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This time I am choosing the topic for the blog chain. Be sure to check out Kate's answer after mine!My question is:
How do you keep from telling the same story over and over? What are your tips and tricks for finding fresh ideas and adding new twists to your work?I'm looking forward to the answers to this question, because I struggle a lot with not repeating myself. And I do see themes that I repeat over and over, in spite of myself. I'm fascinated by writers like Dean Koontz, who's written dozens of books and still (usually) manages to keep from rehashing the same old stuff.
At this point, if I catch myself doing something I did before, I erase, back up, and try to think of something entirely different. That works best when I remind myself what makes the characters involved unique, and then try to find a reaction that is unique to those characters. So maybe two characters face a similar conflict -- if they're truly unique characters, they're going to have different reactions, right?
I do have trouble not repeating larger themes and plot points. For some bizarre reason, I really like apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic stuff, so The World As We Know It is always ending in my stories. I also like magic tossed in on top of The World As We Know It. Problem is, I get kind of attached to my vision of societal breakdown, or my rules about how magic works, and it can be hard to come up with new ideas about how to recreate those things in different stories.
Honestly, though, the thing I do most often to keep from rewriting the same story over and over is think "I already did that" and censor myself, which keeps me from writing new material. And that is why I need some tips and tricks from the rest of the blog chain!
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Jamie -- I have a little notebook of ideas, but sadly, I add to it far too infrequently. Maybe trying freewriting (and the other tips and tricks I'm looking forward to from other readers of my blog & from the blog chain) will help me!
What helps me keep things fresh? Letting the characters write it out instead of me. Honestly, whenever I try to take the reigns, things slow down and tend to be more boring. But when I let the characters take over, things get interesting fast!
Great topic.
Great topic, Archy!
I think the key, like the post suggests, is keeping stories fresh. The same type of story, told from a different perspective is a new story. A story about the lies a woman (women) tell in vengeance is a current theme in a manuscript, and a follow-up project, I am working on. The difference: the source of vengeance is the same, what the women did is similar, the impact is felt by another character decades later is also similar, but the stories are vastly different. The stories, because of that vast difference, even with marked similarities, are fresh.
As long as there is some notable difference, some twist or turn that did not happen before, then I think telling the same story over and over again is fine. It's when the story becomes dull and predictable because it has been done so many times before (perhaps the catalyst for the post) that a writer/author might need to 'step away from the computer'.
Thanks for the post.
S
I do try to pay attention to what is going on, though, and if I find something is turning out too similar to something I've done before, I do what I can to change it. It's definitely tougher sometimes than others :)
I don't think having all your stories set in a similar setting is bad though. Victoria Holt wrote a ton of books, and though she explored various settings, they were almost all set, at some point in the story, in some remote castle or estate...be it in Germany, France, or England. When you write in a certain genre, sometimes it's a bit unavoidable. As long as the actual story is new, I don't see it as a problem.
Mary -- I knew my most dedicated fans would appreciate my discriminating font choice. ;-)
Scott -- EXCELLENT points. I never thought about that, how shifting POV like that can make such a difference. I am intrigued by how the same event can be perceived so differently by different characters. I often try to capture those differences in the same story, but perhaps I need to start thinking more about telling stories from perspectives I might not otherwise have chosen...
Michelle -- I usually find one or two things about each character's appearance that reflects his or her personality, and that can make THIS character's blue eyes different from THAT character's blue eyes. Speaking of patterns in stories -- do you know that up until recently, you could tell who was good and who was bad in my stories by the color of the characters' hair? I have a bias toward dark-haired characters.
This is a good one.
That's probably a bit extreme, but it definitely inspired me to keep my horizons wide open. Similarities are inevitable, since we only have the limited field of our own experiences to draw from, but I always try to consciously suss out the recurring themes, characters, story arcs, etc., and flush them out. Life's too short to keep writing the same story over and over.
I think reading everything could help with new ideas. Both fiction and non. I read a lot of news sites, looking for the quiry stories, and I'm amazing at the things people do that I'd never think of doing or writing about. Maybe you can freewrite off of something that grabbed your attention, whether read or overheard.