Not too long ago, a conversation came up in this huge chat about originality. In addition to this, I talk to many writers who fear their work isn't original enough. I think it's safe to say we all fear our work isn't original at some point? That then begs another question: how can we be original when all the ideas are taken? After all, there's the thought of "idea stealing". Is that really a thing? That's what I'm going to be talking about in today's article. Once we get a better understanding of all this, my hope is that you can become more confident in your writings.

Before we get there, let's go back to what originality is. Originality (according the the Marriam-Webster dictionary, the third definition given on their website) is "the power of independent thought or constructive imagination." That definition put into writing can be interpreted into many different ways. The way I read it is that if you come up with the idea entirely on your own, then you should be fine.

So....what you're saying is that creating another badge collecting fic or a fic that follows the games to its core is a horrible idea and I should stop while I'm ahead?

No, I'm not saying that at all. I'm actually saying quite the opposite. If you feel compelled to write a badge collecting fic, a person going on a journey for the first time, even a fic about Ash being betrayed, then I say go for it. There's originality in the simplest of things, and it's shown in media, published books, even in all of those books that seem like there's no hope in it at all.

Take my favorite author, Cassandra Clare, for example. Her books have a very similar storyline: there are these Shadowhunters that are trying to save the world (because in her world, that's what Shadowhunters are meant to do), and there's this main character who gets roped into that world and has fallen in love with two other guys. Right there, it seems like we have this overdone idea of what a lot of fictional work has done, but there is still originality to it. For instance, The Infernal Devices trilogy takes place in 1878 England while The Mortal Instruments series takes place in 2007 America. While their storylines seem similar, there's a huge shift in society, culture, and so much more that makes these pieces of work completely different, yet very original. There are themes that show up in one book but not the other.

It is because of that I'd argue that originality can happen in everything. You can create a badge collecting fic where the main character is going to encounter villains that want to take over the world or do something very, very bad and follow that particular format. What can be changed are the characters, events that happen, time period, culture...there's an infinite amount of things that can be changed that can help build creativity in your book.

In every story, there are going to be things that remind you of their works. Take my own book, Swanna Girl and Braviary Man for example. When I first wrote it, seeing that there was no superhero Pokémon books here on Wattpad, I thought I was creating a first on this site. I was wrong. Believe it or not, before my book was published, there was already another superhero fic already published by LittleTyrunt called Lucario Boy.

Sounds like I stole from that idea, didn't it? Well, when learning this, I decided to look into the book, only to realize I had taken a completely different take on the subject matter. While mine was a bit more fluff, this other fic took a darker twist on it. I honestly really enjoy what I've read so far.

You've just got to keep in mind that people will connect stories with other stories. Don't let that discourage you from writing. There is going to be a fic somewhat like yours, but most of the time, your fic will still be original.

Keep in mind those keywords: most of the time. There are ways that a fic cannot be original, and that is by stealing someone else's ideas and claiming them for your own. This is called plagiarism. Yes, plagiarism can happen outside of school where you don't cite something right. It can happen anywhere. All it takes is for someone to follow the exact format of every little thing that happens and call it their own. That is a big no-no. If this is caught, people won't be happy about it, especially the original author zirself.

But, what if the idea was based off of someone's idea, or it was completely accidental that it followed the same format? Well, these are two different questions that need to be addressed differently.

For the first one—the idea based off of someone else's idea—can easily be avoided by giving credit to the original writer. This prevents the confusion of a potential reader thinking, "wow, this seems a lot like so-and-so's ideas" and if it was, mixed feelings will be introduced because, like with citations, the idea was your own but based off of someone else's idea too. Think about it in terms of citation in school: you reworded the information, but still cite it. That's what you do here. So, if you wanted to expand on someone's idea or create something very, very similar to it, please give credit to that author. It's better to give credit for that rather than to claim it was 100% your own idea, when really, it wasn't. Yes, there was originality in the idea as you decided to put a twist to the idea, but the original idea was based off of someone else's work.

When it comes to the second one—where it was accidental—please note the following. People can come up with the same idea without knowing it. There's a good t.v. show on Netflix (or at least, I found it entertaining. It's a cheesy Korean rom-com) where the main character had an idea for the company she was working for, but another character, one who has a higher job position, had the same idea. After the main character shares the idea with the other person, the other character gives a presentation about that idea. Now, please note, there could've been some communication between the two characters where the other girl told the main girl about it, but that was drama for the show. How this pertains to writing is that ideas can be similar and thought up independently. How many times have you read a book where a character shared the same name as someone else's book? It happens. These are accidental coincidences, and yes, they happen more often than you'd think. Again, don't let these little moments of discovery discourage you. If these ideas were your own, it's best to just explain that to the readers who find out.

