One of my major plot points has been used already!

Jennasis · Feb 23, 2009

I suppose the right answer is to either keep going and not worry about it until I'm done, or I have to go back to my outline and retool. I was reading a rather well known series that had been suggested to me and I found that my major plot point was being used in the series. Nearly identical! I'm so bummed because I really like my idea and had gotten jazzed about my writing again. It makes me (almost) want to not read anything else, particularly in the genre I'm writing. At least then if I get accused of copying someone I can actually claim I had no idea!

I've been trying to think about how I could change the idea up a bit to try to make it different but still keep the major intention, but it's like the other author plucked it right out of my head! I NEEDED that idea...sigh..

Back to the drawing board. At least I hadn't gotten that far along in my WiP.

(And yes, I know that there are no "original" ideas left anymore and everything is a retooling of somebody else's idea, but this is a VERY popular and pretty recent series)

scarletpeaches · Feb 23, 2009

Listen, EVERY plot point has been done before.

But not in the way YOU would write it.

MsGneiss · Feb 23, 2009

What is the series, and what is the idea? I just mean that you can still write stories about a magic school for wizards without it being EXACTLY like Harry Potter.

Jennasis · Feb 23, 2009

I know I know. But it was like getting hit in the face with a two-by-four when I read "my" idea in another book. I think I would have felt better about it if it wasn't a book dealing with a theme like mine...like if I had been reading a thriller, or a romance. It just wasn't close to home...it was IN MY HOUSE, sitting on my my couch, with it's feet up on my coffee table, and eating my last slice of crumb cake!

Talk me off the ledge.

BTW, Scarletpeaches, I LOVE your avatar. That's precisely who I picture as one of my MC's!

miles · Feb 23, 2009

I was plotting a novel for about a month--had even discussed it with my agent. Then, National Treasure: Book of Secrets came out. I was shocked by how similar it was. If anyone had read what I had so far, I'd have swore they stole my plot and gave it to the studio. Several things that happened were exactly the same. Heck, even some of the dialogue was the same. Luckily, I hadn't written too much of it, so I shelved it. I have too many ideas which are more original (I hope) than to write one that's going to be compared to a major movie.

But if half of the novel was already written, I would have kept going. I guess it depends on how far along you are. If you're at a stage where you can easily change the outline, then why not do it?

Clair Dickson · Feb 23, 2009

It's all in execution. I've used this example before, but it still works.

Space station. Neutral part of space. Intended to keep the peace. Plot revolves around conflicts that come to and affect station.

One is called Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. The other was Babylon 5. These TV shows are so different, the fact that they have the same premise (and often similar elements, episode plots and such here and there) is completely trumped by execution.

Here's another.
Boy meets girl. Boy and girl fall in love. Circumstances forbid being together. How many stories can you name with THAT plotline? And yet Twilight was hugely popular... even though this major plot line has been done many times before. Hmm...

No one will tell it YOUR way, will they? Relax. Write. Read more... you might find that the book you just read is not the only one place that same plot line has appeared. =)

Jennasis · Feb 23, 2009

Okay...breathing.

I think I can still retain much (er, some?) of my idea. I just have to tinker a bit (or a lot). BAsically, it was my antagonists that were used. Just while I was venting (or freaking out) here, I may have stumbled across a way to make it my own again. Back to my "blue sky" file to flesh it out and see if it will work.

scarletpeaches · Feb 23, 2009

Jennasis said:
I know I know. But it was like getting hit in the face with a two-by-four when I read "my" idea in another book. I think I would have felt better about it if it wasn't a book dealing with a theme like mine...like if I had been reading a thriller, or a romance. It just wasn't close to home...it was IN MY HOUSE, sitting on my my couch, with it's feet up on my coffee table, and eating my last slice of crumb cake!

Talk me off the ledge.

BTW, Scarletpeaches, I LOVE your avatar. That's precisely who I picture as one of my MC's!

Oh, you picture hot men as your MCs too, huh?

Now write that book Missy!

Charlie Horse · Feb 23, 2009

Vampires, dragons, wizards, god, is there anything good left to write about?

Wiskel · Feb 23, 2009

Charlie Horse said:
Vampires, dragons, wizards, god, is there anything good left to write about?

Monkeys

Kathleen42 · Feb 23, 2009

I actually just wrote a blog post about The Hunger Games, it's similarity to Battle Royale, and how similar ideas can be handled differently. Now, yes, I am an unpublished hack, but, to quote myself:

I wouldn’t say I prefer one over the other, but I do appreciate each for what they bring to a very similar premise. Sometimes you can get away with having a very similar idea, as long as you distinguish yourself by bringing something new to the table. It’s an interesting example of how similar ideas can work—and sell—in different hands.

