Clay Held

We all want to make old ideas new again, right? But how? Fortunately for us, there’s a simple (and silly) technique you can use to get the ideas rolling. Take an old idea, and change one thing about it. Suddenly, you have a new idea! Take The Sisters Grimm, for instance. You start by changing that one thing (brothers become sisters), then you have a platform to work from, nurturing your own ideas and situations that expand away from the idea. With a little luck, you’ll have eventually wandered so far away from the original idea that you’ve created your own fresh, exciting story to tell.

A note on derivativeness: you have a responsibility to ensure you’re not ripping off the original idea. This list certainly is not an endorsement for plagiarism or embracing derivativeness as your road to riches and fame. I intend only to educate about the nature of creating fresh ideas. I believe every story has been told (there’s only two or so anyway), with only minor changes to the details.

The idea is to get you thinking about the relationships between story elements and how you can ripple new life into your work by plucking the invisible strings that holds it all together.  How derivative you allow this to be is entirely on you and your comfort level. But, if your intention is to become a professional writer, you need to stop right now and realize that this is not an endorsement for ripping off other people’s hard work. Again, we’re here to talk about how you can look at old ideas in a new way, and how this can lead to crafting your own spin on those same two (or so) stories.

Feel free to let your own reversals be as silly as you want. I can’t present this list without admitting to indulging my sillier side.

Like some of our other lists, this is a mix of ideas and situations. Some are bald, polar-opposites of well-known works. I wouldn’t recommend naming your story or manuscript exactly this, but instead treat the reversal as a seed for creating a new idea.

Be warned: this can be a tool for good, or a tool for evil.

25 Flips on an Old Idea

1. The Mop in the Stone
2. Little Green Riding Hood
3. Mrs. Sandman
4. Father Goose
5. Insomniac Beauty
6. Alice’s Adventures in Ordinary, Everyday Life
7. Robocrook
8. Librarians of Fortune
9. Damsel in Comfort
10. Werehumans
11. The Murdered Butler
12. Casualties of Peace
13. The Little Old Man Who Lived in a Shoe
14. The Leaving of the King
15. The Horrible Wizard of Oz
16. Apollo 31
17. The Godson
18. Juliet and Romeo
19. The Sidekick’s Journey
20. Diamonds are a Boy’s Best Friend
21. The Great Indoors
22. My Unfair Lady
23. Earth Wars
24. Battlefield Neptune
25. Queen Kong