Inventing New From Old

What people like to read about is something new and different. Something they haven’t experienced before.

What people also like to read about are things they recognise and are familiar with and know well.

Herein lies the problem for writers.  Go too far from what people are used to and they don’t want to risk wasting their time on something they may end up not liking.

Stick to what’s been done before and get treated like a hack and imitator.

It’s difficult because while most people will say they’re interested in exploring new areas and giving a chance to risky propositions, the truth is it’s the clichéd and the predictable that top the bestseller charts.

The same thing dressed up slightly different is what sells. That’s probably true of most art forms at the moment. Truly original and fresh is how we’d all like to be successful, but those successes are rare, and for every one that makes it, there are hundreds that failed.

Trying to satisfy the reader’s desire for something unique yet familiar, and creatively satisfying for the writer is no easy task.

At its most crass it can seem very one note. It’s Die Hard on a hovercraft! Wuthering Heights with werewolves! But I’m not talking about big conceptual ideas—whatever the premise of your story it should be something that appeals to you.

What I’m talking about are the basic building blocks of a story. How do you make those seem fresh and original even though they aren’t the main focus of the story.

For example, if I’m writing a big love story that lasts a hundred years and features alien visitors from another dimension that will all seem very exciting and different I’m sure. But if one of the scenes within that story shows Diane, my main character, going into a meeting wanting to impress and get the promotion she knows Sally is being lined up for, how do I make that feel less familiar and obvious?

Because even though the overall story may have lots of exciting and innovative concepts to it, people only read one chapter at a time, and each scene has the power to send the reader to sleep.

Often what I see when reading a WIP is a realistic depiction. Diane works for a company that sell a rival to iPhones and she goes into the meeting and talks in marketing jingo and when Sally points something out she shuts her down. Typical boardroom scene.

The obvious way to make that sort of scene feel less familiar and predictable is to have Diane come up with a truly impressive and revolutionary idea for selling phones. Not very easy. In fact, if you could come up with something like that you should probably stop writing and contact Samsung.

But there are plenty of other opportunities in a scene like that for adding something different without having to do too much. You could change the thing they’re talking about. Instead of mobile phones, maybe the company sells unicorn horns. Obviously it would have to be something that fits into the story you’re writing, but my point is that one small change can make a big difference to how the reader will react to what was a fairly standard set up.

Or you could take the meeting out of the boardroom and have it on the roof. You can’t do these things for no reason, you have to provide believable explanations, but that’s completely within your power as a writer.

Perhaps the meeting is all women, or the chairmen is twelve, or a there’s a cage with a tiger in it. These examples may seem random or requiring more explanation than you would like, but I’m using extreme examples to show the way the brain works.

If you look at a familiar painting and one thing stands out, that’s the thing your brain will focus on. But the important thing isn’t to note what that thing is, it’s that the brain is focused. The shift from “taking it all in” mode to “trying to work it out” mode is a change in the level of engagement, and once you get the reader in that state of mind the fish is on the hook.

Simply by adding small unexpected details you can add enough newness to a familiar set up. Of course, you still have to make the rest of the scene entertaining, but with the reader already engaged, you have a much better chance of keeping the their attention.

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