Have you ever watched the show Suits on USA? I fell in love with it during the first season. I thought it was the dumbest concept. How could it be possible for someone not to go to law school but become a lawyer at some big league law firm in NYC? It became believable after the first episode. Mike & Harvey, the main characters, are pretty awesome. Mike is funny and cute. Harvey is bold, clever, and handsome. They’re the perfect mix.
Then there’s Donna, Harvey’s assistant. She’s technically a “minor” character but she’s my favorite. A bold, clever, redhead that can get anything she wants done. Even though she’s a fictional character, she’s a great role model. Plus, she’s pretty funny. I’m glad it’s finally back for a second season.
The first episode to this season was just… wow. I didn’t know what was going to happen. I was dying to find out, commercial breaks were cruel. The writing for this show is pretty damn clever.
In this episode, there was this girl who was mad because her boss (a literary agent) stole an idea that she pitched to her. Because she was opposing Mike Ross, I didn’t like her but I understood her difficult position. But if someone gave me 30,000 dollars for an idea I would have been like “hell yeah” and just got on with my life. It wasn’t like she actually wrote the book. If she had done that, then I would have been completely on her side.
Besides, her excuse for not taking the money (she wanted more) was because it might be her only idea ever. That’s utter horse shit. If you are a real writer, you don’t just have one idea. As Octavia Butler said:
“Forget inspiration. Habit is more dependable. Habit will sustain you whether you’re inspired or not. Habit will help you finish and polish your stories. Inspiration won’t. Habit in persistence in practice.”
If she was really a writer, she wouldn’t be worried that she’d never come up with another idea. She would come up with another idea.
A while back, I wanted to come up with new YA story ideas in case my current YA manuscript doesn’t work out. I sat around thinking about it and by the end of the weekend I had two new, unrelated, books outlined. It just took persistence and determination. I didn’t wait for inspiration to fall from the sky to strike me like lightening. I made it happen.
There is no such thing as an original idea anymore. Most stories can be boiled down to a common story (boy meets girl, girl doesn’t like boy, boy loves girl then moves on… and girl falls for boy). It’s the way you approach your idea that makes it original. The writing, your special flare you give it. Without that, it’s just an idea. An idea that can be boiled down to a common story line.
ETA: After I posted this I had a friend point out a story that is similar to my own and what Donna says below pretty much hits home. Luckily, it’s only a couple superficial factors that are similar (both MC could be considered “without” emotions — though in different ways — and have violet eyes). They aren’t the same story, even if you boil down to the common story line. But, still, it’s sort of weird to come across such things.
Jacqueline Trotter 