This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
I was reading Carol Mason’s brilliant post on Novelicious ‘A Novel Idea or is it?’ and she talked about the fear of others writing the book you’re plotting. That is exactly where I am right now. I’ve written my manuscript and I think it is high concept. I can sum it up in a pithy one line elevator pitch and when I’ve told friends about it they’ve said it actually sounds ‘like a proper book’. But I'm terrified that someone else will think of this novel and write it before I get it published.
When I came up with the idea I spent ages googling it, trying to find other books on a similar theme, desperate to find out if there was a book already like it. And to the best of my googling ability there didn't appear to be one. Once I had found that the book didn’t already exist, I wrote frantically to get my book down on paper. It is now written and edited…but I’m still worrying.
I almost hate scanning book shop shelves and reading book news about new books, terrified that I'll pick up a book with my theme. Now, I know that a book doesn’t have to be entirely original in concept, there are loads of books written on the same subject and I know that even if someone did write a book with the same concept, mine could be better – and at the very least it would be entirely different (unless someone stole my manuscript!). As a reader I’m not put off reading books on the same subject as ones I’ve enjoyed. In fact, I often go looking for samey type books thinking I’d enjoy them.
The fear of someone else writing a book similar to mine has turned me into a paranoid writer who won’t mention my book plot to any but my closest friends. I’m so excited about the concept and I want to tell everyone about it but until I get a publishing deal (optimistic!) it is going to be Top Secret. I get really nervous about who I tell the concept of my novel to. What if I tell someone else, who tells another friend who's a writer and they write a better version?
The stupid thing is that without telling anyone in the publishing industry my great idea, it might only be a good idea in my head. What if it's the most ridiculous concept of a book and the reason why no one has written about it before is because it is a terrible idea that doesn’t work at all?
Am I getting to hung up with trying to be original? I mean S J Watson’s novel Before I go to Sleep sounds a lot at first glance like a grown up version of 50 First Dates. Yet anyone who has read or seen both will know they are completely different even if they do share the same theme. So am I worrying about nothing?
Do you get possesive over your plot? Covert wih your concept? Let me know…I can't be the only one!