I've started my new book. It feels good. This one has been rolling around my brain for some time. The main reason for the wait was because my husband started a ghost book a year ago just about the time I would have begun mine…about ghosts.
The two tales had similarities; both first person, both female detectives who could see ghosts. Especially since this was his first book I didn’t want to steal any thunder…or his idea. After his was safely sold (coming out next year), I decided I could write mine.
I told him about it. He reminded me that all stories have been written, and that my telling would be completely different from his. He thought it was silly that I even mentioned it…or to have waited.
I’m lucky to be married to such a wise man.
He’s right, of course. Taking one example, how many books recently have been written about a woman choosing between a vampire and human lover? Let's see, Stephanie Meyer with Twilight, but then there’s Laurell Hamilton’s vampire series, and Sunshine, by Robin McKinley. All of these books are VERY different, yet all contain a similar theme.
There is no way a completely original idea is possible. And even before the written word, there were stories told around ancient campsites. Human archetypal memory is very old.
The way it emerges, however, is completely the author’s own. And that is impossible to copy, because no one could duplicate another’s soul.
Ahhhhhh.
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