Want to cry.
This sucks.
WTF!
So after a long absence of non-reading/non-writing, I woke up today thinking 'alright Sarah time to get back to writing'. I felt all motivated and happy about it too. Now, if you follow my blog at all then you will know I have a few novels I've been working on over the last three years. One is titled ELIXIR. I wanted to strangle Hillary Duff when I saw her novel came out, but since my ELIXIR novel wasn't my 'main' novel--my precious baby--I let it go and figured whatever. Plus, it's not that original of a title name...I could let it go.
Except, today I wake up to find this is coming out! OMG...
It's dystopian. My novel originally was then I changed it because I couldn't make it work. It's about a girl named Zoe. What a coincidence! That was my MC's name in the first draft. It's about abilities aka special powers. Hello!! That's the whole concept of my novel!!!!
I'm not saying this Heather person copied me in any way--I know she didn't or at least I hope she didn't--it's just so unfair that this book is coming out. :( I feel like if only I'd stopped messing around with draft after draft, then perhaps this could be my novel coming out in November and not hers.
I feel sick to my stomach. I'll be back to blogging/writing in another couple months. See you guys then.
6 comments:
Don't get worked up about the title. Usually the publishers change them anyway. My editor doesn't like my title either. Says its too vague. Ugh.
Thanks Miranda. I just hate seeing that title on someone elses book
No! Sarah, don't let this get to you! I hate when crap like this happens but I'm sure your book would be much better anyway. And I can say that having read something by you. Don't give up. Every body has a story to tell and they're all unique. Hang in there.
Do NOT let this bother you! If books with similar concepts weren't published, we would be left without much else to read!
And almost any two books within the same genre can be broken down to sound eerily similar - take Matched (Ally Condie) and Divergent (Veronica Ross) for example. When you strip away what makes them unique, they're both just dystopians about girls who were brought up to believe one thing, and then start to question those beliefs before finding out the government running their societies are corrupt.
Keep your head up - now you have the opportunity to come up with an even better title!
Okay, let's break it down:
Dystopian is a super hot trend right now so you're bound to bump into something similar. The thing is, this might no longer be a trend when you start querying. In fact, I'm not sure how many agents/editors are still acquiring dystopians unless they're crazy stand out.
Titles mean nothing because when your manuscript is bought you have a 99% chance of having your title changed. So just don't get attached to it.
There are a billion and one books about abilities/special powers. Like dystopian, except worse, you're bound to bump into something similar. Either dress it up really funkily or find something else.
Zoe is one of those "unique" names that are about as unique as being goth is noncomformist. It turned out there's a blogger with my MC's name. And I thought it was pretty uncommon. Silly me!
The bottom line is just write your story. Be aware of what's going on in the publishing world but don't let it affect you. And whatever you do don't write to trends. Just write your story to the best of your ability and go from there.
Sarah, you have every right to have a complete fit. It is incredibly frustrating to see somebody else publish a book with the title you wanted, the name of your main character, the theme or conflict or scenario you're working on ..
Just know you aren't alone. Other writers feel exactly the same way, but it doesn't stop them from moving forward and making a success with their own work -- because in the long run, it is YOUR work, different from all the others.
Please keep writing.
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