U is for Unease. Last year I had such a huge sense
of unease when a writing friend of mine who I had sent the synopsis of the
first book of my trilogy to, said that the soul part of it reminded her of the
Potter Books. After that I was unable to work on that story for days. I did not
want anyone to accuse me of copying anything from the Potter books, not even by
accident. I have abandoned that story until I can think of ways to make it
different and unique.
I know that there will always be something in our
books that reminds people of another book they have read. And we writers will just have to learn to live with comparisions. Similarities need not be because one writer has copied another. It could be because they have thought along the same lines.
How do you tackle the unease that happens when
people say that your story reminds them of some other story?
Note: this is my post for the A to Z
Challenge. My theme is Emotions and Feelings writers experience.
Hello Rachna
ReplyDeleteI can identify with this unease, because I'm always worrying about plagiarism. I think it's because my mind sometimes absorbs too much from other books.
Sometimes when I read my work I'm certain I've read it somewhere before, and it's probably because I've been editing so much!
Scary, though!
I had a similar experience when I was trying to describe in a short story eating a meal in a greyhound bus station in the forties. Unease is the word. I wrote this description that felt so apt, and then I suddenly felt it wasn't my description but someone else's that had seeped into my unconscious while reading a story I liked. I have spent so much time trying to track down the story I might have gotten it from, and haven't been able to yet. Still . . . , I know I read it somewhere and that's why it came so easily.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure for an artist of any kind, being told they resemble someone else is the kiss of death.
ReplyDeleteThe words you chose for the A to Z Challenge have prompted some interesting discussion. While I am "outside" your writing community, they have prompted me to think about my own writing. Well done!
Wendy at Jollett Etc.
I finally learned to take it as a compliment. That means they related to it.
ReplyDeleteI can understand how that might lock you up a little, but I think it's a compliment. There are a lot of books I've read that remind me of other books, but I don't ever think the person copied...in fact, the entire dystopian genre that has been so huge in recent years follows similar themes...people love that and gravitate to it.
ReplyDeleteHi Rachna!
ReplyDeleteI hear that all the time. "This reminds me of the Matrix" or "That reminds me of Harry Potter" or "That sounds like something out of an anime."
Just means people are connecting to it in a way they connected to other media that inspired/incited them. I say go with Alex and take it as a compliment. Your reader connected :D
By the way, for me Harry Potter is just "Sword in the Stone" meets "Narnia" anyway. So everything reminds someone of something :)
Good choice of words for the challenge, Rachna :-) Maybe unease is just another word for digging deeper--if we're uneasy about something in our writing it just makes us look at it from another angle. Sounds like that's what you're doing. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteEvery time I send a story out to anyone whether beta, editor, proofread (even though they are there to make it better), I experience uneasiness. Is there a way to avoid it, please let me know?
ReplyDeleteJust do your homework and make sure you aren't copying someone exactly:) That is what I fear the most. When I'm writing, I always think, did I just think of this awesome scene or did I read it in a book.
ReplyDeleteGoes to check book I was just reading;-)
Sometimes when you read books, elements seep into your unconsciousness. It's good to have somebody point out similarities between your story and someone else's so you don't find yourself in serious trouble in the future!
ReplyDeleteAs long as it is a book I like I take it as a compliment.
ReplyDeleteBrandon Ax: Writer's Storm
It depends. If it hints at something that's popular, but doesn't take the form, I see it as a compliment. You want people relating to your story. You want it to feel familiar in some regards, but new in others. I love that awful moment someone says something about your work that makes you really strive for something better. Love it and hate it. =)
ReplyDeleteTrue Heroes from A to Z
I can identify with the unease, although on a different topic: cooking!
ReplyDeleteI love cooking (and feeding)and until some years back, I would entertain a lot. However, many of my own innovations, dishes I had made four decades ago when in a place like Rajasthan we had no TV nor any access to good English recipe books, get to be tagged as this or that chef's recipe which people presume I have tweaked.
I always acknowledge the source of my dishes, if there is one. Why wouldn't I? I just let it go and stay happy that I did have an imagination so many years back that is getting me compliments, even backhanded ones are welcome!
Yes, it does happen. Reading a book, we keep scenes in our mind.
ReplyDeleteBut it should be told from your own perspective-not word for word!
Unease is one word, yeah, because I go through this mental comparison of the books to see where they are similar. But sometimes I am flattered.
ReplyDeleteTolkien ripped off Wagner and few people care. I wouldn't worry about it unless it's majorly similar.
ReplyDeleteSomeone called me out on borrowing a little too heavily from Doctor Who in a novel I was writing, and so that project never got finished. What I ended up doing was cannibalizing the book for whatever pieces were uniquely my own and reusing them in other stories. I think the situation worked out well for me in the end, though I felt completely heartbroken in the beginning.
ReplyDeleteNow that is something I never have encountered, but I think you did the right thing Rachna. Backing off and taking time to think about how your work differs before moving forward is the right thing to do.
ReplyDelete