Angela Nicole Parker

I was watching the movie adaptation of Shopaholic when I noticed a lot of simularities between my Maddie and her Rebecca. Both girls were niave, manipulative and a little clueless.  A lot of what they went through was very similar, but I was taken aback when the climatic moment where it all fell about for Rebecca resembled Maddie's downfall, right down to the venue and the reaction of the love interest. Now, I have never read Shopaholic and I know that Sophie Kinsella has NEVER heard of Tethered, though if Rebecca is any indication she'd LOVE Maddie, but it got me thinking, is there really any such thing as an original idea?

Think about it, when you are trying to sell a manscript one of the first bits of advice is make sure it's fresh and original, but the truth is there is no such thing as an original idea, only the presentation of it. Look a Twilght. Vampires have been around forever but you turn old lore into a teenage romance novel and people are hooked. Harry Potter is an amalgamation of so many of the myths we love. Then there is this whole cottage industry that sprung up round Jane Austen's novels that with Seth Grahame-Smith's Pride and Prejudice and Zombies spawned a whole new cottage industry of Jane Austen's chracters  meeting the undead.

I think timing has a lot to do with it, and of course a bit of luck. You never know what is going to strike a reader's fancy. So, I write on hoping that lightening will strike and one of my ideas will be so intresting, if not original, that readers will never be able to put it down.