OCD–Original Composition Disorder

OCD—Original Composition Disorder

Sometimes it’s hard to be original—especially in today’s world. We see a good story, we like it, we copy it. Late at night, as we’re lying in our beds, it taunts us—the subconscious voice ringing in our heads. “This was cool last time. I know this sells. I’ve seen it…Also, think about how easy it would be to get up and steal that last brownie.”

Wait. Is that last bit just me? (I didn’t think so.)

In response to the voice you might think “Yeah! Wait, what? No, if I steal that brownie, I’ll get caught.”

Well, the same is true if you take a story that’s already a hit and try to make something just like it. We’re not talking plagiarism here—there would be an effort to make it your own, but it’s too close—and it’s just lazy writing.

I myself have often come up with ideas that were not mine (though by accident.) My Papi is my brainstorming buddy. He’s been around. Sometimes I come up with a story, and this is how the conversation goes:

Me: “Dude! I just had a great story idea!”

Dad: “Okay, shoot.”

Me: “So there’s an assassin and he works for an agency, but—get this—the agency sends their agents back in time to stop the crime before it happens. Now something happens with the main character, so that they have to kill him. They send another assassin to the past to kill his past self, and he has to protect himself in the past.”

Dad: “That’s a brilliant idea. It’s called Minority Report, and it stars Tom Cruise.”

Me: “Dang! Well…oh, we’ll change it. The world has fallen into ruin because of something mankind did. So they send a criminal back to stop it.”

Dad: “Ah! Now we’re talking. You know, if it becomes a movie you should get Bruce Willis to play your convict, and we’ll call it Twelve Monkeys. Already done.”

It’s not easy. But it can be original. “Stop stop stop!” you say. If you’re going to tell me nothing under the sun is new, then you’d be correct. But I didn’t say “new,” now did I?

Stories always stick to major life themes—ideas, longings, hopes, struggles that resonate with people. They always have and always will on earth. It’s also true that humans have the same basic bone structure, but there’s never the same person twice. We, as writers, have a duty to “Original Tweaks” as I call them. We can take the structure and make it unique, by using totally different characters who will respond differently to the drama, risk more. And we can drop them in a unique story world.

Characters are some of the most effective Original Tweaks. To pull this off, you’ve got to love your characters. You need to know them better than anyone else. Two character flaws do not make a compelling character. What does? We’ll get further into the art of character design in the next post. (Geek’s honor).

World-building is so important, especially if you write Spec Fic. A world with its own religious, natural, and political systems is always more believable and more in depth than one without. Your world shouldn’t be the only thing that matters, but it should excite the readers’ minds. If they’re enraptured in the world and the characters, they’ll want more. They’ll feel what’s at stake. Little by little, you unravel your world, revealing just how fantastic it really is. More on this later, but an example of beautiful world building would be the Earthsea series by Ursula K. Le Guin.

Cass J. Tuck, a new favorite YouTuber of mine has a great video on original writing and why it’s important. What’s Wrong With YA Fiction? Seriously go check it out.

This is how I see things through my lenses. Comment below and tell me how you see things. This week, share what you think makes a compelling character.

Thanks to a friend for first introducing me to Cass J. Tuck, and thank you Ryan, Triet Do, Alyssa L. Miller, and Jon Gosier for the images.