Originality- Does it Exist???

YES!!!! That's exactly how I feel about it Anstey, only you have articulated it with greater precision than I could have. And Bill, I do see your point as well, technically- but I agree that "complete originality", as in absolute and total, isn't the goal, but creating something that feels or comes across as original for a variety of reasons (many just written of in Anstey's comment).This is why I do believe in originality and in my ability to write something someone might read and think, wow, that's something I've never read before. It is possible and worth attempting because I remember so vividly the first time I read, "Jane Eyre"- I stayed up all night long, a fourteen year old girl transfixed, mesmerised and full of admiration for Jane. It was as though that book had been written just for me. I needed a Jane to give me courage and faith and quiet resolve in the face of my own turbulent life. So many books were like for me. They were powerful. The characters in them were closer to my heart than the people in my life because I saw in them something I wanted to be. Every new generation that comes is full of children reading these books for the first time. Everything is new at some point in your life. That is where I want some part of my head and heart to live somehow and not be jaded and worn down by a reality that tells me nothing matters or "you can't"...Okay, enough out of me. Thanks for your input guys...C