Thanks for replying to me. I suppose for me to putting it all to paper is a bit different; I share many of these worlds with my friend, but becoming a writer used to be my biggest dream. I gave up on it after one of my trusted professors didn't seem to respond well to my plans. I have a pile of books for research, but I can't get my motivation stronger than my crippling depression. When I think of my ideas, I wonder if it's all been done before. I want to put it to paper, but my own mind stops me. It's rough.
*gives a major spiritual wedgie to said professor...perhaps three or four or fifty-five times...*
It is indeed rough. It hurts when you express your dreams and aren't met with matching enthusiasm, encouragement, etc. Especially from someone you look up to and whose opinion you're inclined to weigh more heavily in its importance than the same words from someone else. I know that feeling, it's debilitating, discouraging, and flat-out sucks.
I don't know what to say to help you get past that debilitating depression, other than to hold fast to how good your story ideas make you feel, and repeat to yourself your encouragements from your friend. And then maybe just...focus on some of the worldbuilding, sketch that out, write it down in little notes to yourself, so the details begin to remain consistent?
And then maybe plop a character into those details, and ask yourself, how would so-and-so react to such-and-such? You can literally borrow characters from other writers' universes for this (which is how fanfic sometimes gets started). The way how The Doctor of Doctor Who fame will react to something is going to be vastly different from the Doctor of Star Trek: Voyager versus any doctor from, say, Grey's Anatomy the t.v. show. Or maybe Buffy the Vampire Slayer versus Bella from the Twilight novels. Or even Shrek from his eponymous movies versus The Incredible Hulk (comic book, t.v. show, or MCU, your choice).
...Sometimes it's easier to start telling a story in someone else's sandbox than it is in your own, or with someone else's "story toys." It's often not as intimidating. You don't have to do all the work, because you're playing with characters and/or a setting that someone else created.
There are two more things to consider, and the first is the paralyzing fear of "what if my writing turns out crappy / riddled with errors???" This is a common one among writers. (Yes, even those of us with literal dozens of books published, like myself!) And I gotta say--even if you won't believe me--SO WHAT?? (Sorry for the scary shouting, but...)
One of the upper-crust storytellers that I know, like easily top 20%, maybe top 15% of those who are amateurs and those who are pros...is absolutely horrible at spelling, punctuation, grammar, etc. But she tells an amazing story. My inner editor dislikes all those errors, but I love the twists and turns she brings to her stories. And as I've told her many times, if you have technically perfect writing, go write a technical manual. If you can tell a story, tell that story. The polishing of that story is the part where you just go find or hire a good patient editor or beta editor who is willing to work with you.
Don't worry about the quality of your writing. WRITE. The rest only comes with practice, and the only way to practice is to--you guessed it--just write.
Try little things to get the pump flowing. Write down a character description. Write down a location description. Write that character interacting with said location, like...they're in a fancy dressing room, do they sit at the vanity table and start brushing their hair, applying makeup, triming their moustache, or putting on socks and shoes?
...The other point of consideration is your comment about whether or not your particular story has been told before. This is...both moderately true, and yet very false.
Story archetypes have been told and retold for generations. So if you have a story of a kid who gets dragged off his farm to go on a dangerous adventure, gets taught how to swing an enchanted sword, ends up having to fight an enemy with a vast army, blah blah blah...did I just recite the tale of young King Arthur...or Luke Skywalker? Or Garion who becomes Belgarion in the David Eddings Belgariad series?
This is quite possibly true for pretty much 99.98% of all stories, they almost all share story archetypes.
However, no one would ever claim that the Belgariad quintilogy is the same as the Star Wars stories is the same as the Arthurian legends.
The exact story you choose to tell, the elements you choose to put into it, can and will make your story unique.
Don't believe me? Have the twins be swapped, and it's Leia Skywalker rescuing Prince Luke Organa, and suddenly there's a whole different dynamic to the original Star Wars movie. Leia will make slightly different choices (similar due to her upbringing, but different), and while she could wind up with Han...well, Han and Prince Luke could've wound up having a yaoi love interest thing going on.
If you fear your story is risking running into "way too similar to another already established tale" territory ...then mix it up. Swap roles, genders, presentations, social statuses, love interests, et cetera. You can fanfic your own writing as much as you want, especially when trying to figure out what you want to write.
And by writing short little fanfic snippets...you'll find it easier to write. They're fanfics, they're throwaway. You can always hit Delete. Or hit Save As, and save it under a file name such as "Don't Look At This number 317".
You have stories to tell. Tell them to yourself, tell them to your friend, tell them to your wordprocessing software or your spiral notebook, or your cat. Or maybe your dog. A dog might actually try to listen; not sure about a cat. it depends on the cat.
