So I just came up with the best idea ever . . .

Constantine K · Mar 22, 2008

. . . only to find out that it's been done before, and I am not the original genius I thought I was only hours ago.

Has this happened to anyone else? It feels like winning a free Lamborghini and crashing it on the first ride.

:rant:

Khazarkhum · Mar 22, 2008

Everyone. It happens to everyone.

StoryG27 · Mar 22, 2008

Yep, just like Khazarkhum said, it happen to us all.

Karen Duvall · Mar 22, 2008

Yep, it's happened to me, too. Though I wasn't horribly surprised when it did. When a fresh idea appears, it's often a group mind kind of thing. But only one of the idea creators will get recognized first.

Matera the Mad · Mar 22, 2008

Ever hear the expression "reinventing the wheel"?

Constantine K · Mar 22, 2008

Thanks. I feel better already.

nevada · Mar 22, 2008

apparently, while writing "Neuromancer" william gibson went to see blade runner adn left the theatre in tears halfway through because ridley scott had depicted this world exactly how gibson imagined his but, in gibson's words "Much better. Better than I ever could."

So yeah it happens to everyone, so no worries. There are no new ideas, just new ways to tell them.

bluntforcetrauma · Mar 22, 2008

Sometimes I wonder if ideas aren't just floating out there and several people grab the same one at once.

Constantine K · Mar 22, 2008

Well, after some serious thought (at least 10 minutes worth), I've decided to tweak my idea in a way that will make it mine. If it's true that everything has been done before, then why not?

Technically, the idea isn't another book: it's a movie. And it isn't slated for release until 2010. Better start writing!

blacbird · Mar 22, 2008

Constantine K said:
. . . only to find out that it's been done before, and I am not the original genius I thought I was only hours ago.

I empathize. Just this week I had this great idea, a whaling captain who's had his leg bitten off by a gigantic albino sperm whale, and is now bent on revenge.

So I did some research.

Dam.

caw

nevada · Mar 22, 2008

blacbird said:
I empathize. Just this week I had this great idea, a whaling captain who's had his leg bitten off by a gigantic albino sperm whale, and is now bent on revenge.

So I did some research.

Dam.

caw

Just tweak a bit, make the guy a submarine captain, add a giant squid, and..... wait...... Damn!

BlueTexas · Mar 22, 2008

bluntforcetrauma said:
Sometimes I wonder if ideas aren't just floating out there and several people grab the same one at once.

I've certainly reinvented the wheel. I got ten thousand words into a novel before I realized not only had it been written, but I'd read it. Can't recall what it was now, but I sure remember how many words it was!

I do think bluntforce may be onto something here. Some of the best ideas in history have been invented nearly at the same time, one person just happens to get the patent, deal, whatever, first. Like the light bulb. Makes me wonder where we pluck those seemingly original ideas from, anyway.

bluntforcetrauma · Mar 22, 2008

Like that time I sat down and decided to write the Bible.

Constantine K · Mar 22, 2008

What if all of reality was just some computer program? What if our real bodies were just lined up in little pods so machines could feed off the energy our body creates?

And get this . . .

What if there was one person that was like uber and could save the entire human race from unconscious slavery!

bluntforcetrauma · Mar 22, 2008

Constantine K said:
What if all of reality was just some computer program? What if our real bodies were just lined up in little pods so machines could feed off the energy our body creates?

And get this . . .

What if there was one person that was like uber and could save the entire human race from unconscious slavery!

OK. I'm gonna try to talk you down. See the nice firemen with the trampoline? Jump there. :roll:

blacbird · Mar 22, 2008

nevada said:
Just tweak a bit, make the guy a submarine captain, add a giant squid, and..... wait...... Damn!

You mean . . . you mean . . . ???

Oh, wait . . . how about we have a metal capsule from outer space crash, and it comes open, and these monsters with heat rays attack . . .

Dam.

caw

lfraser · Mar 22, 2008

blacbird said:
You mean . . . you mean . . . ???

Oh, wait . . . how about we have a metal capsule from outer space crash, and it comes open, and these monsters with heat rays attack . . .

Dam.

caw

Oh crap. There go two years of my life.

nevada · Mar 22, 2008

blacbird said:
You mean . . . you mean . . . ???

Oh, wait . . . how about we have a metal capsule from outer space crash, and it comes open, and these monsters with heat rays attack . . .

Dam.

caw

Tweak is the name of the game. the metal capsule goes into space and instead of monsters there these monkeys see, and...... okay i give up. im going to dental school. :flag:

Jonny Ryan Mac · Mar 22, 2008

I was query-ing for my initial project, and I recived a polite note - "Been Done Before."

At first I was irate, rightfully so. After a while i began to wonder, "Could I do it better?" I made sure that I knew my competition the second time around, and it helped. espicially in the Pitch Crits at the Conference I attended this year.

Thats what the Agents and Authors talked about this year at the ACW Conference for a while, doing it better. There just arent that many originial ideas anymore, well....mainstream ideas that is.

Here's an idea.....

Post a "Cliche" mainstream Idea that gets over done, and over done, and over done.

I'll start.

Vampire Hunters.

Mumut · Mar 22, 2008

Shows how important it is for writers to read. And don't forget, using just one person's ideas is plagiarism but using the ideas of many people is research.

Dale Emery · Mar 22, 2008

Constantine K said:
. . . only to find out that it's been done before, and I am not the original genius I thought I was only hours ago.

Has this happened to anyone else?

Wasn't there a thread about this just last week? ;-)

Anyway, sure, it's happened to me. I take it as good news. If someone else has done it well, and been successful, that's confirmation that I'm able to create a worthy idea. Eventually I'll create one that hasn't been done, or hasn't been done my way.

Dale

Smiling Ted · Mar 22, 2008

Jonny Ryan Mac said:
Here's an idea.....

Post a "Cliche" mainstream Idea that gets over done, and over done, and over done.

I'll start.

Vampire Hunters.

Vampires. Hunting.

Dale Emery · Mar 23, 2008

Smiling Ted said:
Vampires. Hunting.

Damp wire bunting.

triceretops · Mar 23, 2008

You can really start panicking when it's too late. Having written Once Upon a Goddess, I found out that the plot was very similar to Bedazzed, having never read that book or seen the movie until afterwards. Fortunately, there's a enough of a difference that they won't have to pump me full of truth serum to find out if I deliberately channeled that one -- or stole it outright.

Tri

Phaeal · Mar 23, 2008

Dale Emery said:
Damp wire bunting.

Vampires in baby buntings! An entire hospital nursery drained dry, with just one cute little well-fed survivor in pink!

Or a whole flock of vampire buntings, all those pointy beaks!

No stealing my brilliant ideas, now.

Seriously, you can make pretty much any old idea your own with enough unique detail. The touchy part is when people describe your work broadly, as in, "Oh, that's just another Buffy ripoff."

So I just came up with the best idea ever . . .

Constantine K

Khazarkhum

StoryG27

Miss Behave

Karen Duvall

Chalice the Hatchet Knight

Matera the Mad

Bartender, gimme a Linux Mint

Constantine K

nevada

bluntforcetrauma

Esquire

Constantine K

blacbird

nevada

BlueTexas

Back from self-exile land.

bluntforcetrauma

Esquire

Constantine K

bluntforcetrauma

Esquire

blacbird

lfraser

Bored and Frantic

nevada

Jonny Ryan Mac

Bogey Golfer

Mumut

Well begun is half done...

Dale Emery

is way off topic

Smiling Ted

Ah-HA!

Dale Emery

is way off topic

triceretops

Phaeal

Whatever I did, I didn't do it.