Well, tonight wasn’t the best writing night of my life. I’m less than 5,000 from finishing the 50,000 NaNoWriMo goal. This year, I’m working on the fifth tale in my short story collection “Deaf Tales: Sign Stories” (working title). I started looking for an image to post on NaNoWriMo and happen to search “deaf fairy tales” and noticed my idea has already been done – just this year. I thought it was completely original! Finding that this idea just published (literally!) in the same year is even more upsetting. I had searched last year and briefly this year, before I started the NaNoWriMo project.
Everyone Writes Differently
Now, I know, I know, more than one person can re-invent and fracture fairy tales to make their own unique spin. It’s just disappointing because I was so excited about a project that hadn’t been done before. I have never seen a combination of deaf culture and fairy tales. One thing that I always wanted when reading fairy tales was to have a character like me. A character who was deaf, or hard-of-hearing, and signed.
But, it hadn’t been done before when I first had the bright idea in the middle of last NaNo. I would combine my favourite fairy tales – or well-known stories (like Alice in Wonderland, A Little Princess, The Secret Garden, etc.) – and deaf culture into an anthology of short stories. These short stories would have at least one main character involved with the deaf community. These stories went on the backburner last year until after I had finished The Lost Daughter and did the first round of edits.
It’s Going to be Alright
Back in July, I remembered the idea and began plotting. I am excited that the idea is a good one; it is just upsetting to find out that it wasn’t an original idea like I had first thought. And now, unfortunately, not only do my stories have to be top-notch, but it also has to compete with someone else’s. It doesn’t help that while I like my writing style, and others have too, it might not be to everyone’s taste.
We’ll see. I guess I will simply finish NaNoWriMo with what I am currently doing and then readjust. I will figure out if I want to continue and finish the other five I had planned on writing in the anthology, or if I want to scrap the project all together. Good news, after I read the Deaf Fairy Tales book, most of the ones I am changing have not been done.
Write on, wrimos!
Comments