Copyright Worries

Idea theft is a big worry for many "new" writers. Although they can quote the copyright rules, they speak of their stories in veiled terms. Their synopses come up shallow: "There's a good gal and a bad guy and she has to get him before he gets her, so she does. But there's lots of trouble along the way and a major twist at the end." That approach is never going to bring success. To pitch your book you've got to pitch the best parts of your story, and that means spilling the show-stopping elements in your query letter and in your synopsis. Don't worry about having your ideas stolen. The copyright laws are on your side. Take that leap of faith and you won't be sorry. I promise.

When it comes to fear of "stolen ideas," have I got a story for you!

Over 30 years ago I taught third world cultures, with an emphasis on Africa South of the Sahara. One summer I stumbled across a short biography of an obscure Islamic leader who ruled Oman (an emirate south of Saudi Arabia) in the early 1800's. The emir's name was Seyyid Sa'id. This guy expanded his empire to Zanzibar where he created a virtual Camelot, all things considered. He was an Ibathi Moslem who encouraged peaceful coexistence with all religions. Seyyid was all wrapped up in the Age of Imperialism, fighting to keep the European nations from turning the rest of the world into colonies. Because of him Dr. Livingston was able to penetrate the African continent from the east and spread Christianity to the heart of the continent. Ultimately his actions changed world history.

I was suddenly fixated on Zanzibar, the island off the east coast of Africa, north of Madagascar, and the man who ruled it in the 1800's.

Seyyid's story triggered my writing gene. I started following the biography's footnotes back to their sources. I traced down a German-published diary that one of Seyyid's daughters wrote about life in Zanzibar in the mid-to-late 1800's. One thing led to another. Crazy information came from reliable sources. Did you know that the Dwani of Pemba (a nearby potentate during Seyyid's rule) would grab annoying children and sew their eyes shut? The Dwani also cut pregnant women open to see how babies were grown in stomachs. Then there was the gal who ruled Madagascar. She made the Dwani look like a piker! Seyyid was a man ahead of his time. Imagine him dealing with those local potentates and with the Queen of England, too!

I gobbled up all the information that I could, researched everything written in - or translated into - English about that area and that era. I met with university professors and tapped their expertise. I studied the basics of the Ibathi sect of Islam (Seyyid's religion) and hit a wall when the librarian at Harvard asked if I could read Arabic. Five years of research gave me confidence. I knew my stuff. I started to write my historical novel.

Meanwhile, Zanzibar remained invisible to the modern world. My exotic locale and international hero were nowhere in the public view - not in the papers, not on the literary scene. As if it didn't exist. Talk about a unique hook!

I polished my novel, researched publishers and sent a query to St. Martin's Press. Like magic, it caught their attention. They called, asking for the whole manuscript. They said to be patient. If they liked it they would share it around their offices to guarantee a consensus before contacting me.

A couple months later I got a call from an editor at St. Martin's Press. She explained that my offering got a lot of attention and consideration. Unfortunately, they had a book coming out in another month - an historical novel about Zanzibar in the LATE 1800's. The writer was M. M. Kaye - an acclaimed novelist who had traveled through the area extensively in her youth. She had been working on the story for over three years, and was one of their regular writers. They were sorry to have to turn me away, but they ultimately decided that they couldn't sell her books and mine, too. Too much overlapping interests, and she was the big name. They wished me luck with another publisher.

I was devastated. I was suspicious. Idea theft!?! But there was no way they could have stolen my manuscript and turned it into a published book within four months. And, as Fate would have it, M.M. Kaye's writings (about nearby India) were the reason I had sent my query to them. St. Martin's Press published her historical romances based in exotic locales, so they seemed to be a good match for my historical fiction. What a match!

What a match, indeed! I sent a half-hearted query to a couple other publishers and then shelved the novel. It took me 4 years before I could read "her version" of "my story" - at least that's how I felt about it. I liked mine better. Mine came from the point of view of a fictitious daughter of Seyyid Sa'id, not from a rich English woman's!

In all honesty, I knew there was no way that M. M. Kaye could have stolen any of my ideas. She, like me, had no notion that anyone else in the world was studying Zanzibar. If I'd only wrapped up the research and written it a couple years earlier! Worst of all: M. M. Kaye paid tribute in her end notes to the same diary that I had managed to find, written by the Seyyid's daughter. You'd have thought we both inhaled the same magic potion, even though she lived in England while I was toiling across the pond.

One month later I heard Billy Joel singing his latest hit - about a bar named Zanzibar. Who woulda thunk!?! It was in the air, and that's the only explanation I can come up with for it.

Ever had any experience like that? I wish I had a name for it. It's kinda linked to deja vu, but backwards. Serendipity? Isn't that supposed to have a happy ending? Such, they say, are the vicissitudes of life!

One thing I know, it definitely was not idea theft. I know that because the same kind of thing has happened to me at other times. Wait til I tell you about my experience with Ice Age Giant Beavers!

One of these years I'm going to sniff the wind early enough for luck to be on my side. Then watch out, world!

Write ON!
Nan