"Every story has been told before"

[MayorReynolds]

As a writer, one of the problems I constantly struggle with is a search for originality, but I always end up feeling like there's a lack therof. Over the years I've pitched one-line concepts to friends and strangers alike. I often got a similar response:

"That sounds too much like Hellblazer."
"That sounds too much like Lord of the Rings crossed with Star Wars."
"That sounds too much like Star Wars crossed with Lord of the Rings, Hellblazer and Johnny Mnemonic." (Huh.)

This would discourage me from pursuing my concepts further. On the other hand, no sooner would I shove a notepad file to a forgotten file folder than I'd hear a repeat of this truism:

"Every story has been told before. The difference is in how you tell it."

What I want to know is, how true do you think that truism is? I know famous literature has borrowed shamelessly from Bible stories, mythology, Arthurian legends, etc. and gotten away with it over the past few centuries. But has every story been told before? And if so, can you spin originality out of what sounds like familiar ground?

I thought about writing a Lit Incest story this morning. Stop me if you've heard this one. Girl comes home from her first year of college. She brings home a pretty friend. The pretty friend is a psychology major, and through snooping and analyzing she discovers that every family member in the house is harboring the hots for each other. She goes about manipulating them into fucking each other.

Could be hot and filthy. But goddamnit, it's been done a million times, hasn't it?

 

[ElectricBlue]

Could be hot and filthy. But goddamnit, it's been done a million times, hasn't it?

If it's incest, probably.

Write her doing a post doctorate. That way you will at least solve the "oh damn, here comes another 18 year old wants to be fucked by daddy, bro, sis, whoever..." That will be something of a novelty. Plus, she'll be really smart, and the manipulation will be pathetically easy.

 

[Handley_Page]

Could be hot and filthy. But goddamnit, it's been done a million times, hasn't it?

Yes, it probably has been done already.
Personally, I'm not into incest stories, but . . .
surely it's HOW you tell the story that separates it from the rest.

God knows, stories from the Bible have taken a pounding from Hollywood,
ain't they !

 

[Haulover]

"Every story has been told before"

That MAY be true ... BUT not every reader has read every story.

So if you have a relatively unusual story line, the chances are that it will be completely original to most readers.

...
I thought about writing a Lit Incest story this morning. Stop me if you've heard this one. Girl comes home from her first year of college. She brings home a pretty friend. The pretty friend is a psychology major, and through snooping and analyzing she discovers that every family member in the house is harboring the hots for each other. She goes about manipulating them into fucking each other.

Could be hot and filthy....

I'd read it. (IF it's well written )

The challenge would be that psychological analysis and manipulation. You'd probably have to follow a completely separate story line while she's assessing everyone.

Sounds like a fun challenge.

 

[Green_Knight]

I suppose you could say that 95 per cent of stories on Lit are covered by the basic idea that "Person A meets Person B. Persons A and B fuck."

It doesn't stop hundreds of new stories appearing here every day.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

There's no path to the next great whatever, but great ideas come along. Novelty is much like the pursuit of new prime numbers. It can take years. On one occasion I spent 5 years stalking a story ending that is so simple its amazing I didn't see it at the start....no one saw it till it came, WE COULDA HADDA V8 moment.

If you want a new prime number you gotta process every number past the last prime number, and get lucky.

 

[OmnislashXX]

The story I'm currently writing is as cliche as it gets. But, I want to write about a sword wielding adventurer who wants to nail the virgin Princess. So, what can I do?

 

[jehoram]

The story I'm currently writing is as cliche as it gets. But, I want to write about a sword wielding adventurer who wants to nail the virgin Princess. So, what can I do?

Switch genders.

 

[sr71plt]

Whether every story has been told before is one of those impossible questions to answer. We wouldn't know until it happened and it's sort of "the world is flat" thinking to assume it couldn't happen.

 

[lovecraft68]

So what if the idea has been used before? Your story may have a premise resembling that of another story but some of it will still be your take and spin one different wrinkle changes everything

I'll also repeat a point I have made many times. The readership here thrives on the same dann premise over and over. You know how many "family member x catches family member y masturbating and.. " and every one of the. Gets a lot of reads.

