“Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!” ~ Through the Looking-Glass
It’s been so busy and chaotic lately for many of us…feels like everything takes more effort than before for a variety of reasons. And trying to keep up isn’t easy! So when something you are barely managing to do despite all of that hits a snag, it can be devastating.
There’s a project I’ve been working on since 2021. I had a sort of vision about it, seeing the complete book from beginning to end. It felt special to me, and I wanted to do it properly. I ran the idea past a few trusted people who were very encouraging. So over the past five years, I have outlined the whole thing and have written part of a first draft. Very slowly, to be sure, but steadily.
There’s no rush, I thought. I’ll get to it when I finish the current series. And in the back of my mind, I dared to imagine this was the kind of story that could even work for a film or show; like many writers, it has always been a dream to have something adapted for the screen.
Yesterday, I saw a trailer for a tv show coming out that appears to be pretty much the exact same thing. Many of the particulars of the story are the same. Even the name is eerily close to what I named mine.
What a gut punch! But once the feeling of nausea passes, what do I do? I can’t write mine as is, right? I can’t use the name that is the anchor of it all. I know I could change everything in the story, but it won’t be the same. Yet I don’t want to give it up entirely. It’s all just so crushing.
This very dynamic, the You’ve Been Scooped plot, happens in practically every other episode of Silicon Valley, and they always make it work to their advantage, but I don’t have Richard, Jared, Dinesh, and Gilfoyle to help me get through it with humor and heart. And I know this is a niche comment for Silicon Valley viewers. But their company Pied Piper is the epitome of running twice as fast to get anywhere, to circle back to the epigraph.
Dear readers: Has anything like this happened to you? What did you do? Or do you have any ideas for handling a situation like this?
