You ever read a book and your mouth drops open and you’re just shocked because you swear to all that is good and holy in this world that you had the exact same idea? And within that book, there’s a scene or two or a conversation that was exactly like what you had pictured with your characters?
It’s happened to me. Twice now.
One was so similar that the characters even said dialogue lines that I had already thought of.
I’m not going to lie. At first, I was a little bit pissed. There goes that brilliant idea I had! Now I can’t write it. It’s been done, and done in the way that I would have done it, so it has to go away. And, admittedly, I was kind of glad that I had read the books so I didn’t put in all that time and energy to write the book when it would be rejected as plagiarism.
But after the initial shock, I was sort of…pleased. There is someone else’s brain out there that works just like mine! It was kind of comforting to know that I’m not alone in this world…at least not in the slightly strange way my brain works.
So, as sad as I am to see the story idea having to get tossed, it was also kind of validating to know that my ideas are not complete crap. 🙂
Kris T. Bethke--Author of M/M Romance 