OOPS!! I didn't mean to spoil Hamlet for you! Hope you aren't too disappointed!After reading this chapter I am now thinking back through all of the books I've read trying to make some connections. It's really hard when you are put on the spot. I remember doing a paper in college on Shakespeare and how many of the the plots from his plays were borrowed from other books and plays. I remember being shocked--how could he be considered a genius if he borrowed his ideas from others?? Now though, I realize the author of this book is right--there aren't really any "new" ideas--we read books, watch movies, live life--and from that we (and the authors we read) use those experiences to create new ones.
The author said "there's only one story." What does he mean by that? What is the story? Also, do you agree that no story is entirely original? Why? Bonus: Can you name a book you've read that "borrows" some aspect of the plot from another work?
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The author means that there is only one story for ever because any story made after the first one was built on something else. its the experiences that authors take away from other stories that they put in their stories. so really, everything is stolen. I do agree that no story is entirely original.
ReplyDeleteBy saying that there is only one story, the author means that a story could have been written years ago, but the same concept is used today. Many authors just take points and situations from books they've read and apply them to their book. I don't think that a story can be entirely original. Authors make allusions to anything and everything.
ReplyDeleteI think that for someone to make a completely original story today would be one of the most dificult things they have ever done in their life. There are millions of millions of stories, with all sorts of variations. Most authors take a different parts from many stories.
ReplyDeleteTo make a completely original story would be very difficult because there have been so many stories written that nearly every idea would be a different version of another story. I do think that no story is completely original.
ReplyDeleteWhen the author says there is only one story he means that books, plays, and poems all borrow elements and story lines from each other. When a book is written, more than likely, the elements in the book have been used before in previous books. I don't think that there is any story that is totally original. Most of the time you know how a book is going to end because you've read a book with a similar plot line before.
ReplyDeleteIts pretty much what everyone else is saying, Every story uses ideas from previous stories. To me, literature is one giant building block. Without the works of the past, we wouldn't have the works of the present and the future. charecters are often reworked, changed here and there from other pieces, and put into other works. I do not believe that there is a TRUE origional story. Before anyone bothered to write anything down in history, many things and stories had been made and told, a story is considered more interesting with the addition of more interesting things put in it. The first stories were more than likley exaggerated a bit possibly before being recorded.
ReplyDeleteThe author describes in this chapter that there is "only one story". I had never really considered this but now that i think about it, every story borrows at least some elements from another one. There are just too many works of literature to not have some elements from one story, not used in another one. I do believe that no story is completely original this is because either consciously or subconsciously an author always borrows from a previously read, or heard of, piece of literature.
ReplyDeleteThe author mean that there is no story that is completely original without making some reference to another story. I do agree with the author that there is no story that is one-hundred percent original because it would be almost impossible to make up a whole novel on your own without making making a reference to some other book thats already out there. The odds are against you.
ReplyDeleteI think what the author means by saying there's only one story, is that all stories are similar in at least one way. When you read a love story, it always has the same base. When you read a thriller, it pretty much has the same foundation every time. The "story" is that you can't write a truly original story. By that I mean that authors are always using references to other stories in their own. It's not plagiarism, it just happens it can't be helped. I'm sure that I've read a story that makes a reference to another one, but I can't really think of one right now :)
ReplyDeleteI think the author means that when the first story was made that every other story made after that was based on the first story. By that I mean that each story refered to the first and that there won't ever be a totally original story that all stories will have something in common. In a lot of Sarah Dessen's books she uses a lot of the same high schools in each and she always has someone who lives in a neighborhood with a cul-de-sac. I totally agree with the author, all stories are based on every other book.
ReplyDeleteIn this chapter, what the author means by saying, “only one story,” is that every piece of literature has used the concept of another story. It all started with the concept of one story, and then just being altered and changed into a new one. I agree with what the author said about no piece of literature being entirely original, that’s true, going back to there only being “one story.” Everything originates from another story. One thing that I can say that relates to this, is how authors keep reusing the concept of the holocaust. The story line is always the same normally, just altering events, as the author said in this chapter.
ReplyDeleteI think what the author means by saying that is that all story ideas have to come from somewhere. All authors have to draw their ideas from something they have previously read or heard about. One thing that has influenced writers from all ages is history. Whether writers purposely write about things that can relate to history or not, most everything you read brings a historical situation to mind. Just like the author said about Sacajawea. I totally agree that no book is entirely original, because when writing you have to draw your ideas from something, whether it's a situation that has happened to you or someone else or whether it's something more obvious from another book's plot line. Often times the things that come to your head, even though you may not realize it, come from other things you've read or seen. One book I can think of is "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe," by C.S. Lewis. Everyone knows that she meant for this book to use symbolism to relate to The Bible, that Aslan symbolized Jesus in the fact that he died to save others and later was resurrected. Other things from this book definitely reminded me of stories in The Bible.
ReplyDeletei agree with the author on no story is completely orginal. There is one story that pullled ideas from another and so on and so on. Most of any story is based on something from another story.
ReplyDeleteThe 'borrowing' from other books is something I've thought about, when I used to write a lot as a younger kid, I used to think all my things were new and cool, but as I grew older and read more I realized that though I didn't know it existed already, it is really difficult to come up with your own ideas. Even if you think you've come up with your own idea, you may have already borrowed it from somewhere else.
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