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

50%
+0 −0
Q&A What to do if I end up confused by my own plot because of 'trying to be original' or 'trying to make the story more deep'?

You're trying too hard. Put the structure of your novel together. Don't worry if it's been done. It's all been done. There are something like forty plots in all human literature. Trust me, whateve...

posted 13y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-13T11:59:56Z (over 4 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/2031
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 · 2019-12-08T01:22:17Z (over 4 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/2031
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T01:22:17Z (over 4 years ago)
You're trying too hard.

Put the structure of your novel together. Don't worry if it's been done. It's _all_ been done. There are something like forty plots in all human literature. Trust me, whatever you're doing, it's been done. "Boy gets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back" is done twelve times a day and a few extra on Friday nights, but oddly, neither the romance novel business nor the chick-flick industry are collapsing. The point is to do it _well_.

Write the best novel you can. Have it edited repeatedly. Ask your editors to point out anything which seems painfully derivative, and focus your improvements there.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2011-03-16T15:24:13Z (about 13 years ago)
Original score: 6