“Bad writers plagiarize, good
writers steal . . . and great writers abstract.” T.S. Eliot said something
along those lines, and I concur (especially since I added the ‘. . . and great
writers abstract’ bit).
Are you at a loss
for story ideas? Staring at a blank page but with no musing words to fill it?
Make a list of ten
of you favorite movies then describe them in one sentence each. Try to pick a
different genre for each one. Pretend you’re sitting with a friend who hasn’t
seen the movie yet and you’re attempting to intrigue them into watching it for
the first time.
These are ten of
my favorite movies from off the top of my head, in no particular order (except
for the first two because Unforgiven and Untamed Heart are the bomb-diggity and
my all-time favorite two movies):
1. Unforgiven: a
notorious though reformed gunfighter takes on one last bounty to feed his
starving kids.
2. Untamed Heart:
a lonely dishwasher with a diseased heart saves his beautiful coworker from
being raped then experiences true love for the first--and only--time in his
life with her before dying.
3. Shaun of the
Dead: two best friends weather a zombie apocalypse together while trying to
save their friends and family by rescuing them to their favorite drinking pub.
4. Let The Right
One In (original Swedish version is best version): a bullied boy makes friends
with a mysterious girl who is really a serial-killer vampire.
5. Fight Club: an
average guy fed up with the normal trappings of his boring life starts a fight club
and becomes a domestic terrorist leader against the society that sickens him.
6. The Matrix: a
computer hacker prophesied as ‘The One’ learns he can warp reality and leads
the war against the machine overlords enslaving all of humanity.
7. First Blood
(Rambo): a veteran Green Beret is forced by a cruel Sheriff and his deputies to
flee into the mountains and wage an escalating one-man war against his
pursuers.
8. The Postman: a
nameless drifter dons a postman’s uniform and bag of mail as he begins a quest
to inspire hope to the survivors living in post-apocalyptic America .
9. Old School:
three friends attempt to recapture their glory days by opening up a fraternity
near their alma mater.
10. Big Trouble in
Little China: a rough-and-tumble trucker helps rescue his friend’s fiance from
an ancient sorcerer in a supernatural battle beneath Chinatown .
Now let’s go back
through our list and see if we can’t spice things up a bit through a little
innovative abstraction, shall we? We don’t want anyone to recognize our
creative thieving.
1. Unforgiven: “a
notorious though reformed gunfighter . . .” Hmm, I like the whole dark past
vibe, but let’s modern the gunfighter part up a bit. How about: “an ex-con
(what was he/she incarcerated for? who knows, but that adds mystery to the
endless potentials, and right now I’m thinking car thief) “. . . takes on one
last bounty to feed his starving kids.” Okay, that’s good. So he’s doing
something bad to earn something good. But let’s change “starving kids” to
handicapped sister. But why? “to pay off his handicapped sister’s overdue
mortgage before their family home gets foreclosed.”
From this: “A
notorious though reformed gunfighter takes on one last bounty to feed his
starving kids.”
To this: “An
ex-con and car thief returns to the world of crime that earned him a 10 year
stint in prison for one last job to pay off his handicapped sister’s overdue
mortgage before their family home gets foreclosed.”
2. Untamed Heart:
“a lonely dishwasher . . .” Hmm, lonely is good because it tugs at our fluttery
feels, and dishwasher is a relatable job, but let’s change ‘lonely’ to divorced
and ‘dishwasher’ to, uhm . . . cashier. “. . . with a diseased heart . . .” How
about . . . “a divorced cashier with terminal cancer . . .” And I like that
last bit about true love, but lets swap the genders, so now we have: “a
divorced cashier with terminal cancer saves her handsome coworker--” Wait! Cut
the music and cut the coworker bit. Let’s make him her boss, and he’s miserable
to be around because his cheating wife wants a divorce but he refuses to sign
the papers out of spite, and instead of raped--because that’s so rare for a man to
suffer--we’ll change it to: “. . . saves her curmudgeon boss from being beaten
to death by pretend muggers who were actually paid by his cheating spouse.”
From this: “A
lonely dishwasher with a diseased heart saves his beautiful coworker from being
raped then experiences true love for the first--and only--time in his life with
her before dying.”
To this: “A
divorced cashier with terminal cancer saves her curmudgeon boss from being
beaten to death by pretend muggers who were actually paid by his cheating
spouse, then she experiences true love for the first--and only--time in her
life with him before dying.”
