To be honest, I don't think originality comes from the plot. I think your characters and the world you create are what makes a book stand out as original.

As one of the fanfiction authors I follow puts it, quoting Ecclesiastes, "There is nothing new under the sun." Originality---as much as it is generally possible for us---in my view, consists in mixing together elements and influences from many sources (rather than only a few), especially if some of those sources are obscure, and combining them in a way that seems original to readers rather than creating something utterly new or partiularly inventive. Sometimes the things that seem most inventive are in fact almost entirely derivative, but with a twist or two.

By the way, I love how you put that since we're all different we can write original stories, I think that's quite right.

My world has some cliches in it, for example dwarves that live "under" or in mountains and mine precious stones and metals (to me, that is what dwarves are, to have them be much different would mess it up for me), and use runes.
But, they will be different in other ways as I develop them more, as I figure out their form of government, the different factions in their race, who they are friendly with and how they work with those other races (or manage to exist without any help), I am bound to use these "cliche" ingredients in a way that pertains best, if not only, to my brand of dwarves.

Thanks! At least, in one way it can be original, if we use our unique voice in our writing.

Your world sounds cool! Not many people write about Dwarves and their world and their stories as main characters.

There was this one book that had dwarves in it (the Emerald Atlas, if you'd like to look it up), but they sound very different than what you are writing.

I agree too. That is a scripture verse in Ecclesiastes. It is true. Nothing in our books are new. Our characters come from our own personality and thoughts and people we've met and fictional characters we've heard or seen or read about, and all of us came from God in the first place.
And yes. The most important thing about our stories are its morals, and what it will teach the reader. Because books are very influencing in this time and age.

It's not just descriptions that make something "new". Yes, a certain mix or characteristics/"ingredients" may have the illusion of being slightly different. I guess I'm still trying to figure it out...

I'm saying every "new" thing we can think up will be made up of "ingredients" that are not new, but may be "original" in the sense that you've never heard of anything like it...

Very true! We humans can only use things that have been created! We may do something like an animal that has a tail like a elephant a head like a monkey and a body like a horse, and no one else may have done exactly that, but even though we have thought it up, we can really only use what exist's.

There is a difference between something "old" and something that feels "cliche".

I actually enjoy an old feel to a story, because sometimes the oldness gives it a backstory or a history that lends more depth to the tale, as in the case of C.S. Lewis in "That Hideous Strength". He uses a very old motif of Merlin and Arthurian legend, in order to get across ideas which were not originally part of that cycle. The point is though to give the oldness a different twist than is usually expected.


Characters are a really good way of doing this. If you have good character depth, and emotion, and personality, well...everyone is unique! And so a differently developed character can make an old story seem fresh.

I've been listening to the Tolkien Professor lectures(from another topic on here viewtopic.php?f=21&t=6725 )
and there's something interesting about originality in them.
Tolkien was saying that we don't invent or create stories, we discover them. And stories are like leaves on a tree. None of them are alike. They all are different. We won't be original, but we can't write something that isn't original because we ourselves are unique. Like our finger prints; they look alike but upon closer inspection each are different.
So, I guess(like from previous posts), we shouldn't try to be original, but at the same time we shouldn't copy from others' works, or at least we shouldn't try to put original elements from other stories into our stories because that would make their story no longer have that original element.
It is impossible to make something original but what we write will be different from others' books.

So, I guess(like from previous posts), we shouldn't try to be original, but at the same time we shouldn't copy from others' works, or at least we shouldn't try to put original elements from other stories into our stories because that would make their story no longer have that original element.
It is impossible to make something original but what we write will be different from others' books.