Same book, Different Author?

[Aleh]

So a friend lent me a book called Bitten by Tracey H. Kitts. It's dark erotic type of thing.

Plot: Sandra Ashton is a witch who suddenly finds herself dating three vampires. So, what do you do when you've got three immortal beings professing their undying or is that undead love for you? You agree to what they like to call, 'joint custody'

So, i read it and find out that its basically just like Anita Blake! Of course with the few exceptions that she's a witch. She has three guys instead of 40. lol

1. One is the master vampire of the city; Long Auburn hair, with ruffle type shirts.
2. Master Vampire owns a mega club.
2. She gets a type of incubus type of power.
and she has plenty of sex LOL
3. Crime type of scene going on.
4. Weres are also involved.

So if you want the exact same thing minus the 15 billion books then this is the one for you. Basically all of Anita Blake in one book.

Have you ever found a book thats exactly the same thing as a book your previously read before?

Same plot different author?

[Brenna]

Hmmm... The problem is...there are really a limited number of plots in the world, menage or multiple partners is big, urban is big, and paranormal is big. Ack! If she's repeating direct scenarios and scenes and dialog, you have infringement. If not, maybe not.

When you're writing, for instance, vampires, certain themes are going to repeat as different authors hit on the same idea from the same basic myths. For instance, my "master vampires" (called beast elders) can not only dissolve the clothes they are wearing and reintegrate them later, they can cast the illusion that they are wearing clothing. Christine Feehan started out her Carpathian series with her Carpathians (vampire light, we'll call them, for lack of time to explain it all) weaving clothing out of the elements in the air and earth around them. It wasn't until MUCH later in her series that she wrote one clothing himself in the illusion of clothes. Do I think she stole it from me? No. We both just came up with the same idea. Vampires cast illusions. Why not use it that way, when necessary?

Have I read books like that? Of course. The point is coming up with a truly new way to do it, and with the number of past and present authors, that gets harder and harder.

Brenna

[Cathy]

It does seem sometimes that there is a sort-of checklist for some of the paranormal or urban fantasies, and romances. Authors have figured out what works and try to work that into their books. The thing is, often it still works! It just depends on the skill of the author in creating characters and a plot that the reader can enjoy, even if it's somewhat predictable. I love it when I find a truly original or surprising story, but I don't mind if it's unoriginal, as long as it's fun. Of course, a direct copy wouldn't be right, I wouldn't support that.

[mlady_rebecca]

Yeah, I've seen plenty of books like that. You get the feeling the author has a checklist or something. Match details on one thing. Put in a contrasting detail for the next thing.

I find when I start noticing those things more and more it means that I need to narrow my reading in that genre - focus on the authors I already like. Or try something completely different.

[Jessa]

I've heard a lot of authors talk about how an idea or theme will spontaneously bloom from the zeitgeist, so that it seems as if they were IMing each other beforehand. I think when writers are all steeping in the same popular culture, news flashes, historical trends, and whatnot, it's not surprising that sometimes their creations are similar.

Like Catherine said, for me, while I love a good twist, entertaining is more important than original. I can read the same fantasy hero quest for a magical sword/goblet/princess and never, ever get tired of it :)

[Cathy]

You see it done deliberately a lot in series. For example, I love Lynsay Sands Argeneau Vampire series, but every book follows the exact same formula. Extremely predictable, but still enjoyable because her characters are terrific and the stories are well-written and fun. Many romance series are the same, each book follows the same formula with slightly different characters and situations. Which is what people want, they find an author and a series they like and read every one with pleasure. It's different from other genre series where each book is one step along a journey with a destination. With the romances, each book stands alone, one complete boy-meets-girl story (or boy-boy, etc.) even if there is a continuing theme and bit of a throughstory.

[Christy]

A friend once bashed some band I liked because they were a 'rip off' of another group. My opinion was, if I liked the first one then I get to enjoy more of the same with rip off bands. It's the same for books. I don't care if things are alike if it's a thing I REALLY enjoy.

Unfortunatly, most of the things I like aren't so common as whores and vampires like in Blake's stuff

[Sabrina]

I think the PP hit the nail on the head when she said we are all steeped in the same pop culture, history, etc.

I read Lara Adrian's Midnight Breed series right after I had found JR Ward's BDB (I think there were only four or five books at the time) and I was literally shocked at how similar they appeared to be. It's only been in the last 2-3 books (by both authors) that they have distinguished their worlds from each other. Purposefully or not, who knows?

[new_user]

A lot of people have said that about Ward and Adrian, and I have to say, I don't see it. They have only the vaguest similarities, imo, which I can number on one hand: a vampire warrior brotherhood where the men find their mates. I thought that Ward's writing was much more talented and her world and characters better developed by far (a good clue is a page count comparison for each.) I don't think it's fair to compare every book with vampires, LOL.

[Heather]

Even though they are more Sci-Fi than PNR I recently read a couple weeks ago and then a couple days ago I read and they are almost the exact same plot I was like wait didn't I just read this book. Basically a girl gets in an accident, wakes up a robot with her brain downloaded into a new computer "brain". The only difference is one found out right away and one didn't. I don't know why you would want to right a book so similar to another one. Where's the fun in that?

[Alaa]

Aleh wrote: So, i read it and find out that its basically just like Anita Blake! Of course with the few exceptions that she's a witch. She has three guys instead of 40. lol

LOL thats true.

Anyway there is about a thousand of books with the same plot, I'll get tired typing them up.