There's no such thing as an original story

Chizel. Why not!

A good few years ago I started writing a novel about a 20^th century woman who ‘time slipped’ into Medieval times. It fell under ‘Hero’s Journey’ in story theme terms, but the fun of the story was how a  modern woman faced and overcame challenges in a bygone age. I struggled with the language differences, I struggled with some links in the story, but I liked the main character. I wrote about a third of the story, with the plot fully outlined, and then I read ‘Outlander’ by Diana Gabaldon.  Basically, exactly the same premise as my story, but written sh*t loads better and with a much more interesting scenario (15^th Century Scottish Highlands).  

For reasons other than the fact that the concept had been done 100 times better by someone else, I abandoned my poor lady in Medieval times (I wonder how she’s getting on?) and haven’t tried to write a novel since. I have written plenty of short stories (a few can be found on here), but the idea of writing a novel still taunts my creative muse.

A friend suggested I could write further on the infamous Matthew Hopkins (I’d already written a song about him), and I briefly flirted with the idea of time travelling the Witchfinder General to today – but he’d be right at home during a pandemic!

I’m therefore going to start thinking about what I want to write – it doesn’t matter if it’s been done before, or whether it is publishable or not, I just want to revisit the pleasure of writing. I won’t say ‘watch this space’ because if the last novel attempt is anything to go by, you’ll get very tired waiting.

Useful links

• The seven basic plots
• Stop procrastinating, start writing

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