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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/33116
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/33116
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Ah, the myth of originality. (Hi @LaurenIpsum! Waves.)

No one in the publishing industry wants originality. Not publishers. Not readers. The only people in the orbit of publishing that claim to value originality are snarky internet trolls and bad tempered newspaper columnists. And these people, of course, are the least original people in the whole system since complaining about lack of originality is the oldest (and cheapest) way of drawing attention to yourself by creating tempest in a teapot controversies.

Another industry that has no interest in originality is the fast food industry. When McDonalds or Wendy's introduces a new product, what is it? A slab of protein between two slabs of starch with some token roughage and a more or less spicy sauce. It is not original. It is a variation on a popular theme.

Random House and Penguin value originality about as much as McDonalds and Burger King do. Which is to say, not at all. Want to pitch your book? Tell me what other books it is like. And why? Because readers don't want originality. They want the same burger they had last time.

So why bother publishing new books at all? For the same reason that Burger King cooks new burgers every day. Because nobody wants stale burgers. What we want is not originality, but freshness. Hot off the presses; hot off the grill.

Books grow stale in a different way from hamburgers, but they do go stale. Their references grow outdated. The causes they pander to go out of fashion. The particular fad they belong to gets old. Out with the emo vampire lovers, in the with emo cowboy lovers! Would you like mustard or mayo on your burger?

Rowling did a masterful job or reheating the leftovers of a century and a half of English children's literature. There is everything in there from the long tradition of boarding school stories, to train stories, to magic stories. (If you want to know the roots of Harry Potter, read E Nesbit. It's all in there.) It's leftovers, but it is a masterful reheat, and if you didn't grow up eating those meals you would never know the difference.

If you want to be a successful author, don't even think about trying to be original. Think about making old stories fresh again. It is all about old wine in new skins. Same old plonk. Brand new label.

And there is nothing dishonorable or cynical about this. This has been the task of the storyteller from of old: to retell the old stories for a new generation. We preserve by remaking. Because without remaking, the old stories would become incomprehensible. Originality is not our job. Our job is faithful retransmission of the ancient tales of the primordial campfire. The essence of our craft is not originality, but freshness.

Original score: 11