No, not out of thin air. From somewhere.
There are no unique plots, you know. Subconsciously or consciously, writers draw motifs and themes from the stories in our collective consciousness. Let me prove it to you by doing it right here, now. Okay? I'm going absolutely impromptu now, for honesty's sake. Let's start.
Jack and the Beanstalk. That's the first story that came to my head. So let's take Jack and the Beanstalk.
Jack goes to market to sell cow. Meets weird man who gives him beans. Mom gives Jack hell and throws beans out of window. Giant beanstalk happens. Jack goes up and steals things from giant and kills him. Becomes rich and lives happily ever after.
That's the basic plot. Now let's make the setting a planet somewhere, and make the story a sci-fi one.
Maya, who lives on the moon, goes to the Alpha Centauri market-planet to sell space-bike that her father built. Sells it for sack of peanuts, peanuts being exotic food in her home planet. Father grumbles and they have peanuts for breakfast, lunch and dinner. But in that sack is a special seed, the seed of an extinct species of tree. Half the galaxy is in search of that seed...
But you get the idea, don't you? A giant beanstalk of an idea sprouted from that simple fairytale. Infuse it with different variables and see.
Mark goes to comic con to sell old comics from his grandfather's collection. He meets cosplay girl who buys him lunch and steals his comics. Mark seeks her everywhere but she is one step ahead of him. In the process, he falls in love with her...
Now it's romantic comedy. Would anyone suspect that I lifted the plot from Jack and the Beanstalk?
Manas, who works for his uncle's ad agency, loses an account to a clever rival. He is sacked but resolves to take revenge on rival and become bigger than uncle, who thinks Manas worthless. But Manas fails again and again, and goes off to the Himalayas. He returns enlightened, and smiles when his uncle, who doesn't recognise him, falls at Manas' feet...
Jack and the Beanstalk becomes a spiritual book or a comedy. That will depend upon how you treat it.
Happy writing!
There are no unique plots, you know. Subconsciously or consciously, writers draw motifs and themes from the stories in our collective consciousness. Let me prove it to you by doing it right here, now. Okay? I'm going absolutely impromptu now, for honesty's sake. Let's start.
Jack and the Beanstalk. That's the first story that came to my head. So let's take Jack and the Beanstalk.
Jack goes to market to sell cow. Meets weird man who gives him beans. Mom gives Jack hell and throws beans out of window. Giant beanstalk happens. Jack goes up and steals things from giant and kills him. Becomes rich and lives happily ever after.
That's the basic plot. Now let's make the setting a planet somewhere, and make the story a sci-fi one.
Maya, who lives on the moon, goes to the Alpha Centauri market-planet to sell space-bike that her father built. Sells it for sack of peanuts, peanuts being exotic food in her home planet. Father grumbles and they have peanuts for breakfast, lunch and dinner. But in that sack is a special seed, the seed of an extinct species of tree. Half the galaxy is in search of that seed...
But you get the idea, don't you? A giant beanstalk of an idea sprouted from that simple fairytale. Infuse it with different variables and see.
Mark goes to comic con to sell old comics from his grandfather's collection. He meets cosplay girl who buys him lunch and steals his comics. Mark seeks her everywhere but she is one step ahead of him. In the process, he falls in love with her...
Now it's romantic comedy. Would anyone suspect that I lifted the plot from Jack and the Beanstalk?
Manas, who works for his uncle's ad agency, loses an account to a clever rival. He is sacked but resolves to take revenge on rival and become bigger than uncle, who thinks Manas worthless. But Manas fails again and again, and goes off to the Himalayas. He returns enlightened, and smiles when his uncle, who doesn't recognise him, falls at Manas' feet...
Jack and the Beanstalk becomes a spiritual book or a comedy. That will depend upon how you treat it.
Happy writing!
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