You’re absolutely right, of course. And that’s the point.

An idea can be used and re-used any number of ways. It’s been theorized that there are only about 25 story ideas — master story ideas, in fact — and all other stories derive from them. What makes the difference is setting, characterization, time period, genre and other details that make one story different from another.

A perfect example is the story Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. This 16th century tale was actually based on a much older poem, which bears striking resemblance to other epic and tragic love stories like Tristan and Isolde. The Capulets and Montagues were rival families, which sets up the inevitable tragedy when a young person from each family falls in love with the other.

In 1950, Leonard Bernstein collaborated with Arthur Laurent on the musical “West Side Story, using rival gangs in New York City instead of rival families.” Disney’s movie “High School Musical” used rival cliques for the story’s young lovers, although this version of the story has a happy ending, unlike “Romeo and Juliet” and “West Side Story.”

A good story idea can be the inspiration for derivative stories, for adaptations, and even the creation of another art-form. Going on 30 operas have been written using these star-crossed lovers. Symphonic works and ballets have been composed based on the “Romeo and Juliet” theme.

You’re making the same mistake many beginning writers make, by dismissing a work that has already “been done.” In November of 2010, a fan review page for the TV series “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” speculated that the writers were setting up a rival clan scenario for yet another star-crossed lovers story.

The truth is, there is nothing new under the sun, as King Solomon the Wise once lamented. And that was millenia ago. But writers can take an old tale and make it new with some imagination.

Here’s another example: the story of Cinderella. Besides the many variations on this tale that are easily recognized in other cultures’ versions of the “original story,” clever authors have concocted new stories that only someone analyzing the underlying story would notice was actually the basic Cinderella story. Shaw wrote”Pygmalion,” which was later developed into the musical “My Fair Lady.”

These examples serve to prove once again that a good underlying story comes from a whole body of work (There are 500 variations in Europe alone). Only naivete would cause you to say that with so many versions out there, that the story has already been told, movies made, books written. By some quick character substitution, setting tweaks and time period adjustments, can create a tale that resembles none other. Why not try it yourself.