Is it even possible to do something truly original?

[jaF0]

Has it really all been done in one way or another?

Even just here on Lit?

 

[SamScribble]

Has it really all been done in one way or another?

Even just here on Lit?

The biggest obstacle to originality, both here on Lit and elsewhere, is the reader.

 

[yukonnights]

Has it really all been done in one way or another?

Even just here on Lit?

By putting "one way or another" into the question … well, that makes it hard to say no. And "all" is a massive scope that can't really be defined. Sorry, that's not much of an answer

 

[NotWise]

The biggest obstacle to originality, both here on Lit and elsewhere, is the reader.

I believe Sam's right. Readers don't award entirely original work. They want things to be familiar and easily understood.

The pattern isn't limited to writing. Beethoven wrote his Grosse Fuge at a time when the public believed he was infallible. It took a hundred years for it to be appreciated, and most audiences still won't "get" it, so it's rarely played. More recently, Louise Brooks' silent film performances ignored the mime-like acting methods of the time. She went her own way, and it took twenty five years and the advent of sound films for her acting to be appreciated.

A list of examples could go on and on. Originality is often not rewarded.

 

[SimonDoom]

With all due respect, I think it's asking the wrong question.

Many of Shakespeare's plays were based upon preexisting works and plot outlines. Did that make them unoriginal? Did that make them not worthwhile? No.

Depending upon the level of generality at which you approach a fictional work, you can say that everything has been done before or that everything is unique.

A one-page Literotica story has about 3750 words. With 3750 words to work with you have almost infinite ways to write something that no one else has ever written.

So don't worry about it.

 

[RetroFan]

The biggest obstacle to originality, both here on Lit and elsewhere, is the reader.

I agree with this. You can make stories unusual - I do it all the time - but readers need to be able to be familiar with things to get into the story.

Using a science fiction example, say an alien arrives on Earth and takes the form of a hot, 19-year-old college girl in America and four sci-fi gamer geeks - three male and one female - have to help her out with Earth customs. The alien for example struggles with certain things about Earth, such as talking about shows like 'Leave It To Beaver', 'I Love Lucy' and 'The Honeymooners' and using outdated slang such as 'swell' or 'groovy'. She doesn't understand sarcasm or that you shouldn't take food from other people's plates, when they take her to a pool she begins undressing outside of the change room, and the female nerd has to provide guidance to her on first how to use the toilet and then how to manage her period when she has one for the first time.

Readers of such a story may not be a sci-fi nerd, they may not be a college student or may not have been to college and they may not be American, but they can easily envisage such things, and think about how an alien might struggle with in familiar Earth situations. And with the menstruation theme, male readers obviously don't get periods but can imagine it, because women do.

Conversely, now imagine a story involving only aliens that have no discernable human qualities set on a far distant planet in the Andromeda Galaxy 2 million years into the future. Immediately, it becomes harder to gain and keep an audience as no readers have any concept of these themes.

 

[KeithD]

I agree with this. You can make stories unusual

I agree with this, and bringing Shakespeare to bear again, my mind goes to the Tom Stoppard play, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, which stands Hamlet on its head by replaying the plot from the perspective of two of the minor characters. Very original; very inventive.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I pride myself on the number of stories about which folk have written, "This is not the usual content around here. Makes for a refreshing change," or words to that effect.

I doubt you'll find many stories like this one:

https://literotica.com/beta/s/the-fantastic-hotel

(Shameless self promotion.)

 

[Rustyoznail]

Really, we're all just writing variations of a theme. If I can inject some originality into those themes that people like, then great.

Eg - How about an interracial romance between a red headed Aussie cricket tragic and an Indian lady? Bet you won't find that anywhere, except in the story in my sig. (Blame EB - he started it...)

 

[AlexBailey]

Really, we're all just writing variations of a theme. If I can inject some originality into those themes that people like, then great.

Eg - How about an interracial romance between a red headed Aussie cricket tragic and an Indian lady? Bet you won't find that anywhere, except in the story in my sig. (Blame EB - he started it...)

That was a great read, Rusty. A real fiver. A fun international romance with some great Oz lingo, culture, and scenery.

 

[RetroFan]

Really, we're all just writing variations of a theme. If I can inject some originality into those themes that people like, then great.

Eg - How about an interracial romance between a red headed Aussie cricket tragic and an Indian lady? Bet you won't find that anywhere, except in the story in my sig. (Blame EB - he started it...)

I have a game of Australian Rules Football in Chapter 4 of my story series 'Body Swap With Sister's Boyfriend' I don't think there's too many other Literotica stories containing Australian Rules Football games.

 

[Rustyoznail]

I have a game of Australian Rules Football in Chapter 4 of my story series 'Body Swap With Sister's Boyfriend' I don't think there's too many other Literotica stories containing Australian Rules Football games.