For me personally- So this is opinion not a knock in general- there is no lamer premise than mom riding on sons lap in a car but there is a lot of that exact story and they get massive numbers

Just write what you want and screw if it's been done before

 

[Hypoxia]

The story I'm currently writing is as cliche as it gets. But, I want to write about a sword wielding adventurer who wants to nail the virgin Princess. So, what can I do?

Switch genders.

That's always my go-to: flip the paradigm and/or genders. For fun, toss in wild-cards. The adventure(ss) and the prince(ss) are unbeknownst siblings or (grand)parent-(grand)child. Yeah, a GILF adventuress (a roving deposed royal) rescuing and nailing the studly but naive barely-legal prince (who doesn't know she's Grandma) would make a nice twist. That's one way to play with ages. I wrote a Western tale (inspired by a comic book) where a grizzled prematurely-aged prospector engages an ageless high-class whore... who turns out to be his mother, even though he looks old enough to be her father. Make sure things are not as they appear.

 

[OmnislashXX]

That's always my go-to: flip the paradigm and/or genders. For fun, toss in wild-cards. The adventure(ss) and the prince(ss) are unbeknownst siblings or (grand)parent-(grand)child. Yeah, a GILF adventuress (a roving deposed royal) rescuing and nailing the studly but naive barely-legal prince (who doesn't know she's Grandma) would make a nice twist. That's one way to play with ages. I wrote a Western tale (inspired by a comic book) where a grizzled prematurely-aged prospector engages an ageless high-class whore... who turns out to be his mother, even though he looks old enough to be her father. Make sure things are not as they appear.

Unfortunately, it's not really that simple, seeing as how I also have a Prince who's a male rival and wrote out a whole event that described a competition featuring nothing but dudes. I'm hoping that maybe it will take on a nature of it's own, seeing as how the adventurer has a sorta morally gray area due to his perverted interests toward the princess.

 

[Areala-chan]

Sure, the basic premise for pretty much every story ever has been known and laid out for years. Depending on who you ask there are different "numbers" of stories premises, but they've all been cataloged. So what? Write your story anyway. Other people may have told it before, but they've never told it the way you will.

There are three ways to present conflict in a story: protagonist vs. antagonist, protagonist vs. nature/environment, and protagonist vs. self. Now sure, you can set up stories where there are multiple sources of conflict, and many of the epic works of fiction our world has spawned include all three (Lord of the Rings, anyone?), but the point isn't that there are only three ways to present conflict. The point is that despite there being only these three ways, people have been using them for thousands of years to create compelling untold millions of narratives.

The tools are not your limitation, your imagination is. Get out there and start creating.

 

[SamScribble]

A now dear-departed writer with whom I used to share the occasional pint reckoned that there are only ten stories. (Or is it twelve?) All stories - good and bad, long and short, ancient and modern - are just variations on the basic ten. 'The game is not to be original,' he used to say. 'The game is to engage the reader.'

In his final years, my friend went on to become a pretty successful children's author. And these stories, too, were variations on the basic ten.

 

[MindsMirror]

The universe has been saying this for billions of years. Atom A + B combine to make molecule C. Particle X disintegrates into energy and two new particles. The thing is that there are so many perturbations that knowing about all of them is not within the capability of a single entity.

There are still things science doesn't know or understand. There is still no solution for the three body problem, much less the complex organic soup of which each of us are comprised. It is in the areas of these mysteries that new and interesting things can be found.

-MM

 

[NicoleZ]

Switch genders.

Has this really been done? Daddy is gay, Megan is gay. But they both secretly adooore each other so in secret both "have the cut" only to discover that the other has done the same. How the story ends? You tell it!

 

[Areala-chan]

Has this really been done? Daddy is gay, Megan is gay. But they both secretly adooore each other so in secret both "have the cut" only to discover that the other has done the same. How the story ends? You tell it!

"Gift of the Magi" with a decidedly 21st century sexual twist. I love it.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I don't think it's completely true. Occasionally changes in society and technology open up genuinely new story possibilities. But most stories are built on familiar themes, even if the settings and costumes are updated.

Nothing wrong with that. There are enough old plots that you can't necessarily tell which one the author is using, and there's plenty of scope for creativity in how you rewrite them.

