I think, as a creator, we all want to appreciate the honor and prestige that comes with the idea that we were able to tell a story that is truly unique, original, and just completely out of the blue...blowing your audience away in the process. It’s a lofty and ambitious goal to reach for...but it’s a high branch on the tree, believe me. So reach for it, but don’t be discouraged if you create something awesome while still falling a bit short.

That begs the question...is it even possible to come up with a story that’s new and has never ever been done before?

I mean, it’s a crazy to think about sometimes. Right? I have to admit that I go spiraling down that rabbit hole sometimes, myself. How can you escape your greatest creative influences when it was your greatest creative influences that inspired your passion for writing in the first place? How weird is it to think that the very concept of a ‘new’ story is simply the product of an illusion that you may never be able to escape from? Wild.

I always quote one of my writing teachers in college and what he told me back then. “There have been no new stories since the Romans.” And in a lot of ways...he was actually pretty accurate with that statement. Between the Romans, Greek Mythology, and Shakespeare...they’ve tackled almost every single corner of the human condition in all of its many forms and expressions. Man versus man, man versus self, man versus society, the heroes journey, love, betrayal, paranoia, anger, murder, forbidden romance, war, karma coming back around to bite you in the ass...where else do you go from there? Especially with thousands upon thousands of other people already building off of that already solidified blueprint for storytelling in general. It’s a difficult task to tackle. Believe me, I know! And I keep trying really HARD because there’s a stubborn part of my psyche that truly thinks that it can be done! If anything, if I can write just ONE story that can be fully immersive and one hundred percent original...that would be the Holy Grail of my entire existence. Hehehe! Seriously, I am always trying to get around that impenetrable barrier of ‘been there, done that, seen it all before’ with the stories that I write...but so far it’s been an unreachable fruit on the vine.

If any of you guys have tried to get around this barricade yourselves, or have been struggling with the same ambitions of making it happen...please let me know down in the replies down below. It would be really awesome to hear everyone’s thoughts on this issue. Who knows? We might be able to help one another reach the peak of that particular mountain and come up with a few new formulas. And then relay the message back down to the rest of us who were climbing up behind you. Hehehe!

Brand new ideas in writing can be extremely difficult to come by sometimes. And that’s not even including the entire expanse of all of the stories that have been told over the course of fiction history...but even with the amount of stories that I’ve written personally over the past decade or two. And that’s just my catalog of stories alone, how can I not expect to make a definitive impact, regardless, when all I have is the same guiding light as everyone else? And even more so, ever hope to maintain that pace or possibly evolve above and beyond it?

It’s a tough question...but still...I believe that it can be done. I just haven’t found it yet. Let me know if I come close!

So, for me, the search for that literary Ark of the Covenant continues...and here are a few ideas that I’ve been able to formulate in my journey when it comes to maybe finding the real thing.

First things first...it’s not the idea of the story, but your personal perspective of the story that will make all the difference. We’ll start with this one, as I think it’s probably one of the easiest ways to look at this...well...I don’t want to call it a ‘problem’, because it really isn’t. But it’s an obstacle. One that you are going to have to put some effort in trying to get around. I know that you don’t want to hear it...but it’s going to be a real chore to write a story of forbidden love between two people without touching on some of the tropes that were set up in and well executed in the story, “Romeo And Juliet”. There have been a million takes on it, a million different endings, a million different conflicts...but, chances are that somewhere along the way...you’re going to unintentionally trip over the Shakespeare classic. Even in this day and age. BUT...that doesn’t mean that your story isn’t original or a product of your own personal genius. It’s just a matter of being a product of of, what some might say, one of the greatest tragic forbidden love stories of all time in many literary circles. So don’t sweat it. It’s not your job to compete as a writer. It’s your job to share your own experience, evn if it may be with something similar. That’s all.

The first movie of, “The Predator”, is great! I love it! Always have, and I always will. But is it a high tech science fiction version of “The Most Dangerous Game”...maaaaaybe. Hehehe! Doesn’t make me love it any less. Not because it was some mind-blowing new concept of fiction...but because they’ve taken the concept to a whole other level that I never could have expected. And I give them credit for that. It’s all in how you bring your own specific twist to the table.