In additional to the "accidental similarities" we need to remember one important thing. People are similar to other people. Yes, we can't all be Pokémon Champions in the Pokémon world—this is why you have rivals in the game, and they're always upset when they lose as they figure it out—however, there are lots of people who share the same occupation in the real world. Many of us here share one common trait: our love for reading and writing, or maybe just one of the two.

To put this in book perspective, many Pokéfic writers will write stories about someone going on their journey to become the next Champion. That may seem a bit unoriginal. It's not. It's an occupation, something many people would be inspired to do if they were in it. I know as a reader, I would rather read a story about a 10-year old kid than a story about Nurse Joy going about her day as a Pokémon Nurse (though, if you were to write about the latter, there are still lots of ideas you can go with that can make it entertaining). That is because when you normally think about a day in the life of a Trainer, there are a lot of interesting things that can happen: gym battles, battles with rivals, catching a new Pokémon, internal struggles, external struggles, etc. etc. If you were to think of the life of Nurse Joy (from the game's perspective only) all you can really think about is Nurse Joy standing behind the desk waiting for a Pokémon to come in.

That's where originality can come in. It's the events that happen with a character. Think about it. Some stories have the main character zip on through the gym battle, making it to the Pokémon League very easily, other stories have the main character struggle through that, some may even have a mixture of both. There's so much you can do with it, and it is so easy to make it your own.

It's at this point where I can talk about how unique and original journey fics can be, but they are best explained through examples.

The first one I bring up is Broken Souls by ChronaLilly. Yes, this is a book that is the third one in the series; however, there is an interesting concept to it. While the main character is out on a journey to collect Gym Badges, the journey itself follows Nuzlocke rules. For those who don't know, Nuzlocke means that if a Pokémon faints, it dies. This really raises the stakes of the storyline, bringing its own uniqueness to the story.

Even if you don't add an element as unique as that, it can still be original. Maybe instead of a dark and serious tone, you take a comedic twist to it. That's what DachshundPiano did with the book Underdog and what pimemorizer did with What's So Great About Being A Trainer Anyways? While these two books have a comedic twist to a journey fic, they are also very different from one another.

Another original thought that has been incorporated and yet told very differently is the storyline of where people have been sucked into the Pokémon world and go on a journey. Again, this is just a simple difference in culture and characters that I've briefly touched on earlier, but can be shown really well in The Hacker by Dragons_Rose and in The Girl with the Chikorita by d_s_t_e. Again, these are two very different books as their reactions are different and how the authors go about the idea is different as well. There are also different themes in these books as The Hacker is a love story whereas The Girl with the Chikorita is anything but that.

Finally (though, there are so many other fics I can talk about that are original, but if I do that, I'll be typing for days) there's a book about how a well-known Champion came to be in ImberLapis's Heart of Steel. It wasn't easy for anyone to get through the Pokémon games (as there are rivals and villains that needed to be defeated), but what about the previous Champions?

See, these are all journey fics, something that is so commonly thought of as unoriginal, but they are original. There are just so many "what if's" that can happen in a story, and by changing one little thing, whether it be how the main character is normally portrayed or how something works, or telling it from a different perspective, it can make a story stand out. Just know that originality isn't journey fic versus everything else, but rather something that came solely out of your imagination. That's what writing should be about in the end: a story that comes straight from the heart.

Please, remember these words the next time you write a story. Try not to listen to that little voice in your head that makes us all doubt our fic won't be enough. Someone out there will be wanting to read it, I guarantee it. Good luck with your future writings. I know you all will do great with whatever you have planned next, whether that's a journey fic, something that's completely different, or something that has been somewhat seen before. Just write from your heart, and you'll do great.

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Special Thanks to the GRA for publishing this article in Writing Advice.

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References:

The word definition of Originality (for some odd reason, it's not inserting the link) can be found on the Merriam-Webster Dictionary website.

And many of the books mentioned throughout this can be found on Wattpad.

The Korean Show mentioned earlier is called Romance is a Bonus Book which can be found on Netflix.