Thread: opinion needed

I'm half way finished with my story but I read somthing that got me thinking. My story is about a girl who experience paranormal activity after using a cursed board, and realize she is a witch. I'm thinking too typical maybe I should go another direction with the story. What do you think? Should I keep writing or change the story?

Why should you change your story because of that?

I would make changes if I did not like what I wrote or it sounded way too cheesy, not because my main character falls into a stereotype. If you write what you really want, your story will be unique, because no one can think the same way you do. The important thing is that you like what you're writing, and that it comes from you and not from someone else's opinion.

Keep going, you might get something good =]

Finish the story you have first, if you think of things that fit into it to improve it fine, use them, if after you have finished it, it inspires something else or a re-write, fine. Create a file for the things which do not fit, it will give you a head start for your next move, it is not necessary to write them up fully to provide a jog for the memory, but I find it is in writing them up I discover their possibilities.

Thanks, I will finish the story.
I didn't think it would stand out from the other manual scrips they receive.

Thanks, I will finish the story.
I didn't think it would stand out from the other manual scrips they receive.

I'm in the same camp as all the others. Ignore similarities and finish the story. It is your voice and your own ideas that will make it your story. If, after it's done, you still feel that it's too similar to another story that you read, meditate on how you accidentally put in the similar elements, and how you might show your influences less the next time. I have abandoned too many stories that I thought were similar to other stories I noticed, only to later discover that I was merely recognizing genres and had been unnecessarily abandoning my babies to the wolves.

Never having submitted anything for publication myself, I'm not all that well-versed on what makes a manuscript 'stand out' to an agent or publisher -- but I would still join in the chorus of 'finish it anyway!'. If you're enjoying writing it, that should come through in your writing and bring it to life. And as Elite said before me, your style is already unique because nobody else thinks like you do. If, in rereading and editing later, you find there are parts that seem cliché, you can fix them... when you're editing. Just get it out for now. If the words want to come, for goodness' sake don't try to stop them!