"Is it just me?" I ask myself several times as I visualize millions of new story lines...yet they all have the same pattern.

(not my pattern..but) For example, Kagome meets Sesshomaru and then he always falls for her. Sesshomaru will get hurt, and then Kagome will always be the one to agonize over it. The setting and plot can be totally different, but if the pattern remains the same...I am sure readers can begin to see it too, right?
This...is a pattern, right?

I am curious to see if readers mind this, and if authors have a pattern in their stories as well.

If NOT, how do you escape this pattern cycle? I see so many authors that have written over 10+ stories. How do they write so many stories but not have the same pattern?

....Help.

Yes, I think it is a pattern, I'm not really sure. But it's a very general pattern and one that you don't necessarily have to escape and you can write many stories using it that have nothing to do with one another. It's all in the details that you build around it:

- location: where and when your story takes place: in the modern times, in the Sengoku Jidai, in a totally different time period, in Japan, in another country, etc.
- how they meet: is it accidental, is it a meeting arranged by their friends, did they know each other before and are reconnecting, etc.
- their particular situation: age, occupation, personality, family situation, their interpersonal situation: boss-employee/servant, teacher-student, friends, coworkers, rivals, etc.
- falling in love: is it sudden, like love at first sight, is it physical attraction that develops into love, is it hate that turns into love, etc.; how Sesshoumaru reacts to his feelings: does he accept them or reject them; how does he show his affection; how does Kagome fall in love with him too, etc.
- how he gets hurt: who, how, why hurts him, is it on purpose, is it accidental; does it happen when he's trying to protect her or rescue her or is it a case of wrong place, wrong time.
- how Kagome agonizes over his getting hurt: does she sit in a corner and cry, does she blame herself, does she pick up a sword or any other weapon (or any person with a weapon) and go after those who hurt him, etc.

You see, you can develop these simple plot points however you want. But you don't have to use it if you don't want. Also, this pattern applies to a specific type of story. If you're going to write a more comical or romantically fluffy story, this kind of pattern is not suitable.

You can use your own experiences or stories other people tell you to come up with situations to put your characters through. For example, I have a plotbunny somewhere inspired by a story a doctor (I'm a medical student) told us one day about how he got so drunk after a bad case that he lost four hours of his life. He left the bar around midnight (confirmed by friends and the barman) and only made it home (ten minutes walk from the bar) after four a.m. What if you put Sesshoumaru or Kagome in that situation? How would they go around trying to piece together the missing time? What would they find out?

Music can be inspiring as well. Listen to a song and think of what kind of story comes to mind based on the lyrics and music. TV series, dramas, anime and movies are useful too for inspiration. Books as well can serve. I have a favorite romantic book ending that I'm going to adapt and use in one of my stories. Also have a story (not written yet) inspired by the anime Amnesia. A lot of things can serve as inspiration.

Of course some genres and situations require some knowledge and research. You can't write realistic murder mysteries without knowing something about criminology and police procedure. If you want to make a story real, you have to research. For example if you want to have Kagome and Sesshoumaru traveling to remote locations, you should research how they can get there. For example, most Greek islands are only accessible by ferry-boat, and only a few, like Santorini, have airports. Also, I don't think there are any direct flights between Japan and Greece.

I hope this veery long post helped you at least a little.

Hmm, I have seen a plot being used over and over again, but there is usually a different setting and characterization to every story. I have actually never used that specific plot idea you mentioned. I’ve never had *my* Sesshomaru instantly fall for Kagome, never had him hurt in the way you describe, or have Kagome agonize about it.

But I can tell you how I never make any of my stories repetitive. It’s all about the characterization. How I set up each character and how they will react to a situation (the plot) I throw at them. While I tend to keep both Sesshomaru and Kagome in character to the animation, there is always a quality to my AU’s that makes them slightly different. If I write a canon version and I throw Kagome and Sesshomaru together where they will ultimately end up together romantically, I make a believable turn of events that would make these characters ‘fall in love’. Gradually is the key. Making these too just fall heads over heels in love without any explanation to character development reflects poorly not only on the story as a whole but on the writer him/herself.

Plot and characterization is everything. We author’s must never forget that.

I’m not sure I’m making much sense. Sorry.

I am certain that every story ever written can be reduced to a simple pattern, that is what story lines are. So finding a recognisable pattern itself in your story is not that big of a problem, in my opinion.

I know that especially in my older stories I used to repeat the hate-to-love pattern a lot, simply because I am very fond of that one. Still, each story was different, for example regarding the genre, and this pattern only really pertained to the romantic plot line, not the overall plot, so I don't think it bothers me or my readers too much. At least no one ever has complained to me about it.

I agree that characterisation is the key. Even if you keep the characters in character like they are in the canon, we still each interpret them in different ways. It is possible to keep the characters true to themselves, yet make them your own. And different stories often call for different portrayals of the characters. Also the events of your story/plot may alter and affect the characters. The characters should grow as your story progresses. So characterisation really has a lot of potential to differentiate between your stories.

Setting, premise and genre are another things you can manipulate to create variation. You can have the same pattern, but the story is quite different if you go from humorous fluff into serious angst, canon to AU, etc.

Also personally, I feel like ideally, with every story you write you grow as a writer. And over the years you also grow as a person. I know I have changed since I started writing fanfiction, and I would not write the kind of a story now as I wrote 8 years ago. Even if I would end up repeating an old familiar pattern, I could do it with more finesse and experience now.

As an old priest friend of mine would say, "There is nothing new under the sun!" (Except he'd say it in Latin.)

Really basic storylines are not unique to SK fics, Inuyasha fics, fanfics, or any other fics. There are certain types of stories that people have been telling for centuries (and I've read thousands of them)! But the difference is in the details. I've read some amazing and some terrible stories that are built around the same basic premise.

