New Stories are Never New
I've begun a new novel.
Did you ever realize "The Phantom of the Opera" is another rendition of the "Beauty and the Beast" story? "King Kong" is as well.
So, my 'new' story isn't new at all. It's a combination of Phantom, "Girl with a Pearl Earring" (fantastic historical fiction), "The Count of Monte Cristo", "Shakespeare in Love", and a dash of "The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle."
Set in a theatre, in a seaside city, with a clasically beautiful heroine ... a mysterious man with a dark past ... a gentle and strong carpenter ... and the self-destructiveness of greed.
Titled: The Tate Legacy.
It's fun when creating a new story to mix and match my own favorites, whether they be films, classic literature, or new historical fiction.
Daniel's Garden, my first novel, was a combination of "The Secret Garden," "Paradise Lost," "Glory," "Far and Away," and "Love and War." I took elements of each and created something 'new'.
New stories are never new, which is something I learned when putting together my 8 Plots Book. Only 8 plots that have ever been used.
So, if you're looking to write a story, try finding inspiration in many things ... then combining them!
3 comments:
You're so right! I am working on my novel and although I feel like it is original I'm sure that someone else has written about these things before:).
Blessings,
Kim
You know, I can never get the old stories out of my head, but people don't always recognize them in my writing :(.
It seems like if you don't beat people over the head with it, it just slips into the subconscious . . .maybe those stories are just ingrained in our psyches.
While I knew authors combined, got inspiration, I didn't realize the connection between Phantom and Beauty. Curious about the 8 plots, hint, hint (a blog?)
Post a Comment