No, no no no no please god no....

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As some of you know, I've been writing and planning for a novel series for several years. This novel series--"Veresae" (yes, that's where my screen name is from)--involves vampires and tentacled zombies. It's very important to me.

Today I stumbled upon this book.

"As zombies invade a barricaded apartment building, the vampire inhabitants must protect their human livestock. Shade, the vampire monarch, defends her late father's kingdom, but Frost, Shade's general, convinces his brethren to migrate to an island, where they can breed and hunt humans. In their path stands a legion of corpses, just now evolving into something far more lethal, something with tentacles--and that's just the beginning."

It gets worse. It has all five star ratings at Amazon. So it's not just that I've found out somebody beat me to the punch...they did really f*****g good job of it.

While I don't expect it to be much like my book in terms of plot or characters, the fact that it has vampires fighting against tentacled Lovecraftian cthulhu-zombies means that everyone will call my book a rip off before they even read a f*****g page of it. But the story I've drafted is so big, so epic, so complicated, that I CAN'T change it so that there are no tentacled zombies or it would derail the rest of it! I don't know what the f**k to do. I can't drop Veresae...I love it too damn much...

The worst thing was that before I'd been hemming and hawwing and changing some things in the plot, trying to get it perfect. Part of the reason why I've been taking so long to write the damn thing is because I wanted to get the plot for the entire series to be just right, and I always felt like, "No, it needs to be a little different." And just a few weeks ago I finally got it together, finally got it how I wanted it to be...and I thought, "This is going to be great."

And now I have to change it again so that it doesn't seem like I ripped off "Roses of Blood."

I don't know how I'm going to change this...but I can't just write it anyway now that I know a book recently came out with ACHINGLY similar subject matter...I don't know what to do!! !! !

You can still release it, there have been many novels that have come out with similarities at around the same time. Look at the recent flux of books denouncing god. Who's to know where the idea for tentacle zombies came from? Besides, it seems everyone takes influences from everyone.

I don't think anyone cares about tentacle zombies as much as they care about the quality of the story.

That is excellent advice, by the way. I am a writer, and have had this happen many times as well. I wouldn't know what to say, except don't throw it away, yet. Maybe you can still submit it and have it published. I have seen a trend take off, where many similar themes are being written about. Do you use writing software? There are some programs that can be downloaded on line, like http://www.writerssupercenter.com/index.htm. They help with developing or changing plots and such. I haven't tried their software yet, but am thinking about it.

There is no book in history that hasn't plagiarised other work, intentionally or otherwise. Every writer is influenced by another writer, or idea, or anything. The book I'm writing is similar to a few books I've written, along with my own personal experiences. It's just the trade, I guess.

You said you can't drop the idea. While I understand your concerns of coming across to readers as unoriginal, remember that the person who wrote the book with a similar premise to yours probably drew inspiration from various sources. So who's original at the end of the day? No one really. Just write your book. If it is worth a read, if editors think it has a chance when checking the manuscript, then there is no need to stress over if someone will buy it or not, or if Amazon reviews will say you ripped from whatever. You don't need to care. It's your idea, run with it, and know that your opinion of your work is a priority and is superior to the opinion others will have of it.

Ok...thanks guys.... >.< I guess I'm just used to seeing everybody scream "Rip off!" constantly...the internet is so f*****g ruthless. If one thing happens to come out a few years within the same time as something that's slightly similar, then everybody assumes that one of them is trying to cash in on the other. And publishers and agents just want the super short half-paragraph version of a story, which isn't indicative of the story's quality at all...I just hope I can get this published.... >.<

I think...what I'm going to do, is try to take away the tentacles and replace them with something else. The Darlocks--which is what I call my zombies--also grew tumors with extra brains and thorns and gaping maws and what not...maybe instead of tentacles I'll just have other body parts jut out, like fingers and hands and feet sprouting up at random places...that'd still go with the disjointed/disturbing look that they have...try to work around the plot details that require tenties...somehow....

It's just...this was one of the few things in my life that was working...and now it's just...so confusing...

I got it. Try to take all of your sources of inspiration and mix it together, and add some of your personal feelings and experiances to the mix. Therefore, it'll look more original.

I go through the same kind of stuff. I can come up with a great idea for a film or sketch on my tv program and I later find my inspiration. And I become disapointed at times, because I would think that it's such an original idea.

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Thank You and have a nice day,

_Eric