Ideas you once thought were original but later found out were generic

[Hoshino]

For me, it was before I had watched/read any isekai, and I thought about isekai-ing a person by running them over with a truck... but later when I was finished writing half of It, I started watching isekai and realized how generic It was and scrapped the whole novel-nya.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

There are no unique ideas - only unique ways of combining what has been done before to produce a different outcome.

 

[ShrimpShady]

When I was in middleschool, I thought I was super original with my story about immortal mafia gangster in New York. Then I watched Baccano.

 

[l8rose]

Travelling to another world.
Kid being adopted.
The evil being the sibling/twin/parent of the MC.
The evil being a future/past version of the MC.
Cat-people.

.... I could go on. I thought up a lot of things when I was growing up that I thought was super unique. Turns out, it's all just as unique as everyone else's thought.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Making cringe threads on SHF.

 

[Deleted member 84247]

Making cringe threads on SHF.

True. I am the only one allowed to make cringe threads.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

True. I am the only one allowed to make cringe threads.

It is so, but not everyone are following the law.

 

[Hoshino]

Making cringe threads on SHF.

O great one who I don't know, please enlighten me on What has this foolish one done to you?

 

[RepresentingWrath]

O great one who I don't know, please enlighten me on What has this foolish one has done to you?

Better ask what you are doing to yourself. In five years this will keep you awake at night, with your jaw clencehd tightly and cheeks flushed you will relive these moments. We all came through this, don't worry, it won't kill you.

 

[ArcadiaBlade]

I once thought of an idea of a zombie type story where some military people would enter a house filled with puzzles and solve the mystery of the zombie outbreak. - Me before discovering resident evil

Thought of an idea where people could see a diary of the future and the main character is chased by a psychopathic obsessive girl. - Me before discovering Future Diary and Yanderes.

Had an idea of a poor butler working for a rich girl whose OP yet unlucky and attracts multiple women. - Me before discovering Hayate the combat butler.

I kept having these kinds of ideas where I literally end up finding them the next day.

 

[AmbreaTaddy]

I don't really enjoy science fiction, so I don't consume that type of media. But I once had a genius idea about a guy living in a simulation, getting out of it, and discovering all humans are plugged to machines and there is a resistance opposing it.

Yes, it's Matrix. But I never watched it so I didn't know.

Ended up deleting a 500 pages entirely completed book before it could see the light of the word (I had worked for three years on it)

 

[CharlesEBrown]

I don't really enjoy science fiction, so I don't consume that type of media. But I once had a genius idea about a guy living in a simulation, getting out of it, and discovering all humans are plugged to machines and there is a resistance opposing it.

Yes, it's Matrix. But I never watched it so I didn't know.

Phillip K. Dick kind of suggested this idea in some of his stories in the 60s, so even The Matrix was not original!

 

[Jaicodonutsz]

sentient weapons and probably a hero's journey like instead of an "epic" adventure it's more ofa slice of life feel.

 

[ShrimpShady]

I once thought of an idea of a zombie type story where some military people would enter a house filled with puzzles and solve the mystery of the zombie outbreak. - Me before discovering resident evil

Thought of an idea where people could see a diary of the future and the main character is chased by a psychopathic obsessive girl. - Me before discovering Future Diary and Yanderes.

Had an idea of a poor butler working for a rich girl whose OP yet unlucky and attracts multiple women. - Me before discovering Hayate the combat butler.

I kept having these kinds of ideas where I literally end up finding them the next day.

They're actually stealing your ideas at that point. Check for psychics in your neighborhood.

Phillip K. Dick kind of suggested this idea in some of his stories in the 60s, so even The Matrix was not original!

I just finished reading Ubik yesterday and this is what I see. Maybe I'm in half-life too and you're trying to reach me. Let me check my wallets for any Brown bucks.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

They're actually stealing your ideas at that point. Check for psychics in your neighborhood.

There was a short story - I think by Dennis Etchison - where the narrator, a writer, was being stalked by someone. When the stalker finally caught up to the MC, he said the MC had been "stealing his idea particles" and went on to say that every story he'd ever written, the MC had published at some point between him finishing the MS and his editor getting it ... every single time... and he was going to take the idea particles back, even if he had to kill to do it!

 

[beast_regards]

The story doesn't need to be unique.

It needs to be enjoyable.

In fact, being unique could even harm the story, as it could alienate the readers and drive them away.

The genre defining novels had to take a significant risk to break conventions of the literature back in the day. Printing was an expensive endeavour and unsuccessful book could lead to the publisher's bankruptcy, and even then, the revolutionary ideas weren't that unique when you thought of it as it had been tried already in some shape and form.

 

[DireBadger]

There is nothing new under the sun. There's no such thing as an 'original' plot idea, or it would never be used because it sucks.

However, how you ARRANGE and construct those plot ideas are original. That's where your stories come from.
Every idea JRR Tolkein had was stolen from another source, He simply added a new language to it, filed off the serial numbers, and created a new series.

You don't have to have original ideas to be an original writer. You simply have to be original as a writer... and there are as many original writing styles as there are writers.

 

[GonzoGuilty]

There ain't really any original stories, just the same letters, tropes, and themes rearranged in a way we hope hits different. It's less about coming up with something new and more about telling it in a way that makes people care.
Also not me posting a response before reading all comments and basically saying the same thing as Shelbie

 

[RiceballWasTaken]

There's no such thing as an 'original' plot idea, or it would never be used because it sucks.

What if it was just never thought of before and I'd say that creating the original idea and tropes would be like becoming a God when it comes to literature to become something like of a more foundational Tolkien if you do things right.

 

[DireBadger]

What if it was just never thought of before and I'd say that creating the original idea and tropes would be like becoming a God when it comes to literature to become something like of a more foundational Tolkien if you do things right.

I would say that that level of self-delusion is absolutely the GREATEST tool a fiction writer could possibly possess. Great job! keep it up! If you can lie to your audience half as well as you can lie to yourself, I expect to see your books on the silver screen in no time!

Can I say I knew you back when you were just a cup of uncooked sticky rice?