Book Ideas

 Where do ideas for books come from? Anywhere and everywhere! They might come from experiences you have, travel, TV, overheard conversations, feelings you have, or something you heard on the radio.

The other day, while listening to a news story on NPR, I learned about a woman, Toni Stone, who became the first female pro baseball player in the Negro Leagues. As I listened to her story, I thought, WoW, this could be a great picture book. It would be about her struggle to overcome gender and racial barriers. 

I took notes about her life, and then I did some brief marketing research. Were there any books about her already written? Yes, there were a couple adult books as well as a graphic novel. Hmmm…a little more research revealed that the graphic novel is aimed at kids 9-13. Okay, so that would be the focus of the picture book I’d do, so there would be no use creating another book on the topic, right? Not necessarily   

A few years back, I had an idea to do a book about baseball great Yogi Berra. I did the research, wrote the manuscript, but before I could get it published, a similar book came out. Dang! That really took the wind out of my sails. So I bought that book and read it carefully. My manuscript had a different angle on his life - about him being teased and bullied - than the published book. So, I went forward with my project. Yogi Berra - Baseball Legend was born.

It’s uncanny how great ideas you have can already have been realized by someone else. While exploring the east coast, I learned about Wilmer McLean, whose home was used by the Confederates during the Civil War. He and his family lived in Manassas, Virginia during the battle of Bull Run, and after he moved to Appomattox, his home was the site of Lee’s surrender to Grant. McLeans’s daughter, Lulu, left her rag doll in the surrender room. After the signing, one of the Union officers stuffed the doll, which had witnessed the historic event, into his pocket as a souvenir. What an interesting story this would make. I’d call it The Silent Witness and tell that story within the context of the McLean family story. Sadly, I learned there was already a book, telling that same story and with the exact same title. 

Another time, while I was researching a book about the building of the Transcontinental Railroad, I learned about an historic day, during which the Central Pacific crew laid ten miles of track, a world record. Telling the story of this day within the context of the amazing accomplishment of completing the Pacific Railroad in 1869 would make a fascinating picture book. But - you guessed it - The Ten Mile Day  had been recently published.

This is very frustrating as a writer. But I wasn’t alone in feeling this. Soon after these disappointments I got a letter from another author who recounted the books that I had written that were “exactly” the books she had planned to write. She then asked me to please let her know my future book plans so that she could come up with other ideas.

What goes around, comes around.