what if you take inspiration from something that was already done…
say…for exemple : Psycho movie . Let’s say…you take the base idea from there . But in your story , you do change pretty much everything . Yet…peoples still see ressemblance , and because of those…they shoot it down . Or compare it so much…you feel like a fraud…
what then ?
I mean what would be the advice…in such a situation ?
Perhaps you’re thinking this too hard.
In the end, similar =/= not original.
Maybe this vid can alleviate the thoughts you’re facing? Although this is more to the technical side rather the advice of the writing.
I’m not opposed to it, but that’s really hard to do. I haven’t played a lot of the official ones all the way through. I also probably have a strong bias in favor of games I personally provided a lot of feedback to. I think I’d have to think about it for a while to be sure.
@Frogs That’s almost exactly what I had in mind.
“What is this particular piece of media, and what can I take away from it?”
No different in actual method from what I’m suggesting, but you have basically start at the work you derive inspiration from and work your way back to concepts. I would be lying if I said I didn’t get any inspiration from certain works for the final concept of The Imperial Shadow.
It depends on what you mean by pretty much everything.
If by everything you mean you’ve changed the setting, ending, and maybe even merged or changed characters, but retained the dynamics…then honestly, I don’t see why anyone would shoot it down?
Legally, it’s different enough to be its own, so…eff 'em, lol
But if by change everything, you mean…change it so that Psycho is now about bears making pies…then fren, that person you pitched it to might just be a telepath, because there’s not way you can see a resemblance between them, lol.
Honestly, sometimes you just have to deal with that as a writer, whether from yourself or others. The only advice I can give is that the passion behind a story can be incredibly transformative, for both the writer and the story.
Don’t let your fear of unoriginality hold you back from creating something. The world would literally be lesser if you didn’t do anything.
Well, how about just your favorite book or movie, or something?
Essentially, the exercise is just to show you that every piece of media is similar to or inspired by other things, but that doesn’t stop them from being different.
I know your question is how do they become different, but that’s actually…pretty difficult to answer because it’s so subjective to every story.
What differentiates similar stories can be anything from the gender of the protagonist, to the setting or era it takes place in, to the genre, or altering the tone or themes.
There’s really no single answer, because it will change depending on the work.
yeah when I said pretty much everything…mean everything .
Honestly , the writing for me isn’t an issue (well it’s sort of…lol as in I lack discipline mostly not ideas) . It’s the ‘Put it out there’ that litteraly kill me .
ah…that’s what I like to think , but humans…have a tendancie to surprise you .
The act of writing is also creative in and of itself. You subconsciously imbue your story, no matter its premise and idea, with your own style and your own tone of writing. Even if your idea is similar to another work, the execution makes it different from everything else that has already been created.
Haha, come on man. No one’s going to look at your pie baking bear and be like, “Ah, yes, that one is obviously originally Norman Bates.”
Precisely.
People forget that an individual own life is so unique that it offers them a point of view that has literally never been seen before. Every person is different, every person will see a prompt and write something different.
Simply writing your story will make it different from what inspired it.
Well, this is one of those things that, in my experience, is either-or.
Either you do it, or you don’t.
I know how terrifying it is though, I’ve got anxiety issues, but…if you don’t do it, you never will. You just…kind of have to force it out there and come what may.
nope…just recognizing myself in there 
‘URGH ! They stole that from…OMG! Nobody is seeing this ?! It’S the same darn thing!!! Spazz’ .
Yeah…so totaly guilty…
yeah I guess…
maybe I could get a lackey to read up the shitstorm…for me . So I don’t go ‘I need xanax! Lock me up! the pressure is too much!’ and have a meltdown…like I usually do…
Oh I plan on writing the stories…but like I said…showing it…letting someone read it…judge it…it’s beyond scary…
Just thought I’d pop in to say IKR! I’ve tried writing a few things. My problems is my mental health issues. I feel pretty detached, from my emotions, other people etc and am socially awquard and generally just struggle to understand people. So I really struggle to write characters who aren’t either clones of me or one dimensional stereotypes.
I know what you mean. I’m the most awkward, introverted person ever and I always say the dumbest things ever when I try to talk to people. Somehow, though, I’m able to write pretty good charismatic characters, at least according to my beta testers. O.O
I mean I think I’m pretty socially active, extroverted, etc.
I just have ton’s of nores for what I could do, and can link funny things i’ve heard in other games and irl with good ideas that I change to fit my own story and make different.
I’d say the key is don’t be creative in order to be creative; I’d rather play a typical “Save the world” game that is funny, makes sense and has good character’s than weird character and a convoluted story, merely to go against tropes
That’s true, too. Stories that try to go too far outside the norms are often hated or just flat out ignored, whereas stories that are more generic but still have interesting twists, good characters, and solid writing, are much more likely to be successful.
More then once I’ve gotten an idea from a barely remembered fragment of a dream. (though it doesn’t happen often at all, sadly…)
Other then that…I don’t know. Sometimes an idea just pops into my head and I like it enough to write it down. Actually doing anything with it is usually what stumps me though.
I have so many fragmented half-ideas written down…
if you have an idea just write it down and ask for feedback, then you can discuss it and improve it or get ideas for some new scenes, I created a scene through discussion.
But also try to base your characters on someone, fictional or non, or even yourself. It is safe to say that a character always inherits a trait from their creator, which makes not a mere rip off, but someome you created and whom you develop further.
Listening to music might also help, one piece of music inspired me to create a character and an entire scene.
Also do not wait with writing until you have completed the plot begin as soon as possible, e.g when you have finished a chapter, while writing you might get ideas for new scenes or how you can improve them.
To be honest when I began with my wip I had only the beginning and the middle, the more I write the more ideas I get, I now have a plot twist a past I never considered before, new characters.
Well this how I work at least.
I hope it helped a bit
We can all help when you ask for feedback and I am sure we will all be happy to support you
Magic!
(Le twenty characters)
I hate that you’re not technically wrong. 
The trick is to start doing ‘this thing but different’. Don’t be afraid to copy. Don’t be afraid of AU’s. When you start out it won’t be published anyway so you might as well play around. That’s okay. That’s how you learn.
You start out by copying, and by doing that you learn why things are the way they are, and what changing one thing will do to a story. That’s the thing with being a creative, you need to encourage that part of your brain that goes ‘but what if’, and the more you encourage it, the more you will learn. And if you keep reading, you will amass a library of things that is larger, so things might be ‘this thing plus that thing but different and adding that other thing that was so cool but underused.’ And eventually it will be just a thing, and the ‘but different’ things that you start to add becomes your thing.
Most of start out copying, just like when we learn language, and when artists trace. That’s nothing to be ashamed of.
If I may repeat something here I lately said on twitter:
I’d like to take a moment to thank choiceofgames not just for the many inspiring stories in their library, but also for helping me grow as a writer, making me write not just ‘my’ stories, but think about how others would want this story to go.
I am grateful for this lesson. Writing is one thing, but writing a CYOA is even more challenging. Not just asking ‘how would this story go (best)’ but also ‘how would it go differently’ and ‘how else might it end’.
How I get inspiration is to just look around me. I see something and just think what if… and then I have an idea. I then just write what comes out of my head and it just develops from there, like a living animal. Just stop for a sec and look around you. The seemingly boring and normal things can be developed into a cool story.
