Writer's Block Daily

lemme just say this, I have nothing against originality/uniqueness. The thing I have problems with is that it's next to impossible to make a unique and interesting characters. most ideas have been done in the sun and what's left are things that are so bizarre no one would touch them with a ten foot pole.

for example, I have a character named arthur J penn. he's a modern take on the Arthur mythos and shares some things in common with king Arthur but also some things I've played with. At the beginning of the story, he wants to aspire to be a knight but can be had him become a robot horse stable boy in order to support his family. as a determined individual, he would do everything to become a knight only for it to fail. at some point he tried to impress lady Lana of the round table (a gender bent version of Lancelot) so who could join the round table. he fails again.

but by luck, during a tour to the museum, he finds the sword of Knight Excalibur, the game defender of Camelot city. it comes into good use when morgona le fey's minions come to take it. he grabs the sword and becomes the new Knight Excalibur. after those events, he slowly realizes what but responsibility it is to be the new protector of Camelot and has doubts if he can take up the task to do so.

barely original.

also, page topper suckas.

edited 16th Aug '17 8:18:10 AM by ewolf2015

Well, by doing a take of the characterization and some depth in his actions and motives, then he can be an interesting character even tho the concept has been used most of the time.

Execution is the key.

Specifics count for a lot in terms of writing something fresh. If you boil things down enough, everything becomes "in this story, some guy does things".

Yeah, originality is definitely trumped by execution of said originality.

People will be a lot more forgiving of "a basic plot/characters/setting" if it's done WELL, often with some key distinction, but a completely "original" plot/character/setting that's not written well usually gets a lamenting "the idea is great, but they just can't WRITE IT."

All ideas are great.

But a bad execution will fuck over the best idea.

edited 16th Aug '17 9:56:26 AM by Sharysa

I can tell you right now that originality is overrated. More often than not, the most "original" concepts just stem from a mish-mash of tropes (as defined on this site, that is) plus characters and scenarios that the author has either seen or heard about. The truly original part about it is how those things are blended together — or, as other people in this thread constantly put it, "execution is key."

I know a local filmmaker / animator who comes up with some of the most out-there, truly original ideas. And people can see the quality of his work, they appreciate that it is original, but his work doesn't connect with other people quite as much as he himself connects to it. Obviously that's one cherry-picked anecdote, but I hope it can illustrate that originality isn't the end-all be-all of creating a piece of fiction.

Plus, "that's a clever way to use this setup" is usually just a more-specific version of "that's so original!" I'd say you're in the right place. Keep your mind open, gain new experiences, look for new sources of inspiration (yes, even beyond TV Tropes), and chances are good you'll grow into originality.

In other news, I'm happy! I just finished my second draft for Gleahan and the Knaves of Industry. Now to let it sit while I gather more critiques (psst!) and work on other pre-production tasks in the meantime.

I should really binge-watch as many movies as I can before I return to writing...

EDIT (to avoid triple-posting) — Nope. Still haven't binge-watched movies more than I usually do. I have, however, started building up materials for a crowdfunding campaign!

edited 20th Aug '17 6:12:02 PM by AwSamWeston

I happened to see my visitor counter on my blog registering a person who was reading the story I posted a page back with a direct link from tvtropes, a person from Belarus, so thanks whoever that may be!

I've hit 1,000 sales. And I have 24 book reviews, with the only negative complaints amongst any of them being the confusion over my use of nonbinary folk.

I'm honestly so surprised this has happened. It feels weird, especially since I've been on this forum and in this section since I was 16...

Seriously, MrAHR. Congrats! It always makes me proud to see a fellow Troper find some level of success.

I haven't bought the book yet (partly because time), but it's still on my list. But if you end up making an audiobook, I will be so down for it!

How bout a TV Show?

A movie or TV show would also be acceptable!

If it gets appealing or popular for people that is. :)

@Mr AHR: Wow! Congratulations!

@AHR Another milestone reached, congrats!

& A comic is the only true answer here. :P

We are working towards an audio book, but for now it's fixing errors (which there aren't many of, but you get a few here and there) and putting out the print copy. And editing book two. Thanks everyone for the congrats, I'm super pumped for the progress I'll be making.

I've published a short story. Would anyone care to look at it?

edited 31st Aug '17 7:57:57 PM by SantosLHalper

I have no Kindle, so I had to make do with the preview. Your style is REALLY classically Purple Prose, and considering we're dealing with characters named "Autumn Harvest" and "Starlight Dream," it fits pretty well. I really like the high-fantasy tone and world (horses, yay!), but the purple-prose gets a little too flowery for my taste. Unfortunately I can't say much more from reading just a couple pages instead of the whole thing.

Although I have to admit, many of the names sound like beer/wine right now because it's been so hot today, and now I'm thirsty.

—
As for complete and total Mood Whiplash, I also have a short story that's either two-thirds or halfway finished (according to Microsoft Office, it's 34 pages and I don't feel like there's gonna be much more than 50-60 total). It's about a woman who finds a Filipino sea-god, but since I got inspired to write about the sea-god who has no (online) information but his name, I had to cobble the mythology together from scattered Internet resources, Whale Rider, and Moana.

The Crocodile God, Part 1 and Part 2.

In case historians, Polynesians, or other Filipinos read this: No, it's not meant to be Meticulously Researched And Incredibly Historically Accurate(TM). Plus it's technically a first draft, since I finished Part 2 at 3AM this morning.

http://my.w.tt/UiNb/9QOzQbSn5F

I'm so happy, my web-novel Earth Warriors reached 7th place in this contest! I can't describe how happy I am for this after the results of the previous contests, well this one, I reached the top 10, I'll keep in going with my goal and you will as well!

Thanks for the compliments; by the way you can freely download a Kindle app for PC.

As for the Purple Prose; yeah, I'm going to concede it's rather ornate, but in all honesty I wasn't sure how to convey the fantastic feeling of the setting in less than 5000 words, and I found it difficult to write more prosaically when covering a long period of time. But please, don't let my prose distract you; the beginning is just the tip of the iceberg.

What Would be a justifiable reason for a bio engineered assassin trying to find out the origins of his creation and it's purpose?

The closet I have for a reason is that someone who he was hired to kill claims to know the truth of his creation only to be killed by him. He regrets it and tries to find out why.

edited 1st Sep '17 3:38:37 PM by ewolf2015

Can't he be just curious? Or does he have false memories implanted in him?

I'm trying to do a surrealistic cyberpunk story though.

I don't see how that's contradictory to what Eterna Memoria said. Can't a character in a surrealistic cyberpunk story have false memories, or just be curious?

Ewolf: you asked for a "justifiable" reason. The thing is, someone wanting to find something out is usually a justifiable reason in itself, especially if that's the premise of the story.

Someone wanting someone is usually a thrusting start of a story. You don't need a justification for that, you build the story around that assumption.

Tell the readers "this person wants X" and they'll accept it, so long as you do not actively contradict it later on.

"What Would be a justifiable reason for a bio engineered assassin trying to find out the origins of his creation and it's purpose? "

Okay, what's the general mental state of the assassin? Were they built from scratch in a tube or modified at some stage of life?

Some memories slipping in or out are a staple trope of hooking those kinds of quests. If they were a tube baby and have only constructed memories, they start to crack and break. If they were taken in and modified, then the memories that were suppressed for the process are starting to resurface.