When I started my first novel 18 months ago it didn't really occur to me that someone else might already have written it. To be honest it didn't really occur to me that I was actually going to finish it.
Now it's done (and lounging in a drawer awaiting one final check before going out to a list of agents) I'm starting research and planning for a second. Almost the first thought I had was 'is this an original idea?'. Almost immediately I discovered at least one book that has alarming parallels (judging from the blurb anyway - my copy should arrive from Amazon later today). Luckily the panic only lasted an hour or so - during which time the author of the book in question tweeted me to say 'feel the fear and do it anyway' after I'd told her I was worried she'd already written my book (she was the one who recommended hers, amongst many others, as being along similar lines).
Luckily the fear only lasted for an hour or so. I'm sure that whatever other people have written there will be more differences than similarities between our books.
What the past few days has highlighted though is just how fragile an idea is and what a nebulous thing a novel is in its early (and even middle) stages.
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