Classic literature. This is a phrase that everyone has heard and most everyone can name at least one story that's considered a classic. They're the biggies, the books you have to read in school, the authors who are studied and regarded as something beyond regular writers. But honestly...who's got the time to read them all?
That's Classic
Outside of school and the occasional Hollywood blockbuster, classic literature doesn't get discussed much. However, classic stories are actually everywhere. Many authors, books and TV shows borrow from the classics, borrowing the plots, characters and settings to re-work them for a modern audience.
This has happened way more times than anyone can list and way more times than you realize. That adorable love story with Renee Zellweger. That suspenseful TV show about the wronged woman seeking revenge. From the fun rom coms to the dramatic films about frenemies, cases of mistaken identity and children switched at birth, many of these seemingly fresh pieces of entertainment are based on stories that are decades, centuries, even millennia old already.
With even a cursory look at Greek literature, you may come to realize that there are no new plots. They wrote some of the most salacious stories and they truly ran the gamut when it comes to human emotion. The themes, plots and morals found in classic literature can't be beat. This is why so many authors use them to create new stories. This has been done throughout history, with everyone from Virgil to Dante to Shakespeare to Helen Fielding borrowing from the classics.
Studying from the classics and even borrowing from them from time to time can be a great way to write a new beloved story. If all the plots have already been written, won't you be forced to repeat them anyway? Greek myths, Sumerian legends and writers like Dickens provide lots of rich plots, great settings and strong characters that are truly timeless. Re-working these classic themes and stories into new material is a time-honored tradition. For many writers, it can be a great way to deal with writer's block as well. Once you've got the main themes and characters already in front of you, the rest is a lot easier.
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