There is nothing new under the sun

I always find that going back and reading/watching the things I get really excited about helps to get the creative juices flowing, a feeling of "I want to write my own version of something like that". Then it's just a matter of figuring out how to put your own spin on it.

It's certainly true that there's nothing new out there, which is why we should concentrate instead on what it is that we want to see out of our stories. Write what you would want to read, and if you feel like the quality or originality isn't up to par, focus on making the story fun instead. People are a lot more forgiving of stories that aren't ground-breaking masterpieces if they're enjoying themselves regardless.

Other people may be surprised by something in your work that you aren't surprised by. But the level at which a novel is original is a lower level that urban fantasy or "genre". Originality is in the worldbuilding details and the details of the characters' experiences during the story.

That's why I'm moving to Alpha Centauri. Soon as I can find my shadow.

caw

You can't expect an Apprentice Blacksmith to master the Scroll on his first day. Keep writing.

There's nothing new under the sun, yet every story is unique to someone. Who knows if yours will be the first one they pick in that genre?

Keep writing.

Someone on this forum gave the example of a hero who had a hidden power, didn't know he had it, and saved the day. He became admired by everyone and after that the world was his. So you got Harry Potter on the one hand and Dumbo on the other. And there are probably more examples that I haven't brought up mainly because I'm too tired now and my eyes are killing me.

It's really not so much what you write about--unless it's really derivative--but how you present it. Vampire and werewolf and witch stories have been around for decades...putting a twist on them can turn the story in a new direction. You have to provide that twist.

ETA: Add in Luke Skywalker to that list of people with "hidden powers".

Between 1840 and 1940 every variation of every speculative plot has been written; it scarcely matters whether a recently dead man is kept conscious for questioning by 'magnetism' or 'quantum synaptic blueprints' -- the concept is the same -- or if the trans-galactic spaceship is propelled by 'atomic rockets' or 'subspace quark colliders'.

Since WWII, with the rise of comic books and TV, every conceivable plot element has been revisited like fifty times a year then a hundred times a year then a thousand times a year by the geometrically expanding web of Scriptwriter Jack and his clone army. At this very moment the same plot element is being utilized by a thousand scriptwriters from Nebraska to Delhi, and a thousand more authors; from self-pub to indie-pub to corp pub.

What half a percent of originality still wobbled half-formed at the fringes was used up by the acid-geniuses of the New Wave sci-fi and fantasy in the 1960's and 70's.

(Were you aware that even paranormal private detectives were introduced at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries? By two different dudes: William Hodgson and Algernon Blackwood? That teleportation mishaps were treated as banal comedy by Clarke in 1937? That space opera peaked in scope in that same year due to Olaf Stapledon's efforts, and since then any leap in thinking in this genre is only fiddling with details?)

This is good to keep in mind, but is should not paralyze you but free you up. No one expects you to meditate for twenty years on a mountain in order to formulate the one plot element no-ones has yet stumbled upon. Just write exciting prose around what you have. Be open to the information currents around you. Become the voice of your time.

Do not listen to amateurs who will say dismissively that the plot element you thought up was already in that movie from 1987 and that game from 2004. They are amateurs. They do not realize the plot element has in fact been resurfacing since 1840, or maybe even since 3000 BC, and that this only proves its worth.

Sounds like a self-esteem issue. You are certainly allowed and able to be your harshest critic, and perhaps even encouraged to be so. But not to the point where you give up on manuscripts. Find out if the story itself is what is bad, or if it's your writing (likely not the case). If both manuscripts are simply bad stories, then trunk them for now and maybe in a year come back and see if they aren't tugging at you to pick up where you left off.