Making A Work of Fiction Original

It can be hard to come up with something original. Especially as everything has been done before. Just when you think you've come up with a unique idea you realize that your unique idea has been used before.

 What makes an idea unique is how a writer takes a common concept and tweak it into something that isn't used often. Using a persona example my series A Heroes Journey takes place in a world where the majority of the population has super powers. Non-Powered individuals exist but they don't go out and become superheroes like the powered ones do and it's the Non-Powered individual who are the minority. And what I did was taking something common within the superhero genre but made it a little unique.

 Another method is taking something from real life and use it as a base of inspiration. It could be something from the news or a work of history. But just be careful. You don't want it to be too similar. 

I also would use something from mythology & folklore as inspiration. There are a lot of unique things you could find there and it would come in handy when you want to make a unique fantasy creature,