I found something via Penny Arcade today -- Ommatidia, a site where a guy writes 101-word stories every day. Like the silly person I am, I immediately became jealous, because I had a similar idea a few weeks ago, and here's a guy who has been doing it since 2003. "So much for that," I thought.
But that's a dumb thought. So some guy has a daily writing blog. That's awesome! Why should that I mean I can't do it? Because I wasn't the first to think of it? That's a horrible way to operate. Imagine what would happen if every person refused to do something that had been done before. There would be no new stories, no books, no movies, no music, nothing.
The kicker is that my idea really isn't the same as his. Sure, I'd shoot for daily, and definitely in a blog format. But mine would have been different. I wouldn't have wanted one-shot deals; I would have preferred a running story. I would be more lax with my word count, too: he chooses to limit himself to 101 words. I would be more lax and keep it "around 300". It would still be mine, not my attempt to steal his.
That being said, a daily writing blog isn't next on my list. I do have something in the works, and I do intend for it to be online, but I'm not ready to share yet. If I talk too much, I'll never actually act. And I want to act. I also have a lot of prepwork to do, but it's moving, and I'm hoping to launch this summer. I'm excited.
How about you? Do you ever find yourself wanting to trash a project because someone already did something like it?
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3 comments:
I'm more often irritated with myself when this happens. I feel as if I've let myself down for failing to beat them across the finish line.
*I do have something in the works, and I do intend for it to be online, but I'm not ready to share yet. If I talk too much, I'll never actually act. And I want to act. I also have a lot of prepwork to do, but it's moving, and I'm hoping to launch this summer. I'm excited.*
lol What a terrible teaser! I know exactly how you feel. I don't talk a lot about a story while I'm writing it. It kills the magic/strength/momentum for me.
I guess we all feel tempted to trash it. But, no. Let's see. Polti says there are only 36 different plots; Tobias says there are 20 master plots. We all come up, from time to time, with similar theme/plot. How could we not? It's our expression of it that will be original. My voice will be different from your voice.
Good post. You should post more often. ;-)
This exact thing happened to me just today but in a more personal way. I had been trying for about a month now to come up with a good domain name for pretty ambitious project that as far as I have seen HASNT been done before. I had been discussing this idea with someone close to me and asking for suggestions for domain names.
So today he finally gave me a domain name for the idea...that he already registered and that he plans to steal the idea for now. And somehow didnt see any problem with this!
I am undeterred though. I will push forward and do it better because I am passionate about more than just making money from it, I am passionate about the potential personal benefits to myself and anyone using the site.
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