Has this ever happened to you?

[WannabeWriter]

You have an idea for a novel which you feel real good about. You spend time brainstorming it, then start to write it. Then you find out that a newly released novel involves a similar idea as yours, and you get discouraged, even if you know for sure your novel won't be similar in about half of its content.

Anyone ever felt this way? And any advice?

[stormie]

Think of it this way: everything you do in life, or everything you experience, will be reflected in your writing in some way. Then there's your imagination which can go off in all different directions.

Has what happened to you happened to me? Yup, I wrote about twenty pages one night--a thriller that I considered great. Reread it a few days later. The storyline was very similar to a book that was made into a movie. I didn't throw it away; I just stored it on my hard drive and a CD. Someday maybe I'll use a sentence or two from it.

Keep working on your story anyway and see how it turns out. You might just have a better story line than that newly released book, or far more interesting characters, or a phenomenal ending.

[WannabeWriter]

Better story line, more interesting characters, phenomenal ending... you know what? I think the story I have in mind will have all three of these. I'll keep working on it. :)

[Jamesaritchie]

You have an idea for a novel which you feel real good about. You spend time brainstorming it, then start to write it. Then you find out that a newly released novel involves a similar idea as yours, and you get discouraged, even if you know for sure your novel won't be similar in about half of its content.

Anyone ever felt this way? And any advice?

That depends. If the newly released novel is selling very well, I'm happy as can be. If it sells terribly, then I get discouraged.

[WannabeWriter]

That depends. If the newly released novel is selling very well, I'm happy as can be. If it sells terribly, then I get discouraged.

But if the other novel with the similar sells well, wouldn't it be hard for mine to sell since it wouldn't be as "original"?

[triceretops]

Gak. My Dinothon went head to head with Jurassic Park. Guess who lost and had a nervous breakdown?

Tri

[WannabeWriter]

I'm so sorry, Triceretops. :(

[Christine N.]

How many books are about a kid in wizard school now??? I walked into B&N the other day, and the entire front display was YA/MG fantasy books, all with similar ideas. Not the same plots or characters, but they all involved magic as some major point.

So the answer is... maybe not. Just write your book. No two people write the same idea in the same way. Not only that, but by the time you get it written, cleaned up, submitted, accepted and published, that other book will be but a memory.

[azbikergirl]

Yesterday I found a book very similar in basic storyline to my WIP, written by a well-known author. It didn't get very good reviews on Amazon (nor were the pro reviews all that good). I'm continuing with my idea because I think the story is stronger, but I'll still read that one to see where it went wrong.

[WannabeWriter]

So maybe it can go either way. If the other one sells well, it means the public is interested in the subject, so yours can still have a chance. If the other one does not sell well, you still have a chance to sell a better version of the idea. So basically, keep writing. And that's what I'm doing at this moment. :)

[scfirenice]

I had the first novel in the series finished, and the second near done when I picked up a book and read something way to close to my own...I kept writing, I like mine better. What else are you going to do?
S

[Mike Coombes]

It never seems to bother fantasy authors.

[Christine N.]

LOL, Thanks a lot Mike.

[StoryG27]

Happened to me on my second ms. I was over halfway through it when I found a book by a well known author and the blurb on the back could have belonged to my book. I was so ticked. I went home showed my husband, who then, seeing the steam come from my ears and fire from my nose, avoided me for a couple days. Lo and behold, I read the book and in actuality, it wasn't at all like mine. I continued writing and was pleased to with the end result. So, write your story. The one that only you can tell and hope for the best.
Lots of luck!

[NeuroFizz]

I'll use my "other job experience" and try to turn it into a suggestion here. In academic research, our greatest fear is of being scooped--having another person beat us to publication in our research. The initial feeling is that a ton of data collection just went for nothing. However, on a careful read, the scooper's paper almost always triggers something different and better in our work. It usually ends up giving us better ammunition for supporting our hypothesis, and it leads to a pub of our own rather than a toss in the garbage can. Take a close look at the other person's story, then ratchet yours up. Take a twist so unexpected you have to go back to the shower (or wherever you do your best thinking) and re-work the immediate implications. Then, let your story take on its own life. Use the other story to make yours better. I'll bet yours will come out unique.


Good luck, Rich

[azbikergirl]

Hey thanks NeuroFizz! You just made me think of something I hadn't thought of before, which would definitely set my story apart from the published one.
[azbg runs off giggling to make notes in her outline]

[Nateskate]

In the 1980s, I toyed with the idea of trying to get published, and I had some really good storylines. At the time I just couldn't type, and wrote freehand. So, I had intended to pay someone to type/edit. But, as you've seen, if you let good ideas lay around too long, someone else thinks it up. Well, I saw several storylines turned into movies.

This happens in every field. I'm a fairly creative song-writer, and came up with some unique chord progressions. Over time, I'd hear a song, and think, "Bummer, now if I release this, they'll think I copied someone else's song."

However, most things, including books, can be redeemed because you can always take what you have and put a new and fresh spin on it. Some of the most famous songs you've ever heard are a simple formulaic chord progression. Like "Hit me with your best shot" by Pat Benetar. The guitarist just added his own little spin to it to make it interesting.

My problem was that I usually shot for the fences in terms of story ideas. If you saw the recent Batman, the weapon they used was similar to the weapon in one of my storylines. It wasn't about "Batman", but about a mystery of people going insane, and some having their memories wiped. They wound up in a floor of a nursing home, and I had a nurse and someone else at the home suspicious about the rise in number of Alzheimer's patients.

Most were vagrants, or had no "next of kin", people who could slip through the cracks unnoticed. And essentially, they were lab rats for a clandestine international weapons maker, who was designing the perfect interogation tool. And like in the batman movie, you used drugs, and virtual reality to create nightmare scenarios where people would tell you anything you wanted. If someone thought they were literally in hell, what wouldn't they do to get out. So the weapon blurred reality, and of course, eventually overloaded the minds making people virtual vegetables.

I guess now, the window is open again, because of worldwide terror, and the desire to find Bin Laden, or to stop a potential crises. (How do you crack someone who would rather die than tell you what you want to know- being the motivation?) - the spin is how far people would go to get information, which wasn't the origional spin. Initially the spin is, "Is virtual reality a potential danger?" And at the time, it was a quest to look at what would happen if someone designed to use it for mind control?

But initially there were "Virtual Reality" movies, like Lawnmower Man, and I thought I was beat to the punch.

[NeuroFizz]

Hey thanks NeuroFizz! You just made me think of something I hadn't thought of before, which would definitely set my story apart from the published one.
[azbg runs off giggling to make notes in her outline]

Glad it helped. Where in AZ? I spent 24 years at ASU (faculty, not as a student).

R.

[azbikergirl]

NF: I work in Tempe, not far from ASU! (I'm an FSU grad, myself.) Been here 19 years and counting.

[WannabeWriter]

You know what I did today? I went to the bookstore and found a copy of that other book I mentioned. I skimmed some of the pages, noting its writing style and how the plot is structured and paced in the beginning. I felt better because I immediately knew I could write something different and better than that. :)