How to Put a New Spin on Something That's Been Done Before

As an author, when you’re looking down a path that’s already been traveled, and in some great ways, like Sliding Doors or Maybe in Another Life, it can be a shaky first step. Readers often want more of what they love, which is why it’s so enjoyable to write and read series. Writing something similar to well-loved pieces is different than carrying on in a world that readers have already fallen in love with. It can be tricky and so when I was considering this story, I knew it had to offer something unique and compelling.

(Alternatives to a Professional Edit.)

Brandon Sanderson says that all stories have been told before. As authors, it’s our voice, our style, and our own experiences that shape the way we tell the story. Toni Morrison tells us, if there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it. Keeping both of these things in mind, I set out to create a story that honored the elements I loved in the examples above while making it my own story and journey. To do that, you have to isolate the pieces you love.

I love the idea of exploring the path not taken. It’s human nature to think about this whether it’s something as simple as, “What if I had said hello to that person who caught my eye?” or “What if I’d left my job when I wanted to the first time?” Where would we be if we made a different choice. While it’s normal to wonder this, my character, Isabelle Duprees, does not.

That was the first marked difference in the story I was telling as opposed to some of the others I admire. Isabelle wasn’t curious about other options. Readers immediately learn that she isn’t someone who is worried about the proverbial path not traveled. She’s carefully chosen every step she’s taken, climbed the ladder beyond the glass ceiling with precise and calculated decisions, and closed doors she no longer wished to pursue. When one of those slammed shut doors lands on her doorstep in the form of a family member, after a party given in her honor, she doesn’t want to open it. In fact, she’d like to barricade it shut and stay safely ensconced in her current world.

How do you get the person who has no desire to change to take a look at what might have been? That was the first problem encountered in the story; the first inciting incident if we’re using writing terminology.

Her older sister, Elaina Duprees, shows up without warning, knowing that she’s unlikely to get a warm welcome. She is, essentially, a stranger to Isabelle, which the younger sister has no desire to change. Or so she thinks. There are many things that can pull us in a specific direction in life, such as emotion, nostalgia, obligation, guilt, hope, or the desire to escape.

As much as Isabelle would like to turn off her emotions as easily as she can shut down a board meeting, it’s not as easy when Elaina is standing in front of her. Goading her in a way only a sibling can, Elaina’s words and actions get under Isabelle’s skin and send her spiraling down a rabbit hole she’d never imagined.

She might not have wanted to take paths other than the ones she did but when that choice is taken away from her in a surprising way—as in, some other version of her took those roads instead of this Isabelle—she’s too intrigued to close the door.

This plot device, the idea of exploring other avenues your character can take, was the next piece for me to tackle. How could this be different than the other examples I mentioned? This is where creativity and suspension of disbelief come into play because, really, it could be whatever I wanted. Did I want to have Isabelle invisible to the other versions of herself, should she watch from afar, be embedded within the version she visits? Ultimately, I wanted her to be able to interact with other versions of herself in a way that left an imprint. In a way, it’s like the only person who could truly get through Isabelle’s barriers, is herself.

I read somewhere that the purpose of secondary characters is to help the reader better know the main characters. This is definitely true in Elaina’s case as no one knows her sister quite like she does. Even though their relationship is fractured, the bond is unbreakable. Your main character has to have that counterpart that pushes them, forces them to see what’s right there in front of them.

Isabelle and Elaina set out on a road trip that will further test their relationship, open old wounds, and take them through parts of the United States neither of them knew held significance for them. The sharpest turns in the road come from them trying to figure out who the other is in this life while coming to grips with who they might be in the life of the other version of Isabelle they go to visit.

Neither of them are prepared for the impact of the confined space, the turmoil of seeing what might have been, or the resentment both of them are still clinging to.

For Isabelle, she’s also struggling to face hard truths about who she has chosen to become. She’s purposely walled herself off personally, emotionally, and romantically, or so she believes. As she travels down these different avenues with her estranged sister at her side, she starts to realize that just because you purposely chose to take a left instead of a right, it doesn’t mean that option never existed, or that it doesn’t still exist, if that makes sense. Isabelle’s folly is that she thinks she can push through life without feeling. She fools herself into believing she can by creating boundaries so rigid, she forgets who she is on the inside. Who she used to be. And who she might have been.

Lastly, with any writing, we have to decide what kind of impact we want to leave. What is it we’re trying to say through our story and through our characters. For me, I like believing that regardless of what paths we take, we end up where we’re supposed to be. This is a personal thing I sometimes hang onto in hard times. Maybe this is because of how I grew up, the age I’m at, or my anxieties but that’s what I brought to the table when starting this story; that was the piece of myself I wove through Isabelle’s journey.

Sometimes the hardest thing we can do is take a look at where we might have gone wrong when we didn’t have to; this is even more humbling when we admit we avoided a particular route out of fear. From the outside, Isabelle Duprees doesn’t fear anything. But as she travels down all of these roads, she realizes she was lying to herself all along. She’d like to believe she doesn’t need anyone. Meeting each version of herself shows her that as successful as she is, maybe there’s more to life than money, power, and accolades.

Like the book, All the Other Me, life can take us on a lot of winding paths and the only thing we can actually do is make the best choice that is available to us at the time. We don’t ever know with certainty where it’ll take us but at least we can take comfort in knowing we did all we could. I often think about that with writing. There were opportunities I said no to for specific reasons and ones I said yes to which meant I couldn’t say yes to others. Who’s to say where I might have been if I’d made different choices. But, I love this book and it’s a result of the choices I made, the paths I took and I’m hoping, you’ll make the choice to read it and fall in love with all the Isabelles. 

Check out Jody Holford's All the Other Me here:

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