This week in my monthly writer’s group session, one of the writers brought up the idea of taking a well-known Brothers Grimm fairy tail and putting a new spin on it. Like making it four sisters saving a prince instead of four brothers saving a princess. And once we removed the constraints of the original story, we were able to brainstorm new trades or powers each sister possessed instead of sticking with what the Brothers Grimm decided on. And was a dragon holding the prince hostage…or was it his male privilege? This was pretty darn fun.
It reminded me of yet another suggestion from Neil Gaiman in his Master Class: take a scene everyone is familiar with, a cliche, and twist it 45 degrees. I’ve always thought I had to come up with a completely original plot for each new story I’ve worked on and almost thought of taking from other stories as cheating in a way. In reality, sometimes this approach is even more creative and original…and a lot more fun.