3. Shaun of the
Dead: “two best friends . . .” Nah, let’s inject some conflict by making them:
“two warring neighbors . . .” There we go. “. . . weather a zombie apocalypse
together . . .” Nah to this, too; been there, seen that too many times. How
about instead: “weather an alien invasion together . . . while trying to save
their friends and family by rescuing them to their favorite drinking pub.” Hmm.
That last bit just doesn’t sit right. So let’s change it by injecting even more
conflict--small spaces always work. “. . . while trying to keep their bickering
families from killing each other in the small bunker they’ve trapped themselves
inside.”
From this: “Two
best friends weather a zombie apocalypse together while trying to save their
friends and family by rescuing them to their favorite drinking pub.”
To this: “Two
warring neighbors weather an alien invasion together while trying to keep their
bickering families from killing each other in the small bunker they’ve trapped
themselves inside.”
4. Let the Right
One In: “a bullied boy . . .” Let’s make him the bully instead, and we’ll give
him an abusive alcoholic mother to explain why he’s such a bully. “an abused bully
. . . makes friends with a mysterious girl who is really a serial-killer
vampire.” And lets nix the vampire part. Serial killer is good enough. “An
abused bully makes friends with “--and let’s add that conflict--”with his
favorite torture victim whom he’s secretly in love with (or she him? or mayhaps
both?), a mysterious girl who is really a serial killer.” And let’s inject one
last twist. “. . . and together they plot the murder of his alcoholic mother.”
From this: “A
bullied boy makes friends with a mysterious girl who is really a serial-killer
vampire.”
To this: “An
abused bully makes friends with his favorite torture victim whom he’s secretly
in love with, a mysterious girl who is really a serial-killer, and together
they plot the murder of his alcoholic mother.”
5. Fight Club: “an
average guy fed up with the normal trappings of his boring life . . .” This is
good, but let’s make him a Prince living a spoiled life. “A pampered Prince fed
up with his spoiled life . . .” But what makes him so fed up that he would
surrender a life of luxury? Hmm . . . a tyrant father could do the trick, and
let’s force the Prince into action. “A pampered Prince blackmailed into joining
a secret rebellion against the tyrant King becomes its leader after a change of
heart and ends the oppression of his people by murdering his own father.”
From this: “An
average guy fed up with the normal trappings of his boring life starts a fight
club and becomes a domestic terrorist leader against the society that sickens
him.”
To this: “A
pampered Prince blackmailed into joining a secret rebellion against the tyrant
King becomes its leader after a change of heart and ends the oppression of his
people by murdering his own father.”
6. The Matrix: “a
computer hacker prophesied as ‘The One’ learns he can warp reality and leads
the rebellion against the machine overlords enslaving all of humanity.” Let’s
change “computer hacker” to . . . oh, I don’t know . . . “a YouTuber” since
everyone and their mom has a YouTube channel these days. And let’s spice it up
a bit, too. “a ridiculed YouTuber infamous for his conspiracy theory videos”
There we go. And we’ll cut the whole “prophesied as ‘The One’ “ part because
it’s too cliche. “learns he can warp reality . . .” Let’s switch this with
“learns all of his fantastic conspiracy theories are actually true” because
wouldn’t that be dandy? “and leads the rebellion against the machine overlords
enslaving all of humanity” we’ll change to: “when the government arrests him”
And we’ll have them scrub his identity because why not? If he runs away and
tries to tell anyone, he can’t even prove he exists! “then recruits him as a
secret internet agent.”
From this: “A
computer hacker prophesied as ‘The One’ learns he can warp reality and leads
the rebellion against the machine overlords enslaving all of humanity.”
To this: “A
ridiculed YouTuber infamous for his conspiracy theory videos learns all of his
fantastic conspiracy theories are actually true when the government arrests
him, scrubs his former identity from existence, then recruits him as a secret internet agent.”
