What to Do When Someone’s Already Written Your Novel Idea

Everyone has a different NaNoWriMo experience. We’ve asked some wonderful NaNoWriMo writers to share theirs. Today, Dan Shick, NaNoWriMo participant, shares why discovering your novel has an evil twin doesn’t have to be a dealbreaker:

If we could buy inspiration shrink-wrapped with hand soap at the shopping center, or if we could press a button protruding from our collarbones to make ideas flow from our suddenly glowing fingertips, we might not need National Novel Writing Month. But we definitely can’t, and we definitely do.

My forays on that bejeweled, lofty and very slippery 50,000-word mountain have taught me to create space for inspiration in my life—and when it comes, to write it down like a madman. 

But that’s not what I learned this year: the fateful Year of the Evil Twin.

Some years, as November approaches, I’ve trudged across the Marslike landscape of my Evernote, seeking the merest viable microbe of an idea. But in 2015 my idea simply dropped onto me like a sweet, rich clump of bird poop, chock full of seeds. To see if it might bear fruit, I shared it with my trusted advisors, who cried, “Start digging!" 

In October, I started work—plot outline, character sketches, scene list. Hallowe'en night, I forwent parties and, at the stroke of midnight, started burning up Scrivener. My word count soared with my confidence.

And so it went until Guy Fawkes Day—until the fun but ultimately doomed write-in with my pal Jen. With both of us at 3K for the day, she asked, "What kind of novel are you writing? Mine’s young adult.”

“Mine too!” I chirped.

“Oh yeah? Awesome! There’s so much great YA these days. In fact, I just finished a great one…”

And she described the plot. 

I stared at her disbelievingly. She was describing *my* novel’s premise! My face (and confidence) fell, and in the bleak days to follow, so did my word count. My novel had an Evil Twin! Motivation froze like January’s bird poop.
I read the Evil Twin’s reviews — big mistake. “Five stars!“ "Bestselling author!” Fellow Wrimos sympathized, while Evil Twins lurked in their bookbags.
Demoralized, I fantasized about switching to another idea… or just quitting for the year.  

But what would I say to my writing buddies? What about The Night of Writing Dangerously? And hey, how could I abandon my beloved characters?
In the end, my characters saved me. Knowing their unique stories needed telling by the person who knew them best—me—thawed my bird poop and helped my seeds grow into a story in its own right, that only I could write.
And the experience reminded me that today’s great idea isn’t the only idea. 

Great minds think alike—I’m bound to have another idea that I might turn into a bestseller someday. My novel didn’t have an evil twin — it had a friendly sibling on the path ahead, pointing toward success.

Dan Shick has won NaNoWriMo in seven of twelve consecutive, valiant attempts. He lives across the street from his writing buddy Jen in Portland, Oregon, soon to be the proud parent of a second draft.