Writer's Advice

How to Write Original Work

Inspired by my writing? (or anyone else's) Here's how to turn it into something original!

A person just needs to spend a few minutes reading articles on www.tvtropes.org to know that no ideas really are original. It's impossible to write a story without using ANY motif that has been used before-- at least, it's impossible to write a GOOD story without using one. The trick to writing a good story is to rearrange these themes in a new way with topics that you're interested in.

So, if no ideas are truly original, what is plagiarism? My old art teacher used to say, "Bad artists copy; good artists steal." I think the same thing applies to writers. Taking someone else's idea, changing one little thing, and calling it different is plagiarism. Taking someone else's idea and throwing it into a melting pot with everyone else's ideas is what good writers do. For instance, I didn't invent the term "demi-angel"; I got it from another girl on www.quotev.com who wrote a story about demi-angels at school. Her story had a strong female lead, combat practice, and a little bit of demon fighting. But her plot was completely different, her characters didn't have wings, and as far as I know her characters had no background whatsoever. She never explained how or why these characters were demi-angels or what their heritage was like. Real angels never appeared in the story at all. She didn't alternate points of view. Her writing style was different; it reminded me of James Patterson. I did not plagiarize her work because the differences between my story and hers outweigh the similarities.

Most people that blatantly plagiarize by taking someone else's idea and changing one or two little things are lazy readers. One person actually asked me, "Why does a good writer need to read?" That should be a no-brainer. Reading books is EXTREMELY important to writing. Like I said above, the only way to write a good story is to put a bunch of unoriginal ideas together in a new way. How on earth are you going to gather those ideas if you don't read? If you read only one book and are inspired to write a story based on that book, your story will end up very similar to that book because you haven't gotten ideas from any other sources! Reading books can also help you learn from other writers. I learned a lot from Twilight!

When people tell me they're "inspired" by Those Who Fly, instead of being complimented, I get very defensive. I've had more than one instance of plagiarism before. It seems like there are only so many things that you can do with angel stories, so when I put forward something that's more or less entirely new, people want to take it from me. I'm hoping that this guide will help you do what I did and put together a truly original story.