 

[RetroFan]

Switch genders.

Sometimes switching things around can work well. For example, I wrote a story where there is a lesbian scene between two girls, a Caucasian blonde and an African-American girl. There are probably many mixed race lesbian stories on Literotica, but to make this a bit different I made the blonde girl more intelligent, cynical, and sarcastic to the point of being a bitch; while making the black girl extremely naïve, unworldly and not very bright.

However, flipping genders is risky, as female characters can get away with more than male characters.

For example, I wrote a Lesbian story last year where the main character is an attractive 42-year-old real estate broker, a married mother of four. The character is extremely unethical at work, lying and employing any number of deceptive tactics when selling properties, and outside of work rules the PTA with an iron fist. She also lusts after young women such as her office assistant, her eldest daughter's 18-year-old cheerleader friends and a young female newly-wed who she shows over a property, before finally jumping into bed with a rebellious 18-year-old female heavy metal fan.

Now imagine a gay male story where a dishonest and unethical middle-aged married man with teenage kids who is a closeted homosexual that lusts after young men, before he finally goes to bed with an 18-year-old young man. I cannot imagine readers responding so well to such a character, and this story would probably attract quite a few negative comments and scores.

The same is true for a number of my stories. I recently wrote a Cougar story set in the 1960s where a 36-year-old single mother seduces the 18-year-old guy who lives across the street, which was a big success. But a 36-year-old single father seducing the 18-year-old daughter of his neighbors? Sure, some would like it, but again I think it would attract a more significant negative reaction.

It is also possible to make a female character unlikable but still hot and erotic. I wrote a satirical cheating story last year which features a pretty young woman who is a spoiled rotten Daddy's girl (she and her father have an odd dynamic) and she treats her fiancé, a nice guy, like crap. She is controlling, selfish, neurotic, bad-tempered and vindictive, and when her fiancée stands up to her, her reaction is to seduce his loser younger brother. But I had no trouble making this unpleasant, bitchy character sexually desirable. Try writing about a spoiled Mama's boy who is controlling and vindictive and treats his nice-natured fiancée badly, eventually seducing her loser younger sister out of spite. Even making the character good-looking, it is impossible to make such an asshole sexually appealing, and even if there was such a story, I don't think readers would like it very much.

 

[sethp]

But each story is also original....different characters, dialogue, situations, motivations, actions, adjectives and adverbs. It doesn't matter that every story has already been told before...it matters that it's told in a fresh perspective.

 

[Hypoxia]

It doesn't matter that every story has already been told before...it matters that it's told in a fresh perspective.

Perspective is vital. I'm reminded of a long-ago class at liberal Southern California School of Theology assigned to rewrite Genesis from the POV of the serpent. That's probably the source of my "flip the paradigm" rule. (Note: 'Serpent' then meant reptile; the Genesis 'serpent' was likely a talking lizard. A mariguana?)

See the action from other-human or non-human eyes. Like, write a typical sex story as witnessed by a spy/voyeur or an intelligent (but uninvolved) dog. Or a sword-and-sorcery tale from the sword's POV. I'm reminded of a 1950s or 60s hit western song about gunfighters, told from the revolver's POV. Make the Maltese Falcon or a big dildo tell its own story. An earlier thread here suggested an hourly-rate motel room telling of the sex it's hosted. I counter-suggested switching the POV to the room's bed or TV. Just pick fresh eyes.

Original viewpoints are easier than original plots.

 

[MindsMirror]

How about a time travel story where the traveler has had a sex change and encounters themselves?
-MM

 

[TxRad]

How about a time travel story where the traveler has had a sex change and encounters themselves?
-MM

Gives a whole new meaning to go fuck yourself.

 

[Bramblethorn]

How about a time travel story where the traveler has had a sex change and encounters themselves?
-MM

Robert A. Heinlein, "All You Zombies". First published in Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, March 1959.

It was filmed a couple of years back as "Predestination". Would recommend.

 

[litfan10]

Gives a whole new meaning to go fuck yourself.

I'm sooooooo glad I read this before going to the coffee/reading room thread or I would have spewed all my tea on my monitor reading this.