A Discovery of Witches Ate My Novel(s)

[pjthompson]

Okay, so the plot of that novel is nothing like any of my vampire novels (all 3-1/2 of them), but there are certain elements in the worldbuilding which really sounded familiar:

• A 1500-year-old vampire
• A group of powerful supernatural being overlords called the Congregation (mine was the Covenant)
• Vampires who can eat normal food but don’t, mostly because the smell is abhorrent (especially garlic)
• Vampire growth spurts, in which the vampire gets larger and more of an apex predator after being “changed” from mortal
• Other piddling things that slip my mind at the moment

Now, none of these elements are earth-shatteringly similar, but chances are that if any of my vamp novels sees some form of publication someone will surely think I’ve ripped off Ms. Harkness, even though I did this worldbuilding twenty years ago now. It no longer depresses me when this sort of stuff happens, no longer even irks me especially hard, because I have been through this same thing so many times before. Seriously, click on the “simultaneous invention” tag if you want to listen to more hardcore whining on this subject. No? Can’t say as I blame you.

The thing is, the concept of simultaneous invention is quite well-known in science. And if it’s true for the tech fields, it’s also true for creative fields. It happens all the time—to me, to my friends, to writers and artists of all sorts. It’s just the way the zeitgeist operates, propagating certain ideas into the culture when their time has arrived. Some individuals are quick to pick up on them and “get them to market,” while others (like me) are painfully slow about the whole thing or otherwise blocked from getting their version before the public eye time. As with Ms. Harkness and I, nothing sinister is involved, no one has stolen anything.

Most of the time. Ideas do get stolen. It’s happened (verifiably) to friends of mine, it’s happened to me—which is one of the reasons I decided I didn’t want to be involved with Hollywood anymore. But most of the time, I firmly believe it’s just a case of that ol’ zeitgeist playing with folks, hoping somebody will take the idea ball and run with it.

The strangest example of this for me happened about a year before Close Encounters of the Third Kind came out. I started working on this idea about a guy name Roy who was a state trooper. One night when he’s out on patrol on a lonely stretch of highway, he has a close encounter with a bunch of UFOs that radically changes his life. He loses his job, his marriage breaks up, and he spends the rest of his time obsessing about and trying to solve the mystery of these strange alien craft. Sounds familiar, huh? I never heard a word about the movie in production until I was about six months into the worldbuilding on my own idea. The thing that is really freaky to me is that both my character and the Richard Dreyfuss character in Close Encounters had the name of Roy. The zeitgeist was working overtime on that one.

So, onward. If I do publish any of the old vampire stuff, I’m sure there are many elements in my books that have been used in other (and many) books since I first came up with the concepts. They can’t help but be labeled “derivative.” I guess the answer is to just keep writing new things, to keep moving forward.

Oh, and what did I think of A Discovery of Witches? I quite loved it, despite the cliffhanger ending. Which is all I’ll say about that ending—but you have been forewarned.

Mirrored from Better Than Dead.

Comments

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

There are bunches of Covenants of vampires--I think that one is definitely Zeitgeist.

[pjthompson.livejournal.com]

Yes! Not so much 20 years ago, but pretty much a trope.

[stillnotbored.livejournal.com]

I have A Discovery of Witches sitting on my shelf. Pretty sure that if you loved it, so will I.

[pjthompson.livejournal.com]

I was a little surprised by how much I loved being there, but I don't know why I should have been. It's a book of big ideas and intelligently written.

[darkspires.livejournal.com]

Bummer. I adore your books and would buy them all in a heartbeat. I don't care who came up with a similar idea. I will bet the characters aren't a patch on yours.

[pjthompson.livejournal.com]

Thank you, hon, that's nice of you to say. I think the vamp books may wind up being ebooks some day, God willin' and if the Creek don't rise...

[darkspires.livejournal.com]

Seriously, they were an amazing read. I am not being nice. This is the type of book I adore and would buy. The industry has turned on its head and gone AWOL to new authors. I so want to see these books in print.

[pjthompson.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much. I know you weren't "just being nice." I really appreciate all the support and encouragement you've shown me over the years. Shivery Bones, at least, will probably see the light of day as an ebook.

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, it will always be like that, unless we become completely isolated from the world and outside influences. I had a mild crisis when Avatar came out because it seemed so similar to Elpida. Human settlers, conflict with the less technologically advanced natives, jungle setting.

[frigg.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it will always be like that, unless we become completely isolated from the world and outside influences. I had a mild crisis when Avatar came out because it seemed so similar to Elpida. Human settlers, conflict with the less technologically advanced natives, jungle setting.

[pjthompson.livejournal.com]

Yes, ideas keep cycling. I could cite books from Andre Norton that have similar themes. But that's not the important part, I don't think. It's what you do with your interpretation of the themes that matter. At least that's how I see it. :-D

[geniusofevil.livejournal.com]

“simultaneous invention” is the worst! I hate when it happens and I even start getting anxious if the setting in my books is something that's becoming more popular (I'm looking at you, Brazil)

I see it happen in movies all the time, two movies come out with a similar story, but I can't tell if that's just competition and stealing or simultaneous invention.

[pjthompson.livejournal.com]

Sometimes it's a fine line between the two, and where Hollywood is concerned, sometimes the line isn't subtle at all. It's frustrating in either case.