: Re: Any Technique to See if Your Idea is Original? I usually get quite a lot of ideas for stories, but every time I want to develop them into a full fledged story, I get paranoid about how

@Deb2945533

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I feel this almost all the time, haha. But there is an interesting set of lectures That I remember my tutor presenting to us on the subject of stories and character development.

Basically, there are at least seven 'main' types of stories ('rags to riches' and 'defeating the monster', for example). So theoretically speaking, every single story fits into at least one of these types. So, it's pretty difficult to have a completely original and 'never-seen-before' plot line.
As long as you aren't blatently ripping off another story, having a slightly similar concept isn't actually bad.

Like other answers have stated, the most important thing is the characters. Are they interesting? Do they help add flavour and feeling to your story? It's all well and good having a certain plot twist happening (which on its own can be good, of course) but it's how your characters react to that plot twist that matters the most. Having a generic 'brave warrior' for example can be great, but what about them makes your reader love them? Characters with interesting traits are what make a story good and re-readable, in my opinion.

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