When Writers Have the Same Idea
It's not fun, but it happens
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I recently saw a piece on a humor site that made me pause because I had written a humor piece with the same basic premise for a different site several years ago.
If you are a writer, you have probably also encountered this phenomenon of someone coming up with a similar idea to you. Sometimes I just have an idea jotted in my notes app, and then I see it come out in a publication, or do a search of the archives and see that it has already been done. Since said writer is likely not a time-traveler/mind reader, there was no way for them to steal my idea.
I have been writing long enough to know that this sort of thing happens. I actually know the writer of the piece I recently saw, and do not believe in any way, shape, or form that that writer took my idea. There is a lot of humor on the internet, and odds are that the writer had never seen my piece.
But, it still stings a little when you see your same idea and can sting even more if your idea was previously rejected from the site that is running it.
This is actually something that was touched on in this recent editor panel of satire editors at the New Orleans Festival of Books. In short, people send the same ideas all the time, and they may not be accepted for a variety of reasons, including timing, being too similar to something that has just run, or the execution of said idea.
That last one is probably a harder pill to swallow, but no two human writers will write the same piece the same way, and sometimes another writer will pull off a better execution than you.
And, as much as it pains me to admit, I think that is the case with the piece I recently saw. After the other one came out, I went to look back at mine to compare. In my head, my title had been very similar (it was, in fact, very different). My structure of the idea was also different, and in retrospect, I probably jumped around a bit too much and could have benefited from more editing/streamlining. The other writer’s piece was honestly probably executed better overall.
This isn’t to say that idea theft doesn’t happen sometimes (although I think it is rare). Also, word-for-word copying of a piece or a part of a piece or a social media joke is just straight-up plagiarism and problematic in a different way.
But people coming up with the same idea at the same time happens. So what can you do when you see an idea run that you have been working on?
I think you can first think about ways to differentiate your piece from the other one. Maybe you can change the format or angle on it, or zoom in on some particular aspect of the topic, or find some way to make it more timely.
Sometimes, when I post a published humor piece on social media or in a writing group, another writer will tell me that they had been working on a similar idea. And my response to them is typically that they should still write the idea because there is room for more than one take on things.
As long as you can find a different execution of said idea, there is probably another way in. I’ve also seen different pubs run similar ideas, so one pub running one thing doesn’t necessarily mean a different pub wouldn’t take it.
And in the world of short essays, some pubs will want more essays on similar things if one on a given topic does well. The same can go for books.
I’ve heard the advice that you should try to write the pitch or piece that only you can write, and I think doing this is a good way to approach some pieces. I imagine that editors at publications do tend to see the same things over and over again (and I suspect this may happen even more in the age of AI), so working to find your own unique approach is, as Martha Stewart would say, a good thing.
Thanks for reading Humor Me, a newsletter featuring funny stuff and writing tips. In case you’re new here, I’m a humor writer and freelancer whose work has appeared in New Yorker Shouts, McSweeney’s, Real Simple, and more. Find out more about me at julievick.com.
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Hi Julie, I’m sorry this happened. I once had a similar experience with a humor piece about cat sitting (of all things) and it felt bad. I tried to think about that stuff. Elizabeth Gilbert touched on in Big Magic about ideas just floating around out there hoping someone grabs them and how sometimes more than one person latches onto them. But I totally agree: different voices, different perspectives, always worth pursuing it! Can’t wait to read whatever you write next!