I had a great concept for a book. Then I ran with it. Thinking like a good little writer, I decided to research to see if anything else was out there that might be like mine. There is. So I got it and read it, hoping that the fundamental concepts were different enough. At first, the news was good. My concept was radically different in nature. Then, about 2/3 through, there was a hint that the concepts were closer.
Life sucked.
Big time.
Here I am, several thousand words into the book, and the concepts are close. What do I do?
"Pop quiz, hot shot, what do you do." My situation is such that I feel the need to quote Speed.
I was pretty bummed, to say the least, bu then I began to realize that while there might be a similarity of concept, this author buried it deep, and mentioned it off-handedly. Moreover, I remembered my English lit. There are only so many stories in the world. What matters is in how you tell them. While there are similarities, the execution is radically different.
So I'm going to press forward.
Ahead warp factor 9.