One of Aesop’s fables tells the tale of a fox who encounters a lion. The mightly lion terrifies the fox, but repeated encounters during which the lion does nothing aggressive turn the fox’s fear into familiarity. The fable is the source of the old saying that familiarity breeds contempt.

This relates to a recent book I downloaded. I thought it seemed familiar, but couldn’t quite remember having read it. So, I opened the book and began reading. Before I’d gone half-way through, I recalled enough of the story to realize that, yes, I had read it. And I wondered how I’d managed to slog through the story the first time.

I didn’t remember the TSTL heroine’s intellectual dishonesty, her propensity for lying to herself and the hero, her utter refusal to acknowledge the reality of her circumstances and deal with them accordingly. I didn’t recall the foreign hero’s unlikely familiarity with American idioms. Other inconsistencies irritated me, too. I didn’t recall the author’s propensity to tell rather than show, and what showing there was conflicted with descriptive assertions of the heroine’s intelligence, compassion, and strength of character.

In short, the story certainly wasn’t worth reading twice.

Familiarity with it bred my contempt for it.

This deep immersion within a genre means that I no longer approach a book with eyes wide open in excitement: A new story! Insteady, I approach a new book with suspicion: Will this be the same story I’ve read before? Intimate familiarity with a genre is good in an editor and a writer, but perhaps not so beneficial to a reader looking for a new twist on an old plot.

With millions of books published every year, one might safely state that, when it comes to literature, there’s nothing new under the sun. Every overarching plot has been done before ad nauseum. What makes the story worth reading is the journey, but in many cases, the journey is familiar, too. Authors strike the same plot points in the same succession at the same places with little deviation to refresh those tired old story arcs.

It’s a true joy when a story delivers something new, something refreshing.

Those millions of books in competition with every other book means writers are rightfully leery of their ability to deliver a unique and original story, something and exciting. Imposter syndrome descends upon the writer. The writer becomes frustrated and condemns his or her inability to produce a story that will set the literary world on fire.

Let’s be honest: very, very few writers will ever set the literary world on fire. Those who do often have robust and effective marketing efforts.

If you’re writing genre fiction, then you should understand that genre and the expectations of its readers. This makes writing genre fiction both easier and more difficult. It’s easier because you know the formula; you understand what readers like and expect. It’s more difficult because there’s comfort in familiarity, making the writing of the story prone to sticking to well-worn ruts in the characters’ shared journey.

Injecting originality into the familiar doesn’t necessarily mean going wildly off-course. It may mean altering expression to engage and hold the reader’s attention with poetic language. It may mean introducing a unique tangent that diverts the old plot to a new direction which does eventually lead to the foregone conclusion—it’s just a different route in an “all roads lead to Rome” sort of way.

Whatever refreshing a worn out trope means, it does not mean abandoning good story structure, effective character development, abandonment of verisimilitude, or the failure to suspend disbelief.

If you have already written your story (preferable a second or third draft) and you need assistance refreshing the formulaic plot, then you’re looking for a developmental editor. I’m not a developmental editor, but I can refer you to some. (I offer sentence-level editing which comes after you’ve revised your manuscript following developmental editing.)

If you’re working on a story premise or a plot and want to produce a story that refreshes it and makes it exciting again, then you’re looking for a ghostwriter. I’m the ghostwriter you seek. Let’s talk and make your story great.