Today's Road Trip Wednesday leaves me stumped. Here's the topic:
What SNI were you psyched to work on, but discovered it was too close to something already done?
So my question, before I answer this question, what the heck is an SNI?
Thank goodness for people smarter (or more initial savvy) than me. Someone in the comments also wondered what SNI meant but took a stab at it: Super New Idea. (Yeah, I never would have come up with that. It took me ages to figure out what ROFL meant and I had to ask someone about IMHO.)
So, if this commenter is correct, did I start working on any Super New Ideas only to find out they've already been done?
Actually, no. Haha.
Okay, that's not altogether true. When I decided to modernize Jane Austen's Persuasion, it felt like a Super New Idea to me. But I also figured that at least one other person would have beat me to the punch. I know for a fact that at least three have, since I read their versions. The only real big disappointment was discovering that in one of the versions- a fourth version that I couldn't get a copy of- the author had used the name Rick Wentworth, the name I was going to use for my modern day Frederick Wentworth. (Big surprise- there's only so many ways you can spin off the name Frederick). Anyway, I went with Eric, which I like a lot better anyway. Other than that, their versions felt so different from mine that I feel like my version Sway is fresh in its own way.
With my other MS- Daze and Knights, and the one I'm brainstorming right now but haven't started, luckily I haven't found anything like them. Not that they're super original or really really different or even ingenious in any way. But from what I've seen, there's nothing like them out there. Yet.
Of course that doesn't stop me from being afraid that something really similar will come out and then I'm SCREWED. But what can a writer do? Nothing, except make their own MS as good as it can be so that hopefully it will be the first one of its kind out there.
And speaking of, I'm entering a pitch contest over at Forever Rewrighting. The agent, Tricia from Erin Murphy Literary Agency, is taking pitches next week which is exciting because that agency is closed to submissions. Head over there to check it out.
Or actually don't- so I can get my idea out there first! :)