I was talking to a friend who wrote science fiction, and she complained that she could think of no original idea. I said that the last people who had original ideas were the Greeks, and even then they may have been stealing from the Sea Peoples and the cavemen. The basic themes are always the same, it's the trappings and treatments that change. Vampire/human slash is just another facet of two people falling in love/lust despite differences. Xander/Spike could just as easily be Romeo and Juliet--without the icky suicides. I suppose someone thought of stories dealing with the impact of an efficient horse-drawn carriage on society, what with easy transportation and people mingling. Not much different than Star Trek.

Yeah, there's maybe 50 plots, if that many. But I'm indecisive, and I can't pick one.

Thanks, though, just talking about this is helping.

I can maunder on for ages on the persistence of plots through literature. Glad it's helping, though.

Xander/Spike could just as easily be Romeo and Juliet--without the icky suicides.

I'm sorry, I went to a snuff place.

Ali, I'm your girl, if there's anything I can do. rebecca_lizard@worldcrossing.com, anything you got yet, or mmerlizard on AIM.

[edited months later to change email address. if you, reader, were wondering]

... The phone just rang and kicked me offline, Alibelle. This other computer with the second phone line doesn't have AIM. I'll be back on as soon as my mother hangs up-- a few minutes, I think?

Got it, thanks. And thanks again, Connie!

Sure 'nuff. Any time you want to chat plot theory and characters and all that fun stuff, I'm your woman. It was kind of thrill in one of my Freshman classes on literature to realize I understood Aristotle's Poetics and his discussions of plot development and the like.

What I was saying is that most lit people's problem with genre fiction is the perceived standard of the writing, both techniquewise and plotwise. I've read hundreds of (I have read a gorram lot of stories.) stories, and quite a few novels, that outrightly referenced fairy tales & preset myths; things like, say, aliens are a little less easy/traditional to swing but I've seen it done. And context is everything. To someone educated on lit fiction, a well-written story you may have classified as SF might be completely literary for them. CP Alex Shakar's marvelous The Savage Girl.

I'm writing a ghost story right now that I fully consider to be a literary story, not fantasy or any other "genre", and if I walked straight in and presented it to a workshop I'd be taken completely offguard if someone called it as such. The snippet you showed me looks like it could be a marvelous, funny little story. Do not allow any questions of "genre" to give you pause.

... Wish my mother'd get off the phone.

Ok, this is (a teeny bit longer) it:

“Fairy Tale Productions, how may I direct your call?” The blonde on the phone continued to file her nails. “Um hmm...well, Mr. Wolfson is in a meeting right now. May I take a message?” The girl waved the attractive velvet-clad man passing through her office over to her desk. “Ok. Ok. Saturday at noon. All right. Thank you, and have a happily ever after day!” She cut the line and grinned up at her companion. “Nice duds.”
He rolled his eyes.

I'm going to tie in Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and Hansel and Gretal, and anyone else who seems randomly necessary, like a Wolf. There will probably be an underlying "stereotyping is BAD" theme, but I'm just not very clear on where I'm gonna go with conflict type thingies. I feel that there's oodles of potential in my, pretty intangible, idea, but I just need to hammer it out.

Thanks, again.

blah blah blah cereal cereal:

Sorry, I just checked with her again, and she's actually on the phone with one of her writing students herself; and it doesn't look like she'll be off soon, & I want to go to sleep soon because I'm taking the PSATs tomorrow at the crack of dawn.

By the way, gulp....