Writing Podcast: Blending Familiar and Original

Writing Podcast

Writing Excuses Episode 2: Blending the Familiar and the Original

How do you know when your setting of high school kids solve supernatural mysteries becomes cliché?  Brandon, Howard and Dan discuss how you create unique concepts by blending familiar topics with something new and original and how to avoid possible pitfalls.

Notes

Take a mundane idea and something extraordinary and merge them together. Expand on whatever it is you are writing about.

Ex. You can create a character such as a pirate or bounty hunter and give them an extraordinary name.

Understand the theory of The Strange Attractor- this has to do with something that attracts and is familiar but there is something strange about it.

So what do they mean by familiar?

Familiar- It is something that you can relate to. Also, something already in your head even if it is as simple as a story you recall of a kid in high school. Now by understanding the familiar, you can then create a simple story about high school kid but then add in the original, which could be that your teacher is an alien or robot.

By following this theory it allows readers to locate themselves in your story.

In order to be most effective in reaching your audience you must understand them. You must do your research. Know all the trends in your industry or genre. It is best to know what else is being written around you and to also know what is actually being read. Understand that people want different amounts of original and extraordinary. For example, in science fiction many of the readers look for about 70 percent original content and about 30 percent original content.

Watch out for Risks

In science fiction there is a risk of singularity and post singularity. This is when the writer is no longer able to create characters that are recognizable. The problem is that if the readers cannot identify the characters they will not want to read.

Here is response posted on the website regarding the writers podcast.

Tips

You need to make a decision on how much familiar content and how much original content you want to provide to your reader. There is a market for both but it is suggested that to write to a specific audience. The largest audience is in the middle of the two.

Don’t stand on the shoulders of giants. Pick something out of reach and jump for it, make a leap, take a risk.

Take a long look at your original content and really analyze and make sure it truly is original. Do your research.

Lastly, write the story YOU want to read.