Mirror image?

Because I am always reading more than one novel at a time, I often notice book similarities. It is not unusual for me to discover that the main character in one current read is named the same as a supporting character in another! But recently I ran across a book similarity that initially took me aback, and I wanted to discuss it here. 

The truth is, there are only so many stories to be told. As Ecclesiastes 1:9 tells us, “There is nothing new under the sun.” So many authors or to-be authors get freaked out at this point, terrified they’ll write the same story as someone else or someone else will write their story. 

I long ago learned that while two stories might have similar bones, they will never be identical. (Unless there is plagiarism of course, but I’m not talking about that.)

A few weeks ago I started listening to All My Secrets by Lynn Austin. It’s a story set in 1898/1899 New York. There are three POVS, three generations of woman—grandmother, mother, daughter. There are secrets. Secrets the daughter must learn from both her mother and grandmother in order to make sense of her life and of the women who love her. 

A little while later I picked up The Secret Keepers of Old Depot Grocery by Amanda Cox. It’s a story set in present-day small-town Tennessee. There are three POVs, three generations of women—grandmother, mother, daughter. There are secrets. Secrets the daughter must learn from both her mother and grandmother in order to make sense of her life and of the women who love her. 

Crazy, right? While at the beginning of each book, the similarities were startling. And yet, knowing what I know of publishing timelines, the 2 1/2 years between these book releases means that both stories were likely in progress—at least in conception—on overlapping timelines. 

In spite of it all, I continued to read both books. Although one big secret was the same in both books, the results were quite different. Other secrets were not the same. And the century or so separating the two stories resulted in differences as well. As did the social/financial status of the two families. And their geographic locations. 

But even if more of those distrinctions had been similarities, these two stories would never be the same. Why? Because they had two different authors. Authors of different generations and backgrounds and experiences. These two stories seemed to be so similar—and yet they were so very different. 

Years ago, back when I first started attending writing conferences, I heard about a book called What the Wind Picked Up. The subtitle of this book–Proof that a Single Idea Can Launch a Thousand Stories–sums up this exact point. Each author wrote from the same basic idea, yet the stories are all different.

Because each writer is unique, each story will be unique in some form of its presentation. So if you are a writer, no need to worry that your story and someone else’s will be the “same.” And for readers, even if you see similarities between books, take heart! They will not be the same story. 

Have similarities between the situation or plot or characters of two novels ever jarred you? Did it put you off one, or did you read both?