Why Everyone Seems to be Writing the Same Book You're Writing

It happens to every writer.

You're toiling away, writing the world's most amazing novel, when you discover that another author has

a) written about the same subject
b) even worse, written a bestseller about the same subject (!)
c) and/or already used your title

It's like when you're pregnant: Suddenly everyone in the world seems to be pregnant!

This didn't happen to me when I wrote It's a Mystery, Pig Face!, but it sure happened when I wrote The Frame-Up. I'd finished my novel, the central tenet of which is that all original artwork is alive but they don't want us to know they're alive.

Granted, paintings coming to life is NOT a new idea, so it can hardly be surprising that other writers would mine the same subject.

But when my book was published last spring, two other similarly-themed books came out at about the same time that, had I know they were being written, might have intimidated me into not writing my own. And oddly enough, they were also written by Canadian authors. Was there something in the arctic air back in 2016 or so that seeped into our bones and told us we needed to write about paintings?

  

Fortunately, I did not know they were being written, and it turns out there is more than enough room for different takes on an old story.

But it got me to thinking: Why is this a not infrequent occurrence?

Last year, I had the brilliant (to me) idea of writing a Miss Marple book for middle graders.

I got forty pages into the task when I abandoned the project. It just wasn't coming naturally to me. And no matter how much I tweaked the plot, I wasn't in love with the story. And I don't know about you, but I need to love the story if I'm going to work on it for months (and months and months...)

Fast forward to March 2019, and I am browsing in my local Indie bookstore.

A wonderful cover catches my eye:

Yup - the talented Lena Jones had not only beat me to the punch, she'd done a much better job of it than my poor effort.

I felt relief when I read it for two reasons:

1. It was good and I really did want to see an Agatha Christie Miss Marple-is series for kids come to life
2. I hadn't spent months pitching it only to discover this already existed. The world has plenty of room for multiple zombie/witches/abandoned orphans/paintings/fill-in-your-own-blank stories, but two Miss Marple series for kids is a little too close for comfort I think.

So what are we to do as authors? And why does this even happen anyway?

In her book Big Magic, Elizabeth Gilbert writes about the concept of multiple discovery, "a term used in the scientific community whenever two or more scientists in different parts of the world come up with the same idea at the same time". 

I didn't steal my Agatha Christie idea from Lena; we just had the same wonderful thought at about the same time: wouldn't the world benefit from this kind of story (and the answer is yes, it would, and you should definitely read the Agatha Oddly series!).

If the idea truly compels you, you're going to write about it regardless. You're going to write it even though you know you there are already seven billion alien books out there.  Because you're compelled to write it.  I wasn't compelled to write my Agatha Christie book, but I couldn't NOT write The Frame-Up, just like I couldn't NOT write my next book, The CopyCat. 

Any maybe, just maybe, there's room for seven billion and one alien books because you've found the twist that no one thought about before and that we've all been waiting for.

It seems to me that coming up with ideas for what we're going to write about is the most mystical aspect of writing.

Becoming enthralled with a story idea is the jet fuel that launches months of hard work, sleepless nights, and great joy.

Even if our book is never published (I have a thick folder of projects that will never see the light of day), we know that this book wants us to write it. 

It's our twist on an old idea, our gift to the grand creativity of this world.

But what if I had written that Agatha Christie for kids series? 

Well, I like to think mine would be so different that there might have been room for two such books. I'll never know, thank goodness. 

But the reality is, we don't know what other people are working on at any given time. We can only write the best book we can write. And hope for the best.

Perhaps when you abandon a book (because you likely will at some point) you will soothe yourself with the idea that this story was NOT yours to tell.

The next time you feel like someone else has beat you to an idea or published a similarly-themed book, remember: You are not alone. 

Careful: Inspiration is sneaking up on you!

Fellow Middle Grade Minded Blogger Jamie Krakover recently wrote a wonderful post on inspiration and how asking "What if?" can be an amazing catalyst for our imagination.

That got me to thinking - How do I get inspired? Where are my ideas coming from?

For me, the process seems to take three routes: the esoteric, the stumble-upon-it, and the story I need to tell.

The Esoteric

These are the ideas that are completely random. In my mind's eye they are swirling all around and seem to light on me like a butterfly.

via GIPHY

In her book Big Magic, Elizabeth Gilbert argues that ideas are a "disembodied, energetic life-form", forever searching for someone to bring them to fruition (in whatever creative field you are engaged in, from knitting to writing to painting to gardening to whatever).

While this may sound crackers to you, there have been many occasions when an idea has simply "appeared", often almost fully-formed, begging for me to write it. Sometimes the result is good, sometimes not-so-good. In all cases, the not-so-good stories were because my heart wasn't quite in it. I still need to learn when to abandon an idea that doesn't quite do it.

Still the book I just finished (and am too superstitious to discuss yet!) arrived one afternoon without fanfare, but with great persistence. It followed me on my walks, it niggled at me in the shower, it directed me to a certain book, which when I opened it, led me to my character. And then it had the good grace to help me write it, including providing me with the elusive voice on page one. Sure, it needed revising and editing and all that good stuff, but I can only describe it as a gift. And truthfully, I felt more like the scribe, getting it all down, something I had never really experienced before.

The Stumble-Upon-It

I love the stumble-upon-it inspirations. These are the ideas that are gracious enough to present themselves in such a way that they are completely intriguing.

via GIPHY

One amazing source of ideas is old newspapers (and I'm talking really old here). Last year I was looking for the obituary of my great-uncle, who died tragically in the early part of the twentieth century, when a story about a presumed murder caught my eye. (The murder was presumed because there was not yet a body). Suddenly I found myself going to the next day's paper on the microfiche, then the next. Each day's content was more fantastical than the last. The old adage that you wouldn't believe something could happen if you read it in a book was true in this case.

It also happened that the reporter could spin a yarn. In fact, it's my experience that old newspaper reporters wrote their stories in the most florid and excitable tone, a tone just begging to be fictionalized. While I have yet to write the book, it continues to percolate in the back of my head.

Another idea I am currently exploring presented itself to me via Twitter. There are a few random historical and news sites I follow on twitter and when one of them popped up with a plaque from an historical site in England awhile back, I knew it was the name of one of my next novels. Since then, I've been researching and putting together an outline. This made me feel very cocky about my use of Twitter and has obliterated the guilt I sometimes associate with it, since it can be my way of avoiding real work...

via GIPHY

The Story I Need to Tell

It's a Mystery, Pig Face! definitely falls into this category.

I'd always wanted to write a fun adventure story in the vein of Enid Blyton, Arthur Ransome, Harriet the Spy and that ilk.

I also always wanted to write about the neighbourhood I grew up in. Like kids everywhere, we were always hoping to stumble upon a mystery. If we couldn't find one, we were more than happy to make one up. This didn't always end well. Thus Tracy and Ralph and Pig Face's adventures were born.

Two years ago I wrote the first draft of another MG novel during NaNoWriMo about a boy coping with a family loss and a discovered grave. I haven't returned to that book yet, and I suspect when I do it will be almost completely overhauled, but I needed to write it at the time because it was a family story that had been worming its way into my imagination for many years.

So that's my take on inspiration and ideas. If I could sum it up in two words it would be: PAY ATTENTION! Inspiration is always sneaking up on you. You don't want to miss it.



via GIPHY


Now I'd love to hear your take on ideas and inspiration - do share!