Repeating myself?

[PrevertOne]

Well, I recently completed a period were I was able to write and post some stories. Mostly installments in an ongoing larger story, plus an old one I hadn't realized I never posted. The results are, well, sort of good and sort of not. I think I'm back to Monkey Mind again. I've been bandying about several ongoing stories, trying to see if one will stick and I can focus on it. It's basically a tentacle story. Nude sunbather gets boinked by a slimy snail-like creature. I was trying an angle, interdimensional stuff, but as I was writing, I realized it seemed a bit familiar. And then it came to me. "Oh my God! I'm doing Big Honkin' Slugs again!" Or a close variation. I don't know if the story is salvageable. I might try. It's just that it got me wondering. Have any of you started a story, got a ways in before realizing you were repeating something you already wrote?

 

[lovecraft68]

I've had that feeling, the 'you know, this is a lot like 'story x' that I did awhile back.

Usually when I reach that point I'll try to change a couple of things so there is a different twist somewhere, but after you write to a certain point it is hard not to emulate yourself to some degree.

On the plus side, lit readers seem to be fine with the same story over and over again. Every category has its beaten to death tropes, but if you write another, they'll eat it up.

My advice is to never stop going forward because that's what holds you up, stalls you, makes you give up on the story. Write the whole thing, then on review if you think its too much the same start working on it and swapping things around, but at least the story is done.

 

[oggbashan]

Duplicate Stories

I did even worse than that.

I posted a story and then upgraded my main computer. During transfer of files from the old to the new computer my folder of pending stories was misplaced. I reconstructed it and found a near complete story. I finished it, and submitted it. Only after it had been posted did I see I had posted it a couple of months earlier.

This one was posted on 10 April 2014

https://www.literotica.com/s/escaping-cybele

This one was posted on 14 July 2014

https://www.literotica.com/s/limit-of-authority

They ARE the same story except for minor details. I've left both to remind me not to do it again.

 

[jomar]

Don't sweat it. I wrote a whole bunch of stories with the same thing going on and they turned out fine.

 

[sr71plt]

I don't usually get into writing when I realize I've done that before, but in the conceptual phase it does happen from time to time. With nearly 900 stories here and having some favorite scenarios I'm tempted to revisit, it's hard not to be repetitive.