I am of the mind that there are no new ideas in story writing. We’ve been telling stories now for thousands of years so it is, literally, built into our DNA. Some stories work on a mythic level and touch us so deeply that we have little resistance to them. Look at the faces of young children when they’re listening to a good story. They’re in a state close to hypnosis from which they struggle to awaken.
Terry Prachett talked about all writers drawing from the same story pot but suggesting that, every once in a while, we should put something back in. This cooking analogy holds up really well. You take a traditional recipe and you tinker about with it, combining elements in a new and invigorating way. Sometimes, just one small change is enough.
What if I re-tell the story but, this time, from the villain’s perspective.
One of the greatest sources of ideas I find are the Greek Myths. If you’re rolling your eyes just at the thought of it then you’re sort of proving my point. It’s fertile ground which still goes largely untapped by most modern writers. These stories are beautifully wrought, they’re thought-provoking and still resonate with modern audiences if they’re done well. Think about Suzanne Collins. She didn’t do too badly when she re-worked the story of Theseus and the Minotaur and gave us The Hunger Games.
The biggest mistake for an aspiring author, I feel, is to go looking for ideas in your own genre. Granted, you do have to know the rules of the game in order to get started but you should at least try and avoid simply re-working the novels of your favourite author. There are a lot of e-books like this where the author re-cycles everything. They even use the exact same hero and think that, by simply changing their name, no one will notice. We’ve all done it at some time or another but its fan-fiction, at best.
No, in order to be a good writer you also have to be a good reader. I’d recommend that you look to other genres from which to draw your inspiration. If you write Fantasy then check out Crime. If you write Sci-Fi then try reading a Historical novel. It’ll bring a fresh perspective to any new idea you might have and stop you from getting jaded. I stole a great story idea once from ‘Crime and Punishment.” Yeah, that one. It’s a short scene in which a mule driver overloads an old mule. When it collapses he loses his temper and beats the animal to death while a crowd gathers to watch. My thought was simply: what if someone tried to stop him?
My final tip is to use paintings. It’s really hard coming up with quirky and original characters to populate your novel with because, if you’re not careful, they can all end up sounding a little bit samey. My solution then is to use people in paintings; even if it’s just their faces. 19th Century Russian paintings are my personal favourites because so few people have ever come across them. You’ve got all the characters you’re ever likely to need and they’re only a click away on the internet. All you have to do is provide them with an interesting backstory.
Hopefully, I’ve given you some fresh ideas there. Ones that you can return to time and time again.