7 Ways to Put Your Own Spin on a Story Idea
You don’t need a completely original idea to write a great novel
Christopher Booker spent 34 years researching and writing a book called The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories. He argues that all stories boil down to seven basic plot structures:
- Overcoming the Monster
- Rags to Riches
- The Quest
- Voyage and Return
- Rebirth
- Comedy
- Tragedy
When I first heard this theory, I felt a little panicky. Did this mean that we’d eventually run out of new stories? Has everything worth reading already been written?
And most importantly: Is there any room for my story?
Fortunately, I’ve come around to a new way of thinking: You don’t need a profound idea to write a good novel.
Even if there are only a handful of story plots, and the same ideas are at the center of every book, there’s still room to make the story your own. In fact, you are the only person who can write your story.
There is always more than one way to tell a story
It was a film assignment in college that totally changed my thinking about this.
The professor gave everyone the same barebones script about a couple breaking up and charged us with making the story our own. All 15 of us came up with completely different interpretations.
It made me realize it’s all about finding your own angle on a simple idea.
And that’s the takeaway for writers: no matter how simple or how common the idea is, you can always make it your own because no one else has the exact same combination of experiences and knowledge that you do.
How to develop a simple idea into a great story
To turn a simple idea into a unique novel, you have to be willing to play with the story, using your own experience and perspective to put a new spin on it.
So when a seemingly unoriginal idea pops into your head, don’t dismiss it outright for being too basic or overdone; instead, open yourself to the possibilities.
Because Booker says there are only seven plots, I offer you seven tips to make those plots your own.
Tip 1: Try putting the idea into a different genre.
Let’s use a very basic story idea for an example:
Guy meets girl; guy loses girl; guy gets girl back.
Was your immediate reaction that this would be a romance novel?
It could be, but it could also be the foundation of a thriller or a mystery. Maybe the guy loses the girl because she thinks he committed murder. He has to solve the case to win her back!
Just by breaking out of the obvious conventions, you can transform a simple idea into something surprising.
Tip 2: Audition other characters for the protagonist role
Your protagonist is simply the person who undergoes the most change in the story.
You may assume that one character is the protagonist, but consider what the story would look like from another character’s point of view.
What about the girl in the above example? How does she feel about being pursued by the guy? Is she battling her own demons that keep her from letting him win her over?
Sometimes a secondary character — or even the antagonist — might have a much more interesting perspective and character arc simply because they’re not an obvious choice.
Tip 3: Find a way to add an interest you have to the story.
Consider bringing in a hobby or a unique area of knowledge you have. This makes the story fun for you to write, and it also helps you target a unique audience.
Maybe you love to study bugs, and you think a guy and girl could meet when they try to go to an entomology conference but they both get the date wrong.
Just think of the original dialogue you can create as they fall in love while debating fruit flies and dung beetles!
Injecting your interests into your story also allows you to write with more specificity because you really know what you’re talking about. Specificity is a key ingredient for an original story.
Tip 4: Incorporate something you want to learn more about.
On the flip side, write about a topic that you don’t know much about yet. This helps you stay engaged with the idea if you’re excited to research the topic and immerse yourself in the world.
Say you’ve always wanted to learn about training dogs for agility competitions— make your story your playground to explore that topic. You’ve just given your novel a unique backdrop and your protagonist a unique challenge.
This process of discovery is also a great thing to experience yourself so you can translate it into the experience of your characters. When you can draw on your own emotions and thoughts, you can make your characters more believable.
Tip 5: Dig into your past for plot points.
Sometimes life is stranger than fiction.
For example, I couldn’t make up the aggressive neighbor who forced her help on us when we moved into a new apartment. She then dropped our boxes and criticized the way I packed. I couldn’t believe it, but I definitely wrote her into a story.
Your past is similarly full of story fodder. Take a strange interaction or a wonderful experience and use it as inspiration.
In my case, I didn’t write verbatim what happened to me in the story; instead, I used it as a starting point. My protagonist had a similar interaction, and then her neighbor became an antagonist for the rest of the novel with a completely fictionalized backstory.
Tip 6: Draw on your own challenges.
Unfortunately, no one gets by in this life without a few hurdles; not you, and not your protagonist.
While it can be hard to write about painful things, it is one of the best ways to give your story authenticity and make your characters relatable and to your readers.
Your protagonist always has to have an internal struggle — something they must overcome to achieve their goal and change for the better. Consider giving them a problem you’ve struggled with, too.
This also applies to external obstacles. Maybe you’ve had a personal experience with a friend who betrayed you — how would something similar impact your protagonist? Writing the conflict in your story based on a difficulty you’ve had will also help you dial in the emotion because you’ve lived it.
Tip 7: Let your imagination out of the box.
I hit a wall when writing a story once because I just didn’t look forward to writing the next piece. Then I realized: I felt like the next part had to happen, but it was a boring scene.
This was a breakthrough for me.
If I wasn’t going to have fun writing it, the reader was certainly not going to enjoy reading it.
The solution is to get your imagination involved. In writing, unlike many other creative mediums, you’re not constrained by the limitations of the physical world. If there’s a plausible way to get your guy and girl to Paris where they reunite, go for it! That sounds like a blast to write.
Let your imagination go wild, just be sure that there’s a story reason for it. Otherwise, something too imaginative or unbelievable will detract from your narrative.
It may be true that there are only seven stories, but there are millions of ways to write them. If your story is grounded in your experiences, knowledge, and perspective, no one else will be able to write another novel just like it.