You're Your Own Writer--Not Like Others

 

The quote today (I think new writers are too worried that it has all been said before. Sure it has, but not by you.) shouldn't only address 'new' writers. I think it goes for seasoned writers, as well. 

There are only so many plots for fiction stories, only so many topics for articles on gardening, only so many essays to be written about love. Someone else has already written about almost every idea you come up with. 

But, they haven't written it in the way you would, unless you copy them word for word, and you're not ever going to do that, are you? 

You write in your voice. You write from your own experiences. You write using different angles than others have done. 

Consider a scene where three writers write about a woman walking in a rose garden. Same scene, same woman, same garden. Each one will come up with a different version of what happens, what she thinks, what she sees. One writer might go to great lengths to describe the garden--what it looks like, the scent pervading the air, the dew drops on the roses, and many other details. The second writer might do nothing more than mention the rose garden and, instead, concentrate on the thoughts of the woman. Writer number three could take an entirely different angle bu having the woman meet danger along the path. 

Never worry about the 'it's been done before' as long as you can come up with that new angle, and you very likely can do so. It will take some deep thinking and perhaps some trial and error. You have already learned that nothing comes easy in this writing game so be prepared to work hard. 

Never copy another writer's style. Find your own by writing and writing and writing. Your voice will come through. Your observations will work into what you write. Your experiences will propel the words you put together.