I'm going to real quick cover a Topic that is haunting me today, and I can always seem to get over things if I write them down.
Comparing your book to other books
I can't be the only one who does this every once in a while, right?
I've gotten better at not comparing my words, my stories, my characters, ect, to other authors I love, because I tell myself they have edited/revised that books so many times to make it as beautiful as it is, so don't compare your first draft to someone else's fifteenth.
But, truthfully, it's sometimes a good thing to--no, not compare--but to make sure you're not straight up copying or stealing from someone else's work.
With each of my stories, sometimes even just parts in the story if it's long enough, I can tell exactly what book I was reading at the time I was writing it, what TV show I was watching. I can pin-point exactly where I got that inspiration from, and this is what troubled me.
But this is a normal thing. You can't create something fully on your own--not really. You have to have a basis to start from, something has to inspire you!
My first idea that comes from a TV show/book/ect, is truthfully a lot like the idea it originated from, BUT that's why I choose the second idea, and work hard to make it my own.
I have this fear that someone will read my book one day, and say 'She totally stole that from ----!', and I will feel as if I had failed to create my own thing. I think a lot of Authors fear this.
So, how do we get inspiration from other writers works without stealing, and forever being known as 'the next Harry Potter'?
Let's say you get an idea from the Hunger Games, but instead of fighting to the death, it's slightly changed in one way or another, but still close enough to recognize the source you took it from.
What then?
You disguise it, of course.
You add elements of your own. What if weapons are banned? What if the point wasn't to kill each other, but to join together? What if the whole thing is actually a test of teamwork, but the world always follows their instinctive reaction and thinks it's to destroy each other? (I know, these may be pretty bad references, but you get the point.)
The WHAT IF method saves lives, and that's exactly what I just got finished doing, to turn an idea from 'that one idea I got from the one book', to 'my own idea'.
Like words, like stories, you make ideas your own, and yours alone.
Writer-Blog Question for today:
What You Wore Today
Uhm, Pajamas? Frosty the Snowman pants and my Camp NaNoWriMo T-shirt, of course! I may also be snuggling my Panda Pillow Pet, but that's totally irrelevant.
What are you wearing today? Do you have any methods for making ideas your own? Feel free to share!
Thanks for Reading!
