Have you ever written something, or thought up some elaborate story or character that you were satisfied and proud of, and then come to realization that it's an awful lot like something that already exists?

What's worse is that in my case, it's something I know I've already read, but somehow I didn't make the connection until much later. By that time I'd already developed the characters and the story a great deal.

I guess the nice thing is that what I subconsciously emulated is not a bad story, in fact it's one of my favorites. But now that it's become so painfully obvious to me, I feel uncreative. >__<; I don't want to backtrack and rewrite things, but is it cheap to pursue something that's a knock-off, or at best, an homage?

I find myself influenced by a lot of outside works and after a while, I realized how much I've pulled from other stories I've read. I haven't dropped the story though and I think it's doing better now. Continuing to write it has let me warp the different ideas into my own. Of course it's impossible to write a story that is completely original, because we get inspired by all sorts of things, but we can make them our own.

My suggestion is just keep writing on it, keep thinking about it. New ideas will continue to come to you and hopefully you can drop some of the elements that make it glaringly similar to stuff you've read.

I have to say it's worse when you develop all the story stuff and find out it's a lot like something you've never read. XD That happens to me all the time.

Well when I sat down and really thought about it, I realized the general plot and characters really aren't the same at all, the story just has a very similar "feel" to it and has a few characters that have similar personalities. But the way things turn out and how the story progresses, there's not much else the same aside from that.

I just make myself feel insecure about things when I shouldn't, especially my writing, so it's another one of those things. XD;

See! Writing should be fun (just don't tell writing that -.-) so don't worry about it so much and just keep going. Good luck with your story. :)

Even having similar ideas isn't a bad thing. It's all in how you handle it. I recommend writing a better story than the one that seems close. XD

Is it sad that I never considered I could try to make a story better than the other story? XD I guess because it's my favorite manga (called Basara if anyone's curious), I felt content letting it be superior to my own writing.

I'll certainly give it a try though. :3 I haven't really put down anything serious about this story anyways, so I have a lot of room to make it great.

Actually, while you're preparing for a story, your character might look similar to another one you love but when you start writing it, the story would take the character to a different side you'd never imagine and after a while you'll notice that it doesn't look anything like the original character you planned.
I write fanfictions - which has characters not only similar but same to the original - and even then they don't turn out to be anything like the one I planned or the original character.

Similarly the same thing with the "feel" or the atmosphere of the story; start writing it and after one or two chapters, you'll see that it no more looks similar.

I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing. Some, if not most, of the greatest characters are influenced, almost completely by another character, a real life person, etc. I think that if you're dead set on making sure that they aren't recognizably alike, give your character a quirk and expand on it a little more. Trust me, it may sound like the hardest thing to do yes, I'm looking at you, Yukata but you may find yourself more in love with that character than you are now.

That has happened to me sooo many times. (Most recently with a batman beyond fanfic) I am still going to write it though. It may have similarities, but I won't know how it will turn out unless I write it. So I am going to write it come hell or high water.

It gets worse once you start the story. Once you start it, then you think it's a really bad idea, you lose interest, and then you stop writing about it altogether. At least, that's what happens to me all the time.

Well the thing is, I don't think it's a really bad idea. It's complex and interested, and one of my favorite stories that my friends and I developed (we used to make up characters as a group and each influence where the plot went, though I was the official "writer").

I made this thread right after I made the connection, but the parallels between the characters whom I though were almost copies are really only skin deep. They have similar personalities and roles, but have very different motivations which is why both stories take completely different routes.

The sad thing is that since I already know where I want this story to go, I'm too intimidated to sit down and start writing it. I have bits and pieces here and there, but the majority still isn't written down. I think it'll be one of those projects I'll gradually work to complete whenever the mood strikes me.

Ferra, that sounds a lot like a story I have in my head. The characters were created with another person, we each had our own, but I didn't really like the direction it was going in.

Many of the characters are way too Mary Sue, and I want to change that, but I don't feel comfortable modifying something that I didn't entirely create DX
I'd really love to get the story down, though. I guess I could see what the other person says o.e

I guess I'm lucky that don't think anyone cares anymore if I write things. XD I was always considered the actual "writer" even though we worked on things together, since no one else really cared to write aside from the rare RP. They did draw the characters and occasionally do comics though. ^^

Haha, I'm the artist. I don't know how much she'd care if I changed the story. I'm not a great writer, but I was more of the writer. We were both really into it, though, so.. I don't know.

I'll have to see when I can ask her. Haven't seen her in a while, and she hasn't logged on to IM, either >_<