A friend of mine has been doing some research. The subject covers a fascinating combination of fact, historical data, and legend. I won’t go into much detail here for obvious reasons. Over the course of this research which has been ongoing for many years, my friend began to realize what a great story it would make, as it has never really been told to the world at large.
This story would be particularly well suited to a certain novelist who has written several books based on a vague historical premise. I’ve been asked to help organize the data, cites, lore etc. into a cohesive package from which an author would easily be able to evaluate his/her interest.
I have several questions.
Where could I find any information on how to present this?
Is there a proper format for such a submission?
How does one protect an idea from being “hijacked”?
How difficult is it to gain access to a popular novelist?
Any insight or suggestions you could share would be appreciated.
Mods, if this topic would be better suited for GQ, please feel free to move it.
Sorry, but it’s not going to happen. Popular novelists - most writers for that matter - have more ideas and projects than they know what to do with already. Allowing someone else to bring in research that they want the novelist to turn into a book is a ticket to eventual grief, misery, and lawsuits.
I won’t say that what you suggest has never been done before - everything’s been done before - but the odds against this succeeding are astronomical.
You and your friend should write it up yourselves as a proposal. If the idea truly has merit you will be able to interest an agent or an editor. If the two of you can’t write worth beans - and even that is not necessarily a barrier - a professional would be more likely to succeed in making a contact with an interested writer.
I once got approached by an agent to turn a homemade booklet into a book. I did it, it was not a pleasant experience, and I’ll never do it again. Even so, the result was a worthwhile book that got translated into several languages. But I would never had even thought of doing it if the offer hadn’t come from an agent.
Most authors will send such proposals back unread. If they have a similar project in the works, they would rather not split the take with you. They would rather not be approached. Protect yourself from being hijacked by writing the book yourself. This goes double for song lyrics.
Otherwise, go through a reputable agent. He’ll know how (or whether) to approach an appropriate author.
As far as I know, copyright law only protects the words, not ideas. That’s why I could write a book about junkies in Edinburgh without Irvine Welsh suing me and why a couple of years ago there were two movies about ants that felt out of place in their society. Even if you could interest an author in this (which I very much doubt), any compensation you recieve would depend on the Author’s generousity.
Then again, perhaps trademark law has a different take on ownership of ideas.
My original post last night got lost, but everyone else has made the same point. No author is ever at a loss for ideas, and it’s a standard joke among them that they get approached by someone who says “I have a great idea for a book for you. Write it and we’ll split the profits 50-50.”
The best thing for your friend to do is write the book himself. It won’t get written otherwise.
I know that Stephen King does not read story ideas. The concern among authors, I would think, besides their own ideas, is the possibility of plagarism or stealing. If King wrote a story about a haunted treehouse, and someone said, “I presented that idea to him two years ago at a symposium!” then there’s attorneys and lawsuits and headaches and such.
Thanks for your input everyone. What most of you have said is pretty much what I was afraid of. It’s not so much that we are trying to turn it into a buck, just that this story fits in so perfectly with the other books the author has written. What it boils down to is that we would love to see the story written. And written well. Seeing it in print would be far more rewarding than getting a few bucks from the deal. While we could do a passable job of turning it into a document, we do not have the writing skills to turn it into a compelling story.
I’ve got ideas of where he should take the Night Watch series, and I would love to see them incorporated into an upcoming book. But then again, it may be more fun to be surprised by what comes along in the Discworld.
You and your friend need to write it yourself. When you are trying to find a publisher for it, you will have an easy way to describe it. It’s a Clive Cussler type novel. You won’t have to spend a paragraph saying, “Well, it’s kind of a scary mystery, and there’s a family with a dark secret, and, um, a scary doll…”