Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Post History

60%
+1 −0
Q&A Do it your own way or inspire in already done ways?

Human being have a inbred psychological need for stories. Like all our other needs, there are specific receptors that have to be matched for the need to be satisfied. If the body does not recognize...

posted 8y ago by Mark Baker‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2020-01-03T20:41:52Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/26098
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T05:57:03Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/26098
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T05:57:03Z (almost 5 years ago)
Human being have a inbred psychological need for stories. Like all our other needs, there are specific receptors that have to be matched for the need to be satisfied. If the body does not recognize a story as story, it will reject it. We can't change the reader's need for story, anymore than we can change their need for food or approval or warmth or oxygen.

At the same time, people crave variety in their stories, as they do in their food, but only up to a point. What people are looking for is often best described as the same only different. That is actually what makes writing such a challenge. The same is easy, which is why it is relatively easy to churn out genre fiction. Different is easy, but it doesn't appeal to most tastes. The same only different is the tough one.

It is the same problem a chef in a restaurant has. The food they serve has to be be exotic yet familiar. Exciting yet comforting. Compare 50 restaurant menus and you will find they are mostly very similar in what they offer, but with variations on the theme.

So if your different approach is just different, it probably won't work, but if it is the same only different, it may be just what people are looking for.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2017-01-16T13:49:57Z (almost 8 years ago)
Original score: 1