This is one of the biggest newbie fears, and the one pro writers worry about least. In classes I've given examples of how seemingly unique ideas all got bought within weeks, from writers who don't know each other and have no idea other people came up with similar.
I sometimes tell of a writer friend who was convinced an acquaintance 'stole' her story premise, rewrote it, and sold it to a different publisher, because the acquaintance's book came out a couple of years later and did start off in a different location but with the same sequence of events, not particularly going off in its own direction until about chapter ten. But when I mentioned this to a mentor, my mentor laughed and said, "If you're going to use the oldest chestnut in the genre, don't be shocked that others use it, too."
My friend was convinced that her idea was new, but it wasn't new at all. It was new to her, but people who had been reading for many years had seen it before. And before. And before. It still made a good story, but it wasn't unique, and it's doubtful that the acquaintance stole it.
This comes back to me after reading the following on agent Kristin Nelson's Facebook page:
And it never ceases to amaze me when I see trends in that query inbox. It's like suddenly all writers have hit on the same concept independently.
This month's zeitgeist? Young adult stories where the main narrator has to train as an assassin in order to protect a family member or the whole fam.
I sometimes tell of a writer friend who was convinced an acquaintance 'stole' her story premise, rewrote it, and sold it to a different publisher, because the acquaintance's book came out a couple of years later and did start off in a different location but with the same sequence of events, not particularly going off in its own direction until about chapter ten. But when I mentioned this to a mentor, my mentor laughed and said, "If you're going to use the oldest chestnut in the genre, don't be shocked that others use it, too."
My friend was convinced that her idea was new, but it wasn't new at all. It was new to her, but people who had been reading for many years had seen it before. And before. And before. It still made a good story, but it wasn't unique, and it's doubtful that the acquaintance stole it.
This comes back to me after reading the following on agent Kristin Nelson's Facebook page:
And it never ceases to amaze me when I see trends in that query inbox. It's like suddenly all writers have hit on the same concept independently.
This month's zeitgeist? Young adult stories where the main narrator has to train as an assassin in order to protect a family member or the whole fam.
Just in the last 3 weeks alone I've read over a dozen query letters with this theme.
And there ya go. No new ideas. In publishing what sells is how YOU write it. What you bring to it that's new and fresh.
So, are you writing in 2015? If not, why not?
And there ya go. No new ideas. In publishing what sells is how YOU write it. What you bring to it that's new and fresh.
So, are you writing in 2015? If not, why not?
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