More of the Same?
Doubts!
I was thinking yesterday about how hard it is to be original in this day and age. I mean, look at the cliché I just used, even! One of the reasons I fought being a writer for so long (see previous post about excuses) was that I figured I couldn’t come up with anything original enough to warrant it being written. That, along with the fact that I would never be as good as my sci-fi and fantasy heroes, such as Herbert, Gaiman, Tolkien, Bradbury, and many others. So why bother?
Lately, I’ve come into another bout of self-doubt, where I feel that a big story I’m slowly working on is going to end up being a copy of something else. So without giving too much away, here is my problem…
The Premise
On and off for a couple years, I’ve been “pondering” a story which I have code-named “Rasa.” The basic premise is that it is in the far future (not sure how far quite yet), on another planet which was colonized as sort of a seed planet. Basically, a group of humans settled there and were left to fend for themselves. The idea being that there’d be more humans out there. The whole not putting your eggs in one basket thing. Nothing original there, I know.
The problem with this planet, though, was that there was already a civilization of sentient beings living there. So, what did the humans in charge do? Of course, they destroyed this culture in an act of genocide. Fast forward many years (again, not sure, but at least a couple hundred) and the human settlers are living a quiet and peaceful life, free of most modern technology. I picture them fishing, making things out of raw materials, spending time enjoying the arts and nature. They’ve forgotten their
past and the horrific acts of their ancestors.
That is, until the events of the story kick off and a group of young citizens, (sort of like my version of The Breakfast Club,) go on a trip which will uncover the truth and put their society on the path of war. And it will be up to them to either repeat the cycle of destruction which has plagued our species for so long, or to try to find a different way.
So, what’s wrong?
After watching the latest episode of Game of Thrones, I started thinking of my own fan theories. And upon doing some Internet research, I found I wasn’t alone in my ideas.
ENTER, GAME OF THRONES SPOILERS – THROUGH AUGUST 6TH, 2017
In the latest episode on 8/6/17, some characters found some ancient cave paintings. Several were concentric circles with other circles nearby, which I took to be planets, orbits, moons, etc. for some reason. Others showed humans standing near the “Children of the Forest,” which are the elf-like original inhabitants of the land. To me, the sketches of the humans appeared to be wearing space suits.
So, my theory is basically that human space travelers in our future went to some planet, killed off many of the original species, then somehow reverted back to a medieval-style way of life.
Basically the exact idea I’ve had for years for “Rasa.”
Now what do I do?!
I have to think about how best to go about telling the story I’ve been cooking up in my head. I know that people say there are a limited amount of stories out there, and that they are pretty much being told over and over. That there isn’t anything original anymore. But I don’t want to write something which ends up, accidentally, being a rip-off of one of the most popular series of our times. To say nothing of the several other similar ideas I stumbled upon while looking up my GOT fan theory.
It’s not like this has made me want to completely give up on myself or the story, though. I just need to think of my own twists, my own versions. I need the characters to be compelling and the overall message of the story to be something relatable. I have a pretty good handle on several of the main characters, but like GOT, I want them to have their own arcs and I want their POVs to be more or less equal in standing throughout the entire epic.
I guess the rambling blabbering moral I’m coming up with tonight at nearly 1am is that it’s alright if something is familiar or similar to something else out there. That’s something many readers, myself included, actually enjoy. We don’t want to read some crazy groundbreaking story which is not like anything we’ve ever heard or read. At least not all the time.
I mean, when we were children, how many of us asked to be read the exact same book over and over? My own daughter enjoys asking me to read a book at least three times before I have to stop her.
So, I guess I’ll keep going with my world-building, character profiling, and overall thinking. Maybe one day, I’ll come up with my own original twist which will make “Rasa” something different. Or at least something which is my own.