About Mario

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Born and raised in Los Angeles, Mario Piumetti is a freelance writer of science fiction, horror, screenplays, and nonfiction. He has a bachelor's degree in English from California Lutheran University and an MFA in creative writing from Antioch University. An avid music lover, his work is heavily influenced by rock, punk, and metal. You can contact him at mario.piumetti.writer@gmail.com.

Sunday, September 8, 2013

The 4th or 8th Idea

So almost immediately after last night's post about quitting No Tomorrow, I rescinded my decision.  Thankfully, I did it before deleting all my files on it and shredding the papers that I've got printed out; the first draft, the notes, everything.

I stand by what I said last night.  The book, in its current form, feels very derivative.  I don't know if it actually is derivative.  It just feels that way.  I read an article last night in the new Writer's Digest issue about ten things that might be wrong with your manuscript.  One of the things listed was that your novel might be too familiar.  So when I thought about my novel, I instantly began comparing it to The Walking Dead because it's one of my favorite zombie projects, and therefore I'm constantly comparing everything zombie-related to it.

But hear me out.

The article read: Relocating the story, renaming the characters, or changing the gender does not an original novel make.

Here was the solution: Follow your own ideas, not knockoffs, and don't create in a void - know what's already out there and make sure your own novel stands apart.  To avoid obvious plotting, ask yourself if you chose the first idea that came into your head.  If so, can you push yourself further and pick perhaps the fourth idea, or even the eighth?  Dig deep and you will probably find a new take on something that was just too obvious before.

Huh...

No Tomorrow and writing a zombie story was the first thing that popped into my head after Undead and Inhuman...

...I guess I really am stopping it after all.

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