RTW!

It’s been over two months since the last time I participated in YA Highway’s RTW. Sad. So I get to today–yay!

But first, a quick story. When I sleep really well (which isn’t often), I’m usually somewhat groggy all day. (I think it’s because my body wants more of that delicious sleep.) Well, I’ve been sleeping really well this week, so this whole week I’ve been in a thin fog. I opened my browser to log in to my blog and write my post, but started writing “wonder” instead of “WordPress.” I have NO idea where “wonder” came from. I mean, I really like WordPress, but I don’t think that quite explains it.

Anyhow, thought that was funny. On to the Road Trip Wednesday!

My answer is SPARKS, but first version of my current WIP, FRACTURED RADIANCE. And it similarities are precisely why I completely trashed an entire draft, reworked the plot, changed almost all of the character names, and started all the way back at the very beginning.

I won’t go into detail (because that’ll give away some of FR), but SPARKS featured lots of world mythology (Rick Riordan), a magical school (Harry Potter, Rick Riordan, and twenty-million other books), and the last book featured a hunt for items (Harry Potter). There were other over-done components of the book, but those were the most obvious. I started realizing how unoriginal the book was at the beginning of last year, and it took until Septemberish (can’t remember exactly the date), for me to realize it needed tweaks, and then again in November I realized it needed a complete new plot. Talk about a heavy case of denial, eh? And I’m so glad I did it! So, listen to that nagging voice in your head (if it won’t go away for a while). It’s probably right.

Have you ever trunked a book or idea because the idea was already done/overdone?