about every story plot or idea has already been written in one form or another. The new ones come with different characters, different names, different places, but they all end up with almost the same plots. This is why we have such a vast collection of story “templates” in which we can build our stories off of.

Here’s an article about a fellow who based a story off of the Harry Potter series, and seemed successful at doing it. Can you think of someone else that has really taken this idea to another level? Think Christopher Paolini – the author of Eragon: The Inheritance Trilogy. He was only 15 when he wrote the first book in the series. A good number of his characters were based off of past stories, such as Lord of The Rings. Many were exactly the same, just with different names.

There’s really no huge point to this post, other than the fact that it seems a good way to get a book written. I wonder if I could base a story off of a Stephen King novel?

Read "Author Gets Book Idea While Reading Harry Potter Novel"

Comments

[Z]

I would more say that he was inspired by the Harry Potter series. His story seems to have a different plot but I haven't read the book. Sounds interesting though.

I think as you write you draw on things you've experienced and read. We all experience similar things and emotions as we are all human and if you are a fantasy or sci-fi or western writer, you'll no doubt be influenced by those genres and end up writing similar things.