Challenge accepted! Bramblethorn said the same about his erotic cricket story.

And thanks Alex - that means a lot.

 

[sirhugs]

What's the screenwriting truism? Might not have it exactly right but it says that there are only five original plots... and goes on to base it on classic stories.

In literature, the Canadian academic Northrop Frye , author of The Anatomy of Criticism, exposed the basic myths hat pervade all cultures and are a t the heart of any successful story.

Having said that, as some posters have noted, originality exists in what we do with the basics. I'd give the example of adding tentacle monsters, but that's been done.

 

[Zionisacat]

Eg - How about an interracial romance between a red headed Aussie cricket tragic and an Indian lady? Bet you won't find that anywhere, except in the story in my sig.

https://www.literotica.com/s/bowling-a-maiden-over

You were saying ...

 

[yowser]

I see the challenge as one like organic chemistry. There are only a limited number of building blocks, but the combinations exponentially spiral into near infinity.

Relationships, even seemingly simple ones, are extraordinary in their complexity. Uniqueness is just one odd personality quirk or impulsive action away.

One of my stories (the only one in Fetish, surprise) involves a quirk I have never seen anywhere else here (and I wouldn't even know how to find another here on Lit if there was one.) Unique? Probably not, but close enough to be interesting.

 

[oggbashan]

To answer the OP - I think so and I have.

No one else has written anything like:

https://www.literotica.com/beta/s/getting-nude-with-chairman-mao

or:

https://www.literotica.com/beta/s/donna-1

Many of my stories get comments such as WTF?

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I think detailed characters and realistic dialogue that helps show those really helps in making a story both original and good.

Describing how A puts tab a into B's slot b isn't going to be particularly original or interesting, most likely, but show us what A and B are thinking at the time, and what they say before and after - there's scope for originality.

IME originality gets a small but generally appreciative audience making it to the end, and it's the 'amazing characters' that get most praise.

 

[jaF0]

I see the challenge as one like organic chemistry. There are only a limited number of building blocks, but the combinations exponentially spiral into near infinity.

I guess that's where I am. I have a number of things in my head, but they've all been done to death.


I've seen it said here and also refuted that there are only something like a dozen or less storylines and it's all about who does them, when and how.


I also checked (since I have virtually zero musical knowledge or aptitude) and found that there are only a very small number of musical notes and chords. It's all about how they're put together (the building blocks) that gives us nearly endless possibilities in musical compositions. But that's also why some songs sound so similar to others.

 

[Rustyoznail]

https://www.literotica.com/s/bowling-a-maiden-over

You were saying ...

Oh, bloody hell!

That's a good story.

 

[vanmyers86]

Yes, only a handful of plotlines exist. But no one else can tell a story the way you do, or I do, or anyone else does. Our distinctive spins are what breathe energy into old stories.

I'm reminded of an old Jay Leno joke, when the movie Clue came out. The filmmakers gave it several endings, with different ones playing in different theatres. It was billed as "Seven Suspects, Six Weapons, Five Bodies and Three Endings." It was a very original concept and didn't do very well at the time.

Leno quipped that "one movie, three endings" was too much for people to grasp, and that the Rocky franchise had it figured out: "four movies, one ending. That's what people want!"

 

[Blind_Justice]

Truly original? Probably not. Unless you spend years and years researching your field and make sure that your work deliberately avoids any and all influences of others creating in your chosen field. To be honest, that sounds like a maddening and soul-crushing attempt at futility. "Write the ultimate, never before seen plot/setting/characters". If one searches long and hard enough, there will always be something similar.

But "original" and "unique" are not mutually exclusive. Unless you're actively plagiarizing, any spin on a topic is YOUR own spin on said topic. The more you work with it, the more it will become your own. Etaski, for example, writes fantasy with dark elves in it. I do the same. Our stories have very little in common, even though we've probably read way too much R.A. Salvatore in our early years. Doesn't mean that we're copying what he has done either.

Same with all the zombie apocalypse stories which sprang up in recent years. The "Passage" books are markedly different from "The Girl With All The Gifts" which in turn is far removed from "The Walking Dead".

Hey, at least we (as writers) are not bound by an arbitrary system of musical notes. There are only twelve notes in an octave and mathematically speaking, only so many combinations of notes until you begin to repeat yourself. It's all about tone, feeling, instruments and interpretation. Jazz and Death Metal use the same notes, but sound utterly unique to each other. Unless you're listening to "Spheres" by Pestillence. That's Death Metal Jazz right there.

 

[SamScribble]

I think that we are all talking about slightly different ideas of 'truly original'. Finnegans Wake was pretty original. And so too, in its day, was To the Lighthouse. But I don't think either of those would find much of an audience here at Lit. Of course, I could be wrong.