Mum's the Word

I decided to pull this comment out of my most recent post and add it here separately:

"As of this moment, I'm creating a policy of not divulging title or plot in advance on anything I'm working on, or have completed but not published. I count putting a story on a site like FictionMania as publishing, as it is out there to be read by the general public. It's been said that ideas are a dime a dozen and that there is nothing new under the sun, but I've noticed that "good" ideas (use your own definition of "good") are done in clumps. My suspicion is that people with good ideas need to zip their lip to avoid having other people take their ideas."

I would also like to add a supporting anecdote. Without making any accusations of ill intent, I had a "copy" of a story idea I used get posted at FictionMania not long after a story of mine went up there.

It was after yet another sappy genie in a bottle story had gone up at FictionMania. I read it and liked it, but was frustrated that genie stories have devolved to the formula of person finds bottle, person makes wish, wish is corrupted or misunderstood resulting in the character being transformed into a woman. There are many variations on this basic premise, but all of them describe the genie as well meaning, helpful and friendly. At their worst, the genie might be a prankster.

My idea was to make the genie mean. Evil, even. I wrote a story that focused on that as a writing exercise and posted it to FictionMania.

I suspect that what happened is that my story inspired the other author to play with the idea of a malevolent genie. Within a few days, their own story was posted, riffing on a similar theme, though of course the story was completely different. It was very well recieved, with a lot of praise for the originality of their take on the genie. While I think it's fair to say that my story was nowhere near as good as the other author's story, I am pretty confident that my story acted as a catalyst.

Now imagine the above scenario with my story being published second. I think it's safe to say some people would look at the situation and call me a copycat, to put it nicely.

I worry that if I disclose story ideas here that others then use, it would be a Bad Thing. Because I write at such a glacial pace, others might beat me to the punch with my story names or worse: with stories that use my plot ideas as a starting off point. Mimicry might be a form of flattery, but I really don't ever want to end up in a discussion of whose story came first.