I just found some great comp titles for what I thought was my urban fantasy, but's really evidently more of a contemporary fantasy (there are fuzzy lines)...
@@jasondoroughauthor It was some time ago and I studied it in Italian, so I am not sure what terms should be used in english. Durkheim said that there is no such thing as an "original idea", every idea any human has is just the union of pre-existing ideas, for example Bessie Smith created blues by fusing songs that black people used to sing with another style of music... It was in a book written by Wendy Griswold
@@jasondoroughauthor Found it. "Cultures and societies in a changing world", 1994, Pine forge press. There is also a second edition in 2004 by Sage publications. It's in chapter 3, "the social creation of culture".
Interesting! I hadn't read that specifically but have heard a similar notion from others, and I definitely agree with it. I feel like all the creative ideas we have are remixes and recombinations of ideas that already exist in some form.
Having good comp titles is important, even (or especially) when elements of what you've written feel unique, so it's great that you have that figured out! Sometimes readers can be thrown by something that seems TOO unique, because they might not have a feel for whether they'll enjoy it. But being able to present some comparisons will nip that in the bud :)
I just found some great comp titles for what I thought was my urban fantasy, but's really evidently more of a contemporary fantasy (there are fuzzy lines)...
Totally agree... I've had a hard time finding that line between urban fantasy and contemporary myself!
1:20 Say, did you read Émile Durkheim by chance?
I haven't read him, but I've heard of him in connection with sociology. Did he have thoughts similar to something I'm saying here?
@@jasondoroughauthor It was some time ago and I studied it in Italian, so I am not sure what terms should be used in english. Durkheim said that there is no such thing as an "original idea", every idea any human has is just the union of pre-existing ideas, for example Bessie Smith created blues by fusing songs that black people used to sing with another style of music... It was in a book written by Wendy Griswold
@@jasondoroughauthor Found it. "Cultures and societies in a changing world", 1994, Pine forge press. There is also a second edition in 2004 by Sage publications. It's in chapter 3, "the social creation of culture".
Interesting! I hadn't read that specifically but have heard a similar notion from others, and I definitely agree with it. I feel like all the creative ideas we have are remixes and recombinations of ideas that already exist in some form.
I have been told that my apocalypse is unique, but I still believe I have comp titles for it.
Having good comp titles is important, even (or especially) when elements of what you've written feel unique, so it's great that you have that figured out! Sometimes readers can be thrown by something that seems TOO unique, because they might not have a feel for whether they'll enjoy it. But being able to present some comparisons will nip that in the bud :)
Gene Roddeberry pitched Star Trek as "a western in space" and I believe Star Wars has been called "Greek mythology in space" or "Shakespeare in space"
I hadn't heard that, but the comparison fits!