You can argue with me all you like, but the truth is, originality is only a concept people came up with. From what I have seen in fanfics, there is none at all. My story isn't either, but it shouldn't matter if your story is original or not. People put their time and effort into their stories, even if it is a bit cliché, its still a good story regardless. Consider this: There are books in real life that are not original either, they just copy some of the most common clichés there are: Murder, drugs, etc. You can't just write a story and claim its original, it doesn't work that way. I've looked through many stories and not once have I seen something not done before by another person. Taking a background pony and using them for a story doesn't make it original, its just ordinary. You could take twilight and make her your main character, but that's just ordinary too. I've tried my hardest to try and cater to you guys, but that's not what i'm about, i'm about doing it my own way; not going by what the norm is. If you don't believe me, that's fine, but leave the excuse of "That's not original" out of the argument. All that's needed is to take a story for what it is, and help that person get better, not make a mockery of them. I hope this has gotten through to you all, and have a good day.
Originality is a real thing, but at this point in human history, and especially in literature or media, it can be very difficult to achieve; so much has already been done, that trying to claim that you've created something totally unlike any other body of work is probably just going to result in someone coming up with one of several examples that prove you wrong. That being said, originality doesn't have any real bearing on quality; generally a more refined copy of an existing concept is better than the original, as someone has been able to analyse it with a fresh perspective, and fix it's flaws. I agree that originality should hold little to no bearing on the critique of someone's work, unless they are blatantly plagiarising; it should be judged by it's own merits, not by how many sources it seems to draw inspiration from.
You're not terrible at saying what you mean; I understood what you were saying perfectly, I was just agreeing with different words.
It really hurts when people compare mine to someone else's and says: "This is a real story, and yours is not."
"Quality" might not be directly affected by originality, but if we substitute in the word "credit", then we can talk about the heart of the matter. People crap on "unoriginal" work because they - with a decent amount of accuracy and conviction - believe that the heart of art is to create independent work that isn't a carbon copy of what has previously been made. That's true enough, although all art is derivative in some sense. It's sort of a gray area, as I see it. People don't like other people to act as though they deserve credit for the complexity of the source material, a matter which is usually best treated case-by-case, where readers/viewers examine the art in question and decide for themselves how to feel about it. It's important to note that the modern definition of "originality" didn't really exist before some of the more recent artistic movements of the 20th century. That word meant something rather different in art before that time. Fanfiction is not a good measuring tool for originality. Fanfiction is, by its very nature, consummately unoriginal. It isn't that fanfiction can't be creative, because it certainly is, but whether or not someone puts time and effort into their story doesn't change that parts of that story, if it is a fanfiction, are unoriginal. Your example viewing culture is a bit far from what it means to be original; if we see a writer writing a story that uses certain ideas, those ideas are derived from experiences in a culture that involved other similar ideas. Their work using those ideas, however, can still be original; we just want them to combine those ideas in a way nobody has ever seen before. It's like watching an orchestra perform a piece of classical music; you might see all the instruments and even recognize all the notes, but it's the arrangement of those things that make it its own independent work. Fanfiction removes some creation of arrangement while still retaining other capacities to affect arrangement. This places it in a precarious position where the work is not entirely original but still creative in spite of that fact. If somebody tells you your story is unoriginal, I need you to try and accept that as a salient piece of criticism. I have written many things, including fanfiction, and being unoriginal is always a horrific pitfall for a writer. Always be aware of your own originality, that you might use it to build on your work and help yourself when you are coming up short. It is important to be original. You don't want to just be writing what everybody else is writing. You might want to have a knee-jerk reaction where you say that saying something is unoriginal isn't a good criticism, but you'd be wrong. If your story is horridly unoriginal, people won't make a mockery of it; it's already mocking itself. That said, there's something to be said for not internalizing too much advice on your creative writing. Some people will just say things about your art that are downright silly or completely miss the point of what you're trying to do. Lots of criticism falls into those two categories. That said, always be aware of your own originality and creativity; don't wait until somebody else brings it up to make an issue of it. Squash that problem in its infancy before it can grow into a real problem. "Kill your darlings." - Steven King
The last fanfiction I wrote was a crazy crossover fanfiction. I suppose that's not really original either. I want to do a sequel but I'm waiting for something that may never happen... *sighs* Oh well... I guess...
So It seems it does to an extent. Original story writing is harder for me when I have AS, I have little to think about. But I try my hardest every day to write what I can, I have my limits. I don't really care if people think my stories are unoriginal, its not a written law to do just like everyone else. I just like doing what I feel is best, not going by what spiteful people say I should do. I understand that sometimes you have to be, but its not possible all the time. While some ideas are unoriginal in fanfics, I'm just not willing to be famous as one. I want to be your average writer, someone who can take pride in my work, not be judged unfairly.
Thanks. That's all I really want to hear. People just chewing me out for not catering to their genre is really not helping me.
Can't tell if this is a rant because someone said something about your story or a statement thread. Either way originality exists everywhere in stories. Of course people are going to put in things from experience, maybe a similar idea to another book or a film, but as long as it is just vaguely similar there shouldn't be an issue. I used to write myself by the way and they were totally original source material and got very good reviews from people who looked at them. As for people saying they don't like your stories, well unfortunately people have their opinions, of course if someone is flat out rude and just says it sucks that isn't helpful, but there are always going to be people who won't like it, try to focus on the constructive criticism and improve that way.
There's a difference between being helpful and abusive toward an author, mine was clearly abuse with the car wreck insult. It was deliberately thrown at me. I try to get good ones, but it's just them not understanding why I have trouble detailing things in the story.
Everything created is original. The influence of other works and the personality of the writer and their take on whatever it is they're writing (if we're talking literature) end up mixing together in one giant pot to become some kind of new brew. Whether that brew is good or not, or whether that brew tastes similar to something else or not is still up for question. However, these small differences are not deserving of being written off. If the writer is capable of creating a good experience, it shouldn't matter how original something is to begin with. Something that is supposedly not "original" can be an improvement on the "original." Would those improvements not technically be original content added by the author? The majority of works is garbage anyway, though.
I just feel people should be respectful and try to help a writer on improving, not treating them like garbage. I may have a slow learning curve, but I am getting better as I learn from each experience. But the story not living up to their expectations shouldn't be treated any less like the good ones. I have yet to meet any reviews that try to be helpful, that's why I get help from friends only.
