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My barista's offhand comment about my plot twist made me rewrite the whole second act
I was grabbing my usual black coffee at the shop down the street, and this barista named Jake asked what I was writing. I told him about my detective story where the killer is the narrator the whole time. He just shrugged and said 'oh, like in that old movie from the 90s.' That hit me hard because I thought I was being original. I spent the next two days tweaking the ending so it's not a hidden identity but a different kind of reveal. Has anyone else had a random stranger's five words totally change your direction?
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cole_robinson1d ago
Ha, tell me about it... I once had a guy at a bus stop tell me my short story's ending reminded him of a Twilight Zone episode I'd never even seen. Felt like my whole clever third act just deflated into a sad little balloon. But @stone.jesse is probably right, execution matters more than the raw idea... still stings a bit though, doesn't it.
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stone.jesse1d ago
Well I get why that stung but I think you might be overreacting a bit. Plenty of great stories use familiar frameworks and it's how you execute the idea that matters, not whether someone else did it first. The best twist in the world won't save a story if the rest of it isn't solid.
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