Greetings and salutations. It is I, Greyson.

Wow, there is so much going on. I just finished the rough draft for Ghosting Myself. So that’s seven manuscripts under my belt now, including the four co-written with Clevenger over here. Now I can settle down into “editing mode”, and get started on Welcome to Avernus, and Old Bones, Old Ways, the sequel to War of Night.

In addition, I recently switched over from Twitter, X, whatever, over to Threads, which is Instagram’s version. I’ve enjoyed it much more over there. Recently however, I saw an interesting debate. There were authors saying they were afraid to tell potential agents and editors too much about their book concept, because they were afraid of their plot being stolen.

I know exactly where I stand on this issue. I’m not entirely sure there are any truly unique stories. Everything that any of us write are mashups of our own experiences with concepts and ideas we have seen in other works, whether written or not. Orson Scott Card touched on this subject in his 1979 short story, Unaccompanied Sonata.

A child is brought up to be a musical prodigy. He is raised alone in a cabin by unsinging servants, in order to guarantee that his only musical influences are natural. He plays on a complicated instrument capable of a wide range of sound, but is absolutely disallowed from hearing the music of others, for, he is told, that would corrupt his originality and make his work derivative. At some point he is, against the wishes of his keepers, introduced to the music of Bach, and when this is discovered by a “Watcher”, he is uprooted from his composition at the age of thirty, and is then barred by law from ever again making music. The story then follows him as he struggles to repress his desire for musical expression.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unaccompanied_Sonata

The point that I took from Card’s story was that the expectation of staying pure of influence was untenable. If fact, the main character’s music wasn’t even available or understandable by the masses until he was released into the world, and his music became all the better for it. The second point was, if there is real talent, you will be noticed for it, regardless of what influences may “corrupt” your creativity.

Hollywood has explored this in an unusual way as well. You have seen this phenomenon, whether you realized it or now. Quite often, a movie script will be brought to LA and pitched to multiple studios, which will bid on the rights. Very often, the studios that did not win will then immediately bring in a team of writers, and do their own take on the concept, often rushing to push their version out ahead of the original. This is how you get Antz and A Bug’s Life, Armageddon and Deep Impact. Volcano and Dante’s Peak, Leviathan and The Abyss, etc.

The point is, the idea isn’t what is unique. Rather it is how it is told. It is the author’s voice, the genre that is chosen, the story points that are made important. Armageddon and Deep Impact are my favorite. Both cover a giant meteorite headed toward Earth. However, one is an A List, Michael Bay action-and-oneliner-fest, while the other is a quieter drama about the politics of the situation and how it affects the “everyday” people. Both are great movies, and both did excellently, both in the theaters and on DVD later on. Both are repeat watches for me. Both are based on the same concept. Both are definitely different movies.

Clevenger and I took a look at this idea. We went online and found a couple of those Writing Prompt blogs, grabbed a couple, and then randomly generated one for both of us to take a look at. Then we both wrote a 3000 word short story, in our style, our voice, that told that story. The writing prompt was:

“The Heroes had gathered the Soul Jars together to finally destroy the Dark Lord’s link to life only to discover that they were labeled 1, 2, and 4. Years passed as they searched for the one labeled 3 with no sign. The Heroes still haven’t realized that there never was a 3.”

My story came up under the title “Lord Traitor” https://sainanbooks.com/lord-traitor/ While Clevenger’s story was named “Final Jar”. https://sainanbooks.com/the-final-jar/ Check them out. They aren’t terribly long. There are similarities that come from the fact that Clevenger and I have been telling stories together for more than two decades. We share a taste in media and entertainment, and we have written four books together. Still, we have our own styles and tastes in what we look for in the stories we consume. Clevenger leans more toward intrigue and puzzles, while I go more in the direction of drama and word play.

I guess the point I am trying to make is, nobody, not even a coauthor and quarter century best friend, can tell the same plot the same way you can. Yes, your ideas are important, but it is your voice, your choices, your… “you”, that is the most important in the story that you decide to tell. When marketing our books, we are told that we need to identify “Comp Titles”, books, movies, or other media that are similar to yours, so that the other person has an idea of what to expect. Try working backwards! What would a book look like if you had a character with the intellect of BBC’s Sherlock, but the attitude of Ferris Bueller, and he is having to save the multiverse from the plot of the TVA from the show “Loki”?

There. Somebody steal my idea and write it! How will it be different from my version?

Don’t forget to love one another.

Greyson Black