I've been thinking quite a bit lately about seriously writing something with the eventual purpose of having it published. The biggest problem I'm coming across is that it's hard (for me, at least, I don't know about the people who actually write books for a living) to come up with an original idea that doesn't sound like a thousand other things that have been done before.
I had a dream a few weeks ago, and in it, I was explaining the plot to this actor I've got a bit of a crush on. He thought it was a great idea and encouraged me to explore the idea. Unfortunately, I assumed I would remember the idea and I didn't write it down. That's right, I fell back to sleep and when I woke up again, the idea was gone. I suppose there is a really good chance that it was actually a terrible idea and my subconscious cleansed itself of the idea, in which case, I should probably thank my subconscious.
About a week ago, the first day of my staycation, I had another dream. This time, I happened to have a notebook nearby, so I quickly wrote down every detail I could remember. And then I wrote down questions I had about a lot of those details, and then I wrote down some things I needed to do a bit of research on so I didn't sound completely ridiculous if I actually got around to doing some writing based on these details. Once that was done, I laid down and tried to go back to sleep, but my brain would have none of that. I opened my laptop and did that research, and I typed out all of my notes as well as the answers to many of my questions. I was excited. I had several pages of details that, if done the right way, could stretch into maybe four or five books. Perfect. I had a vague idea of the main character (although her name is not yet set in stone), as well as her best friend and another friend who happens to be a guy (strangely, those two do have names that are not likely to change). I had a general idea of what the main character would be and what would happen to her and what made her so special.
And then...it hit me. Some of the details...some of the very important details, sounded a lot like (what I'm guessing) was a fairly popular children's TV show for a few years that also spurred a live-action movie that was pretty terrible. They also sounded quite a bit like a book series I had previously read, which also spurred a movie that was extremely terrible. Sure, there were also some key differences. For example, both the TV show in question and book series, like my idea, carry significance in the use of the four elements, but they don't deal with the elements in the same way.
Well, what am I so afraid of, you might ask. If it's different enough, great. But what if I write these books (or at least the first one), and someone, or multiple someones, compare my stories to the TV show and book series? Or even worse, the movies??? What if I put so much blood, sweat, and tears into writing and nobody wants to read it because it's not compelling enough? What if a decent name for my main character never comes to me? What if all I've got are these few pages of details, and that's all I've got in me? What if all it sounds like is some lame fan fiction that was written by someone who has an extremely lacking vocabulary? What if all my fears are what prevent me from something really good?
If anyone actually reads this and has some sage words of advice for me, please share in a comment. Or if you and I are friends on Facebook, a message would be nice. I'd love to hash out some of these ideas I've got and maybe tear down some of my self-imposed barriers.
