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If you're reading this and thinking "aw damn, my idea is cliche, I'll never get something published!" or similar, don't worry too much. Once you subtract the o
by ivraatiems 3y ago
If you're reading this and thinking "aw damn, my idea is cliche, I'll never get something published!" or similar, don't worry too much.
Once you subtract the ones that are either just straight-up wish fulfillment, or otherwise reliant on racist/sexist/ageist stereotypes, a lot of the ideas listed here are still perfectly good ideas for a story. They'd be more than "original" enough to drive an episode of Black Mirror or the plot of a mainstream blockbuster movie - areas where originality isn't as important as executing the concept in a way that has market appeal (and is hopefully also high quality).
The issue is more just that the audience for these stories are the editors of a speculative fiction magazine, and readers of that same relatively niche speculative fiction magazine. That is, people who spend a lot of time reading fiction. They, in particular, have seen all this stuff before. After a while, if your whole job is reading stories, of course you're going to get tired of even very good stories about things you've seen a hundred times before.
There's plenty of other places to submit to. If you have confidence in your work and you think your story is worth people reading, but this list suggests these particular editors won't like it... just send it somewhere else.
- sdwr 3y agoThe list seems to cover 90% of all sci-fi, and, if you squint a little, 80% of all stories ever written.
- morelisp 3y agoSince Strange Horizons publishes far less than 10% of all science fiction, that seems fine.
- TheFreim 3y agoPure originality is exceptionally rare, but that's not really a bad thing. More and more I believe that the human experience is primarily defined by rhymes and analogy, trying to avoid reusing prior work is futile. "What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; and there is nothing new under the sun" (Ecclesiastes 1:9, RSV2CE).
- ivraatiems 3y agoI think you are right, but also, that it is totally legitimate for Strange Horizons to say "we really really want only original work." So long as they don't also say "only original work is valid to create", which is where I (and maybe they, given the disclaimers) take issue with this list.
- m463 3y agoI wonder if some stories work well with the peer group of authors/editors, but not so much with audeiences. For example, it's annoying to me as a reader when stories are straight-up rewrites of say the odyssey or hakespeare, or put greek/roman gods in our universe. (same with computer games that are hex based and show the hexes, or card-based games that show the cards)
- olyjohn 3y agoI also think you could cover 90% of these just by watching Star Trek.
- bombcar 3y agoHasn't it been said there's only 7 basic stories in the world? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Seven_Basic_Plots https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Seven_Basic_Plots or something. But who cares that The Lion King and Hamlet may be the same story at the base, they're certainly different enough to be enjoyable each in their own right, and I wouldn't substitute one for the other in some strange form of economization.
- readthenotes1 3y agoThe wiki article left off Vonnegut's take on this https://bigthink.com/high-culture/vonnegut-shapes/ https://bigthink.com/high-culture/vonnegut-shapes/
- marttt 3y agoSee also: Soviet folklorist Vladimr Propp identified 7 typical characters and 31 basic structural elements in fairy tales: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Propp#Narrative_structure https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Propp#Narrative_struc... Another interesting classification discovered from Propp's Wikipedia entry: Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index of folktale types: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aarne%E2%80%93Thompson%E2%80%93Uther_Index https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aarne%E2%80%93Thompson%E2%80%9...
- NeoTar 3y agoI have thought that Sci-Fi / speculative fiction stories are in a really good position to be categorised by something similar to Aarne–Thompson–Uther index. Consider some basic stories like: * a person travels backwards through time to prevent a tragedy. - By doing so they cause the tragedy to occur. - On returning to their own time they discover the tragedy was necessary for their society. * a person travels backwards in time to meet their hero. - they discover the person didn’t exist and become them. - they discover the person isn’t as heroic as they hoped and coach them. Just four examples, but I’m sure you can see how many stories fit into each.
- lloeki 3y agoI seem to have understood that this list is about things that would get rejected when they're the sole point of the story, but they'd be fine as plot devices within a more fleshed out narrative structure. Even then, I can recall very good reads (or watches) that could readily fit squarely in one of those boxes but are either very well executed that you either don't see it coming, or even if you do you continue nonetheless, or that have specific context or otherwise build up that makes it very good even if it can be narratively distilled down to a simple this or that. Also also, this list seems extremely small when compared to tvtropes.org with which, when I catch myself running down that time sink again, I always end up thinking that every single plot has already been written though sheer bruteforce. IOW _execution_ also matters.
- YeGoblynQueenne 3y ago>> If you're reading this and thinking "aw damn, my idea is cliche, I'll never get something published!" or similar, don't worry too much. I don't. I'm thinking "damn, my stories are too weird and nobody will understand what's going on, or why". There is something to be said bout a good, old-fashioned, cliché (pronounced "clee-chaeye", not "clitch"). I think the best story I ever wrote was about... dragons. Dragons. Cliche me now.