Beware “I can do that too” writing, where you’re basically rewriting your favorite films. scriptshadow.net
The reason this advice works is that "I can do that too" writing skips the part where a story becomes yours. You're borrowing someone else's solutions to someone else's problems, so the result feels like a cover song — technically fine, spiritually empty. Readers and executives can smell it instantly, even if they can't name what's missing.
Here's how you apply it: if your heist movie has a wisecracking crew, a double-cross, and a twist ending because that's what heist movies have, stop and ask what your specific characters would actually do if the plan fell apart. Let their flaws drive the break, not genre convention.
The caution: don't swing so hard toward originality that you refuse structure entirely. Familiar bones are fine. It's the muscle and blood that need to be your own.
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