My question would be did they handle the conceit in the way you planned on handling it?
Nine times out of ten it's how you write a story that counts, a lot more than the conceit you use.
But what do I know, 90% of the fan fiction I write is so firmly in the "box o' plots" that get played with all the time it doesn't matter and the other 10% is too strange for anyone else to even want to play with. *g*
There was enough of an overlap that it makes me feel hinky. Writer's block, use of passages from the writer's own writing, same pairing.
My idea was first time and theirs was established relationship, but there was still that basic conceit at the heart. And as I said, this may already even have been done, I'd be surprised if it hadn't, but now it's like my fic will look like the bastard step-cousin of this other fic. But I came up with it on my own :(
(I am feeling sensitive about this anyway, 'cause I recently found out that I echoed a writer I love. I swear I hadn't read this particular fic of theirs, yet I used two similar nicknames in my fic, and was like, how? How did I do this? How is this possible? I don't mind being referential when it's intentional, but when I'm unaware I've nicked something, I feel weird and creepy.)
If it really is something you haven't seen done before, not just a variant on a standard trope, then I can certainly understand your hesitancy.
As you say, it's bad enough when you run across an older story that you hadn't even read and realize that you've unwittingly echoed it. It's happened to me a couple of times now as it's one of the very great drawbacks of playing in fandoms with decades worth of fan fiction.
I don't mind it so much when it's a universal plot/trope, like using 'amnesia', or 'trapped together', or 'forced to share a motel room', but when it's something that wasn't a great stretch of imagination but a leetle bit different, I do feel awful.
It really sucks when that happens, but you have a loyal fanbase and people are interesting in *your* take of an idea. Believe me, other writers will sympathise with you if you explain your plight. It's not your problem great minds think alike. I understand the guilt you feel but it really is misplaced. Finish the fic, don't give in. You have every right to write as the next person.
Ooh, I hate when that happens too. I had it once when "someone else" was actually TPTB for the show, and was torn between a "great minds think alike" mindset and anxiety over the flaws within my own fic that would come out in the bound-to-come comparison. I eventually went with the anxiety side, and never finished the fic - so no, I don't think you're being crazy.
That said, if you were really enjoying writing this fic, and liked the way you were writing it, I still think you should go with it. Even if you never want to show it to anybody because of the similarities. You'll have written it, and sometimes that's enough.
It could be worse. I wrote a spec script for a show, sent it to LA and three weeks later turned on the TV to a half dozen scenes that could have been pulled from my script except of course the episode was filmed months earlier.
Go ahead and write. Write it better. Write it the way you like. Make it your story and your idea. Some one else will probubly write it again after you. That's just sort of the way the great fandom unconscience works. Seriously, just take a deep breath and go for it.
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My question would be did they handle the conceit in the way you planned on handling it?
Nine times out of ten it's how you write a story that counts, a lot more than the conceit you use.
But what do I know, 90% of the fan fiction I write is so firmly in the "box o' plots" that get played with all the time it doesn't matter and the other 10% is too strange for anyone else to even want to play with. *g*
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My idea was first time and theirs was established relationship, but there was still that basic conceit at the heart. And as I said, this may already even have been done, I'd be surprised if it hadn't, but now it's like my fic will look like the bastard step-cousin of this other fic. But I came up with it on my own :(
(I am feeling sensitive about this anyway, 'cause I recently found out that I echoed a writer I love. I swear I hadn't read this particular fic of theirs, yet I used two similar nicknames in my fic, and was like, how? How did I do this? How is this possible? I don't mind being referential when it's intentional, but when I'm unaware I've nicked something, I feel weird and creepy.)
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If it really is something you haven't seen done before, not just a variant on a standard trope, then I can certainly understand your hesitancy.
As you say, it's bad enough when you run across an older story that you hadn't even read and realize that you've unwittingly echoed it. It's happened to me a couple of times now as it's one of the very great drawbacks of playing in fandoms with decades worth of fan fiction.
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I know this, I know I do, I just --- bah.
I don't mind it so much when it's a universal plot/trope, like using 'amnesia', or 'trapped together', or 'forced to share a motel room', but when it's something that wasn't a great stretch of imagination but a leetle bit different, I do feel awful.
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Thank you! ♥
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That said, if you were really enjoying writing this fic, and liked the way you were writing it, I still think you should go with it. Even if you never want to show it to anybody because of the similarities. You'll have written it, and sometimes that's enough.
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And that story is still lurking on my hard drive, 15% written. :/
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Go ahead and write. Write it better. Write it the way you like. Make it your story and your idea. Some one else will probubly write it again after you. That's just sort of the way the great fandom unconscience works. Seriously, just take a deep breath and go for it.
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That makes me unbearably sad. I'm freaking out over fan fiction, let alone original.
Thanks :)
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