Nothing New Under the Sun

The author of Ecclesiastes had it right when he said there is nothing new under the sun. That fact came home to me this past week when my daughter alerted me to a new novel that has a very similar theme to my newest novel, Who Stirs Up the Sea! The heroines in both novels take a DNA test with their book club “just for fun” and discover, to their shock, that they are not who they thought they were! Surprise DNA test results have been the theme in many novels, but the book club connection was such a specific detail that it took me by surprise!

Honestly, I was just grateful that my book came out five months before this newer book so that nobody would think I’d stolen my idea from this far-more-famous author, Anna Quindlen. But you see, this isn’t the first time something like this has happened to me. In fact it’s happened several times because…yep, there truly is nothing new under the sun. And as my husband says, “Brilliant minds think alike!” 🙂

Back in 1995 as I was finishing the edits on A Vow to Cherish, I opened up Good Housekeeping Magazine one day and read an excerpt from a new novel called The Notebook from a then unheard of writer named Nicholas Sparks. Just like my novel, The Notebook had a main character with Alzheimer’s Disease! Our novels both released in January 1996, and both inspired movies, but of course, The Notebook went on to become a huge NYT bestseller and an iconic movie. Thankfully, if anything, I think The Notebook‘s success helped my book’s sales, and sparked interest in the topic of dementia.

The same thing happened with my second novel, In the Still of Night, which was about a rape that results in pregnancy. My novel was released in March 1997, and the very next month, Francine Rivers’s novel The Atonement Child was published. Of course, there’s no way either of us could have known we were writing such similar books. Of course, Francine’s book sold a TON more copies than mine because she already had a name, but Library Journal reviewed our books together, noting the similarities and giving both novels very nice reviews. I’d venture to say that, again, I actually benefited from having a novel similar to someone else’s.

A few years later, as I started work on a new novel with the topic of organ donation, I discovered that a close writer friend of mine was working on a book with the same topic. Our novels had a similar theme to a movie, but no one could accuse us of “stealing” anything beyond the basic premise from the film because the idea for the movie came from the same place we got our ideas—a story that happened in real life. News stories are the inspiration for many books and movies. My friend and I compared notes, and honestly, our books were as different as they could possibly be, but the cover copy may have looked quite similar to readers.

As a VERY slow writer, I am sometimes concerned about my ideas getting “stolen” by a faster writer who might beat me to the punch. It would be unethical for anyone to do that, of course, but I imagine it does happen sometimes. And remember, brilliant minds think alike. Besides, mere ideas can’t be copyrighted.

But because the two writers are unique individuals with their own worldview, life experiences, and writing style, their books will naturally be very different, even when the plot and themes may share similarities.

 If you are a writer and God has given you a story to tell, tell it as only you can tell it. It may have similarities to books you’ve read before or have yet to discover; the short synopses may be nearly identical. But because God created you with a distinctive voice, unique life circumstances, and a way of telling the story that will resonate with certain readers, your story will be as individual as a snowflake, and as different from my story as you and I are from each other.

A few practical suggestions if you’re writing a story and discover there’s already a story out there with a similar plot or theme. Change every aspect you can possibly change. Try:

•switching the roles of the hero and heroine

•placing your characters in a different era

•setting the story in a different locale

•writing from a different point of view—first person instead of third, etc.

•giving your characters’ totally different occupations, if possible

•changing the characters’ backstory

•making the secondary characters unique and memorable
   

Don’t be discouraged if your idea shows up in a book with someone else’s name on the cover. Write your story anyway. After all, there really is nothing new under the sun.