Using the same/similar ideas again

Hapax Legomenon · Mar 30, 2015

I have an 85k rough draft of a novel that I'm not sure what to do with. I love it -- or maybe I just loved writing it. I'm not sure. Currently, it's half-trunked and in limbo.

I want to get to writing something new. However a lot of my ideas are cannibalized from old ideas and I really want to use some parts of the half-trunked novel. I definitely want to use parts of the setting, but not the whole setting, if that makes any sense, and maybe slap a new coat of paint on some of the characters, but not all of them...

The problem is that the novel is still half-trunked, meaning that it's half un-trunked. The idea of trying to do something with it is still on my mind. Should I be worried about this, that two things I write will be too similar, but not similar enough to be a part of the same 'verse? Or should I just run off and do whatever I want and stop worrying about such silly things?

KidCassandra · Mar 30, 2015

I'd say stop worrying about it. After you have a draft or two of this project, you'll be better able to compare and contrast it with your trunked novel.

If at that point you feel that you also want to pursue cleaning up the older piece, you can set about fine tuning both of them to bring out different facets of these similar situations/settings/characters, so that they develop into their own entities.

heza · Mar 30, 2015

I would also so don't worry about it too much. I often reuse ideas from one work to the next. They have a way of starting off similar but then developing lives of their own through the drafting/revision process to the point that they don't look all that similar, anymore, to an outside eye.

And I often see characters or themes or settings, etc. by a particular author that seem familiar from one unrelated book to the next that I just take to be just authorial style or interest that seeps into all the works. Maybe they're really do the same thing and reusing ideas. But it doesn't bother me to see what seems to be coincidental similarity.

As long as they aren't carbon copies of each other, then I don't see an issue.

gettingby · Mar 30, 2015

I've done something similar with short stories. And let me just say that when I have done this the results were better than I expected. I took stories I loved, but maybe they weren't quite right, and rewrote them not looking at the original first. Just wrote new stories out of old ideals. And that has allowed for some of my best work. I say go for it.

rwm4768 · Mar 30, 2015

I've done this before, but usually once I'm sure I'm not going to pursue the story I'm stealing from.

Reziac · Mar 30, 2015

Don't worry about it. You'll wind up with either an improved version of the old novel, or a new and different novel. Who cares which? Readers certainly won't.

Jamesaritchie · Mar 30, 2015

Yes, you should worry about it, especially if it's your first novel. Nothing about finishing this novel will stop you from using things in it in a new novel.

Not finishing it may well mean this new novel will face teh same fate. It's always tempting to drop the old because you want to get on to writing something new, but this usually leads to a chain of doing the same thing over and over.

You learn how to write good novels by finishing novels. Finishing completely, from first word to a draft that's as polished as you can make it. Not finishing is not only a bad habit, it doesn't teach you anything worthwhile.

Reziac · Mar 30, 2015

I thought the trunked novel WAS finished, but that the OP hadn't entirely decided whether to recycle part of it or start over??

KidCassandra · Mar 30, 2015

Reziac said:
I thought the trunked novel WAS finished, but that the OP hadn't entirely decided whether to recycle part of it or start over??

OP says 85K first draft, which I interpreted as meaning a complete draft. Jamesaritchie, do you mean that they need to polish/revise the draft to completion? If the draft is whole and "done," save for revision, I would say leave the draft trunked until the other project is complete as well...

Lillith1991 · Mar 30, 2015

I've got a series of novellas that are all based on the same poem, only thing is that one features a F/F relationship, and the other two will feature a M/M relationship, and M/F relationship. Not only is the inspiring poem the same, the basic premise and use of vampires is as well. Or will be, I should say. And I personally don't have a problem with this at all. It's not the idea so much as the excution that matters. If I set them all in a historical setting, which I plan to and have so far, then that will impact the dynamic greatly. And the changes in dynamic are what will lead to the changes in plot.

That said, I think you should polish and revise this completed novel before deciding whether to canibalize it. I'm doing the same to the novella I described above, and it is teaching me a lot.

Chris P · Mar 31, 2015

Echoing others' comments if the first project isn't done save revisions: finish it before you decide to cannibalize it.

But I would give it some time. I wrote a big novel several years ago, and a bunch of people told me I actually had two novels in there. I disagreed, but with some time an further inspiration I saw they were right and I have since split it into two complete novels. Once I had made that mental switch that the two were now completely different entities, it wasn't that hard to revise to make them even more distinct.

Reziac · Mar 31, 2015

Lillith1991 said:
Not only is the inspiring poem the same, the basic premise and use of vampires is as well. Or will be, I should say. And I personally don't have a problem with this at all. It's not the idea so much as the excution that matters.

If you dissect Samuel Delany's novels from his first all the way up through the Towers trilogy, you'll find ALL of them (except for Dhalgren) have the exact same plot and the exact same major characters. Each iteration is more developed and extended, but it's the same core. I probably wouldn't have noticed, except I read all of these in one lump, and in order by date written. The effect was like watching a flower going through every stage from bud to bloom to mature seeds.

Anyway, goes to show that recycling ain't just for amateurs; Big Name Pros do it too. And it couldna been too boring, cuz there's what, about 18 of those books?? And I read 'em all.

spikeman4444 · Apr 1, 2015

I've wondered about this before. Having a novel trunked and then using parts of that novel in a new project. It's usually something small with me, like a sentence I really liked, or a funny line. Not usually entire settings or characters or plot details. But since the trunked novel in my case usually will never see the light of day, I don't mind borrowing from it.

morriss003 · Apr 1, 2015

I would ask, are the similar concepts in the same genre. If they are, and if you plan to do both, be careful. But a lot of Heinlein's books follow similar patterns, and it did not matter to his readers. If the similar concepts are in different genres, no problem.

Using the same/similar ideas again

Hapax Legomenon

KidCassandra

learning how to BIC

heza

gettingby

rwm4768

practical experience, FTW

Reziac

Resident Alien

Jamesaritchie

Reziac

Resident Alien

KidCassandra

learning how to BIC

Lillith1991

The Hobbit-Vulcan hybrid

Chris P

Likes metaphors mixed, not stirred

Reziac

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spikeman4444

The snozberrys taste lke snozberrys

morriss003

Lurking along