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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/26223
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/26223
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

There are no original plots left. There are no myths that have not been mined and exploited a hundred times over. And coming up with a new mythos is nigh impossible because the elements of myth are elemental -- they speak very deeply to basic human hopes and fears and so even the ancient myths we have from all over the world are broadly similar to each other.

The success of a story lies not in the plot, or the myth is borrows from, but in the telling. The old stories need to be constantly retold for a new audience, an audience whose minds are stocked with different experiences, education, and prejudices from their parents. You tell the old stories, explore the old myths, but you do it for a new generation.

Neither JRR Tolkien of J.K. Rowling created a new mythos. They gleaned, sorted, and retold old ones. If they seemed original to millions, it was because it was the first time they had encountered them. Tolkien and Rowling tool old myths and old tropes and retold them for a new generation of readers to whom the older tellings would have been much less accessible.

Original score: 1