7. First Blood
(Rambo): “a veteran Green Beret is forced by a cruel Sheriff and his deputies
to flee into the mountains and wage an escalating one-man war against his
pursuers.” I like the “veteran Green Beret” part because it presents a variety
of skills at the protagonist’s immediate disposal. But the “is force by a cruel
Sheriff and his deputies to flee into the mountains” bit we’ll change to
“discovers his PTSD delusions are possessing people” But how? By: “turning them
into cannibal demons only he can see.” I also like the “one-man war” part but
we’ll give it a creative twist. “wages a one-man holy war against the Devil”
Plus, let’s make him an Atheist because of the religious ‘demon possession’ and
‘Devil’ twist so that he eventually adopts new faith because why not have a
great character arc? “an Atheist veteran Green Beret.”
From this: “A
veteran Green Beret is forced by a cruel Sheriff and his deputies to flee into
the mountains and wage an escalating one-man war against his pursuers.”
To this: “An
Atheist veteran Green Beret discovers his PTSD delusions are possessing people
and turning them into cannibal demons only he can see, so he wages a one-man
holy war against the Devil while discovering new faith in God.”
8. The Postman: “A
nameless drifter dons a postman’s uniform and bag of mail as he begins a quest
to inspire hope to the survivors living in post-apocalyptic America .”
Hmm, I’m liking the nameless drifter part, but let’s inject some conflict by
making him blind. “A blind drifter dons . . .” Ugh to dons. How about steals?
“A blind drifter steals a postman’s uniform and bag of mail as he begins a
quest to inspire hope. . .” Inspire hope? Naw, let’s make it a horror and have
him instill some terror. And since he’s blind we’ll up his abilities with
oversensitive hearing. “A blind drifter with oversensitive hearing steals a
postman’s uniform”--forget the bag of mail bit--” and instills terror in a
peaceful community . . .” But why? maybe he’s resentful. Hmmm.”. . . the
peaceful community that shunned him as a child by killing their children off
one by one in the dark.” We’ve cut the whole “post-apocalyptic America” part,
too, because a blind killer with oversensitive hearing is interesting enough if
he does his killing in the dark.
From this: “A
nameless drifter dons a postman’s uniform and bag of mail as he begins a quest
to inspire hope to the survivors living in post-apocalyptic America.”
To this: “A blind
drifter with oversensitive hearing steals a postman’s uniform and delivers mail
by day in the peaceful community that shunned him as a child while he instills
terror each night by killing their children off one by one in the dark.”
9. Old School:
“three friends attempt to recapture their glory days by opening up a fraternity
near their alma mater.” Liking the friends recapturing their glory days vibe so
we’ll keep it, but the whole fraternity thing can hike it down the trail--get
outta here! And we’ll switch the bland description of just “friends” to “former
high school football rivals” so now we have: “two former high school football
rivals attempt to recapture their glory days by . . .” Hmm, but how do they do
it now that they’re older and out of shape? We’ll make them coaches. And what
are the stakes? Oh, I know! They’re both married to their high school
sweethearts (and let’s also make them rivals as well to increase the conflict)
and the loser has to divorce his wife! Now dems sum stakes!
From this: “Three
friends attempt to recapture their glory days by opening up a fraternity near
their alma mater.”
To this: “Two
former high school football rivals coach opposing teams in a high-stakes
football game with the agreement that the loser coach divorces his wife.”
10. Big Trouble in
Little China: “A rough-and-tumble trucker helps rescue his friend’s fiance from
an ancient sorcerer in a supernatural battle beneath Chinatown .”
Let’s keep the “rough-and-tumble trucker” part for starts, but change the
“helps rescue his friend’s fiance” to “discovers a sex trafficking ring among
his trucker friends” for added twist and conflict, and we’ll change the
sorcerer and supernatural” bit to something more sinister though still
supernatural, like, uhm . . . vampires!
From this: “A
rough-and-tumble trucker helps rescue his friend’s fiance from an ancient
sorcerer in a supernatural battle beneath Chinatown .”
To this: “ A
rough-and-tumble trucker accepts a new job only to discover a sex trafficking
ring among his trucker friends who are really vampires.”
See how easy that
was?
Ten stolen plots abstracted into ten new stories ready to be written!
If you’re fresh out of ideas then just take one from
someone else, apply your own unique creative twist and viola! You’ve got
yourself a new story aching to be written and nobody’s the wiser that you
borrowed it because you’re a crafty thief who abstracts instead of steals or
even worse plagiarizes. And the best part about this method is that there exists an
endless variety of movies and novels from which you can pick and choose then
abstract to your little writerly heart’s content.
Happy Writing!