My avatar's name is Ava Donja of Silk and Stone.
The other me writes general market romance. I play World of Warcraft. This is where I make two parts of my life merge in sensual fantasy romance novellas.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Nothing New Under the Sun

Laura Kaye's Hearts in Darkness is one of my favorite books, with Caden one of my favorite heroes. I have since read her other works. I just finished In Service of the King. Though I'm not into vampires, I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys erotic paranormal romance. It threw me, though, because in her created vampire lore, when vampires mate they get a mark, a tattoo, as a visible sign of the spiritual connection.

I did the same thing in my novella, Mind, Body, and Spirit.

As soon as I read that, I put down my Kindle and checked the publication date. Her book came out a month after mine which means there was no way I could have copied that detail.

I had another moment of panic a month or so ago when I read Zoe Archer's Rebel. In the big, meaningful sex scene where they both realize they are meant to be together (one exists in every romance), it is from behind with some hair pulling involved. Slightly animalistic (which makes sense since Lesperance is a shifter). My final big "You are mine" scene had a very similar choreography.  This bothered me a little, but not too much since, in sex, there are three basic positions and the chances of having the same sequence of events are high.


But mating tattoos? What are the chances? I really thought my story device was original. I happen to really like ink and carried that through into my story. Kaye must like it too (Caden). I just have to tell myself that great minds think alike, right?  The only thing that irks is that she did it better than me. :)

3 comments:

Susan Kane said...

Since I done know Cade and the ink thing, I will have to read further. I have been meaning to check out your novella--now I will have to!

Daniel R. Marvello said...

Hi Ava. Just swinging by on my blog rounds as part of the Magic Appreciation Tour.

As they say, there's nothing new under the sun. Or the moon, as it turns out. I'm sure we all try to be as original as we can, but we can't ever be sure we're original unless we have read every other book that's been published. That's like saying you "finished reading the Web."

Besides, even if you do come up with a original concept, someone else will eventually use it too, and then it won't be unique any more.

I think we all just have to do our best to entertain and let the story provide a unique context, if nothing else.

Tet64 said...

"They did it better than me," That's the story of my life right there. lol. Ah well.