Inspiration and Desperation: Post for 10/5

I already started to work on that "special blog" for Thursday. Overachiever? No. I just know that if I don't start on it early it won't be good. My mind is already jumbled from all of the different things that I have to put into this assignment. I decided to re-read the chapter on character to see if it would help me. I don't think it did, though. I think it made the mess in my mind even worse. My brain keeps repeating the words protagonist, antagonist, round, flat, static, dynamic, etc., etc. Obviously one of our characters needs to be round and dynamic. They need to be complex and go through a change in our story. If there was no substance to the character how good would a "character-based" story would it be? No good at all, I would imagine. I mean, it could still be a good story, just not a good character-based one. I thought reading the other stories would help guide me. They were interesting. I especially liked The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. It made me wonder how many writers, especially for comics, start off with a what and not a why. Why does my character do these things? Why are they drawn to these people or activities? Unfortunately for me, when I looked at these stories my ideas started to sound an awful lot like them. I couldn't do that! I am constantly coming up with these ideas that have been done a million times. Do I have an original thought in my mind? I even had to stop reading the book I am in the middle of because my story started to sound quite a bit like Mansfield Park. The idea I think I am going to use is even Austen inspired, with a little bit of the movie The Heiress thrown in there. It's like a 19th century story-line gumbo. I guess creative writing just isn't my forte.