The Art of the Storyteller Part 7; Review and Breaking Barriers

Here's the rub. How do you writing something like that, which people will quote and remember years from now? Years after you, yourself have left your keyboard or writing device behind?

There is nothing you, me or anybody else will write which will be TRULY original. EVERYTHING has been done before but we can change those elements we have been talking about. But surely there must be SOMETHING original left, you all ask in a grammatically incorrect manner. No, there is not. Let me explain. There are always themes, treads and issues we will write about, things the human race has been worried about since it started to realise what thinking was;

1. Good versus Evil; Dark vs Light; an Evil force will threaten to destory everything the Good people value and believe in. Maybe that force will corrupt and change some of the people it encounters, maybe it won't. In the end Good triumphs and Evil is imprisioned (if the writer or stroryteller wants a sequel) or destroyed (if they don't) and everything is jolly. They all live in stereotypical bliss etc.

2. Insignificant Person with a Secret; It started with the goatherd, swineherd or carer for which ever domestic/livestock animals the teller liked best who turned out to be the Prince, the Heir or the Chosen One for whatever needed to happen. Bad things would happen but said insignificant person would 'find their destiny' and save the day somehow or other

3. Hidden Secret Threatens Everything; A morality tale mostly, the secret is usually an allegory for something more mundane. Something hidden away gets unhidden and people must be heroic things for it to get put away again (if a sequel is on the horizon) or destroyed.

4. Not Following The RULES Leads to bad things; protagonist is a bit of rebel and has no love for the rules so lives his/her life in defiance of them. Then Bad Thing happens and leads to more Bad Things, until Clever and Wise Person illuminates protagonist and they realise that The Rules make sense afterall and fix everything to stirring Rock Music.

5. Coming of Age Type Thing; Everyone hates coming of Age Person, they are less popular than clothes in a naturist resort. They are so ugly that Quasimodo refuses to date them. They are so clumsy that they break things they have yet to come into contact with but they have One Friend who's secretly been in love with them Like Forever. Some Important or Bad Thing happens and their Hidden Side is revealed and, it turns out, they're quite attractive and popular suddenly. They forget all about One Friend and become New Asshole Person. Next Bad Thing happens and One Friend remains loyal. Each sees other for what they are and fall in love.

Those are just a few examples, of course. There are many more, of course and I'm sure hundreds of your will tell me that YOUR story is 100% original. It isn't. It never will be. Think of it this way; those flatted, dried and vitamin enriched pieces of corn you pour milk on and eat for breakfast; why do you buy the brand with the chicken on the box? The contents and the food are probaly the same when compared to the ones sold by a bear but we don't want those do we? Why? Call it Perceived Value. We think chicken trumps bear for processed corn cereal because chicken tells a better story with more added bits that bear does. Make sense? Good!

1. Character; your characters are engaging and interesting and do things which other people's don't. No-one remembers Mark Horizonrunner the galactic postman who one day delivered the wrong letter now do they?

2. Language; How it's told, how drama and scene are created, how emotion is used to draw characters in. Shakespeare's contemporary, David Tremblepikye's "To stab myself or get stabbed by someone else" speech was lost to History. How you say it makes all the difference in the world.

3. Location; this you can adapt or invent and add many new layers, flavours and opportunities for embellishment, spread the story out and be totally new. Think about how location can change everything. Think The Storeholder of Shrewsbury, not the same impact eh?

4. Passion; the secret sauce that keeps you going past all the worry, the disappointment and makes you want to experiement and make something new. Take the disappointments, accept the feedback, learn. If you want your book to be remembered long after you're gone, to leave that legacy, you have yo be prepared for many disappointments and learning experiences. To take your beloved writing and change it, be prepared to accept you don't know everything and have a lot still to learn, even I do! Your passion is what keeps you going through all of that.

Now do you see? The need nerve to accept that someone, somewhere had an idea similar or even identical to yours before and push yourself to be original and think originally. I let finding a story and mythos to similar to mine hold me back 20 years because I lost my confidence in my ability to create. It took the birth of my daughters and wanting to create a legacy for them to change that. What will it take for you?