These Shoes are Different!

And they certainly got my attention! And a good plot with many different angles will, too. Yesterday, I talked about how we can make our works stand out by using interesting settings. Another way to achieve this is to use twists of plot. Like I said, most stories have already been told at least a dozen times in one way or another. But, if we can come up with a new spin on it, it's a new story. The perfect example of this is The Red Tent by Anita Diamant. On the surface, this story appears to be about Jacob and his wives, Rachael and Leah, and in part it is. But, really, it is about Dinah, Leah's daughter. In the bible, her story takes up all of three or four sentences. Diamant has managed to turn that into a full length novel, and a quite good one at that, because of her unique twist on plot. If you are lucky enough, or perhaps I should say, talented enough, to come up with a never-been-done-before story, your work will stand out. If not, though, how about coming up with an interesting twist on something that has been done before? Is your plot different than anything else out there? Or have you put a special spin on it to make it different? And along those lines, how important is plot, anyway? I'd love to hear your thoughts.