Whinin' bout storytelling
I've been wondering about the practice of taking a well-worn concept or familiar setting and making it fresh. Obviously, since I'm writing Narnia with teens, it's something that I think about a lot. I read a "kid goes to a fantasy world" story lately that sounded like it would have a new perspective, but ended up actually feeling a little tired in that sort of Dreamworks movie "Fractured Fairytale" kind of way, which is really just a big cliche entirely in itself.
Is it enough for a story to stand out entirely by merit of the perspective the individual artist brings to it, or is it more important for the high concept of the story to immediately stand out? Especially in a a genre like fantasy, with a million carbon copies of the same story, it's really hard to get anywhere unless you have a completely different concept. I'd LIKE to say that it's really only the execution that matters, but I think ultimately everybody glazes over weak or familiar sounding hooks. I mean, I know I'm pretty guilty of it- I'm sure I've passed over some perfectly good books because they don't grab me, and I know I've picked up some pretty lame ones because they sounded like they had a cool concept.
On the other hand, where is the line between "fresh perspective on an old premise" and "wacky sitcom stylings?" This stuff is hard!
EDIT: Since I'm gonna just reply this to like everybody, I didn't mean to imply that I'm going "OH NO MY STORY ISN'T ORIGINAL ENOUGH!" I was just really trying to start a discussion about story hooks and original concepts! :'( I'm really happy with Lavelle.
Is it enough for a story to stand out entirely by merit of the perspective the individual artist brings to it, or is it more important for the high concept of the story to immediately stand out? Especially in a a genre like fantasy, with a million carbon copies of the same story, it's really hard to get anywhere unless you have a completely different concept. I'd LIKE to say that it's really only the execution that matters, but I think ultimately everybody glazes over weak or familiar sounding hooks. I mean, I know I'm pretty guilty of it- I'm sure I've passed over some perfectly good books because they don't grab me, and I know I've picked up some pretty lame ones because they sounded like they had a cool concept.
On the other hand, where is the line between "fresh perspective on an old premise" and "wacky sitcom stylings?" This stuff is hard!
EDIT: Since I'm gonna just reply this to like everybody, I didn't mean to imply that I'm going "OH NO MY STORY ISN'T ORIGINAL ENOUGH!" I was just really trying to start a discussion about story hooks and original concepts! :'( I'm really happy with Lavelle.