Are There Any New Ideas?
Many writers struggle to find a new idea. Something different and exciting. Many teachers say there really isn't anything new to write about - that everything that can be thought up and written about has been thought up and wrtten about.
This weekend I caught a glimpse of a 1925 silent film titled "The Lost World" . This wonderful little film is about a group of exploreers who travel to the amazon and find living dinosaurs..... sound familiar? I can't help but wonder if Michael Crighton and Steven Speilberg ever saw this film. It was wonderfully done - the effects were amazing for the time period. There were many similar aspects of this film to Jurrasic Park and the Lost World. This silent film also has a large ape and the explorers bring a dinosaur back to London - sound familiar too? (King Kong)
So it begs the question are there any new ideas? Or has everything already been done?
I would say there many not be many new ideas to discover but the ways in which ideas are applied and developed are numerous. Take for example Michael Crighton and his Jurrasic Park, maybe he saw the above film, maybe not. Either way his version of this idea was vastly different in many ways. The biggest example of it is in his idea to have the dinosaurs come from clonning and the ingenious way he worked that all out - from DNA found within a perfectly preserved mosquito!
So don't worry so much about having a fantasitc NEW idea but find any idea you are passionate about, or any subject for that matter, and find new ways to develop it. This is where the 'what if' technique of writing comes in:
"People find living dinosaurs?" then becomes "What if they decide to make a theme park of dinosaurs?"
This weekend I caught a glimpse of a 1925 silent film titled "The Lost World" . This wonderful little film is about a group of exploreers who travel to the amazon and find living dinosaurs..... sound familiar? I can't help but wonder if Michael Crighton and Steven Speilberg ever saw this film. It was wonderfully done - the effects were amazing for the time period. There were many similar aspects of this film to Jurrasic Park and the Lost World. This silent film also has a large ape and the explorers bring a dinosaur back to London - sound familiar too? (King Kong)
So it begs the question are there any new ideas? Or has everything already been done?
I would say there many not be many new ideas to discover but the ways in which ideas are applied and developed are numerous. Take for example Michael Crighton and his Jurrasic Park, maybe he saw the above film, maybe not. Either way his version of this idea was vastly different in many ways. The biggest example of it is in his idea to have the dinosaurs come from clonning and the ingenious way he worked that all out - from DNA found within a perfectly preserved mosquito!
So don't worry so much about having a fantasitc NEW idea but find any idea you are passionate about, or any subject for that matter, and find new ways to develop it. This is where the 'what if' technique of writing comes in:
"People find living dinosaurs?" then becomes "What if they decide to make a theme park of dinosaurs?"
posted by Victoria at 9:18 AM
7 Comments:
That was a good post Victoria. It gave me a lot to think about, since ideas have been weak point. Maybe I'm putting too much pressure on myself to have one that is so radically different that I talk myself out of it when it sounds similar to something else.
Victoria, I just finished your book, 45 Master Characters. EXCELLENT book! It was recommended to me by another author. Just the questions on page 12 helped me flesh out my characters and bring them to life. I plan to recommend it on my blog. Thank you!
Somebody somewhere said there are no new ideas, just different ways of expressing them. You read Watership Down, you got Exodus with bunnies.
Hi Victoria, I just found your blog thanks to Dineen. I'm enjoying reading 45 MASTER CHARACTERS.
I love old black-and-white movies too. I don't think I've seen THE LOST WORLD, though.
Great blog!
Camy
Victoria,
Where have you been? I hope to see some updates soon. Otherwise, we'll have to change the name to "Are There Any New Posts!"
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Hi Victoria
For information I think your film 'Lost World' is based on the novel of the same name written by Arthur Conan Doyle of Sherlock Holmes fame in 1912.
I would agree that there are no new ideas, there are only new ways of looking at things.
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