Don’t start ripping off Twilight just yet, but know that finding out about a similar work is not necessarily the kiss of death for that manuscript you’ve been plugging away at.

Jennasis · Feb 23, 2009

Curious George was a monkey. Planet of the Apes, Congo (though she was a gorilla right?).

How about Clouds?

ETA: God help me, the book series I am referring to wasn't Twilight. I plugged away through that drivel last summer so I could keep up with what my students were talking about. Though to give it some credit, it convinced me to start working in earnest on my own book. If crap like that can sell, maybe there's hope for my own crap!

nevada · Feb 23, 2009

Unless your antagonists are giant robots that inexplicably can make that huge amount of metal change into a tiny little car, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Good luck.

Jennasis · Feb 23, 2009

nevada said:
Unless your antagonists are giant robots that inexplicably can make that huge amount of metal change into a tiny little car, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Good luck.

Have you been peaking at my laptop??

tehuti88 · Feb 23, 2009

...And there's also the point that what's hot and in print right now might be forgotten by the time your story is done and ready to be published.

Who can tell until you write it, right?

I take my ideas from mythology and archetypes so it's ALL definitely been done before in my work. But I put my own twist on it all. And sometimes, even if I'm expecting it to go one way, it goes another and doesn't end up at all what I expected. So...you never know.

MsGneiss · Feb 23, 2009

Charlie Horse said:
Vampires, dragons, wizards, god, is there anything good left to write about?

Robots.... oh, wait.

MsGneiss · Feb 23, 2009

Jennasis, I just can't believe that it would be identical enough to make you stop! It could be a similar idea, even a similar theme, but your treatment of it would be different. No?

Charlie Horse · Feb 23, 2009

sleepsheep said:
Robots.... oh, wait.

What, robots are taken too?

Seriously, there are many parallels between the book I'm laboring over and Wall-E, including robots and the effects of a mega-corporation ruled society. Thankfully, the stories are not in the least identical.

MsGneiss · Feb 23, 2009

Charlie Horse said:
What, robots are taken too?

I am a big advocate of using your own voice and style to make any theme or idea new. But, after Asimov, you'd have to be a brave man (or gal) to try your hand at that one.

James D. Macdonald · Feb 23, 2009

This tells me that you haven't read widely enough. If you had, you'd have discovered that all of your major plot points had been used already.

brgray19 · Feb 23, 2009

It's true. I read an interview with an agent from Writers House recently where he said agents don't expect ideas they've never seen before--because they've seen everything. He said what they are looking for is a unique twist and great writing.

Jennasis · Feb 23, 2009

While I've seen similar ideas before, it was the first time I'd seen one so freaking close to my own. It just threw me. I think I will need to finish the whole series to make sure I really make it my own.

It's my first time at the rodeo, and I'm encountering lots of little things along the way that I had not considered when I whipped out the laptop and announced "I'm writin' me a book!"

Cyia · Feb 23, 2009

Why not post a small snip of what you think is identical to the other book and see if anyone else sees what you do? Maybe it's not as close as you think.

scarletpeaches · Feb 23, 2009

Or PM a couple of (well-read) people on AW you get on with to see what they think?

(Good idea, Cyia).

NicoleMD · Feb 23, 2009

I've never believed my stuff is even close to being original, but a few months ago, the TV was on in the background and I heard a movie on that seemed to have a similar concept as mine. Cool, I thought, but then one of the characters had the same name as my MC. No biggie, right? It's a common enough name. Then there was another character in the movie with the same name as the corresponding sidekick in my book, not that common of a name. I just about fainted.

I left the names as is for now, though I'll probably change them later. Turns out the movie was based on a book too, but the book is from like the 70s or something, but I might still use it as a comparison book in my queries.

Write on. Don't obsess about these things, but definitely be aware.

Nicole

One of my major plot points has been used already!

Jennasis

scarletpeaches

MsGneiss

Jennasis

miles

agent at The Knight Agency

Clair Dickson

A dark core to every cloud

Jennasis

scarletpeaches

Charlie Horse

Speaking in metaphors

Wiskel

practical experience, FTW

Kathleen42

crushing on fictional characters

Jennasis

nevada

Jennasis

tehuti88

Mackinac Island Fanatic

MsGneiss

MsGneiss

Charlie Horse

Speaking in metaphors

MsGneiss

James D. Macdonald

Your Genial Uncle

brgray19

Jennasis

Cyia

Rewriting My Destiny

scarletpeaches

NicoleMD

Onomatopotamus