Here I am at week 43. I was writing my 43rd story and was loving it. My characters were some of my best. It was funny. I was finding the voice I always want to write with, but often seems elusive. Plotting was coming naturally.

I was quite proud of my work. I had not planned or plotted a thing in advance, but the characters were taking me on the journey. I hardly had to think; the story just flowed out.

I could see where it was headed. I knew what needed to happen next, so I took a little break.  I had a snack, played with the dogs, cooled my feet in the pool, and thought about the story: How perfect it was. How well written it was. How it would be snapped up by the first editor who read it …

How I had just rewritten one of the most popular picture books in recent years. Drats! Now that I had some separation from it, I could see the similarities.

I was about to scrap it. How disappointing. It was one of my favorite things I had written in a while. Oh well, I would start something new. It wouldn’t be the first or last time this would happen.

But I couldn’t get it out of my head. Could it be saved?

Really there were only two things in common with the famous book, and one of those things hadn’t been written yet. The first thing was simply a common theme among many books. It was their combination that has unique and couldn’t be repeated.

Was I reading too much into it? Everything else was different: My beginning, my point of view, my characters, my new ending. I was safe. I could continue.

I asked my characters to try again. We took a few steps back and started moving. They had such a strong self they were able to take a new path flawlessly. I often hear other writers talk about how if you know your characters intimately, they will write their own stories. This was certainly true in this case.

The story is now very much its own.

I’m glad I kept with it. I’m glad I trusted what I had created to be unique. Now I have a story I will want to share.

Can we ever create a unique story? Is it possible to come up with a truly unseen idea? If we have an idea similar to something we are familiar with did we subconsciously steal it? I really don’t think I did in this case. Are we now just telling old stories in new ways? Is retelling an old idea bad? Where is the line between plagiarizing an idea, using an idea intentionally but putting your own twist on it, and independently coming up with a similar idea?