An Exceptional Case of Bad Timing

I am cursed with an exceptional case of bad timing.

Creatively speaking, I feel as if I have had several great ideas over the years. I can say this because I have a habit of turning around just after completing something and seeing someone beat me to the publication of it. I'm not bold enough to state that this is not a case of stolen ideas, but I have to add that with each example, this grows weirder.

The most blatant case came my freshman year in college. For my freshman seminar, back in 1994, I wrote a thesis paper entitled, "Die Hard on a Bus," comparing Speed to the Bruce Willis franchise and making parallels to other "Die Hard on a ____" films that took place on planes, trains, boats, etc. In a class where original ideas were often exposed as anything but, my professor drew attention to my paper for its creativity and conceptual thought. That is why it was most disturbing to see an identical article, with the EXACT same criteria mentioned, in Cinescape Magazine three months later.

It was two years later, after reading an article about the first cloned sheep, Dolly, that I wrote my first screenpay, entited "Original Sin." Though I basically disowned this script, fearing that it was too cheesy, I was soon surprised to see Arnold in The 6th Day a few years later. Was I surprised to see a movie about cloning? Not one bit. I was however a bit surprised to see a film featuring the same action sequence featuring identical, missing part humor.

The next example hit me harder, if only because it really sidetracked an idea of mine. After laboring for 6 months on a follow up screenplay, the true Civil War tales of Joshua Chamberlin, I was hurt to see that Ted Turner put Gods & Generals on the fast track. I was well aware of his earlier Gettysberg when I began, but this tale was never on the horizon when I started. This is not to say that two similar true stories cannot exist simultaneously. But again, the timing sucked ass, since everyone and their mother mentioned the other movie when I discussed mine.

Now, I could make mention of other examples, but I'll simply fast forward to Friday's USA Today and "The Team a Horror Writer Could Love."

Yes, a mere two days after writing my thoughts about being a writer and being a Red Sox fan comes an article about Stephen King and his new book, "Faithful."

And I quote...

Novelist John Cheever once said, "All literary men are Red Sox fans." To which King adds, "All literary men are not baseball fans." But he agrees that writers who like baseball should like the Red Sox, "because they know in their hearts that books are lost causes."

I won't exaggerate because much of the article is devoted stickly to the lives of the writers, King and Stewart O'Nan. Still, I can't say that it didn't deflate me quite a bit to see arguments made that were similar to work that came straight from my heart, yet published by another.

Then again, I can flip the argument and say great minds think alike, couldn't I? I just need to think quicker I suppose.