What Makes a Story Too Different

Hey guys,
I was thinking how whenever I come up with a story idea, I want it to be as original as possible. Sometimes I'll even pitch my idea to people asking, has anyone ever done something like this before? The problem is, a lot of good ideas have already been done. This is especially true in genres that are less broad, or have a strict structure. For example, all ghost stories have a specific structure, and there's only so many different story lines you can come up with for hard-boiled crime.
That's when we start looking for something that make are story creatively different. People have seen this story line done before, so we need to play it from a different angle. Maybe we can add something different to make it interesting. After all, no one wants to read the same story by ten different authors, and no publisher in their right mind would accept one. However, there is a point where some people try to make their story too different.
Wait, you just said different was good. How can there be such a thing as too different?
Well, how might you come up with a different story idea? One that no ones ever done before? Some people will remove all the constraints they usually have. Genre? Who cares about a genre? I'll create my own genre! Sounds great, right? But what happens when it comes to people reading this genre-less book? When I look at books in the library I look at the title and cover first. From that I can tell what type of book it is. I class it into realism, horror, or fantasy, etc. I know what genres I like to read, so if the book doesn't fall into one of those genres, I usually just put it back. This is even more true when it comes to looking in a book shop. Nobody wants to spend money on a book if they aren't sure wether or not they'll like it. A book needs a genre. You don't need to come up with one straight away of course. I usually have a loose idea, and narrow it down as I write, but once it written, it needs a genre.
So if we can't just remove all the stuff that makes a story fit into a  genre what can we do instead?
Well, let's look at some old classics. We've all hard of Dracula, and Frankenstein. They've been published, redesigned, republished, adapted for modern audiences, and made into movies. What did they do different? Dracula and Frankenstein are written in first person. The characters letters and diary entries tell the story, but it's not just one character. Each have three or four individual people telling the story. Lots of books do the same thing today, using the point of view of more than one character. Even stories told in third person follow one character, seeing their point of view, and then the next chapter follow a different one.
Okay, great. They all use a few different characters points of view. We can make this different by adding more! How about seven? Wait! Hold it! The point of view characters act as main, or at least very important characters. How can an audience keep up with seven? Sorry, but that won't work either.
Okay, so we need a genre, and we can only have a few points of view. How do we make a story original? Well, unfortunately, there are only a few truly original story lines out there still. The good news is, you don't need one. Not a completely new one anyway. Many authors get ideas when reading, and as I said in my last post reading is very important to writers, and that's part for this reason. Lots of people will warn you about other writers stealing your ideas if you tell them, but writers are always stealing other peoples ideas. They still get published though, because it's almost impossible to write the same story twice. Everyone has their own style.
Think of an art lesson in school where you all had to draw the same thing. Now think of two of those pictures that looked exactly the same. None of them did, did they? The same goes for your writing. No matter who steals who's idea, they won't be writing the same story. Your characters will look different, with different personalities. They will always be different.
If you ask me, sharing your ideas with other writers will help you more than anything. Remember, no one, but you can ever write your story.


Difference is always good, but don't try too hard okay,

       Teen Fantasy Author