Have you ever read a novel where the entire book lacked a single element that was original? Sure you have, lots of times.
Whenever you begin to read in an established genre, you find that many novels are written as an homage to a well-known book. Thus, after Treasure Island was written as a serialized novel in 1881-1882, an entire industry was spawned, as knockoff pirate novels filled the book racks. Forty years later, when movie pictures had grown up enough to tackle books, pirate movies had their own heyday.
Over a decade ago, literally hundreds of writers were doing vampire novels or zombie novels, hoping to get in on the gold rush. Some of them were quite good, and many had their own innovative twists, but only a few of them had enough “novelty” to make you feel that they were original.
As a contest judge, I read thousands of short stories, and one of the major elements that I searched for was novelty. Far too often, I found nothing.
So as you construct a scene, you have to look at it and ask yourself, “What can I do to imbue this with some originality? Do I need to work on creating a unique world? How is my character different from every other character I’ve seen? Are there themes, images, twists of phrases, or methods of handling the story that are unique?”
In short, you need to dig deeper if you’re going to astonish your reader. As you find ways to imbue your story with uniqueness scene after scene, it gains more power, feels more original as a whole.
I’ve seen novels that start off seemingly original, but then crash halfway through. I’ve read books that seem mundane through much of the text, but then show some unique twists at the end. Ideally, you want to have a blend. You want your characters and your story to be enough like things that readers have enjoyed in the past so that they’ll become involved in your fictive universe. Yet if you look at the books that consistently get a generous push from the major publishers, you’ll see that there is also something unique in them.
Previously published
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Happening Soon on Apex
Tonight at 5:30 pm Mountain Time (7:30 pm EST)
Come join us for Monday evening strategy meetings. We will be working to give authors tools, knowledge, and motivation to create original, best-selling stories and the self-defined successful careers they want. Some weeks, we will focus on high level strategic areas writers need to consider and plan for, and other weeks, we will get down to the details of strategy implementation. Don’t miss out. We meet every week at 5:30 MT. Come strategize!
Tonight at 7 pm Mountain Time (9 pm EST)
You are Not a Brand with M. Todd Gallowglas
Description: The most interesting speakers and presenters are often the ones that seem to sell the most books. Being well spoken, speaking fluently and confidently is important in your overall platform, but how do you “sell” yourself and your work, without being a walking billboard?
Bio: M. Todd Gallowglas. Take raw imagination. Two parts coffee to one part whiskey. Equal heaping spoonfuls of angst, whimsy, snark, and a dash of imposter syndrome. Drop in an MFA, sprinkle a healthy dose of shenanigans on top while chanting either, “What’s a gleeman?” or “Tell me a story” to personal taste. Best served with a cloak of tales at Con temperature.
Wednesday at 7 pm Mountain Time (9 pm EST)
Every week, Forrest Wolverton holds the Apex Accelerator Program. This program is designed to help motivate writers and help them get past the obstacles in their life to become the best writer they can be. There aren’t very many writing groups out there that have motivational speakers!
