Write Outside The Box

Lately, I've come across several posts where authors are mad about other authors stealing their work. The thing is this: Nobody's idea for a book is an original one. Whether you're writing about vampires and werewolves, dope boys and queen pens, Thot's (such a stupid word) infidelity, interracial romance- somebody else has written that story years before you thought about writing. What will make your story unique and different is how you put a different spin on it. On a daily basis, as I'm scrolling down my timeline, I'll come across five different authors who have posted about their books. The covers are nearly identical, the storylines sound the same, the titles sound the same, give or take a few words. It's hard to tell one book from the other.

Sad to say, this topic comes up more among African-American authors. It's like some (not all) are in competition with someone else. But when everything looks and sounds the same, it's easy to see how they would think someone stole their idea, slapped their name on it, and published it. When I  started writing, I knew I didn't want to write subjects that were expected of me as an African-American author. I didn't want to be known for only writing one certain subject... I wanted to try my hand at different genres. And I'm not- nor was I ever trying to be- in competition with anybody but myself- challenging myself to make each book better than the last one I wrote. 

World famous author, Stephen King once said: "If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot," he says. Read widely, and constantly work to refine and redefine your own work as you do so." I don't think he meant copying someone else's work, word for word. If people are literally copying and pasting others words into a document, changing a few words in the title, and publishing it, you'll never get too far. You'll never win playing dirty. As a good author, why would you even want to put out a book that sounds almost word for word like someone else's, anyway? Don't be a copycat. It's not a good look, and you'll be found out, sooner or later. Write outside the box!