How can I put a twist on the whole unpoular-girl-tries-to-be-in-a-popular-clique?

Question

I want to write a book like that but then I'll just be sounding like The Clique or The A-List or Gossip Girl etc...

Can you tell me how to put a twist on that over-used plot?

sorry.....I meant upopular girl tries to be in a popular clique

Answer 1

That is for you to figure out if you intend to write the book. If someone else tells you, it is no longer your book or your intellectual property - it is theirs. Start with some short stories. It is ill advised to jump into novels without cutting your teeth on stories first. Tell me this - the day you got your drivers license, did you drive in the Indy 500? The day you got a piano, did you book a recital at Carnegie Hall? Did you go to an art store, pick up some canvas, some paint and a few brushes and sell your first painting to the Metropolitan museum? Same thing with writing. It takes practice. You need to hone your skills. Start with a notebook and fill it with brainstorming. Then wait a month or so before reviewing what you wrote there and search out the good ideas, crossing out the bad ones. Start with some short stories or fragments and eventually something will lend itself to a longer work.

I really do not understand why it is kids read those books and assume they can write one, too.

If you go to my profile, you will find I star all the good Q and A on writing and publishing. Feel free to print out any you think may help you. Some very successful authors have posted information here to help. Use it.
----
They're, Their, There - Three Different Words.

Careful or you may wind up in my next novel.

Pax - C

Answer 2

Make the clique into the kind of thing that a really popular person would never think to be in! Maybe she would want to get into the debate team, the chess club, the recorder society, or the planning committee for the local renaissance fair! Also, make her the kind of person that the group actually looks up to, who would welcome her with open arms if she only expressed an interest, and make all of her attempts to join into literal comedies of error that cause everyone to misunderstand the other's intentions.

By the way, feel free to use this idea in any way you feel is appropriate. I come from the songwriting community and we share ideas all of the time. If you need me to sign some form releasing my intellectual property into the world, I will be more than glad to do so.

The other way you could go is:

Girl asks to join popular group

Girl is a legacy and must be allowed to join if asked

Group tries everything in the world to discourage her (pretending to be intellectual, pretending to support worthy causes and espouse positive moral values, which really thrills the girl to pieces!)

Group actually receives recognition for turning over a new leaf

Girl ends up joining group, a few members leave, but the rest of them realize that they have actually hit on something great and enjoy the newfound status they achieve by becoming role models. - National recognition might even be involved.

It's a little too legally blond maybe, but if you go over the top enough, it just might work!

Again. Feel free to use the idea. It is something I came up with off the top of my head and if anyone ever accuses me of doing it, I won't even remember!

Answer 3

You could make her one of the legion of the undead, make it a zombie book.

OR

There is another school of thought, instead of a gimmick, just tell the story the best way you can. Choose your words carefully. Some say there are only a few stories in the world, it's just the details that change.
A stranger rides into town...
Young person coming of age...
Man against nature...
I'm not sure I subscribe to the theory there are only a few real stories, it's more complex than that, but there are definitely stories that get told over and over in endless variation. The story of a person trying to become accepted is one of those. I think the trick is to tell the truth. When you build your character their actions and thought process will determine the plot, at least to some extent. It doesn't have to be a lot of flash and dazzle, it just has to ring true. Easier said than done I'm sure, I'm not a writer, just a reader.

Answer 4

How about...

Early in the story, something happens to where she becomes part of the clique and rises to the ranks of it, eventually becoming the leader of the clique (much to even her own surprise)--and it all happens fairly quickly.

The rest of the story then revolves around her discovering the whys and hows entailing her near-miraculously fast rise to power. Little by little the story reverses in on itself as the new leader of the clique (your main character) now finds herself defending her title from others within the clique as well as any newcomers and any and all percieved threats at her title as the new queen of the clique. Of course, the former leader isn't too thrilled about all this either...


To be honest, I'm not sure how chick lit works, but I'm the sort of guy who rooted for Darth Vader in the Star Wars movies long before we ever got to know the Anakin side of him. What can I say, villains are people too, right?

I think this story could be something to that effect....not so much a story of an outsider trying to get in, but rather an outsider who got in and is now trying to STAY in.

And there (I think), is your twist.

Answer 5

Nothing is overused these days. Anything put forth can be reinvented, and that's what makes what you want to write even more appealing.

For example, I'm writing a novel about a girl who isn't all that well liked in school (she's being avoided because of her martial arts talents), but she has this crush on this guy at school--but can't bring herself around to open herself up to him.

And on top of that, she's dealing with an alkie mother who acts like she doesn't exist; plus she gets in trouble with the authorities over at a nearby hospital, and so her life gets really hectic from that point on.

So it's nothing about "popularity", it's just trying to fit in.

Answer 6

Once you get to the end, don't do the girl gets a chance to be popular and decides to be with her friends. That is corny and already been done in at least ten sitcoms. The authors worst fear should be being too sitcommy. Try making the girl die in the end, tragic car accident, and then the whole school can remember in. That way she is popular, but not.

Answer 7

Go topsy-turvy with it. The SMART girl tries to get in, but the airheads won't let her.

Oh, wait, that happens all the time in real life. Never mind.

Answer 8

You could start by having her being unpopular and trying to fit in. Then let's say that one day her father wins the lottery and now everyone wants to be her friend.