All ideas have been done before. It’s basically impossible not to reuse one. If it hasn’t been done before, the idea will make almost no sense to anyone. That defeats the purpose of using it. Conformists want ideas that are popular right now and writers of this type tend to flood the literary market with the same ideas until these are labeled cliche.

Robert J Sternberg described an idea for creative production that works for a number of professions including writing. He gives it the same name as we use for trading stocks for profit, “Buy low, sell high.” Essentially, look for an interesting idea from a past period that appears infrequently in current time. It may have fallen out of favor as little as twenty-five years ago. That is about the length of time assigned to each new generation such as Gen-X, Millennials, Zoomers, and so on.

A non-conformist can build an extensive library of ideas drawn from past years and centuries. These no longer popular ideas are often viewed as creative and sometimes become the next new craze. However, there is a problem using Sternberg’s advice as a new author. Publishers often want a sure thing and demand recent comps (comparable works) from new authors. Yet, avoiding the recreation of a recent bestseller is what produces new and intriguing work.

An author can attempt to create a character that has never been described before. But similar to the main idea of a book this character will have a number of doppelgangers from the past. Still reading older material (by that I mean anything from 50 years ago to 5,000 years ago) is still a good way to leverage the “Buy low, sell high.” technique with character personalities.

Developing a unique voice is a bit easier because language changes frequently while foibles of human nature seem doomed to repeat themselves. However, a unique voice may not captivate readers. Especially with the average reading level decreasing over the past few decades. This decline could come from a number of sources. Increase in viewing of movies, simplification of language on the internet or educational years lost to COVID-19. Many audiences are looking for easy reads, which have resulted in a number of current best sellers written at a sixth grade level.

Captivating an audience with a unique voice in fiction, requires a style that a sizable number of people understand and appreciate. But don’t try to attract the entire world. The unique voice needs to be authentic to each author and based on their experiences, perspectives, fears and aspirations. It takes a bit of soul-searching and time to write in this manner. Copying current trends seems easier, especially with AI writing software designed to capture them. Still some readers search for their preferred style of writing like a treasure. If your style is not a frequent find among new books, you may become one of the few current authors that they favor.

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