There are a lot of times when I started “Gone From Daylight” (https://imagine-magazine.org/store/comicality/) where I was constantly trying to check and control myself from past influences so that I could avoid them and make this series something of my very own! And it’s a challenge sometimes! It really is. I have to stop my thought process and think, “Ugh...this sounds too much like ‘The Matrix’!” or ‘No...this sounds too much like ‘X-Men’!” And I try to change course and try my hardest not to borrow from a lot of my own influences. I wanted something unique and innovative, and was way outside of my comfort zone. And even to this day, it’s hard to do. But If I’m writing that sounds or feels too familiar to me, I’ll go back and try to make my own creative spin on it and wrack my brain trying to trailblaze forward with something more genuine instead. It can make your head hurt sometimes, hehehe...at least it does for me...but the last thing I’d ever want to be is a copycat. So always remember to make your story your own vision of the events that are happening and sure to come, and how YOU would see them if you’re going through them yourself. The biggest difference between anybody else’s story and yours...is YOU! Don’t ever forget that!

Another way to achieve this that I’ve been playing around with is in the formatting of the story itself. For example, I’ve written many ‘boy meets boy’ type of stories on the site...but, what if I changed the formatting from my usual prose to the idea of it being a day to day diary from a teenage boy who was living in that particular moment. Every feeling, every misunderstanding, every struggle, every school based fear of being discovered, every parental punishment? This is where “The Secret Life Of Billy Chase” came from. Now is this a trailblazing story that’s never ever been done before? I don’t know. I highly doubt it. But trying to tell one of my stories in an entirely different way was brand new to me. And I was hoping that it would open up the doors needed to make something truly unique out of it. And it feels like a new idea...but I still think that I can do better. Hehehe! The search continues.

Ways of telling a story can vary drastically from one idea to another. There’s the whole flashback approach, there’s the “Princess Bride”, I’m reading a fairy tale to someone else approach, there’s the “Memento” telling a story backwards and out of order approach….if you ever find yourself getting tired of telling a story in the same old linear way and running out of ways to do so...try a different format and see how it works out for you. It’s a challenge, definitely...but you may find talents within you that you didn’t even know that you had. So what have you got to lose by switching up the format a little bit, right?

And the third way? The devil is in the details, right? So make the details your focus and tweak and twist them in ways that you’ve personally never seen it done before.

I remember that people online were telling me that I should do a zombie apocalypse story for the site, but at the time...”The Walking Dead” and its spinoffs were at their peak, and there were more zombie movies that you could shake a stick at. So...I wrote ONE chapter of a story that took place during an outbreak, expecting that to be the only one. But many fans of that first chapter wanted more, and kept asking about it. So, the first question that I asked myself was...how can I possibly do something new with the whole zombie genre and the people hiding away from it? I started taking notes and the biggest detail was...the zombies were always the same. Whether they were slow or fast. But what if they were just as different and varied as the people that turned in the first place? Which later became a matter of whether or not it was just a dormant gene that hit certain teenagers once they entered puberty? That became a metaphor for sexual awareness. When does it happen? Age 12? Maybe 14? Maybe 18? It can be so random...how do you track and make a blanket law about such a thing? And by varying the threat as well as the potential victims of the threat gave me an edge that I could work with. Who’s safe, and who isn’t? And even though...how do you know who’s a ticking time bomb or not. That’s the idea that made me want to continue on with “Shelter” as a series, and it’s still a very popular story on the site to this day! (https://gayauthors.org/story/comicality/shelter/)

And from there, it led to a host of new characters, who each have stories of their own on how they survived the breakdown of civilization and find their way to the shelter in the first place! Hehehe, they’re GOOD individual stories! Promise! So please excuse my shameless promotion! Hahaha!

But again….is this the most revolutionary idea to ever be added to the pot? Nope! But give me time! Hehehehe! I’ve done different things with vampires, different things with werewolves, different things with “The Boys From Widow Lake” just for an ebook exclusive….but trying to com up with something that’s NEVER been done before? That’s a tall order. Perhaps too tall for me to climb over. But that doesn’t mean that I’m not going to work my brain to total exhaustion trying. And if any of you have got that secret key within you...feel free to share! LOL! Or...just keep it to yourself and write that next revolutionary, “1984”, “Lord Of The Flies”, “Hamlet”, that we all wish we could use to beat you to the punch. Might as well, right?

Don’t let the next “Catcher In The Rye” be buried with you! Write it! And share it! Whqat you have to say might end up inspiring millions! So what are you waiting for?

I hope this helps, you guys! Go searching for those original thoughts in your head! There’s gotta be something that hasn’t been said or expressed yet, right? Find it! And then come back and let us know how you did it! Hehehe!

Love you lots! And please stay beautiful!