Sunday, July 15, 2007

"Hasn't This Been Done Before?" moment #794

Countless writers have this problem, or so I'm told.

You're daydreaming. Suddenly something clicks. It's the greatest story idea in the world. It's a bestseller. No! It's three bestsellers, a trilogy! Better yet, it's a franchise that can spin off bestsellers ad infinitum. It's the next freakin' Harry Potter.

And then...doubt sets in.

It all seems...familiar. Like you've had the idea before. Or worse: Someone has already written your idea.

I had a moment like that today. Here was the idea: The President of a local Addicts Anonymous chapter gets hit by a cigarette truck because the driver was drunk and speeding across town to buy his next 8 ball of cocaine. The AA president ends up in limbo, where he is given a face-to-face meeting with Death. THE Death. Capitol "D." The D-man shoots straight: There are thousands of ghosts on earth, and they are all souls of people with the biggest addiction of all: life. It turns out that Life is a bigger high than drugs, booze, sex, and video games put together. It's the most addictive element in the universe, and Death wants it solved. So he puts this former 12-step leader incharge of Life-a-holics Anonymous, the afterlife's own addiction therapy group.

Brilliant, I thought. Think of the franchise possibilities, think of the movies, of the sit-coms, comic books, cereal endorsements...

But wait... This seems all too familiar. But I couldn't put my finger on where I had come across it before. Was it Beetlejuice? Was it the old cable program Dead Like Me? Or was it somewhere else?

The truth is it may be a completely original idea. And I may not be giving myself enough credit. If that's the case, maybe I'll pick it up later when my current novel is finished.

If you've ever heard of such an idea, shoot me an email at putnamm@gmail.com and tell me where you've heard of it.

-Mark

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