An example: Kagome comes across Inuyasha and Kikyo, she runs away in tears, she runs into Sesshomaru. Through a series of events, Sesshomaru and Kagome hook up.

Another example: a young boy or girl leaves home, starts off on a small adventure, it turns into a much, much bigger adventure, and he or she ends up saving the world (and/or the kingdom, country, family honour, etc.) and/or growing up. Star Wars, Harry Potter, The Song of the Lioness, The Wheel of Time, and the Lord of the Rings are all examples (I read mostly fantasy, so my examples lean that way ) of that kind of story, but the stories are all pretty different from each other.

A related example: Tamora Pierce (Song of the Lioness author) generally has the above pattern in her stories. Two series pop to mind right away in terms of similarities; both are stories of a young woman (girl, really, at the start of each series) who enters training to become a knight. However, the girls are very different characters in very different sets of circumstances. The first needs to disguise her gender to get training, the second doesn't. The social circumstances of the stories are very different (if I recall correctly, there is 15 - 20 years in the story-verse between the end of the first series and the start of the second). The stories focus on different parts of the training, and the girls struggle with different things. So even though the base pattern and premise are the same, the two stories are different.

As others have said, it's the who, what, when, where, why, and how that distinguish the stories from each other... and the good from the bad

I hope that helps a little (without being too repetitive ).

Wow! Thank you so much! All your inputs and suggestions have made my insecurities vanish! Three of my stories are very different from each other with, as mentioned, different characterization to certain events. I guess most of my fears were for readers to predict what would happen next cause I might have a story line pattern. I know that I was able to predict some of my favourite authors (regency novels) stories because they repeated the same story line pattern...even though the books were veryy different.
But from what Chie said...as time passes by...our writing skills change.
All your wonderful replies were so helpful and I understood each of them. *bows* Thank you so much! Karma!

I really think it's more just imagining new situations and new ways to put them there. Except for two of my stories, all others are romances. In each one, I make Sesshomaru and Kagome just a bit different. He has a different job, lives in a different location, or does something new. And I always change the way I use the supporting characters.

By now, I'm sure most readers know that I try to end with romance or that my stories generally have a romantic storyline. But over time, my writing style has changed, the subjects I wanted to try had changed, and I decided doing challenges makes stories different.

So yes, patterns are okay. The getting to that pattern part is what's different and makes each story unique. Don't worry too much- patterns in writing are fine. It's part of your writing style.

Thank you kaoruhana! I was hesitant to start a new story because it held the same pattern story line as my other stories. But the setting and struggles will be totally different. I feel confident to write it now. Thanks again for everyone's input!

Sesshomaru's Secret Admirer wrote:
Thank you kaoruhana! I was hesitant to start a new story because it held the same pattern story line as my other stories. But the setting and struggles will be totally different. I feel confident to write it now. Thanks again for everyone's input!

Don't worry, I'll still be your loyal supporter! GIVE US THOSE TEAR-JERKER STORIES!! *lol*

dancingfingers wrote:
Sesshomaru's Secret Admirer wrote:
Thank you kaoruhana! I was hesitant to start a new story because it held the same pattern story line as my other stories. But the setting and struggles will be totally different. I feel confident to write it now. Thanks again for everyone's input!

Don't worry, I'll still be your loyal supporter! GIVE US THOSE TEAR-JERKER STORIES!! *lol*

*smiles* thank you so much dancingfingers!!! That is too sweet!

In lots of cases, it's good if your readers can predict what can happen next because it can mean that you're writing the characters in a consistent way and they've gotten to know the characters!

Nicole wrote:
In lots of cases, it's good if your readers can predict what can happen next because it can mean that you're writing the characters in a consistent way and they've gotten to know the characters!

That.....makes so much sense *mind blown*
I guess I feel even more challenged to better my skills at writing.

All stories hold similar plots, dependent of course on the genre. For example you can have a lovestory between two people, a boy and girl, or between a mother-figure and a child, like Maleficent and Aurora from the film Maleficent.

There is no rule of thumb or one rule fits all. In the end the author will craft that story, always related to the depth of their own experience.

Imagining situations and the characters in them is but part of the story. Everything comes down to characterisation, as pointed out by other posters.

Why do we love Harry Potter?

We love it because of how he reacts to things.

His joy at being accepted and having friends for the first time. His excitement at being a wizard. His eagerness at learning something so very special that only wizards and witches know about. His fear of the future, the unknown, and of Voldemort.

We learn about the Wizarding world because we see it through Harry's eyes. J.K Rowling portrays his wonder and joy and fear in such a way that's relate-able and interesting, so we keep reading.

Fanfiction authors do the same thing, but their success as author's is not primarily in their writing style, or the maturity of that style, it's in how they portray the characters in various situations, emotionally, because it's the one thing about them that we can relate to and understand.

Every one feels. No one is made of stone.

If Kagome questions having a relationship with a youkai, than she might be afraid or anxious or even excited if she finds out that he loves her too. She might be eager or wary depending on his identity. She might be overwhelmed or underwhelmed too if he has less than perfect manners.

The rest of the story is how the author writes about those factors around or influencing the characters, i.e. external conflicts, other characters, other relationships, their personal values, culture, and so on.

Things like this really make the difference for me in how much attention I give any piece of writing, whether professional or fanfiction.

Believe me when I say that I have read some fanfiction that eclipses even professional novels. They are that detailed and character-oriented which is just plain amazing for unpublished writers.

~ Pyre

Thank you Pyreite! I will try hard to work on the characterization even more so that although the story line pattern remains the same....no reader will notice it
I guess it was wrong of me to focus on the story line pattern alone and worry